The Bash 2009 PPV Predictions

At The Bash Pay-Per-View, all but 2 of the prestigious WWE Championships are being defended (United States, Divas Championship). So that makes for one busy PPV card, and a night of potential new champions. With that said, I see 1 or 2 possible title changes here, as several of the current champs are just within the first month of their title reigns. We've got some more "extreme rules" type situations at this PPV too, complete with a No DQ match, Championship Scramble and the "3 Stage of Hell" match implemented by Vince McMahon. Let's take a look at the match-by-match analysis and predictions for The Bash 2009.

Michelle McCool vs. Melina

Michelle has promised to be the first diva ever to have won the Divas title and Womens title. While that's quite an honor, let's hope that someone over on Raw (hint hint: Mickie James or Beth Phoenix), accomplishes that first. Michelle's a great competitor, but it's hard to see her defeating Melina just yet. Unless Alicia Fox gets involved and costs Melina the match, I see Melina retaining her Womens Title at the Bash.

Prediction: Melina wins via pinfall to retain her title.

Cody Rhodes & Ted Dibiase vs. The Colons

This almost seems like a no brainer pick, because with Orton as WWE Champ, it will further strengthen the Legacy concept for these two guys to win as well. So most likely they will, making this a lock for a title change at the Pay-Per-View. I'll say Rhodes and Dibiase cheat somehow to win, costing the Colons their titles. The Colons will invoke their rematches on Raw and continue the feud a little longer, while Legacy becomes even more cocky owning all the gold on Raw (except the US Title).

Prediction: Rhodes & Dibiase become new unified tag team champions.

The Great Khali vs. Dolph Ziggler
No DQ Match

This one seems to favor Dolph Ziggler going over as a heel, because it's a No DQ. Although Khali has Singh at ringside, Ziggler should be able to come up with a clever way to cheat and pull off a victory against the much bigger opponent. Ziggler really should be in either the US or Intercontinental title picture right about now, so look for this to propel him towards bigger things (than Khali).

Prediction: Dolph Ziggler finds a way to beat Great Khali.

Rey Mysterio vs. Chris Jericho
Mask vs. Title Match

Jericho's held the IC title just for a few weeks now (although that's never an indication of anything in WWE). I'm not quite sure what purpose it serves for Jericho to continually unmask Mysterio. Possibly it's the novelty factor of the fans seeing Rey without his mask, but Jericho's also built up how Mysterio "hides" behind his mask. I think Jericho's going to retain the title here, because it would be strange for Jericho to have such a short Intercontinental title run, although it's not unlikely these days. Mysterio will be unmasked again, giving Jericho more to brag about on the mic.

Prediction: Chris Jericho retains the title, Mysterio is unmasked again.

ECW Championship Scramble

In this match we've got the current champ Tommy Dreamer defending against 3 former ECW Champs: Christian, Mark Henry, Jack Swagger and also Finlay. Some will argue that Finlay is a former champ too since he won in another Scramble. So in this match we'll see the ECW title exchanged and hopefully some good wrestling spots where Jack Swagger, Dreamer, Christian and Finlay are involved. Sorry, Mark Henry. I'd like to say that Dreamer should have a long title run, but I really feel Jack Swagger's going to regain the title again at Dreamer's expense. Dreamer's "win title or retire" story seemed to be done to draw attention to the face this ECW legend is bringing his career to its close sooner rather than later. Expect Swagger to be the man to "retire" Dreamer, or at least make him contemplate it again. As for now, Dreamer holds onto the belt by outlasting his competitors in this match so he can have some cred.

Prediction: Tommy Dreamer outlasts his four opponents to get the final pin and hold the ECW Title.

John Cena vs. The Miz

After seeing the Miz' actions on Raw last week, it looked as if Miz was getting a push to be the top heel on Raw behind Randy Orton. As I mentioned before, it almost seems as if Miz has been interchanged with Chris Jericho, which is saying quite a bit for Miz and the confidence WWE must have in him. Giving him a Pay-Per-View main event match against a guy like Cena is also a vote of confidence, however him winning doesn't seem to be the best scenario. A win really buries all momentum that John Cena has had in beating Big Show at several PPV's. Let's hope that the Cena-Show feud is over for now, so we don't see Big Show interfere in this one. If that happens I'll say Cena wins clean (tough pick), or there's a DQ by Miz. Some have speculated that Miz wins it and impresses Maryse, but I think a Cena win puts him closer towards contending for the WWE Title yet again.

Prediction: John Cena wins by pinfall or a Miz DQ.

Jeff Hardy vs. CM Punk
World Heavyweight Match

CM Punk is playing the role perfectly as a guy who's not quite a heel, but not quite a face either. He's simply doing his job, winning matches and has held the World Heavyweight Title longer than before. His latest casualty in his resume-building is Jeff Hardy, a guy who hasn't quite had the easiest road in his WWE career and has his share of outside pro-wrestling problems. Yet in their current roles, the fans are fully behind underdog Hardy and not so in favor of CM Punk. It works well though and in this match the fans will have more reason to dislike Punk. He's either going to get DQ'd or find some tricky way to win just like Edge always has. Punk remains champ as this feud is just getting underway. These guys can give us some unique extreme matches and maybe we're in store for a Ladder Match at Summerslam (since Punk took the title from Hardy after one).

Prediction: CM Punk finds yet another opportunity to win a title contest.

Triple H vs. Randy Orton
3 Stages of Hell
WWE Title Match

The problem with making a prediction here is the fact that this Triple H and Randy Orton feud has just gone on too long. So picking Orton to win most likely means he sends HHH out via stretcher, which seems to have been done several times in the last few months now. The feud is getting old and overdone, yet this could make for an exciting match. I really think John Cena will be the guy to take the WWE Title off Orton, so this match, and a win will keep Orton as a solid heel for Cena to overthrow. It's what Cena's fans want. Triple H will get another title reign, that's inevitable as he continues to add to his number of reigns so he can retire as close to or better than (in terms of reigns) Ric Flair. Orton wins the stretcher match somehow, because HHH will take a little more time off, and Cena will enter the title picture soon. Of course I may be completely wrong. WWE has little options for its title contenders beyond the four guys you saw in the Fatal Fourway (Show, Cena, HHH, Orton) Let's hope we're not in store for more Orton-HHH though...Orton-Cena or even Cena-HHH will be fresher feuds at this stage...

Prediction: Randy Orton sends HHH out via stretcher to continue his latest WWE Title reign.