Adam Weekly - Issue # 70                    

Hello, and welcome to a new Adam Weekly issue! Tonight, of course, is the Royal Rumble and should prove to be a great night for Edge, as it is his first pay-per-view WWE Championship defense - and he will be defending against none other than the man he beat for the title, John Cena.

Once again, this past week on RAW, Cena got under the skin of Edge and Lita. The couple was in the ring, giving a promo, and Edge declared that he was not going to be a "transitional" champion, and he wouldn't be one of those champions who has the belt for a week, only to lose it and never be heard from again. He mentioned Ric Flair and John Cena as having to go to the back of the line to get title shots after what he did to Flair at the previous week's TLC main event and after Cena loses to him at the Rumble. That soon brought the former champion out, mic in hand, to issue his own little insult fest to both Edge and Lita.

Personally, I have been really enjoying this feud. I think that Edge/Lita and Cena interact beautifully together. The promos are just awesome, and there hasn't been a dull moment yet. Both Edge and Cena are masters on the mic and at giving promos, and Lita has gotten a lot better since being with Edge onscreen, as she is obviously a lot more comfortable than she's ever been. I wouldn't mind seeing a debate segment pitting Edge and Lita against Cena on RAW, or even Edge and Lita against Cena and Ric Flair.

That brings me to the match from this past week. Edge and a partner of his choice were slated to face off with Cena and a partner of his choosing. It seemed pretty obvious that John would turn to Flair, although for awhile, I wondered if the partners would be Triple H and Big Show respectively. Of course, that fell flat, and that left Chris Masters to be Edge's partner. It wasn't upsetting in the least that Edge and Masters lost the match, since they are going into the Royal Rumble next. Cena's advantage on RAW will be Edge's advantage at the Rumble tonight, and that's a lot more important.

That will do it for this week's issue. I will go more in depth about how I see Edge's match going at the pay-per-view in my predictions below. Anyway, enjoy the Royal Rumble tonight if you get the opportunity to see it!

Open Invitational for Cruiserweight Title: Hmm... I just literally found out about this match now. Kid Kash hasn't done a whole lot since winning the title, with the exception of a few matches against Juventud Guerrera. I don't even know who is all in this one, so I don't think I can pick a winner. But I wouldn't mind seeing Funaki, Paul London, Brian Kendrick or one of the Mexicools winning (though I don't think the Mexicools are in it).

Mickie James vs Ashley (w/Special Referee Trish Stratus): Ashley has definitely improved in the ring, but she's nowhere near the caliber of Mickie just yet. However, I definitely see Trish as a key factor in this match. I see Mickie getting disqualified in some shape or form. I pick Ashley as the winner.

The Boogeyman vs JBL (w/Jillian Hall): The Boogeyman seems to have JBL's number, as he's been terrorizing him for the better part of the last month. This is a tough call, but I think I'm going to go with the Boogeyman because of the fear factor (no pun intended!).

Kurt Angle vs Mark Henry (w/Daivari) (World Heavyweight Title Match): Mark Henry is indeed the "World's Strongest Man," but I still don't see him walking out of this match with the championship. For that matter, I'm not so sure I see him even walking out of this match if Kurt is able to slap the Ankle Lock on him. When Mark powered out of that hold this past Friday on SmackDown, that (among lots of other factors) told me right there that Angle is going to retain.

Edge (w/Lita) vs John Cena (WWE Title Match): This should probably become a bloody brawl after everything that's happened between these guys this month. Edge has been enjoying rubbing his championship victory in Cena's face, and Cena is a raging bull at this point (he's a Taurus, so I mean that literally, lol). I see the rule book being thrown out the window, and I see Edge possibly losing, but only by disqualification. The other scenario I have is that the referee gets knocked out, Edge has help with Lita or with a steel chair and attacks Cena, and he makes the cover as the referee rouses. Actually, the latter is what I'm going with. The Rated R Superstar will win this one regardless, because he's still going to walk out with the championship.

2006 Royal Rumble Match: This one is a little tough for me to predict a winner for. There are some people I know won't last long at all, and who will probably be thrown out minutes after stepping into the ring. Then there are others who I see lasting a really long time. This year, out of the last four guys who were in the Rumble match last year, there is only one who is actually in the match, and that is Rey Mysterio. Batista is injured, and Edge and Cena are fighting for the WWE Championship. I see Rey having a big advantage in this, even though he's small statured. Others I see having great chances are Randy Orton, Kane, Chris Benoit and Lashley. I would have picked Big Show as well, but the more I think of it, the more I think his huge size as a disadvantage. Typically, a bunch of guys will band together to try to eliminate him, since he will be the biggest challenge. I really do think this year it will be a SmackDown star who wins, though, and so I'm going to pick Rey Mysterio. If it's not him, my next choice is Randy Orton.