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Jericho the likely choice to avoid elimination

By DON 'Cyrus' CALLIS -- For SLAM! Wrestling

 The WWE Summerslam main event has been changed to an Elimination
Chamber six-man match for the WWE title after Triple H's groin injury
made a singles match between he and Goldberg difficult to pull off.
The match will now consist of Triple H, Goldberg, Shawn Michaels,
Kevin Nash, Chris Jericho and Randy Orton. This has, of course, led to
much speculation of who will win the match.

 If logic is used in the process it would appear that Jericho might
just have the best chance of winning the belt based on a number of
factors. First, let's look at the pros and cons of each performer and
use this data to come up with a reasonable selection.

 Triple H is a great worker and the current champion, but is banged up
and needs some time off to fully heal his injury to prevent the
situation from becoming chronic, so it seems unlikely that he would
win the match. Kevin Nash is also injury-prone, and not very mobile,
and unlike Triple H, he is unable to carry others to good matches,
which is important for a world champion.

 Shawn Michaels is, on any given night, the best worker in the
company, but is not currently making all of the arena shows and his
history of back problems make it unlikely that the company would
consider him in this spot for the long term. The other issue is that
Shawn won the belt at last years Summerslam so it would appear too
much like a repeat to do it again. Randy Orton is a great talent, but
it would be too early to put a world title on him from both the fan's
perspective and for the cohesiveness of the Evolution group which is
just starting to really gel.

 Goldberg was no doubt the first choice to get the strap, but he has
also had his problems with injuries, and his build-up has not gone
exactly as planned. There is also the issue of his limited house show
schedule and what would be involved in getting him to do all of the
arena shows (you obviously want your world champion at the arena shows
to draw money). The time for Goldberg may in fact be at Survivor
Series.

 Jericho is the logical choice for a variety of reasons. He has proven
to be one of the most physically resilient members of the roster --
rarely, if ever, out with injuries despite taking a lot of bumps. He
is the best interview of the entire group and with the possible
exception of Michaels, he is the best at making others look good,
although Jericho goes on the road and does it on a nightly basis. This
brings up another good point: Jericho goes to all the arena shows. He
is also over enough as a character that Vince McMahon could easily
turn him babyface down the line if he wanted to.

 K-5 NEWS 

 I just returned from a six-day tour in Saskatoon for Pro Outlaw
Wrestling. It was one of those trips that makes me remember what I
love about the business: performing in front of crowds that react to
the classic wrestling stuff and hanging out with your buddies. Also on
the tour were NHB stars Sabu, Crash Crimson, Wavell Starr, Juggernaut,
Johnny Handsome and Apocalypse, as well as TNA star Jerry Lynn. ...
Anyone interested in training to be a wrestler, valet, manager,
referee, announcer or writer can email us at Cyrusofecw{at}shaw.ca ...
Low-ki returned to TNA this week and had a great match with NWA World
Champion AJ Styles. Also on the show was the American Dream Dusty
Rhodes, whom I hadn't seen since we worked together in ECW. Always a
pleasure to meet the dream. I also had the opportunity to chat with
Bobby Eaton, one of the all-time greats of the business, which was
great.


--- Internet Rex 2.29