So the way I see it, RAW *needs* ECW at this point in a way that I'm not entirely sure ECW needs RAW. Thanks to a line-up that almost might as well be called "One Night Stand 3," Vengeance is actually shaping up as one of the better "brand-only" shows in a while.

It's just: they're doing it by cheating and including a heavy dose of performers from WWE's new third brand. You know what? I figure I'll let it slide if the end result is a show for which I can actually muster some enthusiasm. And most of it's even genuine!

[For fans of the other two wrestling brands not represented here: OO's got coverage of their latest, too. There's a SmackDown! Precap, covering the latest nail in the coffin of Rey Mysterio. And the TNA Impact Recap, featuring a major title change, though not nearly enough Nash.]

I've assembled as many of the trOOps as I could to take the announced 8-match card apart, look at the pieces from every imaginable angle, and then put it all back together for what is almost assuredly the Only Vengeance PPV Preview You Need To Read. Enjoy!
 

ROB VAN DAM vs. EDGE 
WWE Title Match

Two weeks ago, these guys didn't have any beef with each other, whatsoever. Now they're headlining a PPV. How'd it happen?

Well, first RVD cashed in his Money in the Bank Title Shot at ECW's One Night Stand, and defeated John Cena for the WWE Title. Thing is, he did it by taking a little help from Edge, who still had lingering issues with Cena as they'd feuded over the same title on RAW since pretty much the first week of 2006 (with Edge even briefly taking the strap from Cena by using the same precise Money in the Bank stipulation).

A week prior to the ECW PPV, Edge had also won a #1 Contender's Match on RAW, and was guaranteed the Vengeance title shot against whoever came out of One Night Stand as the champ. Edge avoided coming right out and saying that he interfered in the match because he thought RVD would be easier to beat than Cena, instead choosing to just brag about how he once again single handedly turned the wrestling world upside down with his controversial antics.

Given how little time there was between the two PPVs, the subsequent confrontations between RVD and Edge have been fairly limited. There was one face-to-face promo (where Edge first tried to play nice and act like he and RVD were like brothers, what with the way they masterfully utilized Money in the Bank to their advantages and all, but eventually engaged RVD in a brawl). And then in a tag match, RVD seemingly proved his mettle by pinning Edge.

Also in the brief interim: RVD and Paul Heyman have been busy trying to craft a new ECW World Championship. RVD is currently carrying both title belts, with the claim being that the WWE Title no longer exists and it's just part of the ECW Title (but that RVD keeps the physical title belt around because "it spins," and he likes to mention that in derisive fashion whenever he can). Obviously, this appears for all the world to be a set-up for WWE only recognizing the WWE Title belt, so that one can come back to RAW, while RVD keeps physical possession of the ECW Title, which will hopefully have won over some legitimacy by being united with the WWE Title for all of 2 weeks. 

But seeming-foregone-conclusion-ness of it aside, this is still probably the match I'm most confident will deliver the goods. For one thing, you still just have the drama of the "how" even if you think you know the "what." You gotta figure there's plenty of room for Lita and Heyman and a cast of dozens to get involved in this one, and it could be a rare over-booked schmozzy thing that's really dramatic. And for another thing: c'mon, these two at full speed have the chance to put on a WWE PPV main event the likes of which we haven't seen in a long while. All due credit to RVD and Cena for having a fun match at One Night Stand; but take away the crowd and put that amount of action in an empty arena? Meh. Whereas you gotta fully expect Edge to hold up his end in a fast-paced, action-packed match which still has all the other bells and whistles, to boot. 
  

D-GENERATION X vs. THE SPIRIT SQUAD 
2-on-5 Handicap Match

If you'd told me six months ago that a squad of male cheerleaders would be breakout stars on RAW, I might have sorta believed that. They were getting good grades as the gimmick came together in OVW.

But if you'd told me six months ago that a squad of male cheerleaders would be Vince McMahon's Weapon of Choice for dealing with Shawn Michaels and Triple H, and as a result had become main event staples on RAW, well.... that's when I would have started inspecting your head for any blunt force trauma. Cuz that would have struck me as kooky talk.

And yet, here we are: Vince McMahon's desire to rid the wrestling world of Shawn Michaels is a story that goes back to late last year, and which doesn't exactly make a whole lot of sense if you're looking for logical motivation on the part of Vince. But seeing as how the story does go back so far, you've also seen me do at least 3-4 of these PPV Previews, by now, where I talk about how I can't make any sense of the first half or so of their rivalry.

By now, though, I guess it's been here long enough that I might as well keep my yapper shut, and just grandfather Vince vs. Shawn in as an Accepted Feud. And the happenings since last we talked about it included Vince deciding that Shawn Michaels needed to be forcibly retired. He turned to his inexplicable favorite instrument of destruction: the Spirit Squad.

Michaels turned back the initial gang attacks, leaving Vince no choice but to book a 5-on-1 handicap match in which he also had Triple H on call as a back-up plan. Vince and HHH, chummy up till about 5-6 weeks ago, had seen their relationship get increasingly prickly, as HHH saw himself as worthy of WWE Title Consideration, and Vince saw that as a chance to manipulate HHH into doing his bidding if he wanted to get title shots.

In that match, the Squad effectively destroyed Michaels' knee, using the Pillmanization Technique. But when Vince called HHH down to the ring to administer the Death Blow, things went wonky, as Spirit Squad Kenny tried to scoop HHH's heat by snatching away the sledge hammer to do the job himself. That's a no-no, and an ass-whupping for the Squad suddenly took precedence over Death Blowing Shawn Michaels.

The knee injury was enough to put Michaels on the shelf (permanently, boasted Vince, who really should know better), and that left Vince to deal with HHH. Were his actions just an accident? Justifiable self-defense? Or were they insubordination? Over the course of a week or two, Vince put HHH through the wringer, and each time, HHH somehow subverted Vince's intentions. That left Vince with no choice: in order to quell HHH's mutinous acts, he'd force HHH to join the Kiss My Ass Club.

That didn't work out (and, in fact, ended with a bare-assed McMahon unconscious on the mat), so the next week, Vince called the Spirit Squad into action with orders to do the exact 5-on-1 beatdown they'd done to Shawn Michaels. Problem was: it turned out it wasn't 5-on-1 at all, as Michaels made a surprise return to help HHH out of a tight spot.

The D-Generation X Reunion was made official one week later amidst much sophomoric humor and bare man-ass. Also made official was this 2-on-5 handicap match for the PPV. I figure we're in for a nice "Sports Entertainment Segment" here, then settling down into a more traditional type of match. Gotta give DX time to bust out all their old chestnuts, and the early part of the match would also be perfect for the Squad to add to the entertainment-y side with their more schmucky antics. But before all is said and done, the Squad settles in for the standard heel beatdown, and DX has to fight the good fight to make the comeback before we enter End Game. You could end up with a nice mix of things all coming together in this contest.
  

JOHN CENA vs. SABU 
ECW Rules Lumberjack Match

For my money, the story of the ECW Revival so far is Sabu. Whether unmotivated or just facing too many health/injury issues to compete at 100%, Sabu's post-ECW reputation was one of "Sabu at Three-Quarters Speed." But then Sabu did take a break, did get healthy, and did start having increasingly-awesome brawls for TNA late last year.

And when WWE came calling about the ECW reunion? Well, he seems like he might even have upped his game one last notch to take advantage of the opportunity he's been given. And that opportunity, to put it bluntly, is to be the only "Genuine ECW" star who will actually remain a top level draw in the new ECW. While it'd be nearly impossible to sell PPVs on the backs of Sandman, Dreamer, Credible, and the rest of the alumni, Sabu has looked every bit the equal of Kurt Angle, Big Show, and Rob Van Dam (all "WWE guys") so far. He's the only one of the ECW guys who can say this, and that's a pretty remarkable achievement.

The separation between Sabu and the rest of the "authentic alumni" grows even larger on Sunday, as Sabu gets the opportunity to showcase his wares on a WWE PPV. I'm sure this is partly a tip of the cap to Sabu, a reward for the work done so far (and maybe a bit of payback from work done a decade ago that was never fairly compensated), but you know this is also all part of WWE's secret plan to keep John Cena in the "extreme" mix as long as they can, in hopes that non-teenage-fangirls will suddenly see him in a new light, and respect his in-ring ability.

For whatever it's worth, there's not much backstory here. Sabu simply won a Battle Royale where the winner was promised a chance to go to Vengeance and face Cena. Then Sabu sneak-attacked Cena in a kick-ass Triple Jump Legdrop on RAW. Then Cena showed up at ECW the next night and -- in that obnoxiously-fake "intense" way of his -- challenged Sabu to make it an ECW Rules Lumberjack Match so that at least Cena will see the attack coming and he'll be free to fight back however he sees fit. For only the second time in his televised wrestling career, Sabu spoke, when he uttered the one word, "Deal."

I'm really not sure what to expect match-wise... well, actually, I'm sorta expecting that Cena can't do much more than what he did with RVD, which means a lot of just-being-a-prop-for-Sabu's-high-spots and a lot of depending-on-Sabu-to-take-bumps-that-make-Cena-look-good. But like I mentioned above, it was the crowd that made the RVD/Cena match what it was, and you simply won't have a WWE audience being quite that intense. That'll probably end up being the wild card in terms of how this match plays.
  

KURT ANGLE vs. RANDY ORTON 

This is chapter 3 of a book that I'm not entirely sure needed to be written much past the preface. The Cliffs' Notes version:

Using the powers of the Ghost of Eddie Guerrero and the Random Booking Machine, Orton somehow found his way into the Angle vs. Rey Mysterio World Title contest at WrestleMania. Angle lost his title when Rey pinned Orton. Angle was upset at Orton over this. In a one-on-one rematch that was about as poor a Kurt Angle match as you'll ever see, Angle "broke" Orton's ankle (in reality, a TV excuse to impose a suspension of no-less-than 60 days on Orton for his being an all-around douchebag). Orton made a surprise return to TV on the 55th day to start getting his revenge. It didn't work out so well, as Angle had been drafted to ECW, and Orton would have to face the New Kurt Angle. Who turned out to be pretty similar to the Old Kurt Angle, but who was still more than capable enough of beating Orton in a match at the One Night Stand PPV in a prototypical WWE style match.

Not yet content, Orton decided to challenge Angle to come back to WWE turn and face him one last time. Not one to back down, Angle accepted.

Whatever. The improvement between their first TV match and their second might make you think the third time would really be the charm, but the truth is that Orton's pretty much maxxed out his Competence Level, and it's not at a high enough level to get much above what he did with Angle at ONS in the absence of a more compelling storyline or some sort of gimmick to the match. Alas: this is the only of the WWE/ECW cross-over matches that looks to be contested under the usual tight WWE rules, which caps the potential here.

Ah well... I'm sure once this final chapter is written, Angle will get to move on and find different opposition. The kind who might actually allow him to show us what's so different about "ECW's Kurt Angle."
  

RIC FLAIR vs. MICK FOLEY 
Two out of Three Falls Scientific Showcase Match

This one came flying out of left field less than 2 weeks ago. Foley was cutting a promo celebrating the events of One Night Stand when Ric Flair decided to make his return to TV (after a lay-off for getting married and honeymooning).

Flair interrupted Foley's promo, and decided to re-hash 2-year-old friction between the two, stemming from Flair's accusations (as published in his biography) that Foley wasn't a wrestler, and was, instead, just a glorified stuntman. After some back and forth posturing, Foley took Flair's accusations and threw them back in his face by issuing a challenge to a 2-out-of-3 Falls Technical Wrestling Display at Vengeance....

It seemed like an awful rushed and inelegant way to handle what should be a money feud between two legends, but then the other shoe dropped this past Monday: this match on Sunday isn't meant to be the memorable, legendary blow-off to Flair/Foley.... instead, Mick revealed that Flair forced him into this display of Technical Wrestling, and the truth is, Foley sucks as a technical wrestler, so fans are going to be treated to the ugliest, sloppiest wrestling debacle of all times as Mick makes sure he has the worst match of the card. And Ric Flair will have to be a part of it, and in front of his hometown fans, to boot.

Heh. Now I feel a lot better about this. This should be highly entertaining.
  

SHELTON BENJAMIN vs. CARLITO vs. JOHNNY NITRO 
InterContinental Title Match

Let's see: Carlito pinned Shelton in a non-title match 3 weeks ago. So his presence here makes sense. But Nitro came over from SD! around the same time, got squashed by John Cena and then got a win over curtain jerker Charlie Haas, and somehow was booked into this three-way match on the strength of that resume. Very odd.

Of course, after already being inserted into the match, Nitro then added two pinfall wins over Carlito, which retroactively made his inclusion in this match quite sensible. But for the most part: this has the feel of The Random to it.

Still: no serious complains, as these three are pretty much the most entertaining and capable of RAW's mid-carders. Throw 'em together, season with shots of Melina's Rump to taste, and it oughta be a tasty dish.
  

KANE vs. FAKE KANE 

May 19 came and passed without incident, leading Kane to make the revelation that May 19 is the anniversary of the day his parents died in a fire, and it spooks him a bit every year (although this is the first time it's ever come up on TV). But when the day passes, Kane's spirits pick up, and everything's back to normal. Right?

Wrong. Instead, more voices started taunting Kane, telling him that May 19 will never be over... and it turned out that the source of the voices and the spooky light shows was an Imposter Kane, dressed in the full bodysuit, mask, and wig that duplicates what Kane looked like in his 1997 WWF debut.

In countless confrontations, the Fake Kane has gotten the better of the Real Kane. And in his most recent interview on the subject, Real Kane said he knows exactly who is under the mask and why he's doing this... and attempted to convince us that this guy is a real sicko and someone to be feared. Umm: big fella, remember when YOU were a sicko and someone to be feared? So just quit being such a drama queen, and finish off this ridiculousness for us, OK?
  

EUGENE vs. UMAGA 

Umaga need someone to squash. So Umaga squash Jim Duggan on RAW. This make Eugene sad. So now Umaga squash Eugene on PPV. Whee?
  

EXTRAS/CONCLUDING THOUGHTS

This show already seems pretty loaded, but tradition does dictate that the the trOOps take a stab at what other bonus items might work their way onto the show, and to give you an over view of the event, by way of closure....
  

That's all, folks.... I'll see you Sunday night, proximate to midnight (or as soon as my decision making with regards to "Deadwood" watching allows), with the results of Vengeance. And as always, additional thoughts/analysis/fall-out will follow in Monday's OO.