WWE Vengeance 2011 Preview: 15 Burning Questions Fans Want Answered

In the words of Kane, “There will be vengeance!”

I’m talking, of course, about WWE Vengeance, which takes place in San Antonio, Texas in just six days. It will be the third WWE pay-per-view in the last five weeks, proving that the WWE does indeed have an unhealthy obsession with pay-per-view overload.

Hey, that doesn’t mean I’m not going to watch it, though.

There are plenty of reasons why I want to see Vengeance, but I’m not going to be thrilled if that pay-per-view concludes and leaves us even more confused than we were before it.

Here are 15 burning questions that we must get answers to on Sunday.

15. Is the WWE Serious About Rebuilding the Tag Team Division?

When Kofi Kingston and Evan Bourne—collectively known as Air Boom—won the WWE Tag Team Championships, we all breathed a collective sigh of relief and thought that this could be the time when the WWE got serious about rebuilding the tag team division.

Yet, here we are a couple of months later, and there hasn’t been much to show for it.

Yeah, Kingston and Bourne have a new theme song, and they’ve got matching attire. But they’ve only had two challengers—The Miz and R-Truth and Dolph Ziggler and Jack Swagger—and neither one of those teams earned their title shots through a No. 1 Contender’s match.

I guess that’s fine, but if we’re really going to believe in a rejuvenated tag team division, we need to see extended tag team feuds. The WWE could start this Sunday by having Air Boom defending their titles against Ziggler and Swagger again (after they earned the title shot) in a match that gets at least 15 minutes.

14. Will New Challenger Step Up to Face Beth Phoenix for Her Divas Championship?

Though we don’t know for sure, we can assume that Kelly Kelly will likely use her rematch clause to face Beth Phoenix for the Divas Championship at Vengeance.

This would be the fourth consecutive pay-per-view meeting between the two, though, and considering that they haven’t exactly been putting on classics like Randy Orton and Christian, I think Beth is going to win this feud once and for all on Sunday.

But if that happens, who is she going to face next?

There’s no other baby face Diva that I want to see Beth feud with for the Divas title, so I’m thinking that we could see a surprise contender step up to become Beth’s next challenger.

Maryse or Layla perhaps?

I know they’re heels, but given their lengthy absences and their goods looks, I think they’ll both be welcomed back as baby faces, especially if they’re inserted into a feud with Beth right away.

13. With 3 Wins over Dolph Ziggler, Will Zack Ryder Get Shot at US Title?

Zack Ryder has three TV wins over Dolph Ziggler, but no United States Championship match?

Are you serious, bro?

Considering that Ryder hasn’t even appeared on Raw the last two weeks, I have little to no faith that he’ll ever be rewarded for getting two big victories over Ziggler. But he should.

Ziggler’s ready to move on from the US title, while the belt would do wonders for Ryder, who is one of the most over mid-card faces on the entire WWE roster.

Let’s hope the WWE does the right thing this time around and gives a title shot to someone who actually earned it.

12. What’s the Bigger Picture Behind Christian’s New Heel Faction?

Though it doesn’t seem to be an official stable as of yet, Christian’s collection of heel wrestlers is one of the best-looking ensembles of stars the WWE has put together in quite a while.

Will it last, or will it only stay together for a couple of months? I have no idea right now, but I’m hoping it’s the former.

They seem to be working well together, and given the immense amount of talent all these guys have, they could go really far if booked the right way.

I still find myself wondering, however, where this stable is going. I can’t tell if it’s going to allow one of those guys (maybe Dolph Ziggler or Jack Swagger) to turn face, if it’s going to lead someone (Christian perhaps) to a World title shot or if it’s going to wind up accomplishing almost nothing.

But I do think there’s a bigger picture than “Oh, we’re just disgruntled heels who want to file a lawsuit against Triple H,” and I think we’ll see that come Sunday.

11. Is Sheamus vs. Christian an Unofficial No. 1 Contender’s Match?

Sheamus vs. Christian hasn’t officially been announced for Vengeance, but based on the recent booking on both Raw and Smackdown, it’s safe to say that these two will indeed go toe to toe on Sunday.

That’s fine by me, because they’re two of the best stars Smackdown has to offer, and they’ll likely put on another quality match just like they did at Hell in a Cell.

And given the huge push that Sheamus has gotten as a baby face and the fact that Christian is one of Smackdown’s top heels, you have to wonder if this match will be more than just a singles match.

In fact, it may very well be an unofficial No. 1 Contender’s match for the World Heavyweight Championship, with Sheamus likely winning to reignite his feud with Mark Henry.

10. Will The Big Show be the One to Stop Mark Henry?

Mark Henry has done what no one thought was possible: beat Randy Orton on two consecutive pay-per-views. Clean.

As soon as Henry pinned Orton for the second straight time, I thought to myself, “Man, who the hell is gonna stop the World’s Strongest Man?”

Given The Big Show’s incredible size and stature, I could see it being him. But in all honesty, I think Big Show is being fed to Henry to build him up even more as an unstoppable monster.

Therefore, I don’t see Big Show having even slightest chance of winning the World Heavyweight Championship on Sunday. Henry may not win clean or Big Show may win via disqualification, but Henry will be walking away with the gold.

9. Can Alberto Del Rio Retain His WWE Championship Against John Cena?

The WWE Championship has changed hands so many times over the last few months that I’ve literally lost count, and I don’t want to try to figure it out because it’ll just piss me off that the WWE treats its most prestigious title in such a crappy way.

Considering that the creative team moves the belt from one guy to another seemingly every few weeks, one would assume that Alberto Del Rio is just going to lose the WWE Championship back to John Cena at Vengeance.

I actually don’t see that being the case, though.

With The Rock coming back for Survivor Series, the WWE will focus more on his feud with John Cena than anything else, and as a result, Del Rio will likely feud with someone else (CM Punk, maybe?) for the WWE Championship—but that’s only if all those guys I mentioned aren’t involved in a 5-on-5 match where no titles are on the line.

8. Does Triple H Have Any Authority as the WWE COO?

OK, so Triple H is the WWE COO, but John Laurinaitis runs Monday Night Raw on an interim basis while Teddy Long controls Smackdown.

So, exactly what type of power—if any—does Triple H have?

Can he make matches? Can he hire or fire wrestlers? Can he wrestle whenever he wants to?

It appears that the WWE doesn’t feel the need to address Triple H’s authority, or lack thereof, but it’s absolutely imperative that they do. We need to know what Triple H can and cannot do, and how that will affect the entire WWE.

7. Will Kane, Kevin Nash or the Undertaker Return? Will All 3 Return?

Vengeance could very well be a pay-per-view that is full of returns.

Kane, who was put on the shelf this summer by Mark Henry, is slated to be back anytime now and certainly could return for a feud with the World’s Strongest Man.

The Undertaker’s return at Vengeance has been teased by the WWE already, and like Kane, he too could return to try to stop Henry from wreaking havoc on Smackdown.

Also, with all the drama between Triple H, CM Punk, The Miz, R-Truth and John Laurinaitis, it’s almost inevitable that Kevin Nash will return and make his presence known during that tag team bout.

I don’t know about you, but I’m banking on at least one—if not more—of these guys to come back at Vengeance…with a vengeance.

6. Is There Any Chance Daniel Bryan Cashes in His Money in the Bank Briefcase?

Perhaps it’s just me, but I keep getting the sense that Daniel Bryan could be cashing in his Money in the Bank briefcase in the near future.

He hasn’t been getting a ton of TV time as of late, and even when he does, he’s been booked like a complete loser. So, why is the WWE doing this to him?

Well, many think it’s their way of humbling him now before building him back up as we get closer to WrestleMania, while others think he keeps on losing so that he’ll cash in his briefcase sometime soon and shock the world because his title win “will come completely out of the blue.”

Well, I personally think it would be awesome to see Mark Henry beat The Big Show on Sunday, have Bryan cash in his briefcase (after warning Henry before his match that he would do so), defeat Henry and then enter a long rivalry with the World’s Strongest Man.

The WWE loves David vs. Goliath stories, and if this doesn’t fit that bill, then I don’t know what does.

5. Who Lowered the Cell for The Miz and R-Truth at Hell in a Cell?

The WWE seems to have completely forgotten about this.

When the cell lowered at Hell in a Cell and allowed The Miz and R-Truth to beat the holy hell out of John Cena, Alberto Del Rio and CM Punk, the announcers were playing up the “who done it?” angle.

But that went nowhere, and I don’t understand why.

It could have made things a lot more interesting to find out who was behind the lowering of the cell, so I’m guessing I’m still holding out hope that the WWE will explain who the culprit was.

I know—I’m an idiot for thinking that the WWE won’t just let this storyline fade away into oblivion, huh?

4. What Role Will John Laurinaitis Play at the Pay-Per-View?

For some reason unbeknownst to me, the WWE has decided to make John Laurinaitis a TV character…and an important one, nonetheless.

The guy has little to no promo skills and is about as exciting as cement, but that doesn’t seem to matter—he’s sticking around, and he’s going to be a huge part of the WWE storylines for the foreseeable future.

That means we’ll see him get involved in some way, shape or form at Vengeance.

He’s likely going to stay away from most of the matches on the card, but I’d bet my bottom dollar that he’s going to have a major effect on the tag team match pitting Triple H and CM Punk against R-Truth and The Miz.

What exactly will his role be? We don’t know, but we’re all pretty confident that he’ll have one.

3. Is Randy Orton Going to Wrestle Cody Rhodes for the Intercontinental Title?

No one ever expected Randy Orton to lose clean to Mark Henry on two consecutive pay-per-views. But he did.

So, why can’t he give someone else a big rub by wrestling Cody Rhodes for the Intercontinental Championship on Sunday? Well, he can.

Though the IC belt is considered a mid-card title, the way Rhodes has been booked as of late and the fact that he’s feuding with Orton certainly changes that.

You can make secondary titles matter, and you can have main event stars challenge for them. It’s all about the booking.

I think we’ll see Rhodes defend his Intercontinental Championship against Orton at Vengeance, only, it’ll feel more like a main event than an upper mid-card bout.

2. Can CM Punk and Triple H Coexist Against The Miz and R-Truth?

CM Punk and Triple H sure seemed like best buddies at the end of last Monday’s Raw, but the history between these two suggests that there is always the potential for tension or friction between them.

I mean, I can’t stand that Punk is now working with Triple H as if nothing happened between them over the last couple of months. But it is what it is, I guess.

The WWE loves to ignore history, and this is a prime example of that. Or is it?

I think there’s more to Punk and Triple H teaming up than meets the eye, and this could present the perfect opportunity to have Punk screw Triple H over, vice versa or some other huge angle to go down on Sunday.

That better be the case, because if Punk and Triple H are smiling together at the end of the pay-per-view, I might have to boycott Raw for a while.

1. Will Shawn Michaels Return to Help/Cost Triple H His Match?

Vengeance takes place in San Antonio, Texas—that’s the hometown of WWE Hall of Famer Shawn Michaels.

See where I’m going here?

There is already one report that says HBK will appear at the pay-per-view to promote his upcoming DVD, but I don’t think that’s the only reason he’ll be there.

Given the current storyline between Triple H, John Laurinaitis and Kevin Nash, the opportunity is certainly there for HBK to return at the pay-per-view, give a couple of super kicks to The Miz and R-Truth and help his best friend Triple H win his match.

There’s always the chance that he costs him the bout, too, but that’s a long shot.

Either way, though, I’d bank on Michaels making his presence known in a big way when the WWE invades San Antonio on Sunday.