WWE Battleground 2016 Predictions

No more fitting a place for WWE Battleground than the Nation’s Capital.  Until I read through the card, I didn’t even realize just how many matches they had managed to get in this thing.  No, I’m not excited about the Darren Young match either, so let’s get through that one, as I’m anticipating it will be one of the Preshow Matches.

Darren Young Vs The Miz for the Intercontinental Championship

Matt:  First, how can anything be great again if it were never great to begin with?  Anyway, I think it is a terrible travesty that they’ve managed to degrade the Intercontinental Title like they have over the last few months.  Can you remember just how good the IC scene had been thus far in 2016?  Ambrose and KO with the brutal Ironman Match at RR.  Zack Ryder pulling off the upset that I totally picked at Wrestlemania.  The fact that this title has consistently presented the best group of talent the company had to offer for so long, and now this.  It’s a gimmick match where the gimmick is Bob Backlund, some senile old dude.  I don’t understand how this happened.  And I’m going to be really pissed off if Miz drops this title to Darren Freaking Young, which means you can pretty well bank on a Darren Young win here.  But I’m going with The Miz with a roll up on a Maryse distraction.  

Jeremy: I’m having a hard time making up my mind on this one.  On one hand, Miz has had a couple of excellent defenses of the IC title.  At 100-something days though, I think they’re going to drop the belt and give Darren Young a shot.  I believe Darren Young accidentally gets the pin on Miz to start an uninspired IC Title run.  If only Bob could win it through some technicality.

Becky Lynch Vs Natalya

Matt:  I’m excited about this match for two reasons.  One of the competitors is Becky Lynch, which automatically peaks my interest.  And two, if Natalya is the other competitor, at least she isn’t in the same tired match against Charlotte.  I don’t expect them to let Natalya take the loss here since they constantly have her on standby for Women’s Championship matches, but I’m taking The Punmaster, Becky Lynch with the Disarmher.

Jeremy: First, you have to check out this tweet:

Becky was a high pick in the draft.  I believe that faith in Becky will lead to a win here.  After all, I expect Smackdown to lose pretty big tonight overall.  I think this will be one of the bright spots if they’re given enough time and a good spot on the card.  Probably not though.  Becky gets the submission.

The New Day Vs The Wyatt Family

Matt:  The Tag belts are again not being defended at a PPV event.  In this case though, at least we don’t have to sit through another Final Deletion knock off (with racially charged undertones) as they’ll actually be in an arena.  New Day won’t lose, especially to a team that won’t exist anymore come Monday, which also means that in spite of looking like monsters on television for the last month, The Wyatt Family again gets to eat a loss at a PPV event.  New Day wins on a Big E hot tag where he slams Bigman McAssSweat.

Jeremy:  I’m going to vote against history and take the Wyatt Family, specifically Bray pinning Xavier.  There’s no belts on the line and the Wyatt Family as we know it is basically done.  That’s basically the same situation that led to the League of Nations defeating the New Day at Wrestlemania.

Rusev Vs Zack Ryder for the United States Championship

Matt:  I’m torn on this one.  I don’t want either of these guys to have to lose, but I don’t expect Rusev to drop that belt to anybody for a while.  I would much rather the challengers were swapped for the US and IC titles.  I would very much enjoy seeing Zack Ryder get another shot at Miz because that just sort of disappeared right after Mania, and watching Rusev Crush Darren Young and then put Backlund in the Accolade would be quite entertaining.  (Edited) Initially, I banked on Rusev winning here, but I can’t.  I just can’t.  My heart is most definitely on team Hype.  I’m taking Zack Ryder with the Elbro.  And I’m doing it entirely because of this:

Legends of the Hidden Temple! #SDCC @NickelodeonTV pic.twitter.com/2x0L2VkqfI

— Zack Ryder (@ZackRyder) July 22, 2016

Jeremy:  I hate to say it, but Ryder is the second after Titus in the long line of people expected to job to monster heel Rusev.  It’s clear to me that, while he might not be reigning for 7 years, the WWE want to have a good run.  The only way I can see this shaking out differently is to balance out the titles.  Ryder could win the US Championship taking it to Smackdown if they’re planning on taking the WWE Championship to Raw.  I’d love Smackdown to dominate the titles but I just don’t see that happening.  I think the result of this match might telegraph the result of the main event.  I’m still going to go with Rusev via Submission.

John Cena, Enzo & Cass Vs The Club (AJ Styles, Gallows & Anderson)

Matt:  This one is hard to pick for me.  You know I love John Cena, and Enzo & Cass are one of my favorite parts of any broadcast.  But I think it’s important to keep AJ Styles momentum up as he’s being split from the other three members of Balor Club.  What I see happening here is going to be geared towards getting Gallows and Anderson with Balor and away from AJ.  I see Finn coming down and Michael Cole going insane about how he’s coming to help The Club, then he turns on AJ.  I’m predicting a Finn Balor Vs AJ Styles match at Summerslam, and when Gallows and Anderson inevitably turn on AJ in that match, BC Balor Club will be born and those shirts might finally mean something.  John Cena hits an AA on the big one though, that’s going down.  The Club wins via DQ on Balor interference

Jeremy:  I have both Enzo and AJ in my fantasy league so I’m winning either way.  Bálor interfering necessitates a heel turn.  I don’t think they want another heel on Raw right now.  I could actually see Bálor interfering and teasing helping the club only to help Cena and crew.  I don’t know, I could be wrong.  If no Bálor interference, I’m expecting Cena and crew to go over.  But for the sake of this, I’m also saying The Club wins via DQ on Balor interference.

Kevin Owens Vs Sami Zayn

Matt:  I think it would be a fun drinking game if you had to take a drink every time one of the commentary team mentions how well these guys know each other.  This will be a fantastic match, but its another of those that you’ve seen so many times and will continue to see until you just lose interest in it all together.  Neither of these guys lose this match.  I think the fight goes to the outside and gets a double count out.  I really wish they had actual gimmick matches more often.  Give these guys a No Holds Barred match or something, let them use weapons and really play off the seething hatred they have for one another.  Double Count Out

Jeremy:  I think we can all agree that this isn’t going to be the definitive end to this feud, no matter how they’re hyping this.  They’re going to fight forever.  I will pick a victor for tonight’s contest though.  I think it’ll be Owens with a pin.

Charlotte and Dana Brooke Vs Sasha Banks and Bayley

Matt:  Oh, I tipped my hand in the header for this one, but I think we’re all pretty well convinced that we’re getting Bayley here, although I guess it could be Carmella, so you can expect it to be Paige.  Charlotte has to win this one, if only because it will make her “Super Bitch” character that much stronger as we head towards an actual title match at Summerslam.  While I’m making Summerslam match predictions, if the mystery partner is Bayley, I want a Triple Threat match.  You’ve got to put Bayley and Sasha in the same ring in Brooklyn to try to catch lightning in a bottle twice.  What I really want is a Fatal Four Horsewomen match, which wouldn’t be hard to arrive at if Becky gets a massive win on Natalya as Natalya was just the number one contender (for like 6 straight months).  I think it is more beneficial to have Sasha lose here, and while I would prefer it to be a clean loss, the dirtiest player in the game has to live up to character and find a way to cheat her way to a win so Sasha can whine about it all through August.  Charlotte wins via Figure 8 after some Dana Brooke tomfoolery.  

Jeremy:  If we end up with Bayley as the mystery partner, Sasha and the Hugster are winning without question.  I think Bayley will shutdown any aforementioned Dana Brooke tomfoolery.  If it’s anyone else, Nia Jaxx, Alexa Bliss, etc., they’re going to lose.  I really think that Bayley is getting called up here though.  I even dropped Luke Gallows on my fantasy team for her.  Sasha and Bayley win with a Banks Statement after a Bayley-to-Belly suplex to  Charlotte.

Roman Reigns Vs Dean Ambrose Vs Seth Rollins for the WWE Championship

Matt: I’m going to predict all sorts of chaos in this one. Scenario One, the belt goes back to Roman.  Why?  I think it’s the least predictable move here.  And with the Ambrose move to Smackdown, giving them the belt to bicker over on Raw makes a ton of sense, and Ambrose will be first in line when Smackdown reveals its new Championship belt.  Also, there was a disconnect that Mick Foley brought up between his desire to take Roman in the draft and Stephanie not wanting anything to do with him, and if they really want to make use of the Steph-Foley dynamic here, what better way than giving the belt to the one Stephanie definitely doesn’t want to have it so that she has to decide whether to maintain The Authority and get involved to aid Rollins get the belt from Roman at the risk of her GM turning on her.  Alternatively, I’ll play a wild card here, and that’s Triple H’s involvement with every one of these guys in the last year.  Rollins was his protege, he had that amazing match with Ambrose at Roadblock, and of course the Mania match and the boos that rocked the Jerry Dome.  Could we be looking at a Fatal Four Way between the group formerly known as The Shield and The Game at Summerslam?  The more I make predictions, the more I think I’m just geared up to get Battleground out of the way and move on towards the meat and potatoes event.  In this scenario, H clocks one of them with the sledgehammer and hits a pedigree on the other with the referee down, rolling Rollins on top of the one in the ring for the pin.  I like this scenario too.  Now I don’t know which chaos I’m hoping for.  Obviously I don’t see this being straightforward in any way.  Third possibility, the Roman heel turn and an alignment with Rollins to take out Ambrose.  Then you get to play in to the scrappy, fighting underdog in Ambrose that we all love, as he battles back (with a countless number of those bouncing through the ropes lariat things he does) to retain and take the belt to Smackdown.  Good God, I just wrote 3 quality possibilities for this and the company/creative won’t be anywhere in the ballpark.  So which one do I go with?  Let’s go with Door Number 2, just so I get Triple H back

Jeremy:  So on my fantasy team, I have Rollins.  The money is on Rollins winning this match.  There’s no way Roman is winning it after a suspension.  If that happens, this site will have one less contributor come Monday.  I want a longer title reign but I’ll accept it if Rollins is the victor, as long as he makes Ambrose look good in the process.  I don’t think we’re going to have any interference.  If there’s any shenanigans, it’ll be a similar to the double-pin from Monday.  If that’s the case, I expect they split the title.  For the sake of simplicity, I’m going to say Rollins wins via pinfall.  Again, I think if Ryder wins the US Title, Rollins has this on lock if they’re not creating (or bringing back) any major titles.

Overall Predictions, Wild Cards, Etc.

Matt:  I think that the Rusev-Zack Ryder match is going to be match of the evening, regardless of Bayley or any of the other chaos I’ve predicted that probably won’t happen anyway.  I actually wouldn’t mind Ryder taking the US Title to Smackdown and being some sort of John Cena protege, firing up the US Open Challenge again and showing that he’s a damn good wrestler, they just needed to give him a chance.  I think this may also be the first time I haven’t predicted Bray Wyatt chaos in one of these things, and I’m feeling like I’ve let you all down by doing so.  So Sister Abigail (Paige) will appear in the 6-Man Tag match and cost New Day the victory.  Let’s go ultra chaotic, Eva Marie is Sasha’s partner, and she gets the win over Charlotte, then she goes on to win the Women’s Championship at Summerslam.  I think I just threw up a little.  I do predict a lot of interference and such just to get some of these people going in the direction they need to be headed to get to Summerslam.  We’ve got to see Finn, because I don’t think Gallows and Anderson can operate on their own and now they’ve lost AJ.  And I’m going to ask again, why is Darren Young even in the conversation for the company’s second most important belt?  Maybe I’ll predict interference in that one too, and Neville is somehow involved so he gets Miz at Summerslam for the IC Belt.  And while I’m at it, is anyone else a little saddened that there is no Gift of Jericho anywhere on this card?  That’s just sad.

You’re welcome.

Jeremy:  Vader comes back and enters the new Raw cruiserweight devision.  It doesn’t matter that he’s underweight.

And Correction.  Jericho is on the card.  He’s hosting Orton on Talk is Jericho to hype the Brock Summerslam match and is surely to eat an RKO or two before the night is out.