WWE Battleground Preview
July 20, 2014
By: Josh Boutwell of Wrestleview.com
The second annual WWE Battleground PPV comes live from Tampa, FL and will feature John Cena’s first defense of the World Title in a massive Fatal 4-Way along with a big Battle Royal to crown a new Intercontinental Champion, a 2/3 Falls Match for the Tag Titles, and much more!
Pre-Show Match
Cameron vs. Naomi
Over the past few weeks tension between The Funkadactyls has continued to rise in what seems to be jealousy from Cameron as Naomi has seen her stock in the Divas division rise even gaining some title shots. Cameron even laughed at Naomi after she was pinned by AJ at last month’s “Money in the Bank.” These former friends turned enemies take their issues to the “Battleground” on the WWE Network for the “Kickoff” show before the PPV officially begins.
J-Bout’s Pick: Naomi continues her winning ways over her former partner.
Rusev vs. “Real American” Jack Swagger
Rusev and his beautiful manager Lana have set out to prove Russia’s dominance in the WWE Universe and have done so quite convincingly thus far, but now he must face off against the former World Champion “Real American” Jack Swagger. On Raw Swagger shocked everyone when he countered Rusev’s thrust kick into the Patriot Lock seemingly getting the better of Rusev for the first time in Rusev’s WWE career. Swagger and his manager Zeb Colter want to deport anything un-American from the WWE and on RAW Rusev proclaimed that “this is war.” They take their war of nations to “Battleground.”
J-Bout’s Pick: Swagger gives Rusev a run for his money and his biggest test thus far, but in the end he makes his Russian beauty proud with another victory for “mother Russia.”
WWE Divas Championship
AJ Lee (c) vs. Paige
The night after WrestleMania Paige made her debut on WWE’s main roster and pinned AJ Lee ending her record near 300 day title reign. Ever since then Paige has successfully defended her title countless times, that is until AJ Lee made her return and on the very night she returned took back her title from the younger Paige. Now we get the rubber match, one-on-one for the third time with both divas having a win a piece against each other. The relationship between AJ and Paige has been odd to say the least. There is an obvious mutual respect there but this rivalry has also brought out a bit of a mean streak and much more aggression from Paige.
J-Bout’s Pick: Paige will come within a breath of once again winning the Divas Title but the veteran AJ Lee is able to pull it off leading to Paige’s heel turn.
Bray Wyatt vs. “Y2J” Chris Jericho
Chris Jericho made his return to the WWE this month but immediately Bray Wyatt and his Wyatt Family left an impression on the veteran with a vicious attack. Wyatt has set his sights on the former WWE Champion and has taunted Jericho relentlessly asking him how he will “save” the fans from him. Jericho has spent the majority of his time in the last few years facing more young stars and it looks to be that Wyatt is the next in line for him. Why Wyatt has set his sights on the former Undisputed Champion is yet unknown as the cult leader like Wyatt has kept his motives to himself thus far. Will we get any answers or will Jericho become another victim of the creepy Wyatt. This match could very well be the show stealer of the night.
J-Bout’s Pick: In what could be a show stealer, Jericho and Bray put on a hell of a match but Bray gets the win in the end.
WWE World Tag Team Championships
2/3 Falls Match
The Usos (c) vs. The Wyatt Family
The Wyatts and The Usos have set out to bring back the tag division in the WWE and with their exciting series of matches they very well might be on the way to doing that. The big, monstrous Wyatts along with Luke Harper’s crazy athleticism and the exciting, high flying Usos seem to be the perfect clash of styles for tremendous matches. The two teams have traded victories in the past including The Usos successfully beating The Wyatts last month at “Money In The Bank.” Now in a 2/3 Falls Match things will be taken to the next level with the winning team needing two falls to win the match and the Tag Team Championships. Can The Usos once again keep their titles or will the Wyatts finally unseat the Samoan tandem.
J-Bout’s Pick: Another match with show stealer potential, I think The Wyatts finally take the belts from The Usos leading to yet another showdown between these two teams at “SummerSlam.”
Ever since Seth Rollins turned on his Shield brethren Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose the rivalry between Ambrose and Rollins has been simmering, but at “Battleground” the rivalry will explode in what could be an exciting but violent battle. The eccentric and almost psychotic Ambrose has promised to gain his revenge over Rollins for his treachery in selling out to The Authority, but let’s not forget that Rollins is on a big roll having won the Money In The Bank briefcase last month. This match will truly resemble a “Battleground.”
J-Bout: My prediction for Match of the Night, Rollins uses the advantage of the fact that The Authority beat Abrose down on RAW and continue his winning ways.
WWE Intercontinental Championship
Battle Royal
“The King of Swing” Cesaro vs. Kofi Kingston vs. The Great Khali vs. “The Whole F’N Show” Rob Van Dam vs. “Show Off” Dolph Ziggler vs. Big E vs. Ryback vs. Curtis Axel vs. Alberto del Rio vs. Bo Dallas vs. “The Celtic Warrior” Sheamus vs. Fandango vs. Sin Cara II vs. Zack Ryder vs. The Miz vs. Diego vs. R-Truth vs. Xavier Woods vs. Heath Slater vs. Titus O’Neil
A few weeks ago Intercontinental Champion Wade Barrett suffered a severe should injury forcing him to vacate his championship. Now a new champion will be crowned in a massive Battle Royal featuring several young stars as well as former IC Champions. The current United States Champion Sheamus will look to double up his gold and become a dual champion but surging stars like Bo Dallas will look to win his first WWE championship. Also former IC Champions like Kofi Kingston, Dolph Ziggler, RVD, and Big E will look to once again hold the strap and let’s not forget the rising Cesaro is no strangers to Battle Royals having won the Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal at WrestleMania.
J-Bout’s Pick: Sheamus unifies the U.S. & IC Titles.
WWE World Heavyweight Championship
Fatal 4-Way Match
John Cena (c) vs. “The Demon” Kane vs. “Legend Killer” Randy Orton vs. Roman Reigns
In the Main Event the new World Champion John Cena defends his title for the first time and does so against two former World Champions in Kane and Randy Orton along with the young Roman Reigns who looks to win his first ever World Championship. Kane has been working for The Authority and working to regain the World Title for The Authority and more importantly the HHH proclaimed “face of the WWE” in Randy Orton, but will Kane’s own hope to once again regain championship gold get in the way of Orton regaining his title? Don’t count out Roman Reigns either as the powerful newcomer has been on a quest to gain that title ever since the split of The Shield, but John Cena as always won’t go down without a fight even when defending against three foes.
J-Bout’s Pick: Cena uses the recent dissension between Orton and Kane to squeak out a win in his first title defense.
Wrestleview.com will have live results starting at 8:00 p.m. Eastern (7:00 CT).