WWE BATTLEGROUND Preview:

Tonight is the long-awaited WWE PPV Battleground 8pm Eastern on the WWE Network. Taking place live from the Verizon Center in Washington, D.C. I am super excited for this match card based on the fact it is going to determine the future of the WWE. The brand split has raised many questions with the recent WWE Draft. Personally I see many good and bad things that come out of this but we will only know by the end of the tonight. Let’s preview the matches that will change the WWE Universe!!

Kickoff Show
Usos vs Breezango
This is going to be a warmup match for the crowd piling in, in what usually is a good energetic scene in the Verizon Center. Breezango to me has a huge upside in the long run. We haven’t seen much of the Usos on Raw and Smackdown lately so it’ll be interesting if this is just another match or they will actually make them competitive again in the tag team division. Not a bad match from my view but in today’s society nobody has the patience to appreciate the work in a good match on paper.

Highlight Reel with Chris Jericho Featuring Randy Orton
I am a little confused as to why this is even on the PPV. Maybe we will see Brock Lesnar interference or Randy Orton possibly putting Chris Jericho through a table just to get the crowd on his side. I am not too interested in this segment even though Randy Orton is one of the better wrestlers in the company today. A waste of time to fill space is what comes to mind.

New Day vs Wyatt Family
Unfortunately this feud could have been so epic but again WWE had to kill it with the recent WWE Draft. After having a great segment at the Wyatt Family compound, New Day will be staying together with the Wyatts breaking up after this match. I am a huge Bray Wyatt fan and you just wish he would get the push he deserves already. Maybe Bray turns against his family and destroys everyone after the match? That is the only way this would be interesting. Another match where the outcome won’t matter at all unless they doing something dramatic.

Becky Lynch vs Natalya
Becky Lynch and Natalya are two of the most talented and well equipped female wrestlers today. Not giving Natalya any love and Becky switching partners every month pushes them to the bottom of the barrel which they do not deserve. This clash should have been written better with a more dramatic storyline then another partner who turned on Becky. Natalya and Becky Lynch will put on a better match than expected as long as the WWE gives them a decent amount of time for their segment.

Charlotte & Dana Brooke vs Sasha Banks & Mystery Partner
The big question since this match was announced is who is going to be Sasha’s partner? Obviously everyone in the world wants it to be Bayley, but WWE does have a tendency to go against the people just to prove whose in control. I have heard names like Eva Marie, Carmella, and even Nikki Bella. With the crowd expecting Bayley anybody who comes out will get booed out of the gym unless it is Bayley. The only other name I can think of to get some sort of recognition is Asuka. Asuka injured Dana Brooke in NXT so there is some history there and is arguably the best female wrestler in the company. I’ll be biting my nails like everyone else until we have the answer to, who is Sasha Banks’ mystery partner?

Kevin Owens vs Sami Zayn
I can write 100 pages on why this match is going to be amazing. With the move sets and history these best friends have on the indy scene, this will be your match of the night. A rivalry that we all wished would last forever. Crowds have ironically chanted “fight forever” when these two square off. Kevin Owens is a genius in terms of mic skills and in-ring psychology. Sami Zayn is your perfect underdog to get behind and root for considering all the injuries he has been through.I am a huge fan of Sami and I will be on the edge of my seat this whole match, unless of course WWE lets somebody win by DQ or interference which would cause a riot at the Verizon Center.

Cena, Enzo & Big Cass vs The Club
Enzo and Big Cass shockingly joined John Cena in the fight versus AJ Styles, Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson. Enzo and Cass have a great gimmick going and to pit them with John Cena shows that the people backstage are clearly high on them. Another segment which should be entertaining and might even be a good idea to start the show with given the mic skills from almost every wrestler in this match. Is it going to be #BeatUpJohnCena day or The Club turning SAWFT after the match concludes? The future is foggy for The Club after being split up by the WWE Draft. Another match I believe will be fun and exciting for the fans.

United States Championship
Rusev vs Zack Ryder
Rusev and Zack Ryder have been forced to compete against each other in the weirdest way. I can’t even remember how this feud started to be honest. I am a fan of Zack Ryder and was happy for him with his big IC win at WrestleMania. Nobody wants to see Rusev, they all want to see Lana, which we have had a small taste of with her in-ring abilities. So we don’t really know how good she is. This match will be a low point for me with Rusev most likely retaining the United States Championship with his infamous “Rusev Crush.” A good time to take a bathroom break or even play Pokemon Go!

Intercontinental Championship
The Miz vs Darren Young
A rush of energy ran through my body when Darren Young signaled for the CrossFace Chicken Wing last week! Bob Backlund and Darren Young are entertaining whether your an old school fan or not. The Miz has been the same gimmick for years and Maryse is a nice addition. It would be funny if Maryse and Bob somehow got into it distracting Miz and Darren Young coming away with the victory! Once again WWE won’t give the fans what they want unless their investors agree. So another match which could have the potential to be really good but a Miz win with a distraction by Maryse seems to be the consensus like we have seen 1000 times.

WWE Championship
Dean Ambrose vs Seth Rollins vs Roman Reigns
Whether you like it or not this is the match everyone has wanted since The Shield broke up. “The Man” against “The Guy” against “The Dude.” Personally I think it was a little to premature to do it this earlier but everyone will be looking forward to this. Former Shield buddies with injuries plaguing almost every member up until this point. A match which should have been saved for a WrestleMania opportunity and a little bit better of a build up. Who is going to be the victor? Was the Roman Reigns suspension for Adderall a work? (Find out HERE with an article written by Mr. Skatronixxx himself) Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose work magic segments together and will always come through entertaining in my opinion. Another possibility in this match is we can see some type of tag teaming back and forth between the 3 former Shield members. A match everyone will be glued to the television for in hopes of something spectacular happening. I can’t see this match failing in any way, but if it does I will be extremely disappointed and it will kind of be a turn-off with the let down of the recent WWE Draft. Come on WWE, don’t fail your beloved WWE UNIVERSE Tonight!

Rumor Mill: WWE Bringing Back MVP/Shelton Benjamin?

An article by Mike Killam of wrestlezone.com which you can view by clicking HERE! states that the former WWE veterans may be making in-ring returns. A podcast called the Gerwick Report, recently had former Smackdown GM Teddy Long as a guest on it. Teddy Long had spoken with MVP and rumor has it that he has already signed with the company and is waiting to hear back from the doctors to be cleared for in-ring competition. Teddy also implied that the return of Shelton Benjamin is on its way also which could bring back recognition to the lesser United States and Intercontinental Titles.

Shelton Benjamin could definitely be an awesome addition to the team of recent Smackdown Draftees American Alpha (Jason Jordan, Chad Gable). Shelton is a world-class athlete who could teach some of the upcoming NXT wrestlers a thing or two. MVP would open opportunities in every title situation as he has shown his wide range of skills from tag teaming to singles competition. Let’s be honest for a second, the stuff MVP did with TNA was not that bad! Unfortunately not too many eyes were on the product at the time but again as a boss in TNA or a star in Japan, it is a great addition for WWE if they do add both of these awesome veteran wrestlers.

WWE Draft Lottery Mayhem!

With the impending news that the WWE Draft is going to take place tonight, I thought I’d have a little fun and  do a prediction game. I can pretty much guarantee that most people reading this will have done their own fantasy draft in their head already as who they’d like to see on each show, so I thought I’d chip in with my thoughts.

Well what is the WWE draft? For those of you that don’t know the draft is where wrestlers get assigned to brand specific shows, in other words if you get picked to appear on Smackdown you can’t appear on Raw and vice versa. It’s what the WWE Universe has been crying out for, for years we’ve seen talented wrestlers fall by the wayside by not giving a chance to shine. How would have Cody Rhodes or Damien Sandow fared if there had been a brand split in place before their releases or even Wade Barrett? One can only imagine!

THE RULES

So what are the rules you ask? well WWE.com states the following:

‘The rules for the WWE Draft are as follows:

• Raw has the first overall pick
• Since SmackDown Live is a two-hour show and Raw is three hours, for every two picks SmackDown Live receives, Raw will receive three picks
• Tag teams count as one pick unless a Commissioner/General Manager specifically only wants one member of the team
• Six draft picks will be made off the NXT roster ‘

THE ROSTER

It then goes on to list the following superstars and divas eligible for draft selection:

‘The list of current WWE Superstars eligible for the WWE Draft will be as follows:

Male Superstars

• AJ Styles
• Alberto Del Rio
• Apollo Crews
• Baron Corbin
• Big Show
• Braun Strowman
• Bray Wyatt
• Brock Lesnar
• Cesaro
• Chris Jericho
• Darren Young (w/ Bob Backlund)
• Dean Ambrose – WWE Champion
• Demon Kane
• Dolph Ziggler
• Erick Rowan
• Jack Swagger
• John Cena
• Kalisto
• Kevin Owens
• Mark Henry
• Neville
• Randy Orton
• Roman Reigns
• Rusev (w/ Lana) – United States Champion
• Sami Zayn
• Seth Rollins
• Sheamus
• Sin Cara
• The Miz (w/ Maryse) – Intercontinental Champion
• Titus O’Neil
• Zack Ryder

Tag Teams

• Breezango (Fandango and Tyler Breeze)
• Enzo and Cass (Enzo Amore and Big Cass)
• Gallows and Anderson (Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson)
• Golden Truth (Goldust and R-Truth)
• Shining Stars (Epico and Primo)
• Social Outcasts (Bo Dallas, Curtis Axel and Heath Slater)
• The Ascension (Konnor and Viktor)
• The Dudley Boyz (Bubba Ray and D-Von Dudley)
• The New Day (Big E, Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods) – Tag Team Champions
• The Usos (Jey and Jimmy Uso)
• The Vaudevillains (Aiden English and Simon Gotch)

Female Superstars

• Alicia Fox
• Becky Lynch
• Charlotte – WWE Women’s Champion
• Dana Brooke
• Eva Marie
• Naomi
• Natalya
• Paige
• Sasha Banks
• Summer Rae ‘

HOW WILL THE PREDICTIONS WORK?

Well I’m going to do a relatively short article as if I did each individual draft pick and the reasoning behind it, I’d be here for hours, instead I’ll give you my complete rosters at the bottom of the article.

WHAT ABOUT THE CHAMPIONSHIPS?

Well anyone who watched Raw last night will know about the awkward but obvious finish to the world title match. This was signposted as we needed to have dual champions for each brand and what better way to do that than by having that kinda ending. Yes it sucked and yes it was obvious, but yes it made sense.

As for the secondary titles, with the news that Raw will be bringing back the Cruiserweights I have made the bold prediction that Smackdown will be home of the Divas.

As for the Intercontinental and United States championship? Although I see the Intercontinental as the clear middle card title, I see it going to Smackdown so that leaves the United States title for Raw.

HOW MANY PICKS DO EACH SIDE GET?

With Raw getting 3 picks to every 2 for Smackdown and there being about 52 picks (I’m not going to split teams or try not too although I see that happening), this works out to around 21 for Smackdown and 31 for Raw. I’m making sure that each brand gets 3 NXT picks each as well. So that leaves us with 24 for Smackdown and 34 for Raw.

SO WHAT DO MY ROSTERS LOOK LIKE CURRENTLY?

Raw                                                                                              Smackdown

Seth Rollins – WWE Champion                                           Dean Ambrose – World Champion

Rusev – United States Champion                                       The Miz – intercontinental Champion

Kallisto – Cruiserweight                                                        Charlotte – WWE Womens Champion

Neville – Cruiserweight                                                         Sasha Banks – Womens Wrestler

Sami Zayn – Cruiserweight                                                  Becky Lynch – Womens Wrestler

Jimmy Uso – Cruiserweight                                                  Natalya – Womens Wrestler

Jey Uso – Cruiserweight                                                         Paige- Womens Wrestler

Epico – Cruiserweight                                                             Dana Brooke – Womens Wrestler

Primo – Cruiserweight                                                            Eva Marie   – Womens Wrestler

Sin Cara – Cruiserweight                                                       Alicia Fox –  Womens Wrestler

You may have noticed that I have left of Naomi and Summer Rae, this is due to the need for valets on Raw, with Naomi being married to one of The Uso’s this makes the most sense to me, along with Summer Rae.

WHAT ABOUT THE REST?

I see the rosters made up of the following picks:

Raw                                                                                              Smackdown

Alberto Del Rio                                                                         AJ Styles

Big Show                                                                                    Apollo Crews

Braun Strowman                                                                     Baron Corbin

Brock Lesnar                                                                            Bray Wyatt

Chris Jericho                                                                            Cesaro

Darren Young                                                                          John Cena

Demon Kane                                                                            Kevin Owens

Dolph Ziggler                                                                          Randy Orton

Erick Rowan                                                                            Gallows & Anderson

Jack Swagger                                                                           Golden Truth

Mark Henry

Roman Reigns

Sheamus

Titus O’Neil

Zack Ryder

Breezango

Enzo and Cass

Social Outcasts

The Ascension

The Dudley Boyz

The New Day

The Vaudevillains

NXT DRAFT PICKS

Raw                                                                                              Smackdown

Austin Aries                                                                               Bayley

Corey Graves                                                                              Samoa Joe

 Fin Balor                                                                                     American Alpha

FINAL THOUGHTS

Are the rosters fair? Definitely not, the fact that Raw is an extra hour does not allow them to have an additional 10 draft picks and it clearly shows, with the massive difference in numbers of talent.

Could I get this horribly wrong? Did I make a massive error by assuming that Smackdown will be the home of the Divas? Probably! Who knows, let’s find out tomorrow, how many I got right!