411’s WWE Battleground Preview

~THE STAFF~
* 411 contributor, Mr. Ken Kill.
* 411 columnist, Mr. Steve Cook.
* 411 contributor, Mr. Mitch Nickelson.
* 411 contributor, Mr. Paul Leazar.
* 411 columnist, Mr. Jake Chambers.
* 411 reviewer extraordinaire, Mr. Kevin Pantoja.
* 411 columnist, and the man who originally had the idea for the Punjabi prison back in 1977 while creating the internet with Al Gore (on another website), Mr. Justin Watry.
* 411, Mr. .

Kickoff Pre-show: Aiden English vs. Tye Dillinger

JUSTIN WATRY: Meh. I may or may not even watch the Kickoff hour of Battleground. Certainly not for something like Aiden English vs. Tye Dillinger. Pretty sure this has happened before on a pre-show. Either way, I am actually not THAT negative about these two on the blue brand in 2017. I always figured Tye would be the mid-card fan favorite who just kinda comes and goes where the company sees fit…and English, well, he is the heel that gets beat up. Like Curt Hawkins, only less annoying and more talented. My prediction is Tye wins and MAYBE gets into an actual feud. Maybe.

WINNER: Tye Dillinger

“Perfect Ken” Hill:
Tye should make like Gangster John,
put English away quick as a bullet.
He’ll be halfway to a “Perfect 10” streak
after stuffing a loss down Aiden’s operatic gullet.

WINNER: Tye Dillinger

Steve Cook: A battle of two guys mostly known for backstage cameos lately. Good thing that NXT training got them ready for it. Dillinger seems like the choice here as he’s still over & Aiden’s character doesn’t really need to win matches.

WINNER: Tye Dillinger

Mitch Nickelson : With rare exceptions, I’ll always pick the babyfaces to win on the pre-show matches. Tye is being horribly under-utilized right now, so at least this win over English will be something for him. As for English, he’s basically relegated to the lowest levels of the card. I don’t see him getting too many W’s any time in the near future.

WINNER: Tye Dillinger

Paul Leazar: How many times can you squash somebody before people begin to not care? How long can you keep somebody off of the weekly TV show before all the buzz he created goes away? Well, we find out the answers when Tye squashes Aiden once again on the pre-show.

WINNER: Tye Dillinger

Jake Chambers: Scary how similar this entire show is to the May Backlash show, right down to the exact same pre-show match. Back in that Roundtable column I’d written how this match was one of the few things on THAT show that interested me… but, ugh, seeing it back again is just sad. Anyways, then I predicted that despite being intrigued by seeing these two guys try to create something with their new gimmicks and roles on Smackdown that they’d probably just end up in a thrown-together tag team on Main Event in a year… I’m moving that prediction up to 6 months now.

WINNER: Tye Dillinger

Kevin Pantoja: This is on the Kickoff? I had no clue. It hasn’t helped that almost the entire build has been done via social media. Tye’s also beaten Aiden rather handily each time they’ve met. I know it would like Aiden should finally get one over on Tye, but the WWE tends to have babyfaces win these Kickoff matches. I’m going with Tye, though neither guy seems to be gaining any sort of momentum.

WINNER: Tye Dillinger

Sami Zayn vs. Mike Kanellis

@JustinWatry: It is Mike Kanellis, not Bennett. At least that I what I thought. His debut match on Tuesday night was extremely underwhelming and felt like filler five seconds in. Maria is the star of the duo, so let’s try and keep the focus on her. Mike will struggle to stand out on his own, as he always has in every company he has ever wrestled for. Tough break for him. Working with an under dog like Sami Zayn will definitely help. Still, I do worry about the Power Of Love gimmick going forward. It has only been a month, so patience is called for here. Just saying-early gut reaction is not very favorable. When Mike and Maria signed, I said it would be on Mike to prove the doubters wrong and make me care about him. So far…I’m still waiting. Show me on Sunday.

WINNER: Mike Kanellis

“Ken You Feel the Love” Hill:
A curious thing
Makes Sami Zayn weep, that is
The Power of Love.

WINNER: Mike Kanellis

Steve Cook: The Kanellis family needs the win here to get things going. Sami can lose to Mike a few times and not lose anything, and he’ll probably be doing just that.

WINNER: Mike Kanellis

Mitch Nickelson : Mike loves Maria, so much so that he’s willing to break cultural norms to take her last name in marriage. Whatever, there’s no harm in that. Mike will gladly endure the sneers and snickers of JBL and Vince for whatever perceived emasculation is going on, but he WILL NOT STAND for the Woody Allen-ish awkwardness of Sami Zayn. A man who talks that much with his hands definitely needed a vase busted up side his head. I’m hoping that this feud is still on the front end, so I’ll give Sami the nod for now. I see Mike ultimately winning the war, however.

WINNER: Sami Zayn

Paul Leazar: Sami has been the resident punching bag since arriving to Smackdown, and I think you can see it wearing on him character wise. Sami hasn’t been the same since Baron wailed on his head while it rested on the guardrail. He’s been goofy, aloof, and, just kinda off. While I think this might be building up to something more for Sami down the line, he has to play the part here, and Mike Kanellis will get the win because he just got here, and he needs to look like he can hang. As much as I think Sami could really use the win here to keep his credibility somewhat in tact, I just see this going Mike’s way. While I’m not overly invested in Mike, and can’t ever say I’ve been a huge fan of his work, he’s fine, and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t think the sickly love the Kanellis’ portray didn’t have legs to be a big act over on the blue brand.

WINNER: Mike Kanellis

Jake Chambers: At Backlash in May, Zayn was used as mid-card enhancement talent for Baron Corbin, and now he’s back in that same slot doing the same job for “Kanellis”. The former Mike Bennet’s spot on this card illustrates everything that’s wrong with NXT, but Zayn’s continued position as the main roster workhorse who has to prove himself is slowly slipping out of Daniel Bryan territory and into Dolph Ziggler purgatory. There is something seriously apocalyptic about the WWE career trajectory of these two. Has anybody checked Revelations lately, is this match described in there anywhere?

WINNER: Mike Kanellis

Kevin Pantoja: I remember thinking Sami would be the top candidate for Mike’s first program. Sami’s lovable, a great performer, always gets the crowd invested and loses quite often. I expect more of that here. It won’t be a total one-sided squash like their Smackdown match, but I get the sense Sami’s in control for the most part. Maria will get involved in some way, leading to a Kanellis win. Sooner or later, though, Sami has to start winning. Right? Right?

WINNER: Mike Kanellis

Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Baron Corbin

Justin Watry: I suppose a trademarked “no explanation needed” response works here. Unfortunately, I need fill space and hit my word count, so here is a little bit of fluff. My column on Tuesday was misinterpreted. Not one single person in the comment section or on Twitter caught it. I mean, I guess skipping the opening paragraph is standard practice nowadays? That may have helped with the reading comprehension. My Battleground preview column was a spoof, a lengthy way to mock those who love unpredictability in wrestling. I thought I made that pretty clear in the opening/closing paragraphs but again, I guess those just get skipped by readers in 2017. Either way, big fail by everybody for missing the point. Oh well! Shinsuke Nakamura wins, heads towards a big Summerslam match, and Baron Corbin continues his losing ways…until becoming WWE Champion.

WINNER: Shinsuke Nakamura

Ken Hill:
It’s often dictated that MITB winners
be booked bad, so says the boss.
A DQ win, I predict for “The Artist”,
so Corbin can stand tall in the loss.

WINNER: Shinsuke Nakamura

Steve Cook: Baron has the briefcase. So it’s time for him to start losing, right? Probably, especially since we need some strong babyfaces to go against the heel champ.

WINNER: Shinsuke Nakamura

Mitch Nickelson : This feud hasn’t done much for me. I’m already way more intrigued by the seeds being planted for Nakamura vs. Styles to care that Baron keeps attacking Shinsuke during his entrance. This could be a decent matchup but it also could be an awkward blending of two wrestlers’ styles that simply don’t mesh well together. As long as it’s brawl-heavy, I think I’ll enjoy this. If they stay mostly in the ring, I’m not so optimistic. Baron still has the briefcase so he’ll be losing most of his matches until he cashes in, including this one.

WINNER: Shinsuke Nakamura

Paul Leazar: Welp, Baron’s got the briefcase, so that means he gets to keep on losing for a bit until they decide to have him cash in. Not to mention, Shinsuke has been down right unstoppable since he showed up on the main roster. They also continue to tease a match with AJ Styles down the line, and as much as we’re all waiting for it, I think the WWE wants to keep on building Shinsuke up and up and up before we reach that faithful day. At any rate, I look for Shinsuke to get the win here after a lengthy, if maybe somewhat dull, battle.

WINNER: Shinsuke Nakamura

Jake Chambers: The fan narratives that surround Nakamura are funny. Like that whole “he needs to be a special attraction” line that didn’t go anywhere, and now after months of generic tag matches on TV every week here he is in a PPV mid-card match no one cares about. Now there’s this whole “we need the AJ Styles match” line, like as if Nakamura didn’t have hundreds of better matches over the years than that one with Styles in New Japan, while also delusional-ly assuming that the WWE is going to let them do anything like they did back then anyways. Okay, so fine, once they’ve had their series of decreasingly un-interesting matches during the glut of autumn PPVs, what’s the next narrative we’ll have to hear repeated on Twitter, podcasts, and blogs? C’mon, don’t tell me you all can’t guess? It’s gonna be the good old “he needs to turn heel” line, right? Just wait and see.

WINNER: Baron Corbin

Kevin Pantoja: Boy, the WWE has brought up Shinsuke Nakamura and made him pretty cold almost instantly. The shitty Ziggler feud was a bad start and though the Corbin one has been an improvement, I don’t believe the match will fully allow Nakamura to showcase what makes him so good. I’m hoping the plan is for Nakamura to work Styles at SummerSlam, so we can get a “big match” Nakamura performance for the first time since TakeOver: Dallas. He’ll need to win here to set that up most likely. Plus, Corbin has the briefcase and those guys always have horrible win/loss records.

WINNER: Shinsuke Nakamura

Flag Match: Rusev vs. John Cena

JUSTIN WATRY: John Cena is winning. Sucks for Rusev but he is just there to play the evil foreigner and lose. Sorry. My real discussion point is the Tuesday after Battleground. Or should I say the Monday after? With Cena being a free agent now, you have to strike while the iron is hot on all these dream matches. Screw feuding with Rusev – that is just a way to welcome him back with a victory. Now that the 16-time WWE World Champion is on a part-time basis, there is no time to waste. Give us the Roman Reigns battle. Give us a fight with Samoa Joe. Give us a rematch with AJ Styles. Give us a Shinsuke Nakamura dream match. Heck, give us a final battle with Brock Lesnar or Triple H. Lots of cool matchups for Cena come Summerslam. I do not particularly care to see him waste time with Rusev or…Jinder Mahal.

WINNER: John Cena

“Oh Say Ken You See” Hill:
Patriotic fervor is the name of the game,
to make fans care for this gimmicky match.
Rusev’s returned, Cena feels burned out,
so of course John wins here, natch.

WINNER: John Cena

Steve Cook: I’m putting as much effort into this blurb as WWE did into booking this.

WINNER: John Cena

Mitch Nickelson : Cena had to force some Pearl Harbor and 9/11 references to hype this flag match – it was a little odd but I’ll still root for the home country whenever this match gets underway. Keep in mind that Rusev once rolled into a massive stadium inside a tank and still lost to John Cena. It would be a little preposterous if he now went over John in a goofy flag match on a B pay-per-view. Go America.

WINNER: John Cena

Paul Leazar: This should serve as a prelude to what we’ll see from Cena on the road to Summerslam. You topple one foreigner attack the good ol’ stars and stripes, you might as well beat them all up while you’re at it. This match probably won’t be the best we’ve ever seen between these two, but Rusev has something to prove here. Fresh back on the scene in the familiar gimmick we’ve all enjoyed from him in the past, Rusev needs to get his feet settled on Smackdown, and I’d wager he’ll come out of this with a mean streak in toe, and the work boots strapped on tight. However, it just simply won’t be enough, and John Cena will have his hand and the American flag raised up high in the end.

WINNER: John Cena

Jake Chambers: Finally, something to look forward to! As all the Chambys out there will know, I’m a huge Cena fan and consider him arguably the greatest WWE superstar of all time, and I believe it impossible for him to at least not have an interesting match at this point in his career – and interesting this is! Funny how strangely backwards the symbolic politics of this match is, like aren’t Americans generally being told by their media to hate Russia these days (and yes, we know technically Rusev is supposed to be Bulgarian, but WWE have muddled that up so much we all just connect him to Russia at this point, don’t we?), and yet because John Cena is the good guy in this feud, his pro-American stance positions his liberal-minded smark critics to hate him instead. Therefore, by default they want the Russian-sympathizer to win because he’s the “better wrestler” and want the American patriot to lose because he’s a “douche”, even though in real life they believe Russian secret agents are blackmailing their President into turning the country into Red Dawn. So it must be confusing for all y’all to figure out who to cheer for here. I wouldn’t know, because as any true Chamby knows, I’m Canadian and we’ve got bigger things to worry about, like training the next generation of wrestling Harts so they can bring that WWE Championship back to its rightful home.

WINNER: John Cena

Kevin Pantoja: Holy crap, this is awful. There’s so much more both guys could be doing than “RAH RAH, AMERICA BABY, WOO”. Rusev should be in Jinder’s spot as he has the skill and charisma to be a top guy. Not just some evil foreigner. Outside of the Fastlane match in 2015, this feud was atrocious then and nearly killed Rusev. There’s no way the Bulgaria flag gets waved. Cena picks up a win here to set himself up for something important at SummerSlam. Maybe a WWE Title match?

WINNER: John Cena

Fatal 5 Way Elimination #1 Contender’s Match: Charlotte Flair vs. Lana vs. Becky Lynch vs. Tamina Snuka vs.

Ken Hill:
The lazy booking rears up once more,
displaying the blue brand’s shallow division.
Tamina seems the focus of the month,
though her “twerking” causes great derision.

WINNER: Tamina Snuka

Steve Cook: This seems like a good way to get Charlotte vs. Naomi on SummerSlam without turning either one, doesn’t it? That seems like the logical thing to me anyway.

WINNER: Charlotte Flair

Mitch Nickelson : I’m not super invested in this match, nor do I think it’s going to be a show-stealer. There are some ladies who can go, but then there are some in this line-up that I’m far less optimistic about. If the gameplan is to get Naomi the best opponent possible for SummerSlam, then Charlotte is the best choice. I could see Becky Lynch also finding her way into a co-#1 Contendership, but Flair is the safer pick.

WINNER: Charlotte Flair

@JustinWatry: Lana is not winning. Tamina Snuka is not winning. Becky Lynch (again) is not winning. Natalya (hopefully) is not winning. That leaves Ms. Woo! No problem there. She was the biggest move in April’s Superstar Shakeup and with Summerslam right around the corner, I suspect she is given a huge spotlight for the event. Naomi said she would be there afterwards to confront the winner. A potential staredown between the current Smackdown Womens Champion and Charlotte is a nice hook. As is Carmella and that pesky Money in the Bank briefcase lurking around ringside. Should be a decent match; I am looking forward to it.

WINNER: Charlotte

Paul Leazar: Man, when are we going to say enough is enough with all of the multi-women matches on Smackdown’s pay-per-views? I get what they’re going for, and it’s appreciated that everybody absolutely matters over the Smackdown side of things, but were missing chances to elevate others. Once again, it’s hard for me to imagine that Charlotte misses out on the title match at Summerslam, so I’ll play it safe once again and pick her to get the victory, but I wouldn’t count out whatever the heck Tamina and Lana have going on. Tamina beating somebody up, and tossing Lana on top of the victim to get her the win would be interesting as well. I love Becky, but she’s sort of become an afterthought since the Superstar Shakeup, and while her getting the win over Charlotte on Smackdown was nice, is that really enough to make you think she’s got a shot at winning this? Nah, I think this win has Charlotte’s name written all over it.

WINNER: Charlotte Flair

Jake Chambers: Ouch, at Backlash we had a six-woman tag match with four of these women, the same four were in the Money in the Back Ladder Match at the last Smackdown PPV, and heck, let’s not forget those riveting multi-women matches at Wrestlemania 33 too. The “revolution” is really being televised apparently, and guess what, it sucks!

WINNER: Charlotte

Kevin Pantoja: Smackdown sure loves their multi-woman match tropes, huh? I give them props for booking more women to seem on a level playing field than Raw, where it’s just Sasha/Bayley/Nia/blonde heel over and over. However, I have no interest in watching Tamina wrestle. Lana hasn’t impressed much either and Natalya has next to no character. With a shot at the second biggest show of the year on the line, it comes down to either Becky or Charlotte. I think Becky/Naomi is the way to go, as the only two pure babyface women on Smackdown would make for an original and fun match. However, LADY BIG DOG GOTTA EAT. Charlotte wins because, woo.

WINNER: Charlotte

SmackDown Tag Team Championship Match: Champions The Usos vs. The

Justin Watry: Please, please, please, please, please have The Usos win. The two are leaps and bounds more entertaining on the mic. The two are much more fresh as characters. The two are better in the ring. Plus, the two still feel like an interesting act. All of those points highlight the different between The Usos in 2017 and The New Day still living in 2015. For those of you who have read my columns over the years, you know I am NOT a big fan of The Usos. Don’t really care for them at all…until their entire personas were flipped in early 2017. They improved in every stage of the game, and now the tag team has officially arrived. To throw all that away for more Booty references and stale inside jokes…ugh.

WINNER: The Usos

Ken Hill:
The New Day have shown that straight-up,
they have the Uso Brothers’ number.
But I think a more fitting crowning for the first
dual-brand champs would be at the end of summer.

WINNER: The Usos

Steve Cook: I think they drag this feud out until SummerSlam to get New Day the title change there. Until then, I can see this being a DQ win for New Day, but the Usos will retain the straps by hook or crook.

WINNER: The Usos

Mitch Nickelson : My best judgement tells me that New Day wins the titles here. Out of the three title matches on this show, this is the one I see changing hands the most. However, I’m going against New Day because I love everything about Jimmy & Jey right now. I used to be the biggest Uso hater but this heel turn has done wonders for them. I still like some humor in my wrestling, and New Day does humor better than about anybody, but I like bad dudes who will beat people up even more. The Usos come across as the baddest tag team in WWE right now and I want their reign to continue. I’m not confident in this pick but I’m going with my favorites, Jimmy & Jey.

WINNER: The Usos

Paul Leazar: This feud has continued to be one of the more entertaining parts of Smackdown for me, and they’re last match was terrific despite a crappy finish. I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if they revisited that finish, only for it to lead to some other type of non-finish where they do this one more time at Summerslam with some kind of stip. The feud deserves it in my opinion, and if The New Day are to win the championships on Smackdown, I’d rather be there after some more build. Now, I wouldn’t be surprised if they just straight up switch the titles here, but I like the Usos with the titles. They’ve been more motivated then have been since their high point back in 2014. Let them keep rolling for another month, and see what happens.

WINNER: The Usos

Jake Chambers: While not an exact replica of The Usos’ tag title defence at Backlash, this is a rematch from Money in the Bank and the third PPV in a row where the Usos have to defend against a comedy team. And, oh the hilarity. I may be old, but feels to me like there was a time when the comedy in WWE/F was actually funny. The New Day and Breeze-ango and Southpaw Regional Wrestling, and even that horrible Broken Hardy gimmick (likely more destined by the day to show up in the WWE, ugh), this is what passes for funny in 2017? You know who I blame… HHH! That’s right, everyone’s favorite saviour of the WWE was also responsible for the sharp turn in comedy quality once he took on a managerial position at the top of the company. Just as he wasn’t as good in the ring as his contemporary Attitude-era main event-ers like Austin, Rock, Mankind or Angle, he definitely also wasn’t funny. And you can damn well tell the difference between the dX comedy that was led by HBK and the horrible brand that came to us courtesy of the HHH executive years. So while everyone wants to shit on Vince for being responsible for the current state of the WWE, I choose to look elsewhere, because under McMahon the WWF/E was pretty damn funny for decades, but since Stephanie and HHH have had more power creatively the humour has fallen off a fucking cliff.

WINNER: The Usos

Kevin Pantoja: They are the two best tag teams on Smackdown, so the feud makes sense. Outside of the rap battle though, I haven’t been into it. The New Day was at the top of their game in 2016, but after losing the Raw Tag Titles, their act wore thin. The Usos have been rejuvenated in their new characters and I think they should retain here and get a lengthy reign. What I see happening though, is another New Day reign.

WINNER: The New Day

WWE United States Championship Match: Champion AJ Styles vs. Kevin

JUSTIN WATRY: Is Chris Jericho almost ready to return? I only ask that half jokingly. If Kevin Owens is in need of a Summerslam opponent, could Y2J be coming back at Battleground? Probably not. The reason I bring it up is because Mr. KO is in a weird spot. In a moment’s notice, the man is very capable of being in the main event scene. At the same time, without an opponent after AJ, he is left in limbo a month before Summerslam. AJ retains-I can’t imagine more hot potato with the United States Champion, although Owens does carry gold more often than not. Going to be fun to watch this all play out during the next few weeks. For both men.

WINNER: AJ Styles

Ken “Phenoma-Hill”:
Styles winning the belt at MSG was great,
to highlight his rise in the business.
A scintillating win over Owens here,
then another MOTY with Cena, I guess.

WINNER: AJ Styles

Steve Cook: I can see the title going back to KO here because WWE likes to do that kind of thing. But I feel like we’ve had enough foreign heels wearing the belt for cheap heat and it’s time to let a good ol boy like AJ hold the belt for awhile and represent ‘Merica. KO will be working the passive-aggressive black Twitter background for a bit longer.

WINNER: AJ Styles

Mitch Nickelson : Okay, I don’t know who to pick here. This is easily the match I’m most looking forward to but that doesn’t mean I feel strongly about which direction WWE will go with the US Championship. I can see AJ retaining with the hopes that it’s Nakamura that eventually takes the title off of him, so I’ll go with that. There should be a streak of only current and former New Japan guys holding US Titles for the rest of the year. NJPW has no trouble doing that but WWE will have to be careful to keep this current trend alive.

WINNER: Kevin Owens

Paul Leazar: I’m sure this is the match most of us will be tuning in for (although I’d be lying to say that I’m insanely interested in seeing who has been messing with FaBreeze). We got jibed last time around with a silly finish, so hopefully, we get to see these guys have the match they deserve to have. Obviously, AJ wins here as he just get the strap, and the rumors about Kevin Owens being reworked make sense to me, so why give him back the belt now? I’m also incredibly happy to see the return of the US Open Challenge with AJ at the helm. Hopefully, that was just a one off, and it’s something they decide to stick with during AJ’s run with the title.

WINNER: AJ Styles

Jake Chambers: Another “exciting” re-hash from that shit May Backlash PPV, and yet another generally underwhelming match from main roster Kevin Owens. If Sami Zayn is quickly becoming the new Dolph Ziggler, then is Owens slowly morphing into the new Bray Wyatt? Perpetually in the same spot, having the same matches, giving the same promos, with a win/loss record that is meaningless. His “Face of America” phase was like Bray’s one-month feud with Ryback. And, yes, I know… they both have a belly. Except, Bray was Husky Harris on NXT, and Kevin Steen, well, he was one of the most bad-ass, shit-talking, coolest, two-legged wrestling machines walking the earth, so it’s tough for an old fan of his to see where he’s at now. Happy for his bank account, of course, but selfishly sad for the lack of cool shit in my life, and I can only imagine where he goes next after losing this match and the pain it’s gonna cause ME!

WINNER: AJ Styles

Kevin Pantoja: This is pretty much the only match that sticks out to me on this card. Their match at Backlash was nearly great, but it felt like they held something back for a rematch, especially with that finish. With AJ Styles already as champion, I see him retaining here in their best match together. What Kevin Owens does after this is puzzling, but AJ should go on to face someone big (Nakamura or Cena most likely) at SummerSlam in a show stealer. Look for AJ to keep the gold in the best match of the night.

WINNER: AJ Styles

Punjabi Prison WWE Championship Match: Champion Jinder Mahal vs. Randy

Justin Watry: Alright, a face has won every Punjabi Prison match. That is about the only reason I can think of that would point towards a Randy Orton victory. I suppose WWE may be looking at using that transition to get the belt to Baron Corbin (a heel), but even that would be clunky and pretty much leave Jinder Mahal in the dust. Orton losing again may seem problematic, but WWE has too much invested into their new champion to just abandon ship now. If you want to commit, you have to commit. By hook, crook, The Great Khali, or some other nonsense, my prediction is Jinder Mahal retains. Randy will find an opponent for Summerslam. As long as it isn’t Brock Lesnar and his massive elbows, he will be okay. What Jinder does next? Who knows? The hot rumor for months now has been a Cena showdown, but I have no clue if that is actually the plan. The WWE Title picture is a big question mark for me following Sunday. Backup plan Mr. Money in the Bank Baron Corbin has another 11 months to wait until the company calls his number. No way the trigger is pulled so soon, right? Right?

WINNER: Jinder Mahal

Ken Hill:
Much like Batista’s trilogy with Triple H,
Orton’s saga with Mahal ends in a cell.
The Maharaja should reign triumphant,
while Orton falls into the midcard for a spell.

WINNER: Jinder Mahal

Steve Cook: An Indian has never won the Punjabi Prison Match. Granted, there have only been two, and one of them didn’t have a representative of India. But when Jinder wins this match, that’s a stat that they can use to put over the importance of it or some such thing.

WINNER: Jinder Mahal

Mitch Nickelson: This feud is definitely over after this, right? Please tell me that it is. I’ve been very open to this crazy idea of making Jinder Mahal WWE Champion but he and Randy aren’t exactly tearing the house down. They had a couple of decent enough matches but ‘decent enough’ isn’t what it takes to make this experiment a success. Jinder needs to retain and then move on to somebody else. Cena seems like the most logical choice, so let’s please hurry up and get to that.

WINNER: Jinder Mahal

Paul Leazar: Boy, am I tired of seeing these two hook up. Randy Orton is duller than dishwater, and it’s starting to wear off on Jinder, who gives the same promo seemingly every week without ever saying anything new to move the feud along. Both guys need something fresh badly. As for the stipulation, I can’t say any of the past matches have really set the world on fire, so I’m struggling to get excited for this one. Moving the championship back to boring ol’ Randy seems like a mistake, and hopefully, a fresh feud for Jinder can liven him and the championship up some, so I say keep the title on him, and see what he can do going into Summerslam with somebody else.

WINNER: Jinder Mahal

Jake Chambers: And here we are at Backlash again, and it’s been three PPVs in a row for this pair… because the fans demanded it! Or because India demanded it, right? What happened to that whole logic again, that somehow India was going to be this great windfall of riches for the WWE by promoting Jinder Mahal to champion. You know, it’s kind of racist to think the WWE is just going into places like India and China to peddle their moronic product at the moment, considering the myth of those countries as some kind of financial jackpot just because they have giant populations. The WWE would probably be better off if they tried to cater to Norway or Luxembourg or Singapore or Brunei, where a small concentration of super wealthy people live with immense disposable incomes, problem is, I somehow doubt they’re gonna buy into WWE’s stupid shit. Instead the Fed would rather burn out their cheap, bottom-feeding content on the largest low-to-middle class populations in the world, which is kind of like the exact same strategy the cigarette companies used once they got pushed out of the West. It would be easier to think WWE wasn’t using some kind of predatory colonialist business strategy if they seemed to put any creativity at all into their content rather than going with this push-button analytics cost-cutting crap we see now, where they look to get the most earnings from the smallest but broadest effort. Instead of seeing people as data maybe start looking at them as individuals with taste and emotion, WWE, put a little heart into your fucking content and you’ll have a phenomenon on your hands again, because I don’t think I’ve ever seen a time when such a diverse audience of people were so damn thirsty for pro-wrestling, but being a WWE fan today is constantly fighting up against a boot heel trying to flatten you like a recyclable aluminum can to be traded in for a goddamn dime. All that being said, I think the Punjabi Prison Match is a pretty cool concept.

WINNER: Randy Orton

Kevin Pantoja: Someone needs to put me out of my misery and end this damn feud. The Money in the Bank match was solid, but had the same exact finish as the Backlash one and I’m just over it. Jinder does nothing for me as champion, cutting generic promos and having generic matches, while Randy Orton is at his most unmotivated. Don’t expect this to be anything of interest. Though, wouldn’t it be hilariously awful if WWE gave Jinder the title, just to move it back to Orton here to set up Cena vs. Orton at SummerSlam?

WINNER: Jinder Mahal

MAKE SURE TO JOIN 411 SUNDAY NIGHT AT 7PM ET FOR OUR LIVE WWE BATTLEGROUND COVERAGE SO WE CAN FIND OUT TOGETHER WHICH BASTARDS KILLED SWEET, INNOCENT, TULLY!