WWE BATTLEGROUND 2013 - A WAR IS COMING

After a hectic few weeks at the top of WWE’s main event schedule, the company present their first annual (and judging by pay-per view experiments) last ‘Battleground’ event from the big apple. After many months speculation over a proposed WarGames match – which we now know will not happen – WWE is banking on its newest and quickly to become its most stale feud if it doesn’t find a way to divert it, to sell its premier ‘Battleground’ show.

So as the curtain goes up on WWE Battleground 2013 let’s take a look what we can expect from on October 6th, from the First Niagara Centre in Buffalo, New York.

WWE Championship Match

Daniel Bryan vs Randy Orton

Before we begin, let me just say that WWE have missed a trick with this whole pay-per view and Daniel Bryan vs The Corporation storyline as we head into Battleground. Months before the pay-per view came close to happening, when it was announced months previous, there was massive speculation that WWE, on the back on the successful ‘WarGames: WCW’s Most Notorious Matches’ DVD and Blu-ray would gold its own WarGames match up at Battleground – the seemingly perfect setting for the match to be revived.

Fans hopes for a WarGames Match in 2013 were dealt a huge blow when the seating plans for the event were unveiled and it detailed space for just one ring and no room for a double cage. However, at SummerSlam and the weeks unfolding from it, WWE had the perfect reason to stage a match of that calibre in order for Daniel Bryan to try and extract revenge against Randy Orton and The Corporation. Another Daniel Bryan vs Randy Orton match almost devaluates the singles feud somewhat and for maximum effect, WWE really should followed the guidelines set by WCW in 1997 – which we will come to in a moment.

On the September 16th edition of Monday Night Raw, WWE once again strengthened an argument for a WarGames Match when it had some of the faces come to Daniel Bryan’s rescue. These, for those who didn’t see it involved Dolph Ziggler, The Usos, The Prime Time Players, Kofi Kingston, R-Truth, Zack Ryder and Rob Van Dam. It might have seemed having wrestlers who were so low on WWE’s food chain – barring Dolph Ziggler – was writing on the wall as to where WWE saw this feud and Daniel Bryan’s career going after this spat with Triple H, Stephanie McMahon, Vince McMahon and Randy Orton was over. I disagree. Whilst the company could have done with a few more star names in the mix of saviours on September 16th, it was an encouraging sign that the company were willing to spread the boundaries of such a prestigious feud down the card instead of just keeping it at the top.

The inclusion of such teams as The Prime Time Players – who have been turned face because of Darren Young’s brave decision to come out in public – and The Usos will now have a huge knock-on effect on the tag team division and make it seem a lot more important than it actually is. Now, with a WarGames Match, WWE could have healed at least thirty or forty percent of the division’s problems in one foul swoop. If WWE had booked the WarGames Match to be Daniel Bryan, Dolph Ziggler, Rob Van Dam and The Usos vs Randy Orton, Triple H and The Shield then it would have been a momentous time for the tag teams involved and main event exposure would have made the tag team division and WWE Tag Team Championships – as well as the WWE United States Championship – look wholly important again.

There is an argument against having such low standing wrestlers in a match of WarGames calibre, would they bring it down? Would they be important enough in the fans eyes to convey in the ring, the importance of the match? Certainly all involved have the ability to do so, but if you don’t try then you will never know.

WWE have done a grand job of promoting this feud despite a few hiccups. Everyone has played their part to perfection and the reasons given for screwing Daniel Bryan, that he’s not what Vince wants or ever envisaged for the future of WWE, that the McMahon’s see him as a B+ and not an A+ when in truth he’s top of class, are all believable excuses and based in reality. Vince McMahon and his followers really do believe that Daniel Bryan isn’t the best wrestler the company has at the moment. Why? Because he doesn’t wrestler the WWE way, because he’s a former independent circuit wrestler, the truth is those reasons are not alone. In Vince’s eyes, Daniel Bryan is too small to be the figurehead of WWE in the future, even though he’s ten times better than John Cena.

Now this is the second pay-per view main event match between Daniel Bryan and Randy Orton, though this will be fought to see who captures the vacant WWE Championship, let’s take a look at where this is going. WWE have a perfect chance to make something new for the future of this company out of this feud. Whilst a Daniel Bryan WWE Championship win at Battleground would all but end the feud, common sense says that he has to win it when the feud comes to an end. For me, Night of Champions was a mistake. There was no need to have Daniel Bryan defeat Randy Orton that quickly only to strip him of the title the next night. The outcome of that match devaluated Orton as a heel and made him look like that in one on one competition he couldn’t beat Bryan.

The correct result would have been Randy Orton retain the gold without help to set him up as a strong heel going forward. For the title to change hands on their first main event face off was an anti-climax and now WWE have to make up for that. Ideally, WWE would have kept Bryan and Orton apart in the ring for as long as possible, as WCW did with Sting and Hulk Hogan in 1997. The diversion tactic of having Sting and Hogan kept at a distance from each other for nearly nine months yielded WCW’s biggest and most successful pay-per view event ‘Starrcade’ in 1997 as people flocked to the arena and ordered the event in their hundreds of thousands to see two men who hadn’t touched each other since the beginning of the feud at the beginning of the year, finally square off for the title.

Had WWE kept Orton and Bryan apart until WrestleMania then the company would surely have had one its biggest live attendance records – that wasn’t fabricated – and pay-per view buy rate numbers in history. It wouldn’t have been difficult either. The two could have traded words and threats on Raw and Smackdown to keep the feud alive, whilst Orton got The Shield to do his dirty work to avoid contact with Bryan. On pay-per view, Triple H would have been a distraction for Bryan whilst Randy Orton ran through the top of the card to cement his heel status and viability as WWE Champion. When Bryan was finished with Triple H, there were a whole number of distractions WWE could have employed along the Road to WrestleMania to make sure the feud was kept alive but also the pair didn’t actually collide.

The first is Survivor Series. Had Daniel Bryan and Triple H fought at Battleground with Randy Orton watching in the wings, then WWE could have promoted a huge Survivor Series Elimination Match in November, Team Orton vs Team Bryan. The match could have been used to get some of the lower card talent over which WWE need to do, whilst Orton avoided Bryan at all costs. Had Bryan teamed with The Usos, The Prime Time Players, Zack Ryder and Dolph Ziggler to take on Randy Orton, The Shield, The Real Americans and a returning Cody Rhodes then WWE could have used everyone else as a distraction whilst Orton and Bryan elevated others round them before Bryan chased Orton away and the pair were eliminated via double count out. They disappear into the back thus avoiding contact and the rest are left to shine.

At TLC, Triple H challenges Daniel Bryan to a TLC match, the stipulation is that if Triple H wins then Daniel Bryan will have to start back at the bottom of the ladder. At the December event, Triple H triumphs and just when all is lost for Bryan he enters the Royal Rumble and wins, earning his place at WrestleMania. Elimination Chamber wouldn’t have been a problem as Daniel Bryan put his WrestleMania main event spot on the line in a gauntlet match against The Shield and Triple H whilst Randy Orton triumphed in the Elimination Chamber Match. The stage would have been set then for Randy Orton vs Daniel Bryan at WrestleMania 30. The fans would be hot for the match which they wouldn’t have seen before and WWE would have been able to enter double figures without booking The Rock in the main event of the show.

It was an easy and simple plan. Along the way, to combat Vince and Stephanie, Shane and Linda McMahon could have been re-introduced to the company – which they almost certainly will be anyway, it’s a wasted opportunity for them to sit on the sidelines, especially as Shane McMahon would bring the house down nearly four years after he departed the company. WWE have squandered a brilliant opportunity to book an unforgettable feud and draw huge numbers for their annual show stealer.

The way the feud is being booked at the moment, in the ring, then it tells me that WWE are biding their time until John Cena returns from injury, so they can paint Bryan as the man who was never good enough and John Cena as the hero who vanquished The Corporation upon his return. If that happens it would be a crying shame. Daniel Bryan can come out of this feud with the aura of the future of WWE. But if John Cena comes back and is immediately inserted into the feud, in Bryan’s place, then WWE deserve a kick in the head. Sadly though that seems to be the plan at the moment and as we strive ever closer to WrestleMania 30 WWE’s plans as they stand – they will change – are this:

The Rock vs Brock Lesnar or Brock Lesnar vs C.M Punk – if The Rock doesn’t want to wrestle again, Randy Orton vs John Cena for the WWE Championship and C.M Punk vs The Undertaker – if The Rock agrees to a match against Brock Lesnar – or The Undertaker vs Ryback, John Cena or Daniel Bryan depending on what happens with the WWE Championship picture and possibly Daniel Bryan vs Triple H. It may not sound like a bad line up right now, but WWE really need to being finding ways around attracting millions of people to the event without The Undertaker and The Rock as two of the three star names. The Rock and The Undertaker are about to enter their final year(s) in the wrestling industry and when they’re gone it’s going to be up to stars like Randy Orton and Daniel Bryan to put bums in seats. What better place to start than now?

Winners Prediction: Randy Orton

World Heavyweight Championship Match

Battleground Hardcore Rules Match

(c) Alberto Del Rio vs Rob Van Dam

The whole storyline surrounding this feud, of Ricardo Rodriguez betraying Alberto Del Rio, the man he was seemingly loyal to until the end, stinks of a set up. I have been saying for months that to give Alberto that extra dimension and make Ricardo mean something in WWE, that the ring announcer needs to turn on Del Rio but it would have been much more effective had Ricardo done so when Del Rio was face and not heel. Now Alberto Del Rio is a heel and a very good one at that, what does Ricardo’s face turn and union with Rob Van Dam have to offer this feud, if it’s not a set up?

After Rodriguez’s suspension for violation of the WWE Wellness Policy and thirty day suspension WWE had to find something to do with him. Had he come back and just played the role of Del Rio’s manager / announcer yet again then it would have been samey. And samey is the last thing that Alberto Del Rio needs right now, especially since he’s just fell into the niche of a killer heel role – one he never managed to get the feeling of the first time around. Putting Rodriguez with Van Dam allows WWE to open up other avenues for the pair to go down, when Rodriguez inevitably costs Van Dam the World Heavyweight Championship just when it looks like he’s going to triumph once again.

After all, that’s why Rodriguez is with RVD. Those who thought that WWE were doing something different in the long run with Del Rio and Ricardo are either misguided or do not know wrestling well enough to know when the company is trying to pull the wool over our eyes. If WWE weren’t planning a set up of RVD then ask yourself this. Why put Rodriguez with Van Dam when the pair have had not other dealings? Surely, if you wanted to put anyone with RVD it would be Paul Heyman. Considering they have a storied history and that Heyman is currently involved with his own stable of wrestlers, namely Ryback, Lesnar and Axel who are feuding with C.M Punk. Adding RVD to Heyman’s stable would be a huge plus for Heyman.

Currently, its Ryback vs C.M Punk yet again coming out of Night of Champions, surely RVD vs C.M Punk would have been a better and much more gripping feud in the ring? As it is though, Alberto Del Rio and Rob Van Dam are just filler until WWE come up with something better for the current World Heavyweight Champion. In 2013, WWE do not see Rob Van Dam as a viable replacement for Alberto Del Rio as World Heavyweight Champion and past events – namely RVD’s drug bust when he was WWE Champion in 2006 – won’t help matters in the companies mind. Even if they could get past that, the likelihood of them making a former TNA wrestler World Heavyweight Champion is slim to none. WWE know of RVD’s history in TNA, they just don’t want to mention it.

The lousy DQ finish at Night of Champions was necessity for WWE to set up this match at Battleground. Had Alberto Del Rio been counted out then WWE ran the risk of the Mexican looking like a weak Champion who was unable to defend his Championship and the same would go for had Del Rio been pinned – of course he would have lost the Championship. This way, Del Rio may have gotten himself disqualified but he not only maintained his heel image, but in a way he elevated it. When Alberto Del Rio walked into Night of Champions in September he was a heel Champion who was prospering. A man who would do whatever he could to retain the Championship around his waist. When he left Night of Champions, Alberto Del Rio was a threat to every superstar in the locker room. A man with determination enough, to the audience at least, to break another man’s arm if it meant he would still be the man on Smackdown. So as much as we may gripe about the finish, I can see why WWE booked it. It protected both Champion and Challenger.

Some would argue that Alberto Del Rio has had his chance to shine and failed twice over. It’s a point I can see as relevant. Hid first heel run in 2010 was less than thrilling. Del Rio had the goods in the ring but elsewhere he lacked certain traits which screamed ‘Champion’. There was a lack of aggression when he was performing and whilst he was technically sound you always felt kind of like Del Rio was going through the motions. Like he knew that WWE weren’t planning on elevating him seriously so he took the attitude of why bother? As a face, the means of which WWE hoped he would reach superstardom, Del Rio failed again. He had the patter but he wrestled like a heel.

Of course, not all of Del Rio’s failures can be blamed on the man himself. WWE have to take the brunt of the blame. It’s the company who booked him so shoddily. Who gave him WWE Championship reigns and then terminated them less than one month in. It’s WWE who kept booking him to lose an d its WWE who didn’t pull him up on the fact that he was a face who was wrestling like a heel. WWE spurned most of the chances it afforded Del Rio in recent years. Now though, they have finally been woken up to what we have known all along. So yes, Del Rio has had ample chance to get himself over in years past but it’s been more other than himself who have held him back. Which is why he deserves another chance! When you’re that good, you never give up!

Strangely, I’ve heard grumblings from the WWE Universe about Rob Van Dam’s return to the company. His Money in the Bank 2013 performance was as good as RVD had done in his first stint with the company. He was sharp, on the ball and executed each move with panache. Thankfully he had shed the weight that had been gained wrestling for TNA. Surely the sky was the limit for RVD. And then came WWE’s favourite method of booking the ‘Start/Stop’ method. From Money in the Bank, RVD plummeted straight to the bottom of the card to contest a good Pre-Show / Kick-Off Match against Dean Ambrose at SummerSlam before being shot right back to the top of the card at Night of Champions.

It was a dizzying time for all involved. WWE can’t expect us to believe that RVD would go from the top, to the bottom, right back to the top again without a build up. There was none. Had WWE kept Van Dam at the top of the card it would have been a much better few months for the main event scene going into SummerSlam and instead of throwing him into the pre-show effort on the summer’s biggest show WWE could have just as easily booked a killer triple threat match between RVD, Del Rio and Christian. That would have been an excellent encounter. But hey, who knows what goes on in the crazy world of McMahon?

Back the point in hand: the grumblings from the WWE Universe, that your Wrestling God was privy to anyway, were along the lines that RVD shouldn’t be in the main event picture at all. The reasons varied from because he was too old and forty plus years and because he is a former WWE superstar who has come back to the company and is taking the spotlight away from the younger guys who need it more. The argument there is that for months, if not years now we’ve been begging WWE to introduce something other than John Cena into its main event scene. Ideally the answer would have come in the form of someone from NXT or WWE’s developmental system – hell even a low to mid-card wrestler would be welcome. However WWE have seen fit to bring back an assured headliner to answer our calls.

Can we criticise this? To an extent yes. It’s obvious that Vince believes bringing back a former headliner is easier and more profitable than making a new one and has already showed an unwillingness push anyone new up his greasy ladder without burying them to the extent we can’t believe in them first. But on the other hand, we asked for it. We are the ones who kept complaining about there not being enough main event players and not enough variety in the main, so WWE acted upon it. Unless we want to be hypocrites, then we have to live with it. They may have gone the wrong way about giving us what we want but they’ve delivered something at least.

Will Rob Van Dam defeat Alberto Del Rio at Battleground? No! At least not for the World Heavyweight Championship. If WWE plan for this to go into Hell in a Cell in three weeks times then the match will probably end on another disqualification or count out, because let’s be honest, three weeks isn’t a whole lot of time to build another meaningful feud. There is the possibility that I’m wrong and WWE plan to put the World Heavyweight Championship on RVD for three weeks, on the understanding that he drops it back to Del Rio at Hell in a Cell. That course of action would at least keep the feud interesting and watchable even if it was clear Del Rio would regain the gold in 21 days.

But that is only a theory. I don’t believe WWE have any intention of putting the gold back around RVD’s waist and at Battleground we can expect only one outcome.

Winners Prediction: Alberto Del Rio

C.M Punk vs Ryback

We’ve been here before and it didn’t end well. For those with no long term memory, in 2012 when C.M Punk was still reigning as WWE Champion, WWE decided the best course of action would be to book Ryback as the headline face to challenge Punk for the gold. That may have been at a time when Punk was a major heel and Ryback a dominant face and whilst the roles have been reversed, little else has changed in a year. Back in 2012 Ryback was still an awful performer and C.M Punk was having to carry his opponent. The exact situation which Punk will find himself in here.

We all know Ryback hasn’t improved since last year. His matches against John Cena earlier in the year ranged from good to awful, his WrestleMania match was deplorable and at Money in the Bank he flopped against Chris Jericho. The question is beginning to circulate that is there anyone in WWE good enough to carry Ryback in a singles match? Even C.M Punk struggled last year when he faced the man WWE hoped would be the next big thing in the industry, inside Hell in a Cell. There was a reason the match went only 11 minutes and it had very little to do with C.M Punk’s injury. Ryback is rotten in the ring and now WWE have to find some way of covering that up, otherwise this feud which is designed to go until Survivor Series will not last the course.

Is there anything WWE can do to make Ryback a better wrestler? Making his matches shorter would be the obvious choice. Like Goldberg in WCW, maybe Ryback will prosper better in shorter matches where he only has to execute a few planned spots and doesn’t have to do much else. It’s an answer, but not one WWE would be willing to implement right now because they’re not willing to book C.M Punk in a five minute match on pay-per view. The reason being, Punk has such a large fan base that the company know people would begin to tune out if their favourite appeared for five minutes on the monthly extravaganza and then not again throughout the night. So that’s the short match theory struck off of the list.

WWE could send Ry-back to wrestling school. See what I did there? There are trainers in WWE’s new development centre who could lend their expertise to Ryback and possibly make him a greater performer. Some of these people have wrestled with Ric Flair, Ricky Steamboat and some of them have been the bigger stars in a company themselves. Their knowledge is invaluable to someone like Ryback is he’s willing to listen and learn. It wouldn’t make any difference is Ryback was to take a four month hiatus from television in order to come back as a better in ring performer – in fact the fans will welcome it. But that’s not going to happen either.

You see, WWE have big plans for Ryback – yes, still – and don’t plan on removing him from the company for any length of time, unless he sustains an injury which forces him from the ring. The best WWE can come up with right now; to make Ryback a better performer is to put him with Paul Heyman. Now undoubtedly Heyman has an effect on wrestlers needing a lift but even he can’t help out when Ryback is in the ring. Sure, Heyman can interfere and take some of the pressure off of Ryback with his antics at ringside but when it comes to crunch time, Ryback is still in there on his own. He’s still going to be the stiff as a board wrestler we’ve seen over the last year and a bit.

After his feud with C.M Punk, maybe it would be a good idea for WWE to place him in a tag team. Either with someone else on the card who needs the exposure or with Curtis Axel – whose career hasn’t taken off as predicted after his name change. The team doesn’t necessarily have to drop down into the Tag Team Division because I don’t think Ryback would do the doubles division any good at all. Instead, to continue the feud with Punk WWE could find C.M a partner too. It certainly beats seeing another singles match between the pair at Hell in a Cell and it would give Axel and whoever is paired with Punk their fare share of the spotlight as well. With rumour abound that Rey Mysterio is returning to WWE after a lengthily knee injury, then what better name to help carry this feud if WWE can’t find anyone else further down the roster more deserving.

One has to question WWE’s long term image for Ryback and Paul Heyman’s relationship. It clear that Ryback and Curtis Axel for that matter are never going to be as big as Brock Lesnar, so if WWE plan to have Ryback vs Lesnar at some point in 2014 then I would think twice about it before booking that match. I doubt a match pitting the superior Lesnar against Ryback would sell any pay-per view buy rates. Then again maybe WWE are hoping that the association with Paul Heyman will make Ryback into the next Brock Lesnar. The argument there would be that if that was going to happen then it would have done so by now.

I can’t imagine what WWE have planned for Ryback after this feud is over. Another feud with the returning John Cena is surely out of the question after the last one bombed and WWE have a lack of faces big enough to carry a feud with Ryback. So where does that leave him going into WrestleMania XXX? Rumours abound that if all else fails he will be fed to The Undertaker. But if C.M Punk can’t drag a good match out Ryback then what chance does an aging Undertaker have. Even though Undertaker is one of the most accomplished wrestlers in the history of the industry, I doubt even he can be bothered to try and elevate Ryback on the grandest stage of them all.

Which means the future is up in the air for Ryback. Maybe WWE haven’t made any long term plans for Ryback. Perhaps they are waiting to see if this feud with C.M Punk will do something for his career. If it doesn’t then maybe Vince will admit defeat and axe the character from his roster. After all, he’s doing no good and has the ‘Midas Touch’ in reverse.

C.M Punk has gone from WWE Champion to mid-card player in recent months. His association with Paul Heyman seemed to drag him down the card after his WrestleMania XXIX match with The Undertaker. At Payback he had a good match with Chris Jericho followed by a good showing at Money in the Bank in the Money in the Bank Ladder Match and a cracking match against Brock Lesnar at SummerSlam. In recent months, WWE have relied on C.M Punk to hold together the mid-card because they don’t have anyone else capable of doing the job.

The problem is that C.M Punk is better than that. He’s been a mid-card player before and it didn’t suit him all that well. There are some wrestlers who are born to be mid-card wrestlers, who will never break through that glass ceiling and then there are wrestlers who are born into the main event. C.M Punk falls into the latter. He’s a natural born star and he’s much better than a spot on the mid-card against a man who can barely look after himself in the ring let alone another opponent. You can see why C.M Punk gets annoyed with WWE management. After his superb effort against The Undertaker and WWE Championship run which went from November 2011 to January 2013, Punk had earned the company’s respect and effectively had carried WWE for more than a year when The Rock dethroned him at Royal Rumble 2013.

When he lost the Championship, Punk was promised great things. His match with The Undertaker was just a small part of the reward Punk was granted by WWE for his sterling efforts in the main event as Champion. But then it all disappeared. The break after WrestleMania would have come as a huge relief for a man who was working injured for months, though I suspect he expected more rewards when he returned. I can’t tell you exactly what WWE promised C.M Punk when he returned but I can imagine that it wasn’t this. Backstage, Punk wasn’t thrilled about breaking from his best friend in real life, Paul Heyman. One got the message that even though it yielded a superior match at SummerSlam 2013, Punk believed there was more mileage in his and Heyman’s relationship. Depending on how you look at it, he may have been right.

There is an argument there certainly. When he split from Heyman Punk’s aura went downhill somewhat. His matches, whilst retaining a their quality weren’t what they were when he was battling the best and he seemed deflated that he wasn’t back at the top where he belonged. As a heel with Paul Heyman in tow there were more options for Punk and more roads for him to walk down. Without Heyman, Punk is left in no mans land after the rivalry with Paul Heyman ends. He can’t go back to the top of the card, Daniel Bryan and Randy Orton have closed ranks up there and don’t need anyone else’s help. The Intercontinental Championship picture is bleak and not a place that Punk needs nor wants to tread again in the near future. It leaves limited opportunities for ‘The Voice of the Voiceless’.

WWE have failed to build any stars that Punk could elevate by feuding with them and unless the company are planning another John Cena vs C.M Punk feud, something needs to change drastically. Could rumours that Stone Cold Steve Austin is on his way back to the company be true? They would certainly fall conveniently in time for WrestleMania XXX and the much anticipated Punk vs Austin match. Then again with TNA losing money faster than they can count it, some do say Hulk Hogan will land back on WWE shores. Would a Hogan vs Punk match draw big at WrestleMania XXX? I don’t have the answers right now but WWE need them. Trawling through the same feuds year after year is having an adverse effect on business and especially the WrestleMania numbers.

WWE need to make fresh feuds for people like C.M Punk, otherwise face his star fall altogether. After the hard work both parties have put in to get Punk where he is today, it would be a travesty to allow him to simply get lost in the shuffle. If WWE don’t do this then Punk needs to. Anyone who has seen ‘C.M Punk: Best in the World’ DVD and Blu-ray will know that Punk supposedly refused to do what WWE had booked for him for a long time and created his own storylines. If that’s what has to happen again then so be it. After all C.M Punk knows what’s best for his career and his character – he cannot let it go to sleep.

At Battleground, Ryback has to come out on top. If Punk was to defeat Ryback on October 6th then instantly, all heat for the feud would be gone. The face would have prevailed against the heel and there would be no point in WWE continuing the feud. And at the rate their running out of ideas for C.M Punk, they cannot afford to end them when they’ve only just got going.

Winners Prediction: Ryback

WWE Divas Championship Match

(c) A.J Lee vs Brie Bella

The WWE Divas Division has surprised me in recent months. I’m not talking about the A.J Lee and Kaitlyn series of matches which were very good, but everything that happened after that. It was vitally important to the division that WWE kept the momentum from the A.J vs Kaitlyn feud going but apply it to something else and to their credit they have done so. Usually around about now, WWE would have allowed the Divas Division to slide downhill and count one gripping feud which yielded two great singles matches enough to fill their appetite for the year.

I was worried after SummerSlam because looking down the current Divas roster I couldn’t see where WWE were going to get their next big Divas feud from. Certainly the company have more woman that can’t wrestle on their books than they do those that can, and whilst that’s something which needs to be addressed sometime next year, Stephanie McMahon, Triple H and whoever else concocted up this feud of A.J targeting the Total Divas women deserve a lot of credit. I don’t know what anyone reading this thought of A.J’s blistering C.M Punk style pipe bomb which she dropped on the cast of the almost all scripted Total Divas – yes, WWE won’t even allow its talent to have thoughts of their own in a show about their lives outside of the ring – but I thought it very good indeed.

Apart from being an accomplished promo, A.J got herself over as a serious Divas and no matter how hard WWE try to push her as the psychotic nymph who is hell bent on destruction, the fans seem to love her. A.J has struck it big in the wrestling industry. And she deserves it. It’s not the first time the psychotic diva character has been wheeled out for a WWE female performer but I am confident that A.J’s portrayal is by far the most convincing.

Now, sitting atop the Divas mountain, A.J has the ability to take the division far, as long as WWE allow her to thrive and don’t cut her reign short in order to put the Championship on one of the cast of WWE’s new hit ‘reality’ show. If that happened then whomever the recipient of the title was, they wouldn’t have earned it and WWE would have obviously have swapped champions in order to make Total Divas more appealing – like we haven’t suffered enough with the promotion of it already.  For A.J, as WWE Divas Champion, there is literally nowhere WWE can’t take her, especially now she’s proved herself in the ring and out of it.

The storyline, based around A.J’s hatred of the Divas who have the exposure of the Total Divas show and her insatiable desire to destroy them all is going to go far in WWE in 2013. It’s longevity beyond the end of the year will be questionable unless WWE introduce more Divas into the show with its second season which has already been commissioned. The perfect road for this feud to take would be for a couple of lesser Divas – who still have the skill to go in the ring – to come up from NXT or developmental and be inserted straight into Total Divas. WWE could then turn A.J onto them and how they haven’t worked for the spot or the respect and how they’ve just got into the business to be reality stars. It would be a logical course of action and also keep A.J busy until WWE find something else to do with her.

Of course finding something else for A.J is going to depend on WWE’s booking and building of other talent around her. Faliure to build new faces will result in the division going stale yet again. Something the company would be dumb to allow happen. WWE need three very good females in the ring who also have a great personality when they’re not competing between the ropes. At this point in time things like appearance and mic work don’t matter as the company have plenty of time to work on all of that later. But right now, it has to handpick its three top female stars from NXT and developmental and take a chance on them on the big stage. It’s the only way to find out if they can fly or not. Also, WWE have to get over this fascination of their Divas possessing princess like looks. I’d rather see two pug ugly dogs contest a thrilling match than two beautiful women fumble around the ring for ten minutes and bore us to death.

I, like everyone else know that the storyline and inclusion of Brie Bella to the WWE Divas Championship picture has been done solely to promote the Total Divas programme. We’d be naive to think otherwise. Either the show isn’t getting the viewers WWE wants – which can’t be true since it’s been commissioned for a second season – or WWE just want the same number of viewers for that farce as it does its weekly Raw and monthly pay-per view shows. If the latter is true then they’re going the right way about it. I’m sure, like at SummerSlam and Night of Champions WWE will mention the show on air and plug it to death whilst the match is taking place and why not? What better place to promote the show than on one which attracts the largest number of viewers per month? When it comes to selling something, Vince McMahon is the master.

I would however question the thought process behind it. Is it wise to take a feud that was in many people’s eyes just getting going, and replace it with one which features a female performer who isn’t all that in the ring, just to promote a show which most who tune into Raw don’t watch? Surely you run the risk of alienating those tuning in to watch wrestling when you use a match and more importantly a championship, to promote a show. WWE fell at these hurdles when promoting their movies in years past – and will again when Kane returns from his shoot on See No Evil 2 and decimates the Wyatt Family in retaliation for their actions at SummerSlam. So far it’s worked, but you can go to the well once too often.

WWE will deny the upcoming fact until they’re blue in the face but the truth remains that not being the greatest in ring talent – she can do a couple of things but will never leave and audience satisfied – Brie Bella has only been inserted into this spot for two reasons. The first is because she’s one of the main stars of Total Divas and the second is that she’s engaged to Daniel Bryan. It’s a no brainer. Has she earned her shot? Not really, but right now we’re stuck with it. And you never know, Brie may have picked up one or two things from her groom to be. Well, we can hope at least.

I feel great things ahead for the WWE Divas Division. WWE have already shown their willingness to stick with one figurehead until the time comes that another rises in her place. All that’s left is to add the finishing touches.

Winners Prediction: A.J Lee

Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins vs Cody Rhodes and Goldust

Okay, hands up who saw this coming when Cody Rhodes was fired on Raw after SummerSlam?  The inclusion of Goldust and Dusty Rhodes was just the beginning of what was always going to come down to Goldust competing in another WWE match. Only let’s hope this time, it’s his last.  I don’t mean to sound like the Grinch this early before December but in 2013, Goldust isn’t the wrestler he once was. The character was one with a shelf life when he made his debut in 1995. Eighteen years later, Dustin Rhodes / Runnels has truly wrung the Goldust character dry – though that will not stop him getting a riotous ovation on October 6th.

When Damien Sandow shoved Cody Rhodes off of the ladder at Money in the Bank to claim the briefcase, after a standout performance from the younger Rhodes, many wondered what the next step would be. Then came the news that WWE were high on both men and wanted to push them in unison. This led to the so-so one on one match at SummerSlam and then suddenly, out of the blue, WWE changed course and fired Rhodes. Not for one moment did anyone who knew about the business think this was anything but a storyline, but surely Cody Rhodes vs Damien Sandow had more life in it and much more to give the WWE Universe. Cody Rhodes has been thrown into a high profile feud with The Corporation – sort of – and Damien Sandow, the man who should be being prepped for World Heavyweight Championship Match sometime in 2014 is being mercilessly buried.

There is no sense in this course of action unless WWE realise they made a mistake at Money in the Bank. Perhaps WWE have already lost interest in Sandow, in which case they should take the Money in the Bank briefcase from him as soon as possible in order to rebuild his character and career. If WWE believe Cody Rhodes is the next big thing then they’re right. He is. We’ve all seen it for years; it seems WWE have only just come around to our way of thinking. However, does this feud really signify the beginning of Cody Rhode’s ascension to the top? The Shield are a great talent no doubt, but they’re in no position to elevate Rhodes. This is how it should have gone down.

After Cody Rhodes’ sacking, WWE should have continued the course which we were presented with on the previous weeks Raw, in offering him chances to regain his job. The Big Show would have knocked out Dusty Rhodes as he did and Triple H would have presented Cody Rhodes with the opportunity to prove that he belonged in the company by hitting ‘Cross Rhodes’ on his father who had already been felled by Big Show. Cody – the face – would have refused to strike his father just for a job thus getting the audiences approval and Triple H would have had him escorted by Police. When Cody got to the top of the ramp he would have resisted arrest and before being dragged out issued Triple H with an alternative, that at Battleground he would run a gauntlet of wrestlers, picked by Triple H, throughout the night in order to keep his job. If he defeats one then later in the night he takes on another and so on until he gets to the final wrestler. Rhodes – to the audiences approval – would have then demanded that he choose the final opponent. When his wish was granted, Cody Rhodes would have picked Triple H.

That would have cemented that Cody Rhodes is no longer the jobber to the stars and that he means business by challenging the COO of the company. Accepting the challenge, Triple H would have chosen Seth Rollins, Roman Reigns and Big Show to be Cody Rhodes first three opponents on the understanding that if he lost one match he would be gone from the company. When Battleground kicked off, Rhodes would defeat Seth Rollins in a great opening match which didn’t hurt Rollins and then go on to defeat Roman Reigns. When it came time for him match against Big Show, Cody Rhodes would defeat Big Show with aplomb and look really strong and someone that the fans could believe in. After the Big Show match Triple H and Stephanie McMahon would march to the ring with Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins and have Rhodes attacked, forcing Big Show to knock Rhodes out with the WMD Punch. Later in the show we would be informed that Cody Rhodes had suffered a concussion and wasn’t cleared to compete.

Triple H would come to the ring for his match and on the microphone would inform us that Rhodes won’t be here to wrestle and will never be reinstated. Just as the referee was about to award the match to Triple H, Cody Rhodes would be shown on the titan tron in the trainers room, barely coherent, pushing away the doctors and heading to the ring. Rhodes would compete in the audience’s mind he would be a fighting hero even though he had a supposed concussion. Rhodes would take a beating from Triple H and still kick out of everything earning the audiences backing, finally hitting the ‘Cross Rhodes’ on Triple H. When it looked like Rhodes would finally win The Shield would run in and attack Rhodes. When the ref called for a disqualification Stephanie would march out and state she has made the match no DQ. Triple H and The Shield would then beat Rhodes down so bad Triple H would then pin him. Rhodes would look like the warrior who was screwed and on Raw would invade the programme and challenge Triple H to one more match at Hell in a Cell inside the devils playground. In the match interference would be barred and it would just be the two of them where Rhodes would finally win a thrilling Hell in a Cell Match.

That, my good minions, is how you get someone like Cody Rhodes over. After all of that, not only would we be able to buy into Cody Rhodes as a challenger and force in the company he would also be in pole position to challenge Randy Orton for the WWE Championship. I for once fancy seeing Daniel Bryan vs Randy Orton vs Cody Rhodes at Survivor Series. I just can’t see that this tag team match is going to get him anywhere. Reigns and Rollins have all the talent in the world but aren’t in the right position to do what needs to be done for someone like Rhodes and with his brother and father there with him at Battleground, I can’t be the only one who smells a betrayal coming. I may be wrong, but I firmly predict that with Dusty Rhodes’ NXT job on the line as well as Goldust’s future job in WWE – like he has one – then one of them is going to betray Cody and side with Triple H and Stephanie citing the importance of their job as the reason.

The stipulation of the match states that of Cody Rhodes and Goldust beat two third of The Shield then Dusty Rhodes keeps his job as NXT trainer and the Rhodes brother gets their jobs back. But really, in 2013, who here really wants to see Goldust as an active member of WWE’s roster? No, me neither. Which leads me to believe that Cody Rhodes and Goldust won’t prevail at Battleground and the story will continue well into Survivor Series, which at the moment is looking to be; Cody Rhodes, Dusty Rhodes, Goldust and Daniel Bryan vs Randy Orton and The Shield.

One would also have to question the validity of putting Reigns and Rollins in this match, especially if the WWE Tag Team Championships aren’t on the line. Maybe WWE thought that if they put the doubles gold on the line then it would almost certainly give the result of the match away. No one is feasibly going to believe in this day and age that WWE are going to make Goldust one half of the Tag Team Champions, so perhaps WWE have kept the gold back as a measure to keep reality suspended. Of course, maybe the company just don’t have anything else to do with The Shield in October 2013. If that is the case, then WWE are wasting three great talents.

With Survivor Series and the Royal Rumble fast approaching, WWE really need to shift their plans for The Shield into fourth gear. At Hell in a Cell WWE could make history by staging the first ever six man tag team hell in a cell match if they could find three worthy opponents for the trio and then have them dominate Survivor Series defeating three or four more worthy opponents. It’s the only fool proof way of making sure Reigns, Rollins and Ambrose who is absent from Battleground remain important in the public’s eye. The company cannot afford to mess up with these three and seeing as they have gone off the boil in recent months, its time for that famous WWE machine to get back behind the trio and churn out something worthwhile.

Winners Prediction: Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns

WWE Intercontinental Championship Match

(c) Curtis Axel vs R-Truth

I can’t say with any great enthusiasm that this is going to be one of the standout matches at Battleground, because I doubt it will be. With hardly any build up or story – the match is based on R-Truth defeating Axel on Raw and then Axel getting his revenge on the pre Battleground Smackdown – I doubt anyone is looking forward to this match. It looks bad for Axel, but it wouldn’t have seemed half as bad had WWE at least bothered to build R-Truth up in the run up to this match with some impressive victories.

On the Smackdown one week ago, R-Truth lost in a squash match signifying that WWE do not have big plans for the man formerly known as K-Kwik. Which begs the question, that when you’re trying to rebuild the WWE Intercontinental Championship, why make a match which is 1) treated as an afterthought and thrown onto the card 48 hours – from airtime – before a pay-per view and 2) give the champion you’re trying to push an opponent who no one cares about? It boggles the mind that WWE believe the best way to get the Intercontinental Championship over again is to have Curtis Axel, a man who hasn’t had the start that was predicted for him, defend against a mere nobody, which R-Truth is in 2013 on a pay-per view.

With Triple H taking charge of the lesser talent in WWE and their direction as well as the head of youth development, amongst his many other jobs, you would have thought ‘The King of Kings’ may have realised that the Championship which helped make him as well as those around him like The Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin a star, needs a better push and more backing than its currently getting at the moment. WWE could have literally picked anyone else from their roster for this match and even Kofi Kingston, who will battle Bray Wyatt at Battleground, would have given Curtis Axel a better fight than he will get from R-Truth.

In 2013 and 2014 I don’t see R-Truth as a main or even major under card player in WWE. His last major contribution to the company was his challenged to the WWE United States Championship in 2012 held by Antonio Cesaro. Though those matches went from bad to okay, Truth was not considered for one moment as a name to dethrone Cesaro in 2012. I have to believe that he’s merely a filler while WWE find something more meaningful to do with the Intercontinental Champion.

Anyway, if Truth did defeat Axel for the gold then what? What could R-truth possibly add to the company with one its pieces of gold around his waist? He’s not seen as a viable replacement for Axel or anyone on the roster. Truth isn’t so staunchly loved by the fans that they would be willing to pay out to see him rebuild the division and even if they did, I don’t believe that R-Truth has the skill to be the figurehead of the once lauded division. There is nothing R-truth can possibly add to WWE in 2013 or the Intercontinental Championship division. The only reason R-Truth is in this match and indeed booked to compete at Battleground is so that WWE can hand Curtis Axel a pay-per view victory in order to help rebuild his image after too many losses.

Speaking of the Intercontinental Champion, Curtis Axel has been treated appallingly by WWE since he won the super triple threat match against The Miz and Wade Barrett at Payback. What should have happened seemed to slip WWE’s mind and they instead implemented what they believed a young upstart who has the world in front of him, should be doing to pay his dues. It’s about time WWE are everyone in wrestling got over this whole ‘paying your dues’ before you get a big break. In 2013, WWE don’t have the star names to pad out the top of the card whilst the younger talent pay their dues and in reality it’s just an excuse as to why they’re not pushing some of the more younger and deserving talent.

I hope that his feud with C.M Punk would be the making of Axel, something that he could get his teeth into and run with. On the other side of the fence, Axel had a seasoned pro that has put many men over and made many more careers than Axel has had matches. It shouldn’t have failed to work. Punk should have helped get Axel over and Axel should have shot to stardom after the feud was over. But like everything else in WWE, things don’t work the logical way. WWE were never planning to make Curtis Axel a star from the Punk feud, instead just biding their time and using the Intercontinental Champion as a bridge into Punk’s next feud with Ryback.

I wonder if WWE stopped for one moment to think about what that would do to Axel’s image with the fans. Did they even bother to think that he may be seen as a mere bit player who was used as cannon fodder in order for WWE to implement a bigger and better drawing warfare? Of course not. Like almost everything else they have their mind set on, WWE went in with their big size twelve’s and trampled over everything. Only this time it was Curtis Axel who got caught in the stampede. Had the C.M Punk feud been handled right then WWE could have had a new main event star on their hands – instead now, they have a hell of a job to do with Axel before he’s ready to be that star and its mostly of their own doing.

It’s not just WWE’s fault though. It would be easy to credit WWE with the whole mess up but when you cast your eyes back on some Axel’s more important moments, then you will see that he’s not stepped up to the mark. For a man who is the son of a WWE legend – and that fact may be a factor in his disappointing start with his new character – Axel has strolled through matches with a lack of zeal or enthusiasm. At Money in the Bank he had the chance to prove to WWE that he could take someone like The Miz and steal the show with them. It was Axel’s chance to wow the audience and the booking team backstage. He didn’t. On the night, Curtis Axel took a laidback approach to his job and simply walked through his match without seemingly a care in the world.

His SummerSlam he was left off of the card and at Night of Champions he once again failed to totally impress. I can’t pinpoint what’s wrong with Henning. There doesn’t seem to be the flair that his father had or he should display. It’s almost like he doesn’t want to do it or he’s held back by the weight of expectation from his father as well as being packaged as a character who uses his fathers finishing move and entrance theme – which is weaved into his own. WWE can’t expect Henning to be a replica of his father. Mr. Perfect was a one off, never to be repeated or replicated. It’s no goods the company giving Axel Mr. Perfect’s traits and crossing their fingers, hoping for the best. It’s not going to happen. With Paul Heyman, WWE have given Curtis Axel a fighting chance, but they have to stop saddling him with the weight of expectation his father came with, otherwise he’s going to fail and it’ll be another name struck off of the future main event roster.

Winners Prediction: Curtis Axel

Battleground Kick-Off Match

Damien Sandow vs Dolph Ziggler

Insert sigh here. What a come down for both Dolph Ziggler and Damien Sandow. After his Money in the Bank 2013 victory Damien Sandow should be on top of the world and being prepped for a serious World Heavyweight Championship challenge sometime next year. Yet since his victory he’s lost at SummerSlam and almost every week on Raw and Smackdown. Do WWE really think that having him keep losing will endear us to Sandow as a future champion? They should have learnt from Dolph Ziggler’s stop / start push in 2012 after Ziggler won the very same match. His burial at the hands of John Cena only put him back and when he did win the title it was out of nowhere and WWE took it off of him two months later.

That’s the problem with Money in the Bank winners who aren’t huge stars. They have to be given the chance or the vicious circle of repeating main events come around again and again, but the company has put the machine behind them. Damien Sandow needed huge victories in the weeks leading up to and after SummerSlam, including prospering over Cody Rhodes on the biggest event of the summer. When it comes time for Sandow to cash in, then who is going to believe that a man who has regularly lost to the whose who of jobbers can carry the World Heavyweight Championship and the company? It’s a ridiculous notion which WWE need to shake out of their heads.

Half of the problem is the unwillingness by WWE to take another chance. To them, having Sandow going over wrestlers like RVD, Alberto Del Rio, Randy Orton and so on is to much of a risk to the bigger stars images. Do WWE really think that after doings jobs for everyone over the last two years Randy Orton is going to be damaged by a defeat to Damien Sandow? No. And the three mentioned are the perfect three to get the faux scholar over. After RVD’s stint in the World Heavyweight Championship picture it would be a wise move to punt him down the ladder to feud with Sandow. A couple of pay-per view victories, including being the sole survivor at Survivor Series would do Sandow no end of good in WWE and certainly start him off on the road to where he needs to be in 2014.

As for Dolph Ziggler – well what can I say? The man who is clearly the future of this company is being treated shoddily by it. Ziggler’s World Heavyweight Championship reign should have gone at least into SummerSlam and to strip him of the title because you need him to bring the best out of the bumbling Big E. Langston is a huge oversight. WWE could have just as easily booked another singles match between A.J and Kaitlyn at SummerSlam and left Langston off of the card as an active wrestler, in order to book a triple threat match for the World Heavyweight Championship on the August spectacular. But that would have been too easy.

In October 2013, Dolph Ziggler should be at the top, competing for the WWE and / or World Heavyweight Championship. There’s no reason for his talents to be wasted in defeats on Raw and Smackdown and certainly not on the kick-off show of an untested pay-per view which may not be around next year depending on its success this year. It’s mindless that Dolph Ziggler is constantly kept back. He has the look, the skills, the popularity and if you asked anyone in the WWE Universe then most would say that they’d prefer Dolph Ziggler in the main event to on a programme which most will only see when it’s released on DVD.

This would be a perfect place to start for WWE to build Damien Sandow. They’ve had their fun and got over whatever point they were trying to get across but this is getting beyond a joke. He can’t win on pay-per view, he can’t win on weekly television and if Damien Sandow can’t be afforded a win on the pre-show match to a pay-per view then we may have to start looking at the possibility that Damien Sandow is never going to break that glass ceiling after all.

Winners Prediction: Damien Sandow

Like most WWE pay-per view events in 2013, Battleground is strong at the top and weak at the bottom. If it was a building then October’s first pay-per view (Hell in a Cell follows on October 27th) would tumble before it was even put up. There aren’t enough strong lower card matches to support the weight of the main event matches and even though the wrestlers were there to change this (Dean Ambrose and Christian have been left off of the card), WWE haven’t bothered.

Randy Orton vs Daniel Bryan will be another cracking effort of that I’m sure and it will advance the story as we approach the end of the year, but I can’t see anything else at Battleground stunning the audience. In fact it has ‘B’ level pay-per view written all over it. I doubt we’ll remember this event in a year’s time but then again the opportunity is there for WWE and its talent to prove us wrong.

It could have been so much better had WWE taken a risk on a WarGames match, the company could have elevated six or seven names in one night and been better off for it when the post WrestleMania 30 period kicked in, in April. But this month Vince McMahon wasn’t willing to risk a little to gain a lot and if something isn’t done about the state of WWE’s mid-card soon, then the whole company is going to be a battleground as the unsatisfied talent go to war with WWE’s hierarchy.

Onwards and upwards...