Think you can win the predictions battle at WWE Battleground? Prove it by testing your predictive mettle against Dave and make your mark on the next Cheap Popcast episode!
Hey all! If you haven’t heard the Summerslam Cheap Popcast, I’m made a monthly tradition of predicting the results of a pre-determined event! The reader who makes the most correct predictions gets to pick the song that plays at the conclusion of our Battleground-themed episode of Cheap Popcast! First, though, a recap of the Night of Champions predictions. I started out with a head of steam, getting my first four predictions correct, but I completely whiffed on the main event, going 4-for-7. A little luckier was our winner tranquilbez, who correctly picked five results. He chose THE Brian Kendrick’s theme. This one will appear in our Battleground episode which will go up within a few days of the PPV.
Here’s how it goes. I’m going to make my predictions in this here article, and then open up the replies to you awesome listeners. You will then pick a winner (or if you’re feeling risky a rare draw/double DQ) for each match (don’t worry about getting the finish right, I’m just looking for winners), and then, just in case there’s a tie for correct predictions, pick a running time for the final match listed (the presumed main event) as a tiebreaker. With a Money in the Bank briefcase at play, I’m adding a new twist. If you predict a cash-in, and it doesn’t happen, you lose a point. If you get it right, however, you gain two! You only need predict whether someone cashes in or not, not whether it’s successful. I think that should make things interesting.
What does the winner get? Well, you can make your mark on the next Cheap Popcast episode by choosing the next show’s closing theme. Pick the wrestler theme and include a YouTube URL to a wrestler’s theme alongside your predictions (including the running time of the final match listed) and I’ll give you a shout-out before throwing to our episode-ender. Let’s kick off the predictions!
DOLPH ZIGGLER VS DAMIEN SANDOW
Both of these guys have suffered some serious losing streaks of late. It’s particularly sad for Ziggler, and since Sandow’s currently doing the annual “MITB winner loses a bunch before cashing in” gimmick, I say Ziggler pins Sandow.
DIVAS CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH: AJ LEE (CHAMP) VS BRIE BELLA
We’ve still got a few weeks until Total Divas is back, right? Hopefully that means that the one with talent keeps the title. However, I bet they keep the storyline going and Brie wins by DQ. Do Divas ever even get DQd?
KOFI KINGSTON VS. BRAY WYATT
BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA… (breathes) Wyatt pins Kingston.
INTERCONTINENTAL CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH: CURTIS AXEL (CHAMP) VS R-TRUTH
… HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. As much as I think Axel is a dud, he’s not gonna lose the title like this. Axel pins Truth.
CODY RHODES & GOLDUST VS THE SHIELD
I can’t remember the last time a tag team match sold me on a PPV, but this one did it. Seeing the Rhodes brothers tag together is a rare treat, and the conflict between the employment stipulation and The Shield’s dominance make this one the toughest to predict. I’m going to be slightly contrary and say Cody turns on his family in some sort of twist that gets his job back, so that The Shield win.
WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH: ALBERTO DEL RIO (CHAMP) VS ROB VAN DAM (HARDCORE RULES)
RVD has to get a pinfall win at one of these things, right? I say RVD wins, but due to the battle damage suffered by RVD Sandow cashes in afterwards.
CM PUNK VS RYBACK
Punk’s a teflon guy, and I don’t see this rivalry ending just yet. Heyman’s gonna do something to continue the mindgames just a little longer, so Ryback pins Punk.
WWE CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH
After the end of Night of Champions, I stopped thinking WWE was going to make Bryan’s story about chasing the title. I’m thinking we’ll see Bryan-Punk at Survivor Series, so to set that up, we’ll have to wrap up Orton’s run this month. That means Bryan pins Orton at 21:30, setting up a HITC blowoff.
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Alright, there’s my picks. Sound off below with your match predictions, (including the Bryan-Orton running time) as well as a YouTube link to your wrestler theme pick. Good luck, everyone!
ziggler D, sandow
aj D, brie
wyatt D, kofi
axel D, truth
rhodes family D, shield
adr D, rvd
ryback D, cm punk
bryan vs orton ends in no contest
Don’t forget the main event running time, your choice of wrestler theme, and a YouTube link!
1) Dolph Ziggler
2) AJ Lee
3) Bray Wyat
4) R-Truth
5) The Shield
6) ADR
7) Punk
8) Bryan @ 19:52
There will be no cash in for the MIB briefcase.
For a song, I choose this because I killed it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nxntxgd68gk
This seems like a throw away show, so the result should be pretty easy to predict.
Ziggler/Sandow – Sandow
AJ/Brie – AJ
Kofi/Wyatt – Wyatt
Axel/R-Truth – Axel
Rhodes Brothers/Shield – Cody pins Rollins
Del Rio/RVD – RVD wins after a big bump to end the match, which sets up…
Sandow/RVD – Sandow
Punk/Ryback – Ryback
DBry/Orton – It’s finally Bryan’s time. He wins after Big Show either knocks out Orton without the ref seeing, or distracts Orton long enough for Bryan to capitalize. Either way, Bryan comes out champion, and Orton goes on to feud with Show. Time: 22:00
The theme for maybe the toughest wrestler on the planet, Minoru Suzuki
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iybuD6CbfzE
Ziggler
Brie for a power couple
Bray Wyatt
Mr. Perfect jr.
Rhodes
ADR with a defense against sandow afterwards for a real push
Punk
Bryan 20:21
Stone cold’s theme
You guys got me back into wrestling! Anyway you could give a brief history of everything important between the end of the attitude era and cm punk’s reign? DX got back together? WCW invaded?
I got 6 unless my ADR pick doesn’t count because of the money in the bank call. Anyways what was the general thoughts on the ppv? I missed it at the 49ers game.
1. Ziggler pins Sandow
2. AJ beats Brie (submission)
3. Bray Wyatt pins Kofi Kingston
4. Axel pins R-Truth
5. this is a tough one, as they’re likely setting up Goldust vs Cody at Mania, so a Cody turn here would be too early. Team Rhodes pins The Shield.
6. Hey where did Brock go? Ryback can’t lose and Punk doesn’t need a win, Ryback pins Punk.
7. They are not blowing off this major feud at Battleground of all things. Orton wins via DQ at 27 minutes (via Big Show)
Theme: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gK1Dro5pr_0 (give you guys a chance to talk about the largely forgotten Muhammad Hassan)
Sandow over Ziggler
Brie over AJ
Wyatt over Kingston
Axel over R-Truth
Rhodes Family over The Shield
RVD over Del Rio, Sandow cashes in
Ryback over Punk
Bryan over Orton in 25:00
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yIR2RbWkVcM
Dolph Ziggler over Sandow simply because the latter is “Mr. Money in the Bank.” His story resolution will come later.
AJ Lee over Brie because if they were going to drop the Butterfly belt to Brie, they would’ve done so at the 4-Way on Night of Champions.
Wyatt over Kingston because there’s no way they’re going to stop Wyatt’s push dead in the water now.
Axel over who cares.
Rhodes family over the Shield due to some kind of disqualification.
RVD beats Del Rio. After that, who knows LOL.
Punk takes care of Ryback. I’m not sure of this but god do I want Punk to move on from his feud with Heyman and go onto the main-event scene again.
Finally, Orton will take the WWE Championship because they’re stretching for time till a more prominent PPV.
Theme: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4R-zyC4skI Because I always liked DDP, even though he has a blatant ripoff theme song.
Dolph Ziggler over Sandow simply because the latter is “Mr. Money in the Bank.” His story resolution will come later.
AJ Lee over Brie because if they were going to drop the Butterfly belt to Brie, they would’ve done so at the 4-Way on Night of Champions.
Wyatt over Kingston because there’s no way they’re going to stop Wyatt’s push dead in the water now.
Axel over who cares.
Rhodes family over the Shield due to some kind of disqualification.
RVD beats Del Rio. After that, who knows LOL.
Punk takes care of Ryback. I’m not sure of this but god do I want Punk to move on from his feud with Heyman and go onto the main-event scene again.
Finally, Orton will take the WWE Championship because they’re stretching for time till a more prominent PPV.
Theme: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVGHggXx8HM Man, I can’t believe I rooted for these guys with their lame theme song.
Ziggler vs Sandow – Sandow wins.
AJ Lee vs Brie Bella – Brie wins and her and Daniel become Mr & Mrs champion. AJ Lee puts her into submission afterwards.
Kofi vs Wyatt – Wyatt wins, even though his W/L is a little high recently. Fun fact, Wyatt is only 26, seems to be one of the younger WWE superstars, if not the youngest besides Cody Rhodes.
R Truth vs Axel: R Truth wins to become the #1 contender for the International title.
Team Rhodes vs Rollins & Reigns: Team Rhodes wins. Shield beats on them after the match. Big Show comes out and helps them take down Shield. Big Show then forms a faction with Team Rhodes. The Shield are HHH’s lackeys, the Rhodes and Show are now the opposition.
ADR vs RVD: RVD wins, Sandow cashes in MITB and gets pinned by RVD
CM Punk vs Ryback: Punk wins by pinfall. Afterwards, makes Heyman go to sleep.
Daniel Bryan vs Randy Orton: Orton attempts to RKO Bryan, who gets out of it and pushes him into the turnbuckle, then gives him the flying knee. Bryan pins orton at 19:35. And it will be glorious.
General thoughts about watching WWE for the past 2 months having not watched it in 6+ years prior:
– I firmly believe WWE does market research by rewatching Raw/SD and studying the audience. Pretty much everything the audience does gives immediate feedback. They also have the announcers (especially Cole) say things to try to persuade the audience to think a certain plot line will happen.
– Cole and JBL have been on each other’s asses during commentary lately. Cole also wrongfully called Orton WWE champion on Raw either last week or two weeks ago. I rewinded it to make sure I wasn’t hearing things. It’s weird to see JBL where he is now. I remember him as one half of the APA.
– Los Matadores remind me a lot of the Hardy Boyz. Which rules.
– Big E Langston needs to have a match with Ryback.
– Brie Bella really overdoes the noises during matches. Also, Aksana had her foot on the rope just at the end of their match tonight on SD, and takes it off just before the 3 count.
My first choice for the music entry was going to be Rollin’ (Taker) just for the reaction. Then I was going to choose the Hardy Boyz theme, as Jeff Hardy is probably my all time favorite wrestler. But finally, I settled on the smoothest song in wrestling history. You look fly today, y’all.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUCf29SBYPA
Ziggler pins sandow
Brie defeats Aj by DQ
Wyatt pins Kofi, Kane returns and chokeslams Harper and Rowan
Truth defeats Axel after a CM Punk distraction.
Rhodes family defeat the shield via pinfall by cody onto rollins
RVD wins the title
Triple H inserts himself into the match as a referee and screws Byan out of the title allowing Orton to win after 22:45 minutes. He commands Big Show to come out and knock out Bryan. Big Show knocks out Triple H and Randy Orton and the show closes with Daniel Bryan on Big Show’s shoulders holding the title.
Song: The Brian Kendrick- A Man with a plan http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5M5ntsIbJ9I
gah I forgot the Ryback/Punk match.
Ryback pins punk after Axel gets back at punk for costing him his IC Title.
whoops I didn’t read the opening paragraph but yay I won 😀
anyway here is the new theme
Evolution Baby!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cad2JYi4F0I
how do you know you won? it hasn’t even aired yet
read the opening paragraph on this article
Ziggler pins Sandow
Brie taps out to AJ
Wyatt pins Kofi
Axel pins R-Truth
Rhodes Family beats the shield
RVD pins Del Rio, Sandow cashes in and wins WHC
Ryback pins CM Punk
Orton pins Bryan in twenty-three minutes
If I win, play http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjQHGrNWC7E
Also, I predict a victory for the Real Americans in the recently announced tag team match http://www.wwe.com/shows/wwebattleground/2013/santino-marella-the-great-khali-vs-the-real-americans
1. Ziggler pins Sandow
2. AJ beats Brie (submission)
3. Bray Wyatt pins Kofi Kingston
4. Axel pins R-Truth
5. They’re likely setting up Goldust vs Cody down the road, so a Golddust turn here would be too early. Team Rhodes pins The Shield with a bit of help from their dad.
6. ADR vs RVD. I see ADR winning this. I know RVD is the Hardcore Legend he is. However ADR has been golden in these stipulation matches. Even beating John Cena in a last man standing. So I see ADR holding the strap for a bit longer.
7. Ryback just got added to the equation and Punk doesn’t need a win, Ryback pins Punk With a little help from Paul Heyman… to cement him as a Paul Heyman guy.
8. They are not blowing off this major feud at Battleground of all things. Orton wins via Pinfall at 28 minutes after the match is restarted because of big show interfering. Add a Orton Punt at the end to show how vicious he has become since holding it last.
ADR makes RVD tap out^ Didn’t say how.
Real Americans win over Khali and Santino via Submission
Not sure if I won or not. Was pretty close, if I did : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cnFU2UZK_0I
Seems appropriate considering the PPV’s biggest match.
i got ziggler over sandow by pinfall
aj beats bree
wyatt over kofi after a distraction by the other wyatt’s
axel pins truth
i want to see goldie and cody win but ambrose interferes with dusty and that leads to a roman reigns spear, shield wins
rvd beats del rio after a 5star through a table
ryback beats punk after punk runs after heyman again
bryan over orton after hhh tries to distract the ref, time 18:45
and for theme gotta throw back to The Iron Sheik bubba: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9gsRBsM4yw
and for the match just added, the real americans will beat satino and khali
I’d like to make one change to what I listed above. Didn’t realize the match between r truth and axel was for the championship. I’m going to flip it and have Axel stay champ.
Dolph Ziggler
AJ Lee
Kofi Kingston
R Truth
The Shield
Alberto Del Rio
CM Punk
Randy Orton
And for the theme song i pick LA PARKA! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDvb1tCDw6E
Dolph Ziggler
Brie Bella
Bray Wyatt
R Truth
The Shields
ADR
Ryback
Randy Orton
Spoilers Below
Battleground had an absolute disgusting ending. Second (maybe even 3rd) PPV event in a row where they troll fans at the end. Yeah, we get it, we can’t blame show for what he’s doing. What’s best for business is not doing bullshit endings in PPV events that people pay a lot of money to watch.
AJ wins with cheap ways more often than she doesn’t, especially in title matches. It would have been nice to see Brie win and then have to face her sister later on down the line, but now we’re certainly just gonna get tag team matches with the bella twins and aj/snuka
Sandow injuring his knee was garbage. He is a bottom tier wrestler who is going to lose the title as soon as he gets it, why not just get it over with… I don’t get why they put him in that MITB match, he’s not world champion material on a physical level. He also clearly doesn’t work out his legs at all, maybe that’s why his bitch ass hurt his knee so easily
Khali doesn’t fit in WWE anymore imo, he usually seems very out of touch and he’s just used out of gimmick at this point. Same goes for Ricardo, as RVD doesn’t really need him now that his feud with ADR is over. BTW, did anyone catch jack swagger completely shove cesaro when he tried to hug him?
The Rhodes vs Shield match was the best match of the night and the way Cody exploded at the end was amazing. They’d be fools to not have Team Rhodes be the new contendors for tag titles by HIAC. I’d much rather see them champs over the Usos.
The “ryback can’t wrestle” chants annoyed me.There aren’t a lot of wrestlers anymore who have that “power explosion” feeling like Ryback (ex. batista, brock lesnar, big e langston). The ref was being pretty hard on him last night, although he did keep repeating rope/corner moves. I hate seeing CM Punk win in such stupid ways, especially when he has been competing a lot less. Heyman will surely try to take the win from Punk, and a rematch will be in order. I can’t wait for punk to be finished with this feud and back on the path to the championship.
Axel vs R-Truth… seemed like nobody was into that match. This was R-Truth’s chance to shine and they didn’t give it to him. It’ll probably be a while before he gets another shot.
Wyatt vs Kofi was another weak match. I thought Kofi deserved to win, but they’re clearly setting up Wyatt to be hunting the “faces” of the WWE using differences in philosophy as their reasoning. Kane will be back soon enough to put Wyatt in his place
Rumor is that HHH/Steph actually did have to go away for an emergency meeting IRL, and that Christian will be next in the storyline to take on ADR. An article on wwe.com comments on RVD wanting to take time off. I don’t blame him.
I’m going to bet Bryan wins the championship sometime this month before the PPV, defending against Orton at HIAC, and then the following month defending it against Punk. The yes/no chants during punches are going to really ruin Bryan for me
I’m tired of season of the heel. Let’s see some good guys win for a change already. It’s obvious that what they do is they make a heel the champ for a while so they can build up any other superstar by having him be the opposition. In cases like RVD, they’ve now built up RVD to a much higher level, and now a new person they choose to go against ADR will be able to be built up over the next few weeks without RVD losing his fandom.
Overall like a 7/10
Do I win something for having the worst prediction percentage? 2 out of 8, minus one point for calling a cash-in, equals 1 point.
i would take mick foley in my mouth to get the next cheap popcast within the next few days… fiendin so bad
As I know nothing I will predict the first listed in each fight will win.
Ziggler over Sandow
AJ over Brie
Wyatt over Kingston
Axel over Truth
Rhoades and Goldust over The Shield
RVD over ADR
Punk over Ryback
Bryan over Orton, 24:24
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yQsPE7pzNo