Views From The Turnbuckle: WWE Battleground Preview, Predictions And More

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The show won't take place for two more days and I already feel comfortable in saying that Battleground 2015 will be the greatest Battleground event of all-time. The previous two installments of the PPV have been painfully bad, taking home the Wrestling Observer's "Worst Major Show" award for each of the past two years. This year's event already has two matches on the show that should be very good, which is two more than the previous years' show.

I already wrote at length about Brock Lesnar and Seth Rollins, and on Monday more of the same storyline unfolded. Seth Rollins remains the only person in the world who believes that he can actually beat Brock Lesnar. While Rollins has deftly avoided Lesnar, he still does not come off as a coward that doesn't really believe what he is saying. His character comes across so well that I believe that Rollins does actually think he can beat Brock Lesnar. The best wrestling characters are the ones who come across as justified in their thoughts, and while Rollins may be the only person who thinks it, he is a man that is committed to his beliefs.

The biggest change on Monday came when Kane was taken out by Lesnar and Rollins blasted Kane on the way out. With J&J Security presumably killed off, the idea of a typical Authority run in during the match is off the table, so that opens the door for a new outcome on Sunday. I still believe that Rollins will manage to hold onto the championship, but how? Some fans have speculated a new team will arrive to help out Seth, but that seems way too redundant for WWE right now. The Undertaker and Sting are rumored to be appearing, so those are two wild cards to heighten speculation. Whatever ends up happening, it remains largely unpredictable, which is a good thing for WWE.

John Cena vs Kevin Owens III is the odds-on-favorite for the match of the night, and rightfully so. Their first two encounters were some of the best matches anywhere in wrestling this year, and they will both pull out some interesting stuff for their third encounter, this time being the first time the United States Championship is on the line.

As the rubber match in their feud, it is pretty much make or break time for Owens. WWE started his time on the main roster by having him win cleanly over John Cena. The implication from that victory was very clear: This was not just another heel for SuperCena to conquer, like Ryback, Bray Wyatt or Rusev. This was someone who could really challenge Cena's status of supremacy, a role reserved only for CM Punk and Randy Orton in the past. Since that victory it has been somewhat downhill for Owens, Cena has consistently gotten the better of him including a very stereotypical Cena victory at Money in the Bank. If Cena wins again on Sunday, it will confirm that WWE has lost some faith in Owens and that he is merely another foil for Cena instead of a true rival. Owens has done nothing but deliver in the ring and on the mic since his debut on the main roster, but in the wacky world of WWE politics he could have done any number of miniscule things that could affect the way the company chooses to portray him. For the sake of a quality product, I really hope that Owens picks up the win on Sunday because he has been a breath of fresh air in an increasingly stale WWE. Everything about Owens screams future superstar for the company and recently it was made clear that WWE felt that way and was going to book him accordingly, it remains to be seen if they still feel that way.

The rest of the card is pretty much in line with what Battleground has been over the last couple years. Roman Reigns vs Bray Wyatt is a match with two possible outcomes, neither of which should be very entertaining. The first outcome is that Reigns defeats Wyatt, further solidifying Wyatt's status as a guy that cannot get victories over upper-level talent. The second outcome is Wyatt defeats Reigns via some ridiculous outcome, like Roman Reigns' daughter singing or something. Wyatt has a really good character, but it is also kind of a bad character for WWE since it gives management a lot of ways to come up with hokey segments that come off making him look ridiculous. This culminated on Raw a few weeks ago where Wyatt ended up having a tea party with either A) Himself, B) His invisible friend or C) A Ghost. It was never really made clear which one it was.

I hate to say it, but it looks like Randy Orton is reverting back to his generic babyface self. Orton had a terrific 2014 as The Authority's chosen champion, but once again he finds himself as a colorless babyface, having so-so matches and drifting around aimlessly. He has been feuding with Sheamus for what feels like forever and it doesn't seem to really be going anywhere. Sheamus is rivaling Damien Sandow for the title of "Most Irrelevant MITB Winner" as his character hasn't changed one iota since he won MITB. Sheamus will probably win, probably cheaply, and probably setting us up for more of the same from these two.

The New Day were having a grand time as heel Tag Team champions, so of course WWE took the championships off of them. I don't have anything against The Prime Time Players, and if they defeated the typical ho-hum Tag Team Champions I wouldn't really have a problem with it, but WWE took the titles off of a group that was adding something new to the tag team division only to give it to a team that gets them good PR. And that is really what they are, the Prime Time Players should be called the PR Champions.

While the undercard looks insignificant, I have appreciated the fact that WWE had a nice long break between major PPV events. Instead of doing something every two weeks, WWE for once gave the storylines a chance to breathe instead of rushing everything down the audiences throat, and the result was some decent storytelling. I would really like to see more of these breaks in the future.

You can follow Jesse Collings on Twitter @JesseCollings