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New Match Announced WWE Battleground

Shane McMahon announced on tonight’s episode of SmackDown Live that the winner of a 5-Way Elimination Match at WWE Battleground will earn a shot at the SmackDown Women’s Championship. Here is the updated card:

WWE Title: Punjabi Prison match
Randy Orton vs. Jinder Mahal

SmackDown Tag Team Championship
The New Day vs. The Usos

#1 Contendership for the SmackDown Women’s Championship: Fatal 5-Way
Charlotte vs. Natalya vs. Tamina vs. Becky Lynch vs. Lana

Flag match
Rusev vs. John Cena

Battleground takes place on July 23rd from the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia.

Carmella Reacts to James Ellsworth’s Suspension

As seen on Tuesday’s episode of SmackDown Live, Daniel Bryan suspended James Ellsworth for 30 days and fined him $10,000 for his involvement in the Women’s Money in the Bank Ladder matches. He also added that if he violates the terms, Carmella will be stripped of her MITB briefcase.

Carmella and Ellsworth both took to Twitter and made the following remarks in regards to the suspension:

Possible Reason Why WWE Booked A Flag Match at WWE Battleground

As seen on Tuesday’s episode of SmackDown Live, WWE announced that John Cena would face Rusev in a flag match at the upcoming WWE Battleground event. Bryan Alvarez speculated on today’s installment of Wrestling Observer Live that the reason WWE decided to have a flag match between the two was in case they decide to have Rusev win.

“The Flag match is essentially the professional wrestling version of capture the flag. For the match two flags are placed on opposite turnbuckles, each representing a specific wrestler or team of wrestlers, and the object of the match is to retrieve the opponent’s flag and raise it while defending the flag in the wrestler’s corner.”

According to the rules (seen above), the match will conclude when a specific wrestler retrieves the flag of their opponent. This means Cena doesn’t have to actually be pinned to lose the match. Historically, WWE normally has gimmick matches as a blow-off match in a feud or as an “out” for a screwy finish.

Rumored Card for WWE Battleground

The following card is being rumored for the upcoming SmackDown-brand WWE Battleground event:

Punjabi Prison Match for the WWE Championship
Jinder Mahal (C) vs. Randy Orton

Tag Team match for the WWE SmackDown Tag Team Championships
The New Day (C) vs. The Usos

WWE the United States Championship
Kevin Owens (C) vs. AJ Styles

SmackDown Women’s Championship
Lana vs. Naomi

Rusev vs. John Cena

Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Baron Corbin

Sami Zayn vs. Mike Kanellis

WWE Battleground takes place on July 23rd from the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia. As always, we will be providing live play-by-play coverage of the event.

Naomi Lights Up Her Championship Title Belt

Naomi was at a recent WWE live event in Odessa, Texas this past weekend with her WWE SmackDown Women’s Championship with LED lights on it. It looks like this could be part of her ‘glow’ gimmick. We will have to wait for SmackDown to see if this belt makes it on to television.

First Match Announced for WWE Battleground

The New Day challenged The Usos to a shot at the SmackDown Tag Team Championships on tonight’s episode of SmackDown Live. Usos accepted the challenge and will defend their titles on the card. No other matches have been announced for the show yet.

Battleground takes place on July 23rd from the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia.

Another Match Announced for WWE Battleground

Shane McMahon announced on tonight’s episode of SmackDown Live that Randy Orton will get a rematch against Jinder Mahal for the WWE Title at the upcoming WWE Battleground event. Jinder would later announce that the match is a Punjabi Prison match. Here is the updated card:

WWE Title: Punjabi Prison match
Randy Orton vs. Jinder Mahal

SmackDown Tag Team Championship
The New Day vs. The Usos

Battleground takes place on July 23rd from the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia.

Eva Marie Not Done with WWE?

It was reported back in March via PWInsider that Eva Marie would not be returning to WWE, however those reports appear to be false.

Eva Marie appeared on today’s installment of Wrestling Observer Live and indicated that she could still pop up on RAW or SmackDown Live at anytime. She mentioned that her return may not be in the near future as she is still working on two filming projects, but the door is still open for her return.

When asked about reports that Lana has received her gimmick on SmackDown, she said that she couldn’t confirm that but hopes that’s not the case.

Eric Bischoff: Women’s Money In The Bank Re-Match Is A Bad Idea

After the controversial ending to the women’s Money in The Bank Ladder Match, Daniel Bryan announced on this week’s episode of SmackDown LIVE that there will be a rematch on next week’s episode of SmackDown LIVE. James Ellsworth will be banned from the ringside in the match.

Eric Bischoff expressed his displeasure over the decision on his podcast, “Bischoff on Wrestling”. Here’s what Bischoff said:

“I think it’s a bad move. It’s a mistake I’ve made in the past. Sometimes you learn from your mistakes. At least, sometimes I do and sometimes I don’t. When you build up to a big event on PPV and you build up the stakes and you build up the expectation and you basically deliver a screwed finish and then re-match it on free TV. It diminishes the long-term expectation of future big event matches on pay-per-view when that happens. I think it’s a really bad idea. By the way, I’ve done it and the results were always negative”

Ryback Talks About Teased Feud Against Triple H

On the latest episode of his podcast, Conversations with the Big Guy, Ryback revealed some interesting details about a teased feud between him and Triple H. Here’s what the “Big Guy” said: (Quote credits: wrestlinginc.com)

“I had a weird deal with Hunter. Did I ever tell [podcast co-host Pat Buck]? Do you remember that, where they had a thing where it looked like they were teasing a program with me and Hunter? They had us face off in England after I wrestled Kane. I think I broke my finger wrestling Kane one night. We were doing something and our hands hit and my finger went sideways.”

Ryback then continued:

“so I get through this match with Kane. I think it was the main event on SmackDown. Then, they have this big stare [down] with me and Hunter and they teased it for a couple of weeks with different things and then it just went away. It was nothing. And even he came up, ‘the plan was never for us to work, just so you know.’ And I go, ‘Oh, okay. I don’t know.’ I’m not in the creative meetings. I don’t know why. I just do what I’m told. He would always explain things weirdly, but, yeah, that never happened. It would’ve been nice, so he could f–king know that I could wrestle.”

Would you have liked seeing Hunter go at it with The Big Guy? Share your thoughts in the comments.

Daniel Bryan Claims that Luke Harper’s Capabilities are Being Wasted on SmackDown Live

Daniel Bryan spoke to Fox Sports very recently. There he gave his two cents on the state of Luke Harper on SmackDown Live right now. Bryan admitted that the former Wyatt Family member is indeed being “wasted” on the blue brand.

Here are Bryan’s thoughts on Harper:

“I think that he is somebody that we can utilize better. When he left the Wyatt Family, I thought the fans were really starting to get behind him. And his match with Randy Orton, gosh, I loved his match with Randy Orton.”

The former 3-time World Champion didn’t stop singing Harper’s praise here, as he continued:

“Every time you see him, he’s dynamic. The crowd gets behind him, and then you just kind of lose him on TV, where we don’t really see him much. I think we’re really losing out on that.”