Tonight at Battleground, AJ Lee puts her title on the line against Brie Bella. Will Brie continue her meteoric rise with a title win? The Diva Dirt team weighs in:
Adrian: Having ignored my gut instinct and incorrectly predicted that AJ would drop the title at Night of Champions, I’m going to actually pay attention to it this time, and say AJ walks out still champion. With Brie’s relationship with Daniel Bryan now a full-fledged part of the WWE canon and with their big engagement public knowledge, I know the stars are aligned for Brie…which would make it all the more heartbreaking to see her big moment ripped away from her. I can see Brie getting more than a little tangled in her fiancé’s feud with management in the coming weeks, and this is a perfect way to kick things off. I think AJ Lee will win this one – and not cleanly – but regardless of what happens, Brie loses.
Bobby: Okay so since what I wanted to happen on SmackDown as shown in the Armchair Creative Team didn’t really go down that way, I’ll make my prediction a bit more realistic and to the point. I think Brie and AJ is a wild card match in that we really don’t know how the quality will be. Pretty sure that when it happened before, the roles were reversed, and I personally find the Bellas to be much better wrestlers and more entertaining as a whole when they’re faces so that could mean good things come from this. It’s definitely going to be a mix of the time they get and how well they work together though, so I’m intrigued to see what happens as I can’t really call how it will be in terms of ring work. For who wins, being that we have a pay per view so soon after this, it would make sense for Brie to win and AJ to get her rematch there since that wouldn’t really be much build needed. However, I don’t think the reign of our Black Widow is done just yet, so I’m going with AJ Lee retaining. Perhaps come Hell in a Cell I’ll have different feelings, but for now I’m sticking with it.
Chris: Woah, hard to believe another PPV is here already. I’m really interested to see what direction they take with this. While I would love to see a new champion, I think AJ Lee is going to retain due to some outside hoopla, leading to a rematch at Hell in a Cell.
Cryssi: I think my feelings on this title match have been made pretty clear through out the week, on Diva Dirt Weekly and in our Armchair Creative Team piece. That said, I find myself with two options. I can either stick to what I’ve been saying this entire week, or I can completely contradict everything I’ve been preaching about. I still stand firm in my belief that both women, AJ and Brie, can benefit from this match if it’s done right. AJ should win in highly controversial fashion and should be stripped of the championship tomorrow night on Raw. That said, I woke up in the midst of a tropical depression named Karen this morning and it dawned on me that what’s going on in the WWE at the moment is a hurricane. Hurricane Stephanie is going to change course and destroy this match, and I think we will see a third competitor added right before the bell rings. Expect Natalya to walk out as champion tonight, because that is what’s best for business. At least in Stephanie’s eyes ;-)
Erin: I really believe that there’s more in store for Brie in this push than just a single, unsuccessful title shot. The WWE has wrapped her in the Administration’s storyline, and though she hasn’t drawn the wrath of Stephanie yet, I think she will. This will require her to pull a Daniel Bryan, winning the Divas Title against their wishes. Thus, Brie Bella is winning the title tonight.
Jack: As much as I wouldn’t mind seeing Brie win, I think AJ will be retaining for sure. I hope Tamina actually decides to do something in her new role, perhaps attacking Nikki to distract Brie? Either way, not enough story progression has been put into this at all, and sadly, I’m not too fussed about the outcome. Either AJ will win and move onto beating JoJo and Eva Marie (if she can even be bothered with them) and then drop the strap to Natalya or she’ll win and Brie disputes Tamina’s interference, allowing her to get another shot. I’d be happy with either as long as things get personal. And no, I don’t mean by talking trash about goat faced babies that don’t yet exist and spanking from doctors. Anyway, the less said about that dodgy promo, the better! AJ Lee retains.
Katelyn: I’m going with a Brie Bella victory. AJ might have Tamina on her side, but Brie has the entire cast of Total Divas on hers. With AJ quickly running out of fresh challengers, I fully expect Brie to claim the championship early in the show, then return to the ring to celebrate alongside Daniel Bryan after he beats Randy Orton for a (temporary) title reign. Bryan and Brie will share a smooch onscreen, the crowd will go bananas, and it will all be caught for Total Divas cameras.
Steven: While the Total Divas crew has been feuding with AJ for a good while now, AJ always seems to get the upper hand. I think that will all change at Battleground. I expect Tamina to get involved, prompting the Total Divas to make the save, leading Brie Bella to victory tonight. What happens after the belt changes hand is what I’m really interested in.
BREAKDOWN: 4 for AJ, 3 for Brie, 1 for Natalya.
Who do you agree with? Who is just dead wrong?
Note: We’re keeping a record of our Pay-Per-View predictions. Check out Team Diva Dirt’s PPV Prediction Scoreboard after the match to see who’s in the lead!
