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What's the story?
SmackDown's upcoming PPV Battleground will emanate this Sunday from Philadelphia, with the Punjabi Prison match between Jinder Mahal and Randy Orton for the WWE Championship acting as the main event.
The early betting odds have revealed the possible outcomes of the seven matches scheduled for the show, as released on BetWrestling.com.
In case you didn't know...
Battleground will be final PPV before SummerSlam and all of the blue brand will be defended except the SmackDown Women's title, as Naomi's next challenger will be determined in a Fatal 5-way no.1 contender's match.
AJ Styles will defend his newly won United States title against the man he won it from, Kevin Owens. The New Day would look to create history by becoming the first tag team to hold the RAW and SmackDown Tag Team titles when they take on The Usos.
The aforementioned fatal 5-way match will have Charlotte, Becky Lynch, Tamina Snuka, Lana and Natalya vie for a high-profile SummerSlam title match.
The other non-title bouts include a flag match between John Cena and Rusev, Mike Kanellis vs. Sami Zayn, Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Baron Corbin, and a pre-show match between Aiden English and Tye Dillinger.
The heart of the matter
The betting odds for the PPV from the European market were unveiled on BetWrestling and as expected, the results seem quite predictable. Below are the odds (note: the star with negative odds is the favorite to win)
- WWE Championship Punjabi Prison Match: Jinder Mahal (c) -333 vs. Randy Orton +220
- WWE United States Championship: AJ Styles (c) -300 vs. Kevin Owens +188
- Smackdown- Tag Team Championship: The Usos (c) +163 vs. The New Day -227
- Flag Match: John Cena -1000 vs. Rusev +500
- Fatal 5 Way for the Smackdown Women’s Championship #1 Contendership: Charlotte +120 vs. Lana +200 vs. Becky Lynch +230 vs. Tamina +350 vs. Natalya +1000
- Shinsuke Nakamura -250 vs. Baron Corbin +175
- Aiden English +150 vs. Tye Dillinger -200
- Mike Kanellis -137 vs. Sami Zayn +100
Jinder Mahal, AJ Styles, John Cena, Shinsuke Nakamura and Tye Dillinger are all expected to come out victorious.
The tag team titles match could end in a DQ with the New Day getting screwed over and a SummerSlam blow-off being set up in the process.
The odds for the fatal 5-way match are quite even with Charlotte holding an edge over the rest due to her star power. In what could be another setback for Zayn, Mike Kanellis is favored to win yet again against the Underdog from the Underground.
Note that these odds are bound to change as the PPV gets closer and the final odds will be released once the smart money comes in.
What's next?
With Battleground being the final pit stop before the biggest PPV of the Summer, WWE should plant the seeds to extending existing feuds barring the WWE Championship program between Jinder Mahal and Orton.
Mahal is expected to get into a feud with John Cena on the road to SummerSlam.
Author's take
If recent the recent trend is anything to go by, the betting odds are on point and the matches will go down exactly as mentioned above, unless WWE changes their plans at the last moment.
Current plans make complete sense on paper with SummerSlam being the major focus.
What are your thoughts on this? Who would you put your money on? You know where to sound off your opinions! Off to the comments section then!
