Battleground is far from the most important pay-per-view of the year, but it’s still pretty interesting when some rather big names are left off the card. While Rusev and Dolph Ziggler are being ignored for now in order to stall for SummerSlam and it’s understandable why Neville and Stardust haven’t had a match announced due to their feud just starting, last week I wrote a piece pointing out that Dean Ambrose was MIA.
Now, it seems as though Ambrose isn’t alone in being an important person who doesn’t have a match announced. Despite getting a huge jump in popular support and buzz from what took place this Monday night, the divas division is noticeably absent as well.
Nothing has been announced and there’s a good chance it stays that way, but there’s always an opportunity for WWE to wait until the last minute and then slap something together, as they’ve been no strangers to zero hour booking changes or mid-show adjustments.
This whole situation makes me wonder, though: what should WWE do with the divas division at Battleground? Is it a good idea to do nothing and hope that the buzz doesn’t die down before building this back up for SummerSlam, or should a match of some capacity take place even if it’s a rush job?
I would have to assume it would do nothing but harm to this storyline for the women involved to skip out on Battleground entirely, especially with the news that Ryback won’t be able to defend his Intercontinental Championship. If that match is scrapped instead of just altered to The Miz vs. Big Show, there would be even less of an excuse to ignore the divas at this event.
Without knowing WWE’s full plans for SummerSlam (which even they might not know, come to think of it…), my first instinct would be to have some kind of a statement from Team Bella as a response to what happened on Monday Night Raw. This team was on top of the world and after three NXT divas came and shut them up, they should feel vulnerable. What happens when someone feels vulnerable? They lash out and try to assert their dominance.
If I were given creative control, my instincts would likely be to have Nikki Bella, Brie Bella and Alicia Fox come out to the ring to cut a promo and run down the other six women before announcing that they’ve requested a match to showcase just how much better they are than everyone else. In typical heel fashion, they aren’t facing Paige, Sasha Banks or any of them, though—they’d face three outsiders. Who they are doesn’t matter, but it could be any combination of Cameron, Emma, Layla, Natalya, Rosa Mendes, and Summer Rae. Since none of them seem to be involved, they can take the fall to make Team Bella look strong again…before Team BAD and Team “Whatever They’re Calling Paige+Becky+Charlotte” come out for a brawl. Alternatively, a triple threat match can be booked between the so-called captains of the squads with Nikki Bella, Paige and Naomi facing off and all hell breaking loose afterward.
That’s not the only option, though, as really one of the only big mistakes WWE could do would be to ignore the divas in general and leave them off the show entirely. After such a long time having nothing but negatives to say about the division, this week finally was a shot of adrenaline to get the fans excited again and that cannot just be pushed aside unless WWE is willing to fail.
With that being said, what would you do with the divas when it comes to Battleground? Should they wrestle a match, and if so, who? Should they just be in a backstage segment or promo of sorts?
Tell us your predictions of what will happen, your ideas on what should happen, and your general thoughts on the three newest members of the main roster in the comments below!
