WWE Battleground 2017: 5 Potential Swerves

How will WWE attempt to swerve us at Battleground? We take a look at five possibilities for the SmackDown exclusive pay-per-view.

On Sunday, at WWE Battleground, Randy Orton challenges once again for Jinder Mahal’s WWE Championship, The New Day gets its first chance at the SmackDown Tag Team Championships, and we determine a number one contender for the SmackDown Women’s Championship.

We all know that WWE loves a good swerve. After all, that’s how we ended up with Mahal as the WWE Champion in the first place. SmackDown Live has an affinity for them too, operating under a “land of opportunity” approach for the past several months. That means that at the last pay-per-view before SummerSlam, it might not be lip service to say anything can happen.  In that spirit, we take a look at five possible swerves for WWE Battleground.

credit: wwe.com

5. Tamina Snuka Will Eliminate Lana and Become the No. 1 Contender

Naomi will not defend her SmackDown Women’s Championship this pay-per-view. She hasn’t defended it to anyone other than Lana since winning it at WrestleMania, which means Lana is the last person who should win the Elimination Fatal Five-way at Battleground. That’s not a difficult sell because though showing promise, Lana is green in the ring. Becky Lynch can tap her out within five seconds with the Dis-Arm-Her and no one would complain. However, that lacks a certain level of drama and finesse. Lana has been at the center of the title picture for so long that she needs something to drive her story forward. Tamina Snuka, on the other hand, has a great arsenal of moves and doesn’t ever seem to get her day in the sun.

We don’t know why these two are aligned, only that Snuka is the one in control. Unlike with Alexa Bliss manipulating Nia Jax, Snuka seems to be bossing Lana around. It doesn’t even appear like she stopped to ask Lana how she felt about it. Alliances are useful in elimination matches and together Lana and Snuka can take out the rest of the field. Once Lana has outlived her usefulness, however, Snuka might just take advantage of her inexperience and make herself number one contender with a simple pinfall.