Predicting the match order at Battleground 2017

It's one thing to predict the winners and losers at Battleground 2017, but how about taking a guess at the match order on that card?

WWE has announced 7 different matches for the main card of Battleground 2017.

Here is my subjective view of how important each of these 7 segments rank on the Battleground card, ordered from most important to least important.

1. Jinder Mahal vs. Randy Orton
2. John Cena vs. Rusev
3. AJ Styles vs. Kevin Owens
4. Charlotte vs. Becky vs. Lana vs. Tamina vs. Natalya
5. Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Baron Corbin
6. The Usos vs. New Day
7. Sami Zayn vs. Mike Kanellis

It is important to come up with a list like this to get an idea of which matches are going to be placed in the key spots on the card or take up the most time, and which matches might end up in the cool-down spots or be given the least amount of time.

I’m not sure the Breezango story will find its way into the ring and it could perhaps be told in multiple pre-taped videos throughout the night, so I’m leaving it out of consideration as a separate segment.

Main event

The top two matches are the only realistic choices to main event this card. The Punjabi Prison match will be my choice because it’s for the WWE Championship. But I think there is at least a small chance that WWE decides to end the show with the face of the company triumphantly waving around the American flag.

Opening match

The opening match of the night is usually one of the mid-level attractions with good work rate that normally doesn’t require a dedicated video package ahead of time to hype it up.

For this particular card, the matches I have ranked from 3rd through 6th are the ones that best fit this description.

It’s really difficult to choose between these four matches. I sense that a ton of time could be given to the Punjabi Prison match, Cena’s match, and KO’s match. With the former two matches being good bets to occur towards the end of the show, I’m going to put Styles and Owens in either Segment 1 or Segment 3, so that there aren’t three separate 20-minute matches all lined up in the back half of the card.

It might seem unorthodox to throw upper card stars in the opening slot, but WWE has already done this multiple times this year by opening PPVs with matches such as Owens versus Jericho and Rollins versus Wyatt. So I think it’s very possible that Styles and Owens will end up in the opening match.

But I’m going to swerve myself here at the very last second and actually choose the women’s match. It’s an exciting fast-paced match that doesn’t necessarily need a dedicated video package and probably won’t steal the show in the way that Styles and Owens could.

Following my prior logic, this means Owens and Styles get Segment 3. Segment 2 often goes to one of the shorter matches of the night, therefore Styles versus Owens is not a good fit.

That gives me the following card:

Segment 1: Charlotte vs. Becky vs. Lana vs. Tamina vs. Natalya
Segment 2:
Segment 3: AJ Styles vs. Kevin Owens
Segment 4:
Segment 5:
Segment 6:
Segment 7: Jinder Mahal vs. Randy Orton

Everything else

Cena is most likely to land in Segment 5 or Segment 6, depending on whether or not WWE will throw a cool-down match into Segment 6 prior to the main event. Zayn’s match is the obvious filler match on this night, though there is also potentially a segment involving Breezango closing their case that might find its way into the ring as a bridge between the final two matches.

For now I’ll stick Cena in Segment 5 and Zayn in Segment 6.

That gives me the following card:

Segment 1: Charlotte vs. Becky vs. Lana vs. Tamina vs. Natalya
Segment 2:
Segment 3: AJ Styles vs. Kevin Owens
Segment 4:
Segment 5: John Cena vs. Rusev
Segment 6: Sami Zayn vs. Mike Kanellis
Segment 7: Jinder Mahal vs. Randy Orton

I now have to choose between the Usos and Nakamura for Segment 2 and Segment 4. I think Styles versus Owens will easily outclass Corbin’s match in every way and so it’s not a good idea to put Corbin on right after Owens. Therefore Corbin ends up in Segment 2, while the tag match gets Segment 4.

Finalized card

So here is my final prediction for the match order at Battleground, along with guesses on the bell-to-bell match times.

Segment 1: Charlotte vs. Becky vs. Lana vs. Tamina vs. Natalya (12 minutes)
Segment 2: Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Baron Corbin (10)
Segment 3: AJ Styles vs. Kevin Owens (17)
Segment 4: The Usos vs. New Day (11)
Segment 5: John Cena vs. Rusev (18)
Segment 6: Sami Zayn vs. Mike Kanellis (7)
Segment 7: Jinder Mahal vs. Randy Orton (20)

These predicted times add up to 95 minutes, which is right in line with a typical 3-hour WWE PPV. I want to add a few minutes to several matches, but I think it’s best to not push it beyond this, especially because Breezango could also potentially wind up in a brief match or segment in the ring.

That's my prediction for the match order at Battleground. What's yours?