WWE Battleground: WWE Championship Punjabi Prison Match - Mahal (c) VS Orton

[Jack-Hammer]

As announced on SmackDown Live, Randy Orton has one more opportunity at regaining the WWE Championship from Jinder Mahal. Orton will face off against Mahal in a Punjabi Prison Match, which I believe will make this only the 3rd or 4th one in WWE history.

Jinder most likely retains here before moving on, possibly against John Cena for a match at SummerSlam for the title.

 

[Jeff Deliverer of Mail]

Holy fuck this feud is boring. How can we make it worse? Let's have them fight in the worst possible match wrestling has conceived since they had scaffold matches. A double cage match with bamboo rungs. Must be fun to watch that in the nose bleeds where they wouldn't see shit going on.

The only thing that can save this is the whole fucking thing catching fire and burning down.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

I actually quiet enjoyed the 2nd Punjabi Prison match. And at this stage of my life I'm intrigued by anything that'll differentiate this show from the last.

I'm cautiously interested.

 

[shooter_mcgavin]

Holy fuck this feud is boring. How can we make it worse? Let's have them fight in the worst possible match wrestling has conceived since they had scaffold matches. A double cage match with bamboo rungs. Must be fun to watch that in the nose bleeds where they wouldn't see shit going on.

The only thing that can save this is the whole fucking thing catching fire and burning down.

Imagine we could be getting a Randy Orton / Kevin Owens feud right now.

Instead this is the main event, nothing against Jinder but I think SD could be better if Jinder is the US Champ (Aka Face of America) and Owens feuds with Orton for the World Title.

 

[The Perfect Max]

I'm interested for two reasons. Firstly, it's different from what we've seen them do before, which isn't that much, but I can't say the matches have been bad. Mahal and Orton are good workers when effort is applied, which sometimes Orton finds difficult to do. But if effort is applied here, it could work out well. Secondly, as criticised as the Punjabi Prison match has been, I quite enjoy an out-of-the-box concept. This isn't like the House of Horrors which was a complete shambles. The rules are moderately clear and it actually happens in the arena.

I think what will separate this match from the previous two is that we don't have a giant involved here. I can see the logic in having such a monstrous structure contain the Great Khali originally, but it just didn't work. Neither did it work with Big Show, although that was the worse of the two in my opinion. Orton and Mahal are smaller guys and much more athletic and so, if given the appropriate time and whatnot, this could be quite fun. If it can keep out the Singh Brothers as well, I'm all for a relatively clean Mahal victory to continue his reign onto, hopefully, a new feud. I like Mahal as champion, but I'm getting to this point with Orton that I'm so bored with EVERYTHING he does. Aside from his time with the Wyatt Family, the last time I was genuinely interested was his 2011 feud with Christian. A long damn time.

 

[Deoxyribonucleic A.C.I.D.]

Randy Orton's promo actallu got me hooked for this one. It feels personal now, it's true. Also Mahal is one damn good talker. But I'll be honest with you, Orton as a champion is bland. Especially as a face champion. He just doesn't do it. He's great and feels like a badass when he's chasing the belt, but he somehow loses all of his edge holding a belt.

With that being said, I say Mahal will most likely win this thing. I've said it before, but Mahal vs Cena, in a situation were nobody thinks Mahal can retain and Cena going for his 17th title can be big.

I'm looking forward to the match though. It got me hooked and it feels quite unpredictable. Even if Orton wins, there's also Baron Corbin waiting to cash in.

 

[Aeon Mathix]

This match is just existing so creative can stretch something out even further because there's 20 pay per views a month now. Also so Orton doesn't have to eat a THIRD pinfall to Jinder freaking Mahal.

I didn't tune into their match at Money in the Bank mostly because I didn't want to be bored. There's nothing impressive about what Jinder does in the ring or on the mic. Randy can have great matches against the right opponent, but when he wrestles someone with almost the exact same style it becomes dull. Just a boring feud overall.

Jinder Mahal wins and faces Cena at Summerslam. Somebody up there said Jinder winning the US title would have been much more effective and having Kevin Owens face Orton all summer. I'm inclined to agree. Jinder is already talking shit about America more than Owens has so why not?

 

[Deoxyribonucleic A.C.I.D.]

This match is just existing so creative can stretch something out even further because there's 20 pay per views a month now. Also so Orton doesn't have to eat a THIRD pinfall to Jinder freaking Mahal.

I didn't tune into their match at Money in the Bank mostly because I didn't want to be bored. There's nothing impressive about what Jinder does in the ring or on the mic. Randy can have great matches against the right opponent, but when he wrestles someone with almost the exact same style it becomes dull. Just a boring feud overall.

Jinder Mahal wins and faces Cena at Summerslam. Somebody up there said Jinder winning the US title would have been much more effective and having Kevin Owens face Orton all summer. I'm inclined to agree. Jinder is already talking shit about America more than Owens has so why not?

Well, obivously Owens vs Orton would be a great feud, but Orton is in a better position to lose to Jinder, than Sami, Styles or Nakamura, simply because Orton doesn't get hurt one bit from losing to Jinder.
Owens vs Orton, Styles vs Orton. Those feuds will come eventually. I'm enjoying what they're doing right now.

 

[Mac Attack]

Wouldn't this be a great opportunity to have Corbin cash in Mahal. They way they're building it it seems like Nakamura vs Corbin is happening at Battleground. I think Nakamura takes the victory in the opener, and after a hard fought somewhat heel win Mahal is celebrating and then Corbin cashes in. Seems logical and makes sense based on the structure.

 

[Navi]

Wouldn't this be a great opportunity to have Corbin cash in Mahal. They way they're building it it seems like Nakamura vs Corbin is happening at Battleground. I think Nakamura takes the victory in the opener, and after a hard fought somewhat heel win Mahal is celebrating and then Corbin cashes in. Seems logical and makes sense based on the structure.

That's a great idea, but isn't this sort of a double cage if I remember correctly? It would be hard for Corbin to actually get to Mahal though it if he does try.

As for the feud itself, yea it's kind of getting tiresome. I like both guys but come on, when the better feud is for the lesser title on the show that's an issue. Anyhow the last Punjabi Prison match I remember is one with Batista and I can't remember who else, it's was okay, feel sorry for the crowd there though. It must be hard to make out the action through one set of bars nevermind two.

 

[OYDK]

Didn't Taker and Khali have one of these matches? I don't remember Batista/Khali but I distinctly remember Taker/Khali for some reason though I'm sure it never happened...

Anyway, the match in and of itself should be decent enough. It'll probably be your standard Cage/HIAC/No Holds Barred match, which is fine. But man, this feud is dull, dull, dull. A lot of people are digging Mahal and while I'll admit that he's been a hell of a lot better than anybody probably thought he would be, that still doesn't mean he's a believable champion or main-event level talent, which is probably why his and Orton's segments are usually buried somewhere in the middle of Smackdown. Smackdown for the past few months has been pretty boring all things considered. There's been a noticeable drop off since this "land of opportunity" moniker became a thing in my opinion, and with Corbin on the horizon, it likely isn't going to get much more exciting anytime soon.

Still, all that being said Mahal should win. Maybe his run will pick up steam when he gets a new opponent... Cena possibly?

 

[tomthebodz]

Didn't Taker and Khali have one of these matches? I don't remember Batista/Khali but I distinctly remember Taker/Khali for some reason though I'm sure it never happened...
/QUOTE]

Khali and Undertaker was meant to happen but Khali had "elevated liver enzymes" and Big Show replaced him.

I knew that this match would eventually happen. It's not a bad concept, but I've found that I care less and less about this rivalry. I can't stand Orton I never have.

Mahal is clearly going to win this and it will end the feud. Mahal will go on to feud with Cena who he'll drop the title to.

No idea who Orton can go and feud with after this. Ziggler or Rusev