WWE Backlash 2016: Latest Card Predictions Including Dean Ambrose vs. AJ Styles

This Sunday at the Richmond Coliseum in Richmond, Virginia, SmackDown Live puts on the first brand-exclusive pay-per-view of the New Era, Backlash. At Backlash, members of the SmackDown roster as well as one prospective free agent will compete.

What defines Backlash best is the championship gold on the line. On this night, every SmackDown championship will hang in the balance, with the winners staking their claims to be the best the roster has to offer.

Currently, this is the official Backlash card:

• The Usos vs. The Hype Bros in a Second Chance Match in the SmackDown Tag Team Championships Tournament
• The Miz (c) vs. Dolph Ziggler for the WWE Intercontinental Championship
• Heath Slater and Rhyno vs. the winner of The Usos vs. The Hype Bros in the Finals of the SmackDown Tag Team Championships Tournament
• Becky Lynch vs. Nikki Bella vs. Natalya vs. Naomi vs. Carmella vs. Alexa Bliss for the SmackDown Women's Championship
• Randy Orton vs. Bray Wyatt
• Dean Ambrose (c) vs. AJ Styles for the WWE World Championship

It is a surprisingly small card for a three-hour event, but that means each match has far more chances to make an impact. That also means the results of each of these matches are extremely important to the future of SmackDown Live.

While it is possible more matches are added to the event before Sunday or as impromptu affairs that night, these are the contests that matter most and whose results will remain relevant long after Sunday. The following are my predictions for each of these important matches based on the build over the past three weeks of SmackDown Live.

The Usos vs. The Hype Bros (Second Chance Tag Team Tournament Match)

Credit: WWE.com

For the last three weeks, the whole tag team division has been a part of a tournament to crown the first-ever SmackDown Live Tag Team champions. The eight-man single-elimination tournament seemed fairly straightforward until The Usos took their semifinal round loss the wrong way, injuring Chad Gable's meniscus in a brutal attack.

Despite American Alpha advancing to the finals, the team was forced to step out of the tournament with Gable supposedly out two to four weeks with his injury. This left an empty spot in the final to be filled by one of the two teams that advanced to the semifinals, The Usos and The Hype Bros.

Backlash needed this match to help fill out the card, but there's only one result that makes sense for this contest. The Usos' sudden heel turn has made them clearly the top heel team on SmackDown, while The Hype Bros are the third face team on the roster behind American Alpha and Heath Slater and Rhyno.

Add in that we just saw The Hype Bros face Slater and Rhyno this week, and there is only one result to this contest that makes sense. The Usos will win in a competitive showing to advance to the finals of SmackDown's tag team tournament.

Prediction: The Usos to Advance to the Tag Team Tournament Finals

The Miz (c) vs. Dolph Ziggler (Intercontinental Championship)

Credit: WWE.com

Few veterans in WWE have experienced more highs and lows over the past decade than The Miz and Dolph Ziggler. Both have held world championships in WWE and also have been left without any stories or major matches for months at a time.

Both men have recently shown frustration over their positions in WWE leading up to this match. Ziggler let a huge opportunity slip through his grasp when he failed to capture the WWE Championship at SummerSlam, causing him to further obsess over gaining a definitive victory to solidify his legacy. The Miz, meanwhile, berated general manager Daniel Bryan for calling him a coward and mistreating him since the brand split.

Miz's promo on Talking Smack about Bryan was one of the best promos of the year and brought new life to his Intercontinental Championship reign. It would make little sense for WWE to squander that momentum by taking the title off him, even if it is putting it on a potential top star for SmackDown in Ziggler.

Ziggler's story also makes the most sense continuing with a loss. Miz needs to keep proving himself while Ziggler continues to spiral, unsure whether he can ever do more than just steal the show.

Prediction: The Miz, Still WWE Intercontinental Champion

Heath Slater and Rhyno vs. The Usos (SmackDown Tag Team Championships)

Credit: WWE.com

After three weeks of intense action, this is it. The finals of the SmackDown Tag Team Championship tournament are Heath Slater and Rhyno vs. The Usos (or The Hype Bros based on the results earlier in the night at Backlash).

In one corner, you have one of the most surprisingly hot acts in WWE with Heath Slater's attempts to gain a contract getting him over with fans as well as his odd pairing with Rhyno. In the other, The Usos are now the top heels in the tag team division who injured American Alpha to steal their spot. Both have serious upside from a championship victory.

However, The Usos can continue their story with a loss. Their focus is more directed at American Alpha rather than the SmackDown Tag Team Championships. Heath Slater must win to gain a SmackDown contract, so a win is the only way to keep Slater's momentum and keep Rhyno together with him.

The story should be fairly simple for this match. While American Alpha is out of the running in the tournament, Jason Jordan is both healthy and angry. It would be shocking if he doesn't get involved here and cost The Usos gold.

Prediction: Heath Slater and Rhyno, First Ever SmackDown Live Tag Team Champions

Six-Pack Elimination Match (SmackDown Women's Championship)

Credit: WWE.com

SmackDown Live is in the business of creating champions, including gaining their own women's champion. In order to fairly crown the first-ever SmackDown Live Women's champion, all six women currently able to perform on the women's roster will compete in a six-pack elimination match.

Each of the six women have a story to tell. Alexa Bliss is the arrogant rookie who is convinced she is already the best. Carmella is another rookie, but a jealous one who has taken to assaulting Nikki Bella, who she sees as taking her spotlight. Naomi has a veteran's experience but lacks the gold to solidify her legacy.

Natalya feels she is entitled to be SmackDown's champion due to her natural gifts. Nikki Bella is an accomplished veteran who knows she's among the best in the business. Lynch has always been the odd woman out, particularly among the Four Horsewomen, hoping to make this her chance to finally be the lead woman.

The only feud going on in the midst of this match is Carmella vs. Nikki Bella, so that will likely take center stage throughout, with the dynamic between face and heel remaining fairly even throughout. In the end, Lynch seems like the best and most logical victor to lead the women's division of SmackDown going forward.

Predicted Elimination Order: 1. Alexa Bliss. 2. Naomi. 3. Natalya. 4. Carmella. 5. Nikki Bella.

Prediction: Becky Lynch, First Ever SmackDown Live Women's Champion

Randy Orton vs. Bray Wyatt

Credit: WWE.com

Two of the top draft picks for SmackDown, Randy Orton and Bray Wyatt are the dangerous predators of the brand, both willing to do damage to their opponents in the match and before it. When Wyatt decided to call out Orton and challenge him, he attempted to prove himself as the WWE's true top predator.

While Orton is aging, he is far from past his prime. Wyatt's threat to his place among the top of WWE is a threat that Orton will not take lightly. In equal measure, this can be a passing-of-the-torch contest as well as a physical battle of two men in touch with their animalistic natures.

Given how little this story between Orton and Wyatt has evolved, this is likely only an opening act, the first clash in a series of matches stretching to the end of the year. This makes the result much more unpredictable and fluid than the rest of the contests at Backlash.

Either Orton or Wyatt could win, but Wyatt should end up being the winner of the feud. This first match is merely a feeling-out process, and it seems most likely Orton will be unprepared for someone like Wyatt. Thus Wyatt will be able to steal a victory that he will end up giving back later in the feud.

Prediction: Bray Wyatt

Dean Ambrose (c) vs. AJ Styles (WWE Championship)

Credit: WWE.com

SmackDown has seen the rise of several new main event performers, including the current WWE champion Dean Ambrose. The Lunatic Fringe was not seen as the right man to lead a company due to his unstable nature on Raw, but Shane McMahon and Bryan have put their faith in the WWE champion and been rewarded.

Another new competitor in AJ Styles has risen up recently, beginning one of the hottest streaks of the year with two victories over John Cena. Styles is not new to being a world champion, with reigns as IWGP Heavyweight champion, NWA Heavyweight champion and TNA World Heavyweight champion. He has not yet won a championship in WWE, though.

Both have proven themselves worthy champions before though are not without their flaws. While Ambrose is unstable, Styles is aggressively arrogant. Neither will make for the ideal man in charge of SmackDown, but both are good enough to be the man. The winner at Backlash, though, will not be decided by the rightness of either man.

Styles has been the MVP of WWE since his debut at the Royal Rumble, and he now has more momentum than anyone else in the company. It would be a mistake not to keep that momentum going and crown Styles WWE Champion, and WWE seems to agree. There's little doubt that the man who defeated Cena clean in the best match at SummerSlam should walk out of Backlash as WWE Champion.

Prediction: AJ Styles, New WWE Champion