Solid matches and no surprises fueled a by-the-number Battleground pay per view that does very little but set up Summerslam. With the returns of Brock Lesnar and Sting teased about for weeks, the WWE dropped the ball big time with Battleground.
Like Shockmaster bad.
Away from the solid main event and a new WWE Intercontinental Champion in The Miz, what will this pay per view be remembered for?
If anything, this pay per view did more damage than anything. No match between Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose hurt their feud more than it helped. The yammering and number of segments involved between the two with little action made the altercations feel more like something you’d see on RAW, not a pay per view.
But it gets worse. With losses to both Chris Jericho and the Usos, The Wyatt Family lost serious momentum, but, just like the WWE, Bray and his boys can recover with dominate showings leading up to Summerslam. It’s sad too considering that the Jericho/Wyatt and Uso/Harper Rowan matches were perhaps the best on the card and could have both gone either way. It makes you wonder what the WWE thinks of the trio moving forward.
At any rate, you have to hope that the lukewarm PPV sets the scene for what has to be a much better Summerslam.
Matches:
Kickoff: Fandango vs. Adam Rose w/Layla and Summer Rae: After Layla and Summer Rae both slapped Fandango on the outside, Rose hit a Spinebuster and a corner Clothesline before the Party Foul for the quick win.
Kickoff: Cameron vs. Naomi: Dressed in a School-Girl costume, Cameron got the surprise win with the School Boy and a handful of tights in an awful match that had zero flow and told even less of a story.
Two-out-of-Three Falls: WWE Tag Team Champions Jimmy and Jey Uso vs. Luke Harper and Erik Rowan: Harper got the first fall early on with a Running Yakuza Kick, but the Usos got the second fall with a quick Rollup on Harper. After the two teams traded near falls, both Harper and Rowan missed from the top rope, but the Usos couldn’t put Rowan away with a Splash either. When Jey went for the Superplex, Rowan countered and Suplexed both brothers and tagged in Harper. Althougher Harper got nailed with a Super Kick, he nearly won with the Discus Lariat. But when both Usos nailed Harper with Superkicks and Splashes from the top and Rowan on the outside, The Usos successfully reclaimed their titles.
Seth Rollins vs. Dean Ambrose: The match was apparently cancelled after Ambrose attacked Rollins before the match backstage and got thrown out of the building. Later in the night, Rollins came out to accept his victory being forfeit and wanted to get his hand raised by the referee as the winner of the match. Soon enough, Ambrose hit the ring and beat on Rollins. The two were eventually separated by Triple H and a host of WWE road agents. Egen later in the show, Rollins was attacked by Ambrose in the parking lot before he left for the night.
WWE Divas Champion AJ Lee vs. Paige: A damn good Divas match with plenty of back and forth action. After minutes of setup strikes and low impact maneuvers, Paige fought out of the Black Widow and nearly won with the Paige Turner. After Paige went for the PTO, Lee countered with the Shining Wizard for the win.
Alexander Rusev w/Lana vs. Jack Swagger w/Zeb Colter: Swagger worked over Rusev with strikes and the Patriot Lock on both the inside and outside of the ring. After Rusev countered the move, Swagger ended up slamming his head on the steel post, allowing Rusev to win via count-out. After the arch, Rusev locked on the Accolade.
Bray Wyatt w/Luke Harper and Erick Rowan vs. Chris Jericho: Y2J was super aggressive as he took out Wyatt with signature offense and even jumped to the outside with a Splash and hit all three members of the Wyatt Family. After Harper interfered in the match however, the referee threw Rowan and Harper out of the match. With no support, Wyatt held his own and went on a barrage, but Jericho fought back and evened out the match within a few minutes. With the back and forth continuing, Wyatt kept the upper-hand and scored a few near falls, but after a Running Bulldog, Jericho appeared in the driver’s seat. But after Wyatt countered the Lionsault and nailed the Urinage, it was anyone’s match yet again. A DDT on the ring apron gave Wyatt the advantage again and after he escaped the Walls of Jericho, Wyatt hit his signature diving attack. But from out of nowhere, Jericho got the win with the Code Breaker.
Intercontinental Title Battle Royal: A fun battle royal that really got started after Sheamus and company took out The Great Khali. After the handful of long-shots were eliminated as well (Sin Cara, Curtis Axel, R-Truth, Diego) the match got interesting. The Miz was knocked all over the place throughout the match, but managed to escape elimination. As always, Kofi Kingston put on a show, but was eliminated by Cesaro, who ironically was eliminated by Slater. Miz, Bo Dallas, Sheamus and Dolph Ziggler were the last competitors left. After Slater and Dallas were eliminated, Miz, still on the outside, was basically forgotten about as Ziggler and Sheamus battled. After the two traded offense for a few minutes, Ziggler Superkicked Sheamus out of the ring before Miz snuck back in the ring and eliminated Ziggler to capture the IC title.
WWE World Heavyweight Champion John Cena vs. Kane vs. Roman Reigns vs. Randy Orton: Cena spent a majority of the match on the outside while Kane and Orton worked on Reigns until Orton got pissed Kane attempted to cover the former Shield member. What then followed was a slew of near falls involving every competitor but Cena, who continued to lay dormant on the outside like a sleeping dragon. Once back in the ring, Cena locked Orton in the STFU and kept Orton in the middle of the ring. Just when it appeared Orton was ready to tap out, Reigns interfered to keep the match going. The two then traded signature moves until Reigns hit the Superman Punch and the Spear before Kane broke up the pin. Then taking out Orton on the outside with a Spear, Reigns ran back in the ring and then hit Kane with the Spear before Cena broke up the pinfall. More pinfalls followed as finishers were delivered at in succession with no winner. After all four competitors got in the ring, Cena was smart enough to hit the Attitude Adjustment on Orton, on-top of the already downed Kane, to reclaim his WWE World heavyweight title.
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