WWE Battleground Coverage: Taker Returns

While the return of The Undertaker was a fun way to end Battleground, the event will ultimately be remembered because of three great matches and Seth Rollins’ selling of what felt like a million Brock Lesnar Suplexes.

With a plethora of great-in-ring action, as well as the rebirth of the Divas division, Battleground was entertaining, even if it would have been a lot cooler to see a clean finish in the main event.

Matches:

Kickoff: R-Truth vs. Wade Barrett: A lengthy and boring encounter that saw Truth play to the crowd while Barrett eventually got the win with the Bullhammer Elbow after he countered the Little Jimmy.

Sheamus vs. Randy Orton: Sheamus was in control with three Irish Curse Backbreakers early on and maintained the advantage with a Knee Drop, the White Noise and plenty of strikes. However, Orton hit the Powerslam and the Capture Suplex as well as other signature moves to stay in the match. After the Superplex and Second-Rope DDT, Orton went for the RKO, but Sheamus countered into a Rollup and then hit the Brogue Kick. Sheamus then locked in the Cloverleaf, but Orton got to the ropes. Then, out of nowhere, Orton hit the RKO for the win.

WWE Tag Team Champions Darren Young and Tutus O’Neil vs. The New Day Kofi Kingston and Big E. Langston w/Xavier Woods: A fast-paced match with plenty of offense that saw the Prime Time Players get the win after Young hit Kingston with the Gut Check and O’Neil finished off Langston with the Clash of the Titus.

Roman Reigns vs. Bray Wyatt: Of course this was a physical match, as Reigns and Wyatt battled both in and out of the ring, trading strikes and signature maneuvers throughout. The near-falls, counters and imagery were all there. Although the match wasn’t for a title and was a bit lengthy, this proved both of these guys have the stamina to one day have Wrestlemania-worthy matches. But after Luke Harper hit the Super Kick on the outside, Wyatt hit the Urinage Suplex on the apron and finished off Reigns with the Sister Abigail.

Brie Bella w/Divas Champion Nikki Bella vs. Charlotte Flair w/Paige and Becky Lynch vs. NXT Women’s Champion Sasha Banks w/Naomi and Tamina Snuka: While this was a solid match and probably one of the best of the night, it lacked a lot of the passion needed to make it really matter. Many of the moves were sloppy and not nearly as crisp as they could have been. Banks was dominant most of the match, thanks to a plethora of strikes and nifty counters. Flair eventually got in some licks and looked uber powerful with strikes and boots, before Bella too got in her licks with a Double Bulldog. Banks then almost got the win with a Double-Arm Neckbreaker, as Bella was, for the time being, out of the match. Quickly coming back, Bella hit the Double Dropkick to get back in the match. Bella then hit three Running Knees before Banks kicked her out of the ring. Banks then took out a slew of Divas with the Suicide Dive, before Flair used to Splash to take out whoever else was standing. Banks then locked in the Bank Statement on Flair, but Bella broke up the submission before she got trapped in Flair’s Figure-Eight and tapped out.

United States Champion John Cena vs. Kevin Owens: Another epic between these two, thanks to a ton of offense. Cena almost won with the Electric Chair Drop/STF combination, but Owens fought back fast. After he hit the German Suplex, Owens hit the Cannonball in the corner and was eager to finish things up. The two then traded strikes before Cena hit the Powerbomb variation for a near-fall of his own. After Owens countered a Cena Top Rope Leg Drop into a Powerbomb, Owens got nailed with a Cena Attitude Adjustment but escaped. A segment later, Owens nearly won with a Brainbuster variation from the top rope. Owens then hit the Superkick and Attitude Adjustment on Cena before locking him in the STF. Cena was exhausted, but he was able to escape the maneuver and then hit a Tornado DDT for a near-fall of his own. Cena then hit the Springboard Stunner, but Owens bounced back with a Stan Hansen-esque Clothesline to even things up. After a modified Shoulder Breaker, Owens was in control again. However, Cena fought back and nearly put Owens away with another Attitude Adjustment. After Cena nailed Owns with a vicious Clothesline, Owens hit the Pop-Up Powerbomb was a near-fall. In another wild move, Cena hit the top rope Attitude Adjustment, but Owens again kicked out. Cena, now, out of options, latched in the STF again, in the center of the ring for the win.

WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins vs. Brock Lesnar w/Paul Heyman: Rollins used strikes early on, but he eventually got set to Suplex City with three vicious German Suplexes early on. After the fifth German, Rollins decided to try and escape the ring, but Lesnar hurdled the guard and sent Rollins back into the ring. After another German, Rollins finally fought back with three Super Kicks and a Suicide Dive, but Lesnar hit the Belly-to-Belly release Suplex for his seventh suplex-variation of the night. Four more German Suplexes put Lesnar make in the driver’s seat and four more after that just made you feel bad for Rollins. After another German, Rollins slapped Lesnar in the face, but Lesnar hit another Suplex and then the F5, but the return of the Undertaker ended the match. After the two countered each other, Taker hit the Low Blow on Lesnar and then the Chokeslam and two Tombstone Piledrivers.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 14230 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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