Battleground

Battleground is very much a B + PPV.  Coming just ahead of Summerslam, it is one of those classic middle of the road WWE shows, which is more likely to set up Summerslam than do anything spectacular itself.  However, with rumours swirling last week about who might show their face.  Battleground suddenly became a lot more interesting to a lot more people.  So let’s have a look and see exactly what went down.  Unsurprisingly, this will contain spoilers.

First things first, whatever Barrett did to piss someone off, please forgive him.  He’s so much better than R bloody Truth.

The main show opened up with Orton Sheamus, which benefited from this being Orton’s home town.  In general, the fans are bored with this match up but this was one of their better encounters.  They are both incredibly solid competitors and they should have stronger chemistry than they do, but something just doesn’t click here.  I do question putting Orton over, as I would prefer them keeping their Money in the Bank holder strong.

The Tag Title match was solid and nothing more.  I don’t know where they go next with the tag division but I think the Prime Time Players could be decent champions if they are given some decent heels to work with.  The problem being that following the recent spate of injuries, there are none.

Up next was Wyatt and Reigns and this match exceeded my expectations.  They put on a very entertaining brawl and their styles mesh together nicely.  While I understand the storytelling aspect of it, the long headlock did drag but things picked up as they went into the finish.  Putting Harper back with Wyatt is a good move and it does just leave you to question why they took him and Rowan away in the first place.  I’m happy to see this feud continue and I just hope WWE avoids giving Reigns his win back on Raw.  Make Wyatt strong people.

Putting the women on the card made sense after the hype this week and I like that they built to it throughout the show, rather than having them just come out randomly.  Brie was the obvious weak link in this match though.  While her sister has come on leaps and bounds, she’s just never clicked as a worker and I couldn’t help wishing it was just Sasha and Charlotte.  They managed to get over that though and they were given time.  Most importantly the encounter was actually treated like a wrestling match, something it is always nice to see.  I still have issues with this faction war, but that was a solid start.

Cena and Owens then put on another fantastic match.  All that in-ring chemistry that Sheamus and Orton don’t have seems to have, has been given to these two.  I don’t think Cena winning is the disaster many would have you believe.  However, I really hope they’re not about to position Owens as just another guy.  He’s far too good for that and it would be a total waste.  He felt special after his debut and the more he loses and the more he is thrown into random Raw matches the more that disappears.  He is good enough to be a Lesnar style attraction and he should be treated like one.  Also, I now 100% agree with Heyman and Austin’s view on people kicking out of finishers.  Now this feud is over both the AA and the pop up powerbomb need to be protected a bit more.  Make them devastating again.

How stale is Miz?  The guy can talk but his characters never evolve and I’m bored with it.  Big Show punching him is what it is.  It was a buffer, pure and simple.

As a random aside, I was bored by WWE’s video packages by the end of this show.  They have always been the thing that they do well but with the Network and the Kick Off show and all their other programming I now see them far too often.  It’s a lesson WWE has never learnt, but sometimes less is more.

Could WWE  not replace them with a show called Brock Smash?  Give him a different item every week and let him smash it.   That would be worth the subscription fee alone.  Watching Lesnar beat people up is fun, it just is.  Compare his matches to Cena and Owens encounters and they are incredibly formulaic.  However, they always do more than enough to keep the attention.  Most importantly with this short encounter, they kept Rollins looking smart.  During his brief periods of offence he had an obvious plan and it was a plan that made sense.  His defiance was also nice to see.

The finish made sense, Lesnar doesn’t need the belt.  While Undertaker and Lesnar is a money-making feud.  I do worry how capable of performing in such a feud ‘Taker is.  He looked good, but he also looked old and he has done for quite a while.  Nothing can hide that.  I don’t want to watch him take 12 Germans.  It could kill him.

This was a strong wrestling show with a huge return at the end to make it memorable.  Apart from that it was exactly what you might expect from the PPV before one of the big ones.  It set stuff up rather than ending it.  The only feud that really came to some sort of conclusion here was Owens and Cena and even that I wouldn’t be surprised to see continue.  WWE are obviously looking to stack Summerslam with big matches after their recent decline in ratings.  The question is, will it be enough?