The background of Battleground gives us an exciting
proposition for this event: the return of the Brand Split to WWE. Held less than a week after the roster draft,
Battleground offers us the chance to see the end of long-running feuds,
decisive matches regarding the future destination of championships and the
presumable final matches of some factions and tag-teams.
Charlotte & Dana Brooke vs. Sasha Banks &
Mystery Partner
The show opens with a tag match featuring the WWE
Women's Champion Charlotte and Dana Brooke against title contender 'The Boss'
Sasha Banks with a mystery partner, continuing Banks' and Charlotte's ongoing
rivalry. The overwhelming sense of
anticipation for this bout however lay in the unknown competitor, so when the
music of the un-drafted, former NXT Women's Champion Bayley hit, the pop from
the crowd was enormous!
The match itself seemed like an opportunity to advance the notable
feud and introduce Bayley to the wider WWE Universe rather than any great
technical exposition. The competitors,
familiar with their time together in NXT, faced each other in turn, but other
than Dana Brooke breaking up the first Bank Statement on Charlotte by nefarious
means, there was little action of consequence, and the Sasha's second attempt
at her submission finisher was successful.
A great pop to open the show, it's just a shame the match wasn't to the
same level.
The New Day (Big E, Kofi Kingston & Xavier Woods)
vs. The Wyatt Family (Bray Wyatt, Erick Rowan & Braun Strowman)
The second match is a non-title, 6-man tag match
between the champions New Day and the Wyatt Family, and is notable as the
probable end to their feud as the draft has split the Wyatts. We're shown footage of their 'Compound' match,
which has left Xavier Woods without his normal effervescent positivity. In fact, the opening of the match leaves no
doubt that Woods is petrified as he freezes into inaction.
Kofi Kingston and Big E do their best to work around
the gradually recovering Xavier, that is until a huge spear from Big E leaves
Woods alone in the ring with Bray Wyatt.
In the creepy way that only Bray can achieve, he sends him back to
square one by dropping into his spider walk and hitting the Sister Abigail's
Kiss. An adequate match, but it could
have been so much better.
Rusev (w/Lana) vs. Zack Ryder – WWE US Championship
Our third match is for the US Title, currently in the
possession of RAW's recently-married Rusev, ably and personally announced his
by wife Lana, against Smackdown Live's perennial underdog Zack Ryder who
parades his red-white-and-blue ring attire with the obvious patriotic pomp.
Rusev grapples Ryder on the mat in the early stages,
applying his superior upper-body strength to gain dominance, whilst Ryder
mainly counters with resounding strikes, kicks and knees until he finally
manages a Broski Boot on the second attempt.
Ringside, the Bulgarian Brute leaves Long Island Iced Z painfully
dropped across the barrier, only to get a superb dropkick to the face in
return. A Rough Ryder leaves Rusev prone
but able to counter the follow up Elbrodrop.
The Accolade is inevitable though, and following a
kick to Zack's head Rusev locks it on, however he needs to fully snap it back
to make the resilient Ryder tap out and keep the title on RAW. Incensed, the Bulgarian refuses to release
the hold until Mojo Rawley (Ryder's tag partner) hypes down to the ring to
stare him out.
Seth Rollins is backstage with Mick Foley and
Stephanie McMahon and is bullishly ebullient about his chances of bringing the
WWE Championship to RAW. This is
followed by highlights of Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn's feud throughout NXT and
the main roster to bring us up to speed for the next match.
Kevin Owens vs. Sami Zayn
These two have a long and storied history together,
and even casual fans probably know by now that a match between them will see
them try and knock the proverbial lumps out of each other, and this match
starts no different both in and out of the ring. Kevin Owens takes advantage of a Zayn high
risk climb 'up top' to drop him apex first on to the ropes to gain his first
spell of dominance, all the time mocking both Zayn and the crowd, whilst
delivering cannonballs and sentons where possible.
Sami slips mid-springboard-moonsault and lands
awkwardly on his recently repaired shoulder, so KO starts targeting it
single-mindedly. Zayn manages a Blue
Thunder Bomb, Brainbuster to the apron and even attempts one of his
through-the-ropes Torando DDTs only to meet Owens' foot and a follow-up
cannonball. Zayn finally catches Owens
with a sweet suplex to the turnbuckles, leaving him dazed and open for the
Helluvakick which is an obviously agonising decision for Sami, but rather more
steeled, he delivers a determined second kick and pins his rival for the
three-count. A superb, and possibly
final, instalment in this interminable feud.
We get some punditry on the matches so far from the
Kickoff Show panel, and highlights of the pre-show victory for Breezango over
the Usos.
Natalya vs. Becky Lynch
Smackdown Live's nascent Women's division is
represented by Natalya and Becky Lynch settling their differences after their
Money in the Bank mix-up. Lynch starts
the bout in aggressive style, striking and kicking Natalya with a waist-lock
takedown for a pin attempt. The Canadian
uses the ropes well, both to break the Irish Lass-kicker's holds and to apply
leverage in her own, and works over Lynch's leg obsessively.
Becky opportunistically counters and executes an
Enziguri and an Exploder Suplex for a two count, but Natalya's groundwork for
the Sharpshooter pays off, locking it in mid-ring and getting the submission on
the second attempt. In my opinion, this
was a much better match than RAW's female offering, both technically and in the
psychology. A short but impressive
match.
The Miz (w/Maryse) vs. Darren Young (w/Bob Backlund)
– WWE Intercontinental Championship
Darren Young unexpectedly won a Battle Royale two
weeks prior to this event, not knowing it would be for a chance to bring the
Samckdown-bound Intercontinental Championship to RAW, but looked determined in
the opening stages to do just that by aggressively taking the fight to the
champ. As usual, it takes a little
interjection by his wife for the Miz to gain any kind of dominance, shoving
Young hard to the floor from the cornerpost after a distraction. Miz dominates the ringside brawling, but
loses control of the match again when the action gets back between the ropes.
Frustrated with his lack of demonstrable prowess, the
Miz tries to walk from the match, but finds his path blocked by Young's mentor
Bob Backlund. He returns to the ring,
but whilst his back is turned, Maryse pretends that she was struck by the
former WWF Champion. Both Backlund and
Miz are incensed and confront each other, however, Darren Young is livid. He locks the Cross-face-Chickenwing in on Miz
just as the ref throws the match out as a No Contest.
John Cena, Enzo & Big Cass vs. AJ Styles &
the Club
With John Cena and AJ Styles heading to Smackdown but
the Club and Enzo & Cass heading to Monday Night, this is a last chance for
the former New Japan boys to #BeatUpJohnCena.
We're treated to quite probably the best Enzo Amore (and to a great
extent, Big Cass) pre-match promo to-date, including plenty of medical and
'Soccer Mom' analogies, and the excellent advice to '...never make eye-contact
with anyone, while eating a banana!'
Enzo and Cass make good going early on against the
Club members, Cass even using his partner and AJ as projectile weapons, before
Enzo becomes trapped by the experienced tag techniques of the Club. When the hot tag to John Cena finally
arrives, he springs into immediate action with a five-knuckle-shuffle and an
attempt at an AA on AJ. Styles counters
into a stunning bicycle kick.
A period of breakdown and interference leads to Cena
being left back in the ring with AJ, Styles hitting the 'Clash for a
Pin-attempt. Just to note, that has to be the smoothest Styles-Clash on a
big-guy that I have seen. Big Cass pays
for breaking up the pin by taking a Magic Killer from the Club for his efforts,
before Enzo retaliates to leave the legal men in the ring. AJ gets to his feet first and heads to the
higher-ground of the cornerpost, only to be caught out by the recovering
Cena. A Super-Attitude-Adjustment is
enough to wipe out Styles and get the win with a mid-ring pin. Excellently executed six-man tag, with a
little bit of everything barring some chain-wrestling.
Chris Jericho's Highlight Reel feat. Randy Orton
We have a special Battleground version of Chris
Jericho's Highlight Reel next, to celebrate Randy Orton's return from a 9-month
injury lay-off and promote his upcoming match with Brock Lesnar at
Summerslam. Whilst pointing out that it
may take 15 or 20 suplexes to arrive at Suplex City, Randy commented '...it
only takes one RKO to get to ViperVille... No Enhancement Needed...' followed
by an actual Mic drop. What a stunning
dig, with even Orton admitting he might pay for it! Randy provides us with a much teased RKO on
Y2J to wrap the segment.
Dean Ambrose (c) vs. Seth Rollins vs. Roman Reigns –
WWE Championship
Our Main Event is a No-DQ Triple-Threat for the WWE
Championship, with many excellent angles on it to whet the whistle. Firstly, if either challenger dethrones
Smackdown's Dean Ambrose, the historic title will be heading to RAW instead.
Second is the opportunistic events surrounding Ambrose's win at Money in the
Bank, where all three of tonight's competitors were champion within a ten
minute window. Finally we have the fact
that these three were once a very successful faction in the form of the SHIELD.
The match itself is fast-paced and balanced, Ambrose
brawling well, Rollins stunning with his high-flying athleticism and Reigns,
back from a 30-day 'Wellness' suspension, taking out his obvious frustration
with explosive power; all demonstrating the complementary styles that made them
such a great team. Ambrose launches
himself via the commentary desks on to the RAW pair, brawling in the Timekeepers'
area, to good effect, and the announcers' tables are put to good effect again
as Ambrose and Rollins team up SHIELD-style on Reigns to try and keep it
one-on-one.
It was Ambrose however, biding his time whilst
recovering ringside, that took advantage of Reigns wiping out Seth with a Spear
to employ his own Dirty Deeds and get the 3-count. Fantastically well executed Triple-threat
that delivered a lot of uncertainty and suspense with the fast and brutal
action. Looks like RAW will have to get
their own senior male championship!
Conclusions
A significant point in WWE history demands a decent
Pay-Per-View event to mark it, and by-and-large this delivered, with the
Zayn/Owens match, the failure to #BeatUpJohnCena and the Main Event all
outstanding. Seeing where the chips fall
regarding championships was also a great hook, and gives this its particular
place in history.
Available now from www.WWEDVD.co.uk
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