I can't believe they actually went with this name for the show, I think one of the marketing team members girlfriend came up with it while she was looking around the office and the poor guy just had to roll with it for the sake of his love life. If there's a Battleground 2014 then that'll be the final piece of evidence that something is deeply wrong in Connecticut.
There's really not that much to talk about with Battleground, it's not exactly a show that will live on in infamy with the possible exception of the show going off air for about five minutes due to a power outage in the arena. The Rhodes match was the feel good highlight of the night, and the WWE Championship match was another strong showing for Bryan and Orton, but other than that everything else was just sort of...there.
Nothing was bad as such (other than the fact Curtis Axel is still a thing) but there isn't a thing on this show that would be massively out of place on an episode of Monday Night Raw. You know what it is? It's a case of "three week build" syndrome, where the show just creeps up on you out of nowhere and you just kind of watch it even though you're not invested in anything. Which is fine, but it's not really going to get a PAY-Per-View broadcast any bonus points.
So if you live in the UK or somewhere else that got this show for free, then good for you, you got two decent matches out of the evening well done. If you paid money for this you're probably feeling a bit hollow...and good for you too. After all, you gave WWE money for a show called BATTLEGROUND.
You get what you pay for bro.
Alberto Del Rio defeated Rob Van Dam in a Battleground Hardcore Match - 6/10
Smart choice putting this match on first, it's a fast paced spotty style match to kick the Pay-Per-View off. But I have to say, especially considering it's a World Championship match, I'm personally not a fan of these types of matches. There's no story, or intense heat between these two, the match is just two guys taking turns to hit each other with stuff and then no sell it. Rob Van Dam Frog Splashes a ladder with Del Rio under which makes no sense in any realm of logic it's done just because it looks cool, Ricardo flat out saves RVD from the cross armbreaker heel style and then gets taken out after getting a couple of shots in with the bucket, and RVD misses the Vanterminator and taps out to another armbreaker in a chair. Del Rio gets a very convincing win here, decent way to open a PPV but the match was super dumb and just generally a mess overall.
Antonio Cesaro and Jack Swagger defeated Santino Marella and The Great Khali - 4/10
The match itself is nothing to rave about, Santino gets dominated most of the match and gets the tag to Khali and stumbles around for the comeback. The highlight, and presumably the entire point of the match was for Cesaro to get the giant swing in on Khali to a huge pop and the win. Dull match, awesome finish.
Curtis Axel defeated R-Truth - 2/10
There wasn't anything wrong with the match really, but Curtis Axel is the dullest person on WWE television right now and Truth hasn't been relevant in two years. The match wasn't interesting, the crowd hated it, and the finish came quick and mercifully when the BORING chants got out of control.
AJ defeated Brie Bella
Hey, did you guys know that the Pyramids weren't actually built by slaves? They were actually built by Egyptians willingly, and there were ruins found of nearby "Pyramid Towns". Men were willing to put themselves through such gruelling labour due to something the Egyptians referred to as "bak" which is a sense of duty to ones Pharaoh that even the highest ranking officials felt they owed, so they felt like it was their duty to their ruler similar to how young Amish men feel obligated to work for their community. Isn't that wonderful to know that one of the wonders of the world no longer has that asterisk following it, it wasn't enslavement and oppression that created the Pyramids it was genius mathematicians and a sense of community even if it was an outdated idea of one. Oh sorry there was a match going on? AJ wins because of interference or something...NEXT MATCH.
Goldust and Cody Rhodes defeated The Shield - 8/10
One of the great things about wrestling is that something incredibly predictable can happen and still be fun as hell. The Rhodes get the win, Dusty gets his shots in on Ambrose, and Cody scores the finish with the most awesome looking CrossRhodes ever. Great tag match and feel good moment for the Pay-Per-View.
Bray Wyatt defeated Kofi Kingston - 5/10
The match started slow, and the general random feel of this booking didn't help either. It got a little more colour later on when Kofi and Bray started breaking out the big offense, and Bray stretched over backwards and crawls on all fours like something out of a Japanese horror movie. A cool sequence into the Wyatts finisher ends the match, and a post match family beatdown ensues.
CM Punk defeated Ryback - 7/10
A strong match, not really main event material but it served its purpose. Punk gets the win off an accidental distraction by Heyman and pins Ryback directly with a low blow, and then makes no effort to get Heyman after the match for some reason. This storyline needs to be wrapped up at Hell in a Cell, it's been good but it's in danger of running out of steam. Matches like will sustain it but it's not going to excite anyone.
Daniel Bryan fought Randy Orton to a no contest - 8/10
Easily the strongest in-ring match of the night, but I think everyone watching knew this wasn't going to go down straight one way or another. The match plays out as it would naturally with Daniel Bryan about to make Orton tap out again, but Big Shows music hits and he knocks out two referees, Bryan and Orton and the match just sort of stops there. Not illogical booking or anything, although if Show wasn't going to do what he was told he could have made his mind up 5 seconds earlier and just not hit Bryan and not cost him the match but whatever. Still WWE, when you put on a not particularly strong Pay-Per-View your main event does suffer greatly when you don't give it a proper ending.
OVERALL RATING - 6/10
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