WWE Battleground 2013
WWE opened its battleground
arena on Sunday 6th October 2013 live from the First Niagara Center in Buffalo, New York. Would the debut show begin strong, hold character and crown a WWE champion for WWE? Would the lacking card failing to impress PPV buys make up for shortcomings or simply crumble with ill thought practice?
World Heavyweight Championship
Hardcore Rules
Alberto Del Rio (c) Vs Rob Van Dam
w/ Ricardo Rodriguez
Is Ricardo just an undercover
plant for Rio? Or has Rio decided to forgive and repay him forcing him to gain
info before returning? Hey, it’s an angle WWE couldn’t think of.
For all those Sandow sceptics out
there, WWE made its message clear. He sustained a knee injury heavily debated
on commentary. WWE informed you, he will not cash in. Ziggler defeated him on
the pre-show in order to highlight that.
Barricade moonsault outside from
RVD onto ADR. Steel chair involved as ADR runs into as Van Dam jumps in ring
and DDT’s Rio onto it. Rio counters with a backstabber. Two fall. Chairs by
ADR. Chin lock. Strong boot to head. Ladder into fray. Rio grabs and RVD jabs
into the gut of Rio. Top kick from turnbuckle. ‘Bertie hit into ladder hurled
outside from running impact, followed by run into Alberto on ladder attack
which misses and lands atop, whacked by an enziguri from Rio into ladder, where
Van Dam falls back with ladder on top. Two fall. Wicked trash can smash on RVD’s
back with strong presentation for Rio. The
announce desk reiterated that they recycle here at WWE. Being green is a
serious issue in this biz. RVD counters the bin attack from the top
turnbuckle. The defending champ was then
dropped onto the ladder by RVD. Split leg moonsault from RVD to Del Rio on
ladder. Two fall. Legs to arm attacks knock Del Rio on ladder again. Rolling
thunder miss on ladder pains RVD’s spine. Seizing opportunity, Rio clasps on
the armlock. Ricardo runs in to save Van Dam to smash a tiny pot over Del Rio’s
head. Van Dam then took a very close near fall.
Tossed out, Rio and Ricardo stare
each other down with the bucket. Ricardo gives that bucket to Rio, who extends
his arm until he was tricked and smashed but Rio outside hurls Ric into the barricade
and smashed a swift kick to his face for such a betrayal. Ricardo bit the hand
that fed him the announce team add and agree. That’s bad for business. RVD
knocks Rio down under ladder, hits onto Rio. Back inside. “We want Tables” the
audience add. Van Dam takes a chair out for crowd approval as Lawler adds the
audience were asking “We want chairs” instead. Van Terminator was soon missed as
Rio moved. Rio sets the chair in the ring. Trip down toe hold from Rio smashes
Dam’s forehead into the strategically placed chair. Colossal kick to face from Rio
after. Traps arm in chair with cross armbreaker follow up on Rob Van Dam who
had no choice but to submit to Alberto Del Rio, who walks out of Battleground
as World Heavyweight Champion.
Impromptu
Tag Team
The Great Khali w/ Hornswoggle
and Santino Marella Vs Antonio Cesaro and Jack Swagger w/ Zeb Colter
The Unamericans, Real Americans
are a late addition to the card in a tag battle. Mouthpiece Zeb with Cesaro and
Swagger rants on. After criticising the town of Buffalo, they went back to
their Mexican onslaught, mentioning Del Rio. They then went further with
Canadian immigrants and added a buffalo wing as Buffalo’s greatest achievement
to its name before pledging to dip Santino into Crisco. Then Niagara Falls was
shown. Strong abuse levels raised alongside tons of sexual innuendo.
Yes, WWE added a late match up
and more so, Khali. Yet they wonder why “The People” of America refuse to pay
for such an infeasible PPV. Jerry then promoted overseas residents were welcome
to “come see us. You don’t have to sneak over the border.”
Swagger and Santino begin to lock
up. Arm wrenches and shoulder barge. Chants of “We the people” may tell WWE’s
ignorance that they are doing a good job. The only reason they cheer, and WWE
know it, is because the crowd is bored. Santino draws out the Cobra as Hornswoggle
approached Swagger outside with a mini cobra for Jack to rip off and dismiss.
Cesaro tagged in for an uppercut and tags back out. Cesaro adds a club when ref
doesn’t see. Swagger bomb followed by Cesaro leapfrog drop on Santino as Zeb
chants “very good.” It was slightly bungled. Both too tall. Swagger back in
shortly after. Both sides tag Khali and Cesaro as Khali destroys Cesaro with
uneventful clubs mimicking a clothesline. Khali clubs Swagger after trying to
halt Santino. Cesaro from behind is nabbed with an elbow. Gets best of Khali
from behind. Cesaro begins rotational spins of Khali with his new dizzy
dialler. Antonio Cesaro was allow to feasibly cover for a three count to win
for him and Jack Swagger. At least he has his rugby pads back on, be them very
short. Cesaro needs out of this, pronto. Implement honourable turn over the
next month pronto.
Intercontinental Championship
Curtis Axel (c) w/ Paul Heyman Vs
R-Truth
Michael Cole added Battleground
would end perfectly, you’ll see.
R-Truth began dominating Axel and
sent him out the ring early on. Truth certainly looked like a strong
challenger. Axel was initially seen as the lamest IC champion in a long time
exposed. Axel kicked Truth into the barricade hard. Then a lift and run into
body hold which was somewhat awkward and careless of Axel. R-Truth in headlock
by Axel. “Boring!” chants became louder and louder as the match was lacking.
Curtis Axel then won the match with a quick three fall not thirty seconds
later.
WWE Unified Women’s championship
Brie Bella w/ Nikki Bella Vs AJ (c) w/ Tamina
The Unified title in the form of
the Diva’s butterfly design was up next. Out strolled the Divas instead. AJ has
now sought the services of heavy Tamina, whom WWE styled as a butch lesbian
version of Kaitlyn clad in full leather. Yeah…
Scrambles with Brie and AJ as AJ
crawls outside flanked by barrier Tamina. Insane yells from Brie instantly
after working AJ into the corners inside. Sit up on turnbuckle dropkick off by
Bella. Tamina got great hoop earrings though. AJ tiny leg jab at Brie’s feet
then slamming her off outside into turnbuckle post assault full bodied and
face. Jabs from Brie and kicks from AJ. Reversal on the spot arm work into a
DDT by AJ. Shrieks (!) from AJ. Guiding Bella with words to place into spots
dire. Brie constant screams. AJ counters with her own yells and screams. AJ
skips around. Runs into a dropkick. Brie Bella disgracefully slips under legs
of AJ with no skill in botch spot. AJ hoisted and dropped so pathetically and
careless consideration on a backdrop of AJ. Tamina outside wrangling Nikki and
shoves into side of ring as Brie edges forward, leaving AJ to rush behind and score
a roll up victory to retain the title. Could it get any more piss poor than
that?
Tag Team
Cody Rhodes and Goldust w/ Dusty
Rhodes Vs Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins w/ Dean Ambrose
The stipulation was simple.
Should the Rhodes family win they receive WWE contracts. If, however, they lose,
they will “never” work in WWE again.
Upon entry a guy playfully messed
up Ambroses’ hair. He weren’t too happy with that.
My goodness, it’s like a redneck
Wyatt Family built on nuclear burial ground. The Rhodes family had a cowboy,
mutant and go go dancer.
Moonsault form Cody takes out
Rollins. Reigns and Goldust, with knee down slap to face got better of beefy
Roman. Glow in the dark Black Reign shone through. Ten punch turnbuckle count
along. Plants Reigns in corner. Cross body as Reigns kicks out. Reigns
displaying strong level of respect for Goldust in ring protocol. Rollins in and
attacks Goldie to barricade outside. Goldie crawls in at a close nine count.
Tag with Rollins flip over into ring on Goldust. Miss dropkick on Goldust.
Reigns tagged in. Leg up by ‘dust. Hard scoop slam by Rollins. Goldust tags out
as Rhodes now clears house and leg kicks the groin terribly. Lame swing atop
shoulders. Two fall on Rollins alone. Close two fall saved by Reigns as Goldust
joins in but Reigns knocks him out as disaster kick on Reigns added and Ambrose
taken out with ease. Rollins attack. Ambrose and Dusty outside battle with American
Dream Dusty knocking Ambrose back. Goldust attacks behind. Cross Rhodes on
Rollins by Cody Rhodes allows for the random placed win with Goldust. Congrats
you won. But the landscape has changed of who you work for. WWE so desperate
for stars it hires back the uninteresting Rhodes calamity filled with ignorance
to its fans. The Shield were dropped way to easily. The Rhodes couple were congratulated
by all the WWE jobbers ploughing onto the stage. A job squad welcome back. Thrilling.
Best of night will go very
smoothly. Triple H and Stephanie had to leave the show forcing complete control
onto Brad Maddox’s shoulders. It was “spiralling out of control” he mentioned
to Smackdown General Manager Vickie
Guerrero. He asked Vickie for help. Vick gleefully laughs at Brad’s misfortune.
It’s all going wrong. Oh dear.
Kofi Kingston Vs Bray Wyatt w/
Luke Harper and Erick Rowan
“This is the creepiest entrance
but you can’t look away from it.” – Jerry Lawler says. Michael Cole ponders the
cryptic messages Bray Wyatt delivers to subjects prompting them through ignorant
and unappreciative behaviour. He was sending messages and gives answers to them
the announce desk contemplate.
Swamp monster Wyatt receives
kicks from Kofi only to begin laughing at Kingston’s feeble attempts. “If you can explain the cryptic riddle to me?”
JBL asked, still confused.
Crowd were soon so bored it began
a take on Fandangoing. They began singing the lyrics of the theme tune. Michael
Cole chimed in with error. “One word, one people” People? Plurality in a
sentence built on singularity? Oh my!
“I am the message of purity”
Wyatt adds whilst Kofi clamped in a headlock. Slam down on Kofi after over rope
launch by Kingston. Two fall. Kofi back pin into DDT come back/shoulder breaker
move. Bit weak. Charging back with high flying punches and Boom Drop. Setting
Trouble in Paradise, Wyatt ducks and Kofi runs into devastating mid elbow full
body launch.
Wyatt then stragenly tipped upside
down. He then stretched into the crab. A position where on all fours with an
inverted bridge, which “freaked” Kofi backwards in the ring. It was a good sell
of Kingston’s fright. Heads outside. Kofi tips Bray over outside and runs an impressive
over the rope launch onto the three Wyatt’s. Jump drop from top on Bray inside.
Bray garbs Kofi as both locked into embrace, Kofi Kingston counters as does
Bray Wyatt quickly smashing Kofi’s head into the floor with a tough DDT for
three fall win.
Rowan then lifts Kofi up afterward,
backbreaking him and throws into Harper with running clothesline.
“There is no
right, there is no wrong. All that is left are the mannequins trying to force-feed
you their ideals of what purity are. I promise you in time there will be none
of them left. They will all fall. Follow The Buzzards.” -Bray Wyatt.
CM Punk Vs Ryback w/ Paul Heyman
“He’s trying to bully you. Don’t
let him bully you.” Heyman to Ryback regarding Punk. Punk dived outside after “You
suck!” to Ryback from crowd. Caught by Ryback. Punk slips away and shoves
Ryback into turnbuckle on outside. Climbs atop inside. Follows with hard kicks
and a knee. Flung into head pad on turnbuckle “You can’t wrestle” plagued
Ryback. Pro CM Punk fantasists cheered the only consolation in a Ryback match,
the opponent, in defiance. Punk slid into the post.
“Goldberg” chants mar the match.
Any match that wants to grow cant with Ryback as lead. This is proof enough.
The Universe don’t want Ryback as a Heyman guy and they will never accept him
so repackage Ryback with strong thought and choose someone else capable for
Heyman quickly.
Clothesline from Ryback. A club
from Ryback. Couple more. Leg push roll over of Punk. Very slow run into
shoulder block of Punk. “Ryback sucks!” Punk punches atop Ryback to try and get
in the game yet none of Punk’s punches are effective enough. Ryback charges
into corner post as Punk avoids. Swing neckbreaker. Signals GTS symbol as Heyman
takes microphone and talks of being “Best In The World.” I pinned Punk with
both arms tied behind my back Heyman adds, as Ryback smashes from behind of
Punk. Two fall only. More covers happen, as bellowed by Heyman. “Powerbomb him
again!” Punk gets to his feet and escapes such powerbomb with a jab to Ryback
for some time. Terrible hit and move
lummox Ryback goes to centre ring. Punk climbs top turnbuckle, once again.
Elbow drop. Two fall. Ryback catches Punk who counters, Ryback timidly elbows
his way out of GTS with slam down instead. Two fall. Ryback clubs again. Ryback
adds four more clubs. Another four count of clubs. Heyman gets a Kendo stick
from outside but is caught by the referee. CM Punk kicks Ryback with a low blow
on Ryback as the referee stops Heyman involvement to follow through with a
pinfall to win on a cheap technicality.
WWE Championship
Randy Orton Vs Daniel Bryan
After WWE allowed Bryan to win
the title for an evening last month after the Night of Champions debacle, then
vacating the title on Raw the
previous evening, tonight WWE aim to crown a new champion. The WWE title, in
transit, had three options. Bryan, Orton or no-one. Place your bets now.
Would WWE change the WWE title
shot for Sandow from World title to WWE Heavyweight instead? Hey, this is WWE
and desperate times in WWE land call for such desperate measures. They’ve done
it before.
WWE suffered a technical difficulty
spanning a rough seven minutes where they lost transmission of the PPV
broadcast. The arena blacked out, not TV and cable companies. It wasn’t a WWE
set up, though they may use it one day. Once back the action from WWE continued.
They did not begin without the match. William Regal probably pulled the plug
out. Conspiracies of the government shutdown rang with some. Don’t start Zeb
Colter off on that one.
Technical tussle. Clean break
after. Back into headlock with Bryan control. Shoulder takedown by Orton. Slow
match beginning but made up for with in ring psychology from both. Kicks from
Bryan shortly. Dragon Screw. Knee to Orton into a leg lick twist. “You have to
watch this guy at all time, especially if you’re his opponent.” Lawler adds.
Mid arm launch clothesline from Orton from top turnbuckle. Heard calling spots
by Orton. This powercut may have thrown the reshuffle of match outlay. Ten
punch by Randy.
Bryan launches outside to get
back in the game and hurls Orton to the barricade. Bryan scales top rope into a
bungled powerbomb counter from Orton. Rand sits over Orton with a Boston Crab. Orton
outside backbreaker on barricade after hurling him into everything outside
almost. Breaks count throwing Bryan in at early nine call. Perfect double
suplex off top rope by Orton. Huge bounce on landing. A game of uppercuts to
sit on the WWE throne followed by both. Bryan tries to hurl Orton in ring from
apron with suplex. Failed twice as Orton flips Bryan to outside instead. Table
dismantled. Bryan misses from powerbomb raise. Kicks and smashes Orton into
steps. Bryan broke count at eight and saved Orton. Wasn’t ending so cheaply for
Bryan now. Orton smashed by Bryan with a starfish opened flat-out outside.
Delicious. Back inside Bryan nailed diving headbutt. Orton survives at a two
fall only. Bryan charges into Orton in corner adding dropkicks up to five
times. The crowd was electric at this point. Knee kicks to Orton caught by
Orton in body grab and a hurled Fall Away Slam modification. Quickly caught by
Orton on ropes and double rope DDT’ed by Rand. Feeling the surge Orton cheers
“YES!” as he gears the stomps for the Viper. Orton countered, into a roll up
for two as Bryan rolls through the YES! Lock. Big Show instantly storms to the
ring and assaults the referee leaving Bryan flabbergasted and asks Show “What
are you doing” as Show instantly swings the KO Punch on Bryan. Maddox signals a
new referee which is previous controversy Scott Armstrong. Orton clambers over
Bryan for three as remorseful Big Show then pulls the ref out and clobbers him
too. Now would be prefect for Sandow. Fans wanted it, more so. Show argues with
Orton. He jabs Randy down too. Maddox is perplexed at the titantron in his
efforts to please Stephanie and Hunter. It was entirely obvious that the title
would remain vacant as Battleground had no WWE champion crowned despite the
entire month long dysfunction for a WWE champion to surface.
PPV Rating - 4/10
Men/Women of their matches -
Alberto Del Rio, R-Truth, Brie Bella, Seth Rollins, Bray Wyatt, CM Punk, Daniel
Bryan
Man/Woman of the PPV – Big Show
The Orton/Bryan saga continued
and no champion may further be a good angle if done correctly, so far,
decently, but WWE need to have strong options before, in place for champ named,
and after. Their match tonight become a categorical mess despite WWE’s mishap.
Mid way they clawed it back with a fair ending highlighting both’s ability to
work well in situations and with one another for a live crowd.
After Big Show’s knock out
punches, a fan yelled “Please retire.” Show did not look happy. However, going
out of Battleground, WWE made it all about Big Show not Bryan, Orton or the
title.
Interestingly Battleground added
an extra match to make up on time then lost it due to a power cut. The tag and
Orton/Bryan’s bad start was painful to watch.
Punk/Ryback was all about
Heyman/Punk again. Ryback did dominate the match, for all the wrong reasons.
Goldberg chants, among others mentioned where compact disasters waiting to
happen. WWE need to consider repackaging, firing or dealing with it. Even the
great Heyman can’t work this one. The more defiance from WWE, the more defiance
from the crowd. It’s a stalemate that will have no solution and a complete
waste, which will soon infuriate viewers so much that the hate for Ryback will
go beyond fan heat. You can never come back from that, so don’t let it get to
that level. The crowd aren’t into the block muscle, six foot type any longer,
if at all when lacking no skills at all.
Crowds were mad for Sandow to
cash in. If WWE did make an exception under Maddox’s huge desperation and
reverted the title match, something we are usually against, this would have
been best timing. Then WWE should raise this intense level for when Sandow
needs to cash in on the World title. Even Maddox could possibly have made
himself a candidate to snare the gold.
Wyatt’s impressive crab move was
a high point for crowd interest but they match was a little limp on content. All
involved did the best they could involving such short space on the card. 
The Rhodes Family had a happy
ending with its job security. Many felt this was a pretty good match, however
that critique was largely due to the rest of the card failing. The match itself
was decent, largely built on Rollins involvement. Have you ever noticed when
Rollins is involved in Shield matches, they have an air of success in them?
Yet, WWE feel Seth is the lowest guy in The Shield pecking order. Rhodes and
Goldust were basic and Reigns held stature whilst giving respectful way to a
veteran. The Shield however fell way too easy.
The women were another sheer
disaster. Brie Bella was the resident noise maker, as per usual, with AJ adding
her own crazed echoes. Talks of resurfacing the Women’s title would be a
disaster and should not happen. It just wasn’t unified correctly and therefore
still remains Women’s title but it would be an utter disrespect if WWE brought
back that title with inadequate bikini models rolling around on the floor and
having no skill whatsoever. WWE need to raise their game with the women but it can’t
figure out how to nor bother.. It is also stubborn how to grow it. Fit Finlay
will not be any saving grace this era on that.
The late addition of a tag match just so Cesaro could do the swing and make viewers felt the show wouldn't end early to get their money's worth wasn't fulfilling.
Alberto Del Rio was clear to
retain but entered a decent Hardcore match along with Van Dam. RVD himself was
re-invigorated with comfortability and Rio kept strong prominence whilst building
a decent match for crowd involvement.
Circles are quietly reporting
that R-Truth failed his second wellness policy test. Truth gave a convincing
promo for the Hell in a Cell trailer. He also gave a very good match. Just as
Truth rebuilds his profile, he tends to mess it up at the height of his
success. WWE haven’t seem to take any action and the news isn’t officially confirmed
as of yet but many sources believe it to bear strong truth.
 |
| Atop Los Matadores, Fernando and Deigo |
El Torito also ransacked Renee Young in a red dress beforehand on the Pre-show. Your not meant to wear red around a bull.
Battleground opened its doors for
its grand debut. In doing so it made the themed one name PPV’s PG friendly prospect
booking an utter disaster. Battleground has already failed as a huge concept
WWE had hoped to take off. It was a bungled disaster which has no
sustainability under these foundations any longer. The arena may need to shut
up shop and move on.
© Max Waltham 08th October 2013
