WWE Battleground 2014

[bink_winkleman]

I legit think I became a bull who saw red at some point during this show. Like, I'm becoming a pessimistic bastard constantly about this company when I used to agree with Greg all the time. How can this company have fucked so much up in so little time?

The guy that was carrying the company broke. That's how things got fucked up.

My feed froze, so I missed the end of Y2J/Bray. I didn't even check what happened b/c I assumed Bray won. Wow. The old Jericoholic in me is kind of excited.

[JRGoldman]

Maybe this show was the new strategy to get people to buy the network? Like, the new idea is to make everything so mediocre that the last few people ordering B ppvs just throw up their hands and say 'fuck it, I guess $10 is worth it.'

My favorite part of this show was when my stream skipped backwards about five or ten seconds during the main event. Roman Reigns was doing his apron drop kick thing, and it skipped so he hit Cena, then Orton, then Cena again. It was awesome. For a second, the ring was about as architecturally feasible as the Overlook hotel.

[Spontaneous]

Guys, Jericho vs Wyatt was as personal as it gets. Oh and Slam City, it's HI-LAR-IOUS!

[w. josh]

 

 

a.) If Brock's coming back, why shouldn't Cena win? I don't want Reigns to win to immediately lose.

b.) It's funny how the IC title is a death sentence around here until Cesaro is denied it. And I love Cesaro... but it's not like the IC Title of all things is the demarcation line of "just a guy" or not...

A: if Brock's coming back, Brock/Cena shouldn't be about the title.

B: if you don't see how much they have botched Cesaro the. You are a fucking loon.

The idea that they should hot shot the title on Reigns with no chase is beyond moronic. Bryan got hurt, and Cena is the only guy right now that can hold it down.

 

 

Who said Reigns should win? Has anyone said that's the reason they didn't like the show? who are these invisible people you're calling moronic? Cena should have won. Pretty much everyone agrees on that point. But it could have happened in a more interesting way, and something - anything - could have happened after the match to set up Summerslam. And yes, we'll probably get Heyman/Brock/Plan C on RAW. But that doesn't make the complaint that nothing of interest happened on THIS show any less valid.

[The Man Known as Dan]

I legit think I became a bull who saw red at some point during this show. Like, I'm becoming a pessimistic bastard constantly about this company when I used to agree with Greg all the time. How can this company have fucked so much up in so little time?

The guy that was carrying the company broke. That's how things got fucked up.

My feed froze, so I missed the end of Y2J/Bray. I didn't even check what happened b/c I assumed Bray won. Wow. The old Jericoholic in me is kind of excited.

But that's the thing: it wasn't "the guy" it was "the guys". The Shield were going great, and are still going good in there current roles, but the Wyatt's and Cesaro have been neutered. And the WWE doesn't seem to realize the only reason anyone gave a fuck about the Authority was Bryan. You could hear a pin drop when they announced Orton and Kane, No boos, no cheers, just nobody giving a dhit.

[Niners Fan in CT]

Bryan getting hurt doesn't explain why Cesaro and Wyatt are dead in the water.

[Cristobal]

Maybe this show was the new strategy to get people to buy the network? Like, the new idea is to make everything do mediocre that the last few people ordering B ppvs just throw up their hands and say 'fuck it, I guess $10 is worth it.'

What it was was building to SummerSlam, because that'll be the last PPV the early-adopters of the Network bought before they can cancel it.

I'm sure it'll be better than this shit-show was, but I'm not so sure I like the concept of B-PPV as "building" to the next A-show.

The big selling point of the network was "Just 10 bucks per PPV." This takes a hit if you devalue the majority of your PPVs so badly that you're questioning whether to buy it.

[Ramsey]

I only caught part of the show having jumped in just as Jericho and Bray were starting. Some thoughts:

 

Jericho winning was wrong.

 

The Uso's winning again was wrong.

 

Cesaro getting dumped by Heath Slater and then ignored was wrong.

 

Cena had to win but seeing Kane and Orton on my tv AGAIN was wrong.

 

Roman has potential but his three or four move routine is going to need overhauled before he's the man. Like another poster pointed out, he's not ready for long one-on-one matches yet.

 

Overall, that was a pretty shitty PPV and, yeah, the people that were wrong about Bryan but got forced to do the right thing are still in charge and still very wrong about a great many things.

[Eivion]

The final fall of the Tag Titles match was great and made up for the mediocre first two falls. That said the Wyatts totally should have won. There is no other team for the Usos to really lose to.

 

I liked the end of Swagger/Rusev.

 

Miz winning the IC title doesn't bother me one way or the other.

 

Bray losing to Jericho just felt stupid. I know there will probably be a rematch at Summerslam where Bray wins, but it still feels wrong for him to lose here. Bray really needed to come back stronger than ever after losing the Cena feud.

 

I actually thought the main event was good, but nothing that we haven't really seen before. Still I liked how strong Roman came out looking even with him not winning. Still feels like Brock should have come out to destroy Cena post-match.

[The Man Known as Dan]

Maybe this show was the new strategy to get people to buy the network? Like, the new idea is to make everything do mediocre that the last few people ordering B ppvs just throw up their hands and say 'fuck it, I guess $10 is worth it.'

What it was was building to SummerSlam, because that'll be the last PPV the early-adopters of the Network bought before they can cancel it.I'm sure it'll be better than this shit-show was, but I'm not so sure I like the concept of B-PPV as "building" to the next A-show.

I've already made my decision and made sure I'm not renewing past my current run. It's a great service, but they have completely lost me right now in there current direction.

[Spontaneous]

I assume Usos are feuding with the Dust Brothers or The Ascension next. Who is left?

I also like how the battle Royal teased dissolution in Rybaxel by having Ryback toss Axel and them briefly shouting at each other. Why? WHY?

[hammerva]

So are all PPV's now going to be 10 minutes shorter so they can throw on some stupid 7 - 8 minute post game show.   

[_MJ_]

I appreciate the WWE saving the important stuff like Brock's inevitable return for RAWs, which I can see for "free".

 

Maybe I shouldn't have posted this on a public forum.   Whatever admin is on duty, delete this post.

[Hollywood Cibernetico]

Aside from the tag title match, Dean Ambrose being CARRIED to the back was the best thing on the show. I'm sucker for spots like that, especially when done correctly. People keep comparing Austin and Ambrose and its a great comparison. When Dean shows up- all hell is about to break loose!

 

Miz as IC Champion in 2014? No thank! Miz on TV in 2014? A BIGGER NO THANK YOU! The guy had a good run a long time ago, but he is beyond stale and is barely over. People think this will lead to a Ziggler chase into SS? Fools! This will lead to another Sheamus/Miz showdown. *shrudders*

[Go2Sleep]

This show managed to be even less inspiring than I expected going in, since I at least expected a good Rollins/Ambrose match. 

 

The tag title match was good, but it definitely should've ended after the indy-style no-sell of the the superkick into the lariat. Liked both of the first falls coming off quick cut-offs during expected hot tags, but 3 FIP segments was a bit of overkill. Finishing run was great, but needed to end sooner with the other team winning. At least the Usos didn't fully botch their big finish. No idea what any of the Wyatts do after this show with any degree of credibility. Remember when they looked like world beaters after taking out the Shield?

 

The rest of the show was just complete head-scratch material until the main. Not delivering what looked to be the best match on paper and the best feud? Bray jobbing clean to Jericho? Miz winning the IC? Cesaro getting dumped by Slater?  Cena winning was obvious and necessary, so whatever there, but no post-match shenanigans? How does any of that make someone want to renew their network subscription? Not to mention, just about every match featured some really sloppy ring work. Sheamus and Dolph were botching everything, Paige and AJ didn't appear to be on the same page, and there were some really obvious whiffs in Bray/Jericho, as well as Cena and Orton's laughable opening to the 4-way where each strike was missing by 2 feet.

 

I hesitate to rag on the current state of WWE too much, because who knows with Brock coming back and Ambrose and Rollins possibly getting featured more prominently, it could turn around, but this was a dogshit ppv.

[Spontaneous]

Am I the only one who wants to see Ambrose-HHH and not Reigns-HHH?

[mco543]

I don't really wanna get shouted down by all the "this show sucked, FUCK WWE!" so I'll just say that Rusev is much better than I thought he'd be when he showed up and Ambrose being buried is absurd.

 

Lana and Zeb are still doing all the heavy lifting but Rusev does a lot of the little things well. I really enjoyed the finish too, Lana and Swagger did a great job selling it. I'm still hoping for Rusev's intro to become obnoxiously long, like Corino used to do.

 

I don't get the Ambrose being buried thing at all. He got so much more shine tonight than he would've gotten in a regular match.

 

Anyone think that the reason Bray hasn't been positioned highly is because his ring work isn't strong? His character work is great, he's very good in the big Wyatt six man tag matches, but as far as singles matches go they seem to disappoint (aside from Bryan). Any time he has a big singles match that isn't character driven like the Cena-WM match they don't seem to be as good as you would think. Just a thought.

[Rehabilitated Rick]

Why are Jericho and Wyatt feuding, like seriously I don't get it? I did roll my eyes at Cole's or whoever it was line about it being a personal as it gets whilst Ambrose is hiding in trunks of cars and jumping barriers wanting to tear Rollins balls off. It's like a watered down version of the Cena/Wyatt feud with the same results. Poor Bray.

 

Yeah.

 

I was sure they would throw the belt on Bo Dallas, the streak thing he had going was cool.

[Bear Wyatt]

 

THIS is what they are doing with Ambrose.  He just needs to be as creative with the trash talking as Stone Cold was back then.

[HumanChessgame]

The opening tag match really took off in the last 10 minutes or so.  As much as I liked it they really should have had the Wyatts either win or have some sort of finish that left them looking strong or at least set up a rubber match with a cage/no DQ stip at Summerslam.  The ending as it was just came off as very anti-climactic to the whole feud and there are no other tag teams out there now ready to look like credible challengers.  

 

The rest of the show was more or less rubbish.  I think there was a rule that each match had to have at least 3-4 botches.  It's almost like they wanted Paige's whole stint on the main roster to fail with how they just threw her out there with no chances for character development or anything.

 

If blowing off Ambrose/Rollins was due to one or both guys being legit hurt, then fair enough.  It still came off like a total bait and switch.  You could of at least had Ambrose do something really over the top to take out Rollins at the beginning of the show, similar to how they put Ambrose out at the beginning of Raw that left him not medically cleared.  Have Ambrose hid in a refrigerator or mail himself to Rollins' hotel room then jump out and beat him with a pipe wrench or something.

 

Jericho is one of my favorite wrestlers of all time, but each time he comes back he seems less and less motivated.  He's not approaching RVD levels, but as much as I like him I have no interest in seeing him there in a part-time capacity.  That said there was no reason whatsoever for him to go over Bray.  This whole feud came off as being incredibly slapped together and they're doing an excellent job of taking two of the most can't miss prospects in Bray and Cesaro and completely relegating them to jobber status.  At this point I almost think the Wyatts need to go off tv for a few weeks and come back with a new member or two and just completely go full creepy.  Ditch the nursery rhymes and come out handling snakes and whatnot.

 

When someone (JBL I think) mentioned Edge unifying the US and IC titles I thought for a second they were going to have Sheamus win and do exactly that to completely devalue the belt.  Turns out they did something a step or two worse and put it on the Miz, who is awful in just about every sense of the word.  I could stand him as some douchy interviewer, but I can think of few people on the main roster that interest me less.  Granted the smart money says he's just keeping the belt warm until BNB comes back to regain it and maybe feuds with Ziggler in the meantime, but that's more credit than I'm willing to give the booking committee at this juncture.

 

I was expecting pretty much nothing from the main event so it was actually better than I thought it would be.  There was no doubt in my mind Cena was going to win so that didn't bug me.  If they're going to have Bork challenge him for the title that would have been a good opportunity to set it up though.

[w. josh]

Anyone think that the reason Bray hasn't been positioned highly is because his ring work isn't strong?

No.

[mattdangerously]

Am I the only one who wants to see Ambrose-HHH and not Reigns-HHH?

No, I'd be way more interested in that than Reigns vs HHH.

And how the hell does anyone see what happened tonight and think that Ambrose is getting buried? Jesus Christ.

[Hollywood Cibernetico]

Shows like Battleground reminds me of WCW 2000 where the PPVs were just extended Nitros. I feel like this is all leading into Raw tomorrow and isn't a culmination of anything as Raw is the REAL PPV of of the two events.

[hammerva]

When I say that he is "close to be buried", it really depends on how they handle him until the match at Summerslam.  I mean assuming they have the match at this rate.  But assuming they are, as great as Dean is with promos and how crazy he is acting attacking Rollins, he has to start winning and looking strong.   He was made to look like a goof on RAW by not being in the main event.  He was better against Kane but still got beaten down.  Most of his other losses made him look like a geek.    I believe he has maybe 1 win in his single run.   Doesn't matter how awesome his character is if he is booked as a loser it won't matter.   Hopefully Dean actually gets some wins over Kane

[steve]

The only real nitpick I had was that they never even mentioned "Plan B" or "Plan C" after the main. I mean, maybe they did and I just missed it, but if nothing else, they could've thrown in a line about Rollins not being an option due to the Ambrose stuff. That was a focal point of the build, then Cena wins, PPV over.