WWE Battleground 2014

[thee Reverend Axl Future]

Not great, even for a B-level PPV---eerrr... "special event". However, the PPVs are merely a bonus for me, Network-wise, so I can't identify with several people's virulent exasperation with the current state of the WWE.

- I would love to see a gif that showed Swagger taking that post because Lana's reaction to it was brilliant.

- did Roman Reigns get them there fancy cargo pants at a Hardy Boyz garage sale?

- the pre-show was horrific. The Cameron/Naoml match was a gawddamn abortion of a bowling shoe. However, Layla looked outstanding with textbook examples of what my Uncle Benji calls "headlights".

- was BWyatt wearing makeup to augment his bruised eye? Jericho had smears on him from something.

- the tag was fun, but it's easy to have a barnburner with dozens of near falls going on. Everyone's timing was great; Harper for MVP. The Battle Royal was entertaining as well, despite several screw-ups. I anticipate some festive weasely championship shenanigans from the Miz. I do not fear for Cesaro. If there is nothing for him currently, it is typical for a period of de-pushing.

- I really dug on Orton's takedown into the half crab. I would rather see some elimination 3 or 4 ways to mix the formula up a bit.

- Paige really looks lost on the big stage.

- sounded like they had to sweeten the crowd sounds several times. And by Odin's Beard, I can't stand these modern crowds and their chantings. The entrances were very underdeveloped.

my $.02/9.95,

RAF

[Stevie Ray Von Erich]

I didn't mind the show, but it felt like a lot of nothing happened. Decent outing, but like ebbie mentioned the great shows lately have me expecting much more than what we got tonight.

Obviously I dug the tag match.

 

I was really impressed with Rollins jumping on Ambrose while he was being carried away. For something so simple it looked really violent and unhinged. I think that match deserves Summer Slam even if I did very much want to see it tonight.

 

Rusev is awesome. I don't particularly like the Russian thing, but he is fun to watch.

 

The Wyatt/Jericho match was good but the ending sucked. Wyatt needs to be dangerous to keep an edge to his character. I like the idea of adding another member or two to the family. Or he could just win more. Like actually have single matches on Raw and win them so the PPV loses don't feel so derailing.
 

I don't like Cesaro nearly as much as everyone else here does. He does feel like he's being wasted right now, but outside of strongman spots and the Giant Swing, which is AWOL, he hasn't offered anything since Mania. I understand being given chances to showcase yourself, but I feel like he's had them and missed them. He's like a much better Adam Rose: not being given a shot but not doing much to really deserve a shot at the moment either. He has had great matches but needs to do SOMETHING when he has a chance. Grow a personality. Someone made the comment that Axel was better at seconding Heyman's promos and, sadly, I think that's pretty accurate.

 

That said, his "Eye for an eye" line to Kofi before the eye poke was great. More stuff like that is exactly what I mean.

 

Ziggler looked like some sort of metro-Moondog after the battle royal.

 

Orton brought back the color tights!

 

Speaking of ring attire, Reigns's post Shield gear looks like something you'd see at a goth rave. He just isn't ready. His ring work isn't there, his look isn't there, and I honestly don't think the crowd reactions are going to be there much longer either. He's a good idea but just seems out of place in practice to me. Hopefully they prove me wrong in the build up for the next major show.

[StretchMediatedHypertrophy]

 

Gave up on the PPV at some point.

 

The biggest mistake they made was uniting the two main belts. Noone wants to hear this, because they like the *idea* of there only being one World Title and having two when there's no brand split *makes no sense*. I get that, but there's a whole bunch of guys who are just drowning without that belt to fight over. The midcard titles have not been elevated.

 

I was surprised to see Lana mention the plane, and implicitly comparing the death count to those in some other recentish conflicts was some next-level heeling. They gave Swagger a lot out there, and obviously decided to be non-committal regarding Rusevs push. One would have expected Rusev to feud with Cena ultimately, but that doesn't seem to be where they are going soon and I am sure there will be discussions at WWE HQ about how much they can/should do with this stuff in 2014 - especially when PPV draw is no longer a priority.

[peterien]

I was going to order this but watched the UFC replay instead. Looks like I made a good call.

[AxB]

See in the movie Three Amigos, where they misunderstand the word 'Infamous' to mean really really famous?

 

Triple H thinks the word 'Stale' means really exciting must-see awesome water cooler TV incrediblosity.

[Gonzo]

So, have they gone to Sandow and said, "You know, we haven't got anything for you, so feel free to do whatever the hell you want?"

 

Because dude's ring attire last night. . .yeah. I laughed, but seriously, there has to be something better for him than this.

 

Right?

[HumanChessgame]

Perhaps this will be Sandow's costume for tomorrow night-

 

[Matt D]

I think people are just bummed that this PPV wasn't as good as the rest of the PPVs this year. From at least Mania to MITB, the PPVS have been awesome. Like, awesome. The WWE doesn't do a streak of awesome PPVS often and they did it this year. Oh well. Can't win them all.

And tonight was the first time in a long, long, long time the Divas match wasn't given the death slot. Shame the two "top" talents couldn't do anything with it.

You're trolling us, right? Alternatively "who are you and what did you do with ebbie?"

[steve]

Reigns looks like someone who'd get dispatched in the first thirty minutes of a live action Mortal Kombat in that gear.

[Playa Shunna Ver 3.0]

Reigns is good, but not ready at all. Rollins and especially Ambrose are so farva head of him. The Wyatt/Uso match was great. Harper clearly stole the show. I'd like to see him break off, do some kind of Cactus/Brody hybrid, and get in the main event scene. Wyatt, Cesaro...2 guys who could have benefitted from wins, but I feel like they are doing that while"oh...you are over. Let's see how you handle some loses" thing they do that kills so many careers dead. Oh well. I saw that Swagger finish coming a mile away.

[Dank]

To steal a Norm MacDonald line, critics are calling this PPV everything from shit to fucking shit.

[Roman]

The biggest mistake they made was uniting the two main belts. Noone wants to hear this, because they like the *idea* of there only being one World Title and having two when there's no brand split *makes no sense*. I get that, but there's a whole bunch of guys who are just drowning without that belt to fight over. The midcard titles have not been elevated.

 

Personally, I'm waiting for them to get rid of the US title as well. One world title, the IC title and the tag team titles. To me, that's the perfect setup. Of course, then you'd have to have good characters and storylines to make everything else interesting, and I'm not sure the current bookers are up to that.

[muhammedboehm]

I was thinking the spot with Reign having Orton I'm a half crab and Cena having him in the STF would have lead to an intresting filler story while Cena is away shooting his movie. (If I understand right he's going to be absent from Raw the next two weeks). You easly could have turned that into a two or three week angle 'Who's the real Champ'

[hammerva]

Rollins was doing too busy wondering if he should have used one or two bottles of water to dump over his head before the segment.  Someone on here was wondering what is the WWE obsession with weaves but what is the WWE obsession with wrestlers looking like they were in a swimming pool minutes ago.  

[Nice Guy Eddie]

Just getting to the parking lot brawl. I'd kind of like to imagine that Ambrose wasn't actually waiting for Seth, but just bedding down for the night and got lucky there.

two things though:

1) Where am I suppose to believe Seth Rollins was going to drive in those sweaty, sticky leather pants and that drenched, streaked latex body armor? To his hotel? To the next city? How would he even get in or out of a car like that? Someone has to rent that car after you, you fucking gross stripper-haired freak!

When you word it like that, the answer is obviously to cuddle with Rob Halford, who would be wearing an identical sweaty outfit.

[Raziel]

I was thinking the spot with Reign having Orton I'm a half crab and Cena having him in the STF would have lead to an intresting filler story while Cena is away shooting his movie. (If I understand right he's going to be absent from Raw the next two weeks). You easly could have turned that into a two or three week angle 'Who's the real Champ'

Nah, some people would've wanted it to be the title resplit, because we're not bitching enough about how one title's booked, let's have two poorly booked titles again.

[Chaos]

 

The biggest mistake they made was uniting the two main belts. Noone wants to hear this, because they like the *idea* of there only being one World Title and having two when there's no brand split *makes no sense*. I get that, but there's a whole bunch of guys who are just drowning without that belt to fight over. The midcard titles have not been elevated.

 

Personally, I'm waiting for them to get rid of the US title as well. One world title, the IC title and the tag team titles. To me, that's the perfect setup. Of course, then you'd have to have good characters and storylines to make everything else interesting, and I'm not sure the current bookers are up to that.

 

 

I think the problem there is you have no "bookers." You have a creative team and writers. Also, you have the problem with what's getting written in Stamford during the week is mostly ignored come the night of the show as reactionary decisions are made. I think merging the IC/US title is a good idea as well. I think you have to spend a year or so making every effort to elevate the IC title to an Upper Mid-Card title. I do not think you help matters by putting that title on Miz.

 

I also do not get the dislike for Rusev/Swagger. I thought the Russian stuff pushed a necessary envelope to get the appropriate heel reaction. Lana's attempts at cheap heat are good enough to even get boos from the "smart wrestling fans" who agree to play along for a change. I thought the match was a solid affair from two hosses. I am not sure if I agree with the booking here, as I would want to make Rusev be as strong of a heel as possible, but this is not something that can't be fixed with however they choose to blow off the feud. I just hope they don't do anything stupidly offensive that forces them to get cold feet and Hasan this gimmick away.

 

Then again, I found the tag title match to be pretty mediocre until the hot finishing stretch, which really saved the overall perception of that match. 

 

Outside of the botches and Jericho not bumping on that apron DDT, I thought the match with him and Bray was solid. I liked the structure and the story they were telling through the ring. It was simple, and it was what you needed it to be with a young, big, intimidating guy taking on an older, smaller, more experienced wrestler.

[StretchMediatedHypertrophy]

 

The biggest mistake they made was uniting the two main belts. Noone wants to hear this, because they like the *idea* of there only being one World Title and having two when there's no brand split *makes no sense*. I get that, but there's a whole bunch of guys who are just drowning without that belt to fight over. The midcard titles have not been elevated.

 

Personally, I'm waiting for them to get rid of the US title as well. One world title, the IC title and the tag team titles. To me, that's the perfect setup. Of course, then you'd have to have good characters and storylines to make everything else interesting, and I'm not sure the current bookers are up to that.

 

 

I'm not sure any bookers are up to that really. They have over 6 hours a week plus 'special events', and two touring rosters. And John Cena.

 

Having no separate World Heavyweight Title has been a DISASTER. Bootista happened because there was only 1 main belt. Otherwise they could have put the World Heavyweight Title on Daniel Bryan and the fans would have lived with it. As is they had to rebook themselves out of a corner, only for Daniel Bryan to get injured. Guys like Cesaro, Wyatt, ADR, Show, Sheamus, Jericho, Ryback (he's still quite over) really need that WHT to feud over. Without a World Heavyweight Title, there is no Mark Henry title reign, no Edge Hall of Fame career, no Undertaker 'holy grail' era, possibly no 'Yes!' for Daniel Bryan (lest we forget), no CM Punk World Heavyweight Title reigns, probably no CM Punk 1+ year reign as WWE Champion, no King Booker Title reign.......I mean that's just crazy talk.

 

I admit I'm from the 'belts are props' school of thinking. The Attitude era had World, IC, Euro, Hardcore and Light-Heavyweight Titles (admittedly the Euro and LH Title had inactive periods) - it seemed to work quite well. I don't think having less titles necessarily makes them worth more. I'd rather run the risk of having two 'poorly booked' titles than one, if it means cool ADR vs Christian and Sheamus vs Show title matches that mean something. As is we have Cena feuding with Randy Orton and Kane on top. No ta.

[Nice Guy Eddie]

I did enjoy that Ambrose has apparently still not changed his clothes since mid June. I'd like to think he just strips down and puts them in a bucket of soapy water in the trunk of his car between cities.

But that may just be a thing I like to think about more than a viable laundering scheme.

I can imagine him going to some cheap motel and washing his gear in the sink with a bar of soap he swiped from the maid's cart.

Like most wrestlers have a network of groupies in every city, Dean has cultivated a network made up of cleaning ladies at the worst meth motel in each city they go to.

Wherever they go, Dean pulls off from wherever the rest of the convoy is headed and disappears. In every city there is an old Chechnyan or Thai lady who has a cold meal, a mattress, and that soapy bucket and sponge in the laundry room waiting for him.

In most of those rooms years from now you will still be able to find the word "Rollins" scratched into the concrete floor with fork spokes. By then I will be organizing a fantasy "Be Dean Ambrose" tour. It will be expensive and you'll probably be killed. But we'l have waivers for everyone to sign or...something.

The Dean Ambrose Reality Tour. For $36.50, Ambrose will drive you around for 3 hours showing you his favorite places to squat and best places to meet and kill hookers, in a delapidated school bus while serving you a pizza bagel and bite size 3 Muskateers bar.

[Pete]

 

I just cracked up picturing everyone's feed crapping out as Ambrose zeroed in on Rollins. It sucked a high hard one for me last night to the point where I was almost 5 minutes behind the live shot and got tired of tweeting as everything kept getting spoiled.

 

I'd be royally pissed if I paid $50 or whatever for that on PPV.

[Playa Shunna Ver 3.0]

I miss the 2 titles as well.  At lease when John Cena is champ and beats everyone for months and months and months, there would be a another meaningful title to watch for.  I don't even know who the US champion is, or if the belt is still around.  The IC belt is deader than Zach Ryder's career.  The tag belts were hot, but now they just blew off the fued between the only 2 teams they have. 

[cwoy2j]

I didn't have a problem with my feed at all last night. I was watching on my PS3.

[wakigatame]

I hated everything on this show except for the tag title match. I'm glad next month is my last month with the WWE Network.

[muhammedboehm]

I miss the 2 titles as well. At lease when John Cena is champ and beats everyone for months and months and months, there would be a another meaningful title to watch for. I don't even know who the US champion is, or if the belt is still around. The IC belt is deader than Zach Ryder's career. The tag belts were hot, but now they just blew off the fued between the only 2 teams they have.

Shamus has the US belt...he was in the battle royle was one or the last three guys.

[Greggulator]

Didn't see the show yet. But this is a set-up PPV. Remember the outrage people had about Daniel Bryan at Elimination Chamber? Go back and read that thread and the reactions to that are HILARIOUS and pretty much the same as this. SummerSlam is the big show that really matters. This one largely sets that up.