WWE Battleground 2013

[Jenalysis]

And when they put that match together, how stoked do you think Ambrose must have been inside when it became time to take the elbow? He was playing his scumbag role perfectly, naturally, but you can't be more thrilled as a wrestler to be able to do that for an absolute legend. 

Let's not undersell The Shield in this, either. What an absolutely epic year those dudes are having. Somebody has to have a list of all of their classics so far. When has anyone in the WWE come out of the gate like those three guys? I want them to never, ever break up. Every single show they tear the house down.

 

I'll go so far as to say they're the best 6-man unit in the US since the Freebirds.

[Harbinger]

Who the fuck is Aaron Boyd & why did Ambrose have it on his hands for Dusty?

[Niners Fan in CT]

AJ bumps well and isn't as terrible as most of the women she wrestles but she's not exactly the female Daniel Bryan. She has a long ways to go. She throws some weak looking strikes. I think some people are overrating her now.

[odessasteps]

Are Claudio and Sara Del Rey still a couple?

That would make an interesting couple to be added to the divas show.

[Greggulator]

AJ bumps well and isn't as terrible as most of the women she wrestles but she's not exactly the female Daniel Bryan. She has a long ways to go. She throws some weak looking strikes. I think some people are overrating her now.

 

I would love to see AJ get match time against women who can actually work. She's stuck with the absolute dregs. She can carry them to decent matches. Every match AJ has had is better than every other Diva's match of the past XXXX period of time without her. The last time any Diva has been entertaining or interesting was when LayCool was being snotty and complaining about butt pain sustained via Sunset Flips. I don't have any idea when the last time a Diva match sans AJ came close to a match with AJ. That's how horrible the Divas have been.

 

I don't think she's a female Daniel Bryan or anything. I don't know anything about Shimmer or indie women's wrestling or joshi. I'm sure there's an absolute ton of women better than her at wrestling. But I only watch the WWE and NXT so she's the best that I got. She puts on watchable matches. I no longer completely ignore the Divas division. That's miraculous.

 

I will give the Divas a bit of credit the past few weeks. They at least are trying for the first time in a long time. At some point, I think someone sat them all down and said "Now that you're reality TV stars, you have people somewhat invested in you, so at the least you have to show you're trying." That's literally after years of none of them even trying. That's not completely on them since they're given crap but it's still at least somewhat on them. The Bellas have been laying in knee strikes and kicks. Naomi's been doing some athletic stuff. They still all do some really bad stuff -- the Bellas and Eva Marie yelling "SAY IT TOOOO MYYY FACCEEEE" and nearly ruining AJ's promo that got stuff running, Nattie hilariously selling some sort of rope bump that cost her a match against one of the Bellas -- but they've been at least trying.

 

AJ's the best Diva worker. Then I'll take everyone on NXT after her. Charlotte (Flair's daughter) has had I think three matches and she's better. And then Naomi.

[Rehabilitated Rick]

Isn't Nattie a good worker or is that a myth?

[Sky Blue Sam]

Natalya gets a free pass from a lot of people due to her Hart heritage and that she gets routinely pushed as a "real wrestler" type (remember Pinup Strong?). However, she is prone to some terrible mistakes (the match on Raw where she let go of the Sharpshooter before AJ tapped) and looks just as awkward in places as the rest of them.

[Dolfan in NYC]

Seth Rollins sells everything like he's being murdered by Jason Vorhees.  It's wonderful. 

[Greggulator]

Isn't Nattie a good worker or is that a myth?

 

Myth on the level of Bigfoot.

[Playa Shunna Ver 3.0]

Did not see the PPV, but here are my 2 cents.  Big Show is going to win the WWE title, and remember when people actually though they were going to do a War Games.  Lol.

[MarcosLoura]

Seth Rollins sells everything like he's being murdered by Jason Vorhees.  It's wonderful. 

 

His flailing is a thing of beauty.

[Niners Fan in CT]

A War Games could work without blood. They can make matches pretty damn violent without blood  (see: anything Lesnar is involved in).

 

RE: Divas division. I think Naomi is going to be very good. She's bigger than AJ and crazy athletic. She just needs to be given a chance. They won't strap a rocket to her back because she's only dating a midcarder so unfortunately she has to wait longer to get where she should be. Kaitlyn being taken off TV was a mistake. She was improving a lot. She has no issue taking sick bumps and her spear looks great.

[Roman]

I marked out like hell when Cody grabbed Rollins. Cody's intensity, Rollins' flailing and the crowd's noise... Good God, that was a thing of sheer beauty.

[Big Z]

The Rhodes Family-Shield match was awesome, definitely one of the best matches of the year and easily the match of the night. 

 

Bryan-Orton really picked up towards the end, and honestly a non-finish here makes sense with Hell in a Cell coming up. Bryan has come out fine is all of this, and should go over at HIAC. I would argue this angle has actually hurt Orton, as Bryan has won cleanly at the last PPV and had a visual fall on him last night before the interference. Assuming Orton jobs at HIAC, Bryan will have absolutely dominated him in this feud. I'd rather Bryan look better, but in Orton's case, this feud could have gone a whole lot better if he held the title for a few months before Bryan eventually dethroned him.

 

Bray-Kofi was shockingly pretty good, and Bray was able to successfully work with Kofi when the pace really picked up. Even with the creepiness factor involved, I think the Wyatts will actually work better as faces, as the crowd wants to cheer them and a lot of their moves would go over well as face finishers/signature moves. If Rhodes Family does not win the tag titles over The Shield, I want the Wyatts-Shield to be the next major tag team feud.

 

Punk-Ryback was okay, but Ryback has struggled in longer matches outside of the Bryan ones. I figure Punk goes over big in Hell in a Cell rematch before the Brock feud resumes at some point (A punk team vs. Heyman family match works as a traditional Survivor Series match).

[ebbie]

I don't get why people are complaining about the finish. There have really only been a handful of finishes on PPV since 2010 in which the good guy(s) won and the bad guy(s) disappeared into nothing. Batista after a match with Cena; Wade tapped like a bitch; Wade got buried under a bunch of chairs; and Punk at MiTB 2011.

 

I am not the most avid WWE watcher, so I might be way off. But non-finishes on PPV happen. Jeez.

 

Also, I really don't get what is so wrong about the Bellas. Brie has been doing her womanly DB-Lite impression (minus the charisma and athleticism) in matches and Nikki just stands around looking good in short dresses. They probably don't do much to get the crowd going, but whatever Brie does it 100000000X better than whatever the fuck Natayla does. Her idea of a babyface comeback is to instantly kick up and hit a fucking suplex then go right into a sharpshooter. Jebus, Natayla would probably be the worst woman worker the company has ever had if Beth didn't stay for so damn long.

[MORELOCK]

A War Games could work without blood. They can make matches pretty damn violent without blood  (see: anything Lesnar is involved in).

 

RE: Divas division. I think Naomi is going to be very good. She's bigger than AJ and crazy athletic. She just needs to be given a chance. They won't strap a rocket to her back because she's only dating a midcarder so unfortunately she has to wait longer to get where she should be.

 

No idea where all of this Naomi love comes from, she's better than a lot of the other divas, but that's like saying shit pizza is better than a shit sandwich. She routinely misses cross body blocks. It doesn't make any difference who she's sleeping with - her in place of Brie in the last couple of weeks would have yielded the exact same amount of heat, if that.

 

Bryan-Orton really picked up towards the end, and honestly a non-finish here makes sense with Hell in a Cell coming up. Bryan has come out fine is all of this, and should go over at HIAC. I would argue this angle has actually hurt Orton, as Bryan has won cleanly at the last PPV and had a visual fall on him last night before the interference. Assuming Orton jobs at HIAC, Bryan will have absolutely dominated him in this feud. I'd rather Bryan look better, but in Orton's case, this feud could have gone a whole lot better if he held the title for a few months before Bryan eventually dethroned him.

 

Orton is one of only a couple of workers in the company that can easily afford to lose that heat. Bryan couldn't have. Imagine the ridiculous outrage on this board if he had actually been more dominant.

 

Bray-Kofi was shockingly pretty good, and Bray was able to successfully work with Kofi when the pace really picked up. Even with the creepiness factor involved, I think the Wyatts will actually work better as faces, as the crowd wants to cheer them and a lot of their moves would go over well as face finishers/signature moves. If Rhodes Family does not win the tag titles over The Shield, I want the Wyatts-Shield to be the next major tag team feud.

 

Ugh. I hope everyone gets over their bizarre need to have either the Wyatts or Shield turn soon. The best heel acts the company has had in some time, neither of which would work in the slightest as faces, do not need to be tampered with.

[Greggulator]

We probably have a Rhodes/Shield rematch for the tag belts coming up. I'm hoping it's in a Hell In The Cell. Have they had a tag match in those cozy confines yet? I will loot my 401(K) if need be to see that match.

[scraylo187]

My heart hurt when I realized that it wasn't for the titles, but hot  damn that Rhodes match.

[Nice Guy Eddie]

Are Claudio and Sara Del Rey still a couple?That would make an interesting couple to be added to the divas show.

I'm pretty sure they still are together.

[Sky Blue Sam]

Tensai has a magnificent broadcasting voice.

[kafkonia]

We probably have a Rhodes/Shield rematch for the tag belts coming up. I'm hoping it's in a Hell In The Cell. Have they had a tag match in those cozy confines yet? I will loot my 401(K) if need be to see that match.

DX vs. Legacy.

 

I do wish people would stop fantasy booking War Games matches. WWE has the Elimination Chamber and Hell in a Cell, they won't book another gimmick match that is essentially treading the same ground, especially one that a) was a WCW staple, and Vince is known to have a dislike for.

[MORELOCK]

We probably have a Rhodes/Shield rematch for the tag belts coming up. I'm hoping it's in a Hell In The Cell. Have they had a tag match in those cozy confines yet? I will loot my 401(K) if need be to see that match.

I vaguely remember Austin/Taker vs. Mankind/Kane in the cell on Raw in the summer of 98.I doubt they'll do the cell for anything outside of the main event.

[MORELOCK]

I do wish people would stop fantasy booking War Games matches. WWE has the Elimination Chamber and Hell in a Cell, they won't book another gimmick match that is essentially treading the same ground, especially one that a) was a WCW staple, and Vince is known to have a dislike for.

Yeah, this here. HHH may love the concept but there isn't really any reason to do it outside of pleasing lifelong fans that will be watching anyway. At this point I'd be pleasantly surprised if they even pulled the trigger on a classic Survivor Series tag.

[MGFanJay]

Tensai has a magnificent broadcasting voice.

And an even better suit -

 

[cool arrow]

Bray-Kofi was shockingly pretty good, and Bray was able to successfully work with Kofi when the pace really picked up. Even with the creepiness factor involved, I think the Wyatts will actually work better as faces, as the crowd wants to cheer them and a lot of their moves would go over well as face finishers/signature moves. If Rhodes Family does not win the tag titles over The Shield, I want the Wyatts-Shield to be the next major tag team feud.

 

Ugh. I hope everyone gets over their bizarre need to have either the Wyatts or Shield turn soon. The best heel acts the company has had in some time, neither of which would work in the slightest as faces, do not need to be tampered with.

 

 

Bray shouldn't turn for a very long time (though he should, and no doubt will, eventually) but Harper and Rowan could easily be replaced if they were to turn.  Anyone can wear a goat mask and do clubberin'.