You know how we do reviews here at Voices of Wrestling, so let’s not waste time and get to your WWE Battleground 2014 review featuring our Raw reviewer Bryan Rose, Main Event’s Rob McCarron, Smackdown’s Taylor Mitchell and our special-ish guest, VOW’s TNA Impact reviewer Dylan Hales.
Pre-show
Cameron defeats Naomi
Taylor Mitchell: “Funkadactyls Explode” wasn’t an absolutely awful match. Both girls put in a lot of effort. Cameron most notably has been improving lately. And by “improving” I mean, she’s gone from Eva Marie to Alicia Fox. Sara Del Ray needs to work with these girls some more. Cameron should bust out the Cattle Mutilation more often to earn some brownie points from the die hards.
Star Rating: *1/2
Rob McCarron: I predicted Naomi to win this. She didn’t. I should give minus six stars just for that. I am a fan of Cameron, however, so I’ll give it seven stars back. Rob is 0-1 in predictions.
Star Rating: *
Bryan Rose: This was a match. Didn’t last that long at all, with the usual rollup finish that would never finish anyone except divas, who are expected to lose with the flimsiest of moves. There’s a reason why this was on the kickoff, and that was because it wasn’t much, WWE didn’t want to do much, and neither are probably going to do much in the future. Cameron has a charisma that Namoi doesn’t that might make her go far, but considering other tag team splits in the last year…yeah, ask Brodus Clay and Titus O’Neil how that worked for them.
Star Rating: *1/4
Dylan Hales: This wasn’t any good, but it wasn’t offensively bad either. I did think Cameron’s use of the ropes as a means to work in cheap shots was pretty smart, but she is such an unpolished worker that nothing she does looks natural even when it’s logical. This feud will go on and no one will much care, though Naomi actually was over with the live crowd.
Star Rating: *1/4
Adam Rose defeats Fandango
Taylor: This was the first time I had issues with the WWE Network on my PS3 since launch day. It would not work, I had to move to watching the PPV on my phone. Sounds like I didn’t miss much.
Rob: I refused to watch on the grounds that both of these guys are complete dorks. In reality, I was showing my buddy’s 10 year old son the MITB Briefcase match from last month. Kid was a big fan of Kofi Kingston. His dad was a big fan of his kid’s reactions. As for the match, I’ll rate it anyway.
Star Rating: DUD
Bryan: This was so short by the time I clicked the link to open the Google Docs file this was in it was already over. So, yeah.
Star Rating: DUD
Dylan: I can’t even call thisa match. It went about two minutes or so (if that) and was basically just there to let the viewer know that Summer Rae and Layla were hanging out with Adam Rose on his birthday.
Star Rating: NR
2-out-of-3 Falls WWE Tag Team Championship
The Usos (c) defeat The Wyatt Family
Taylor: Wow. I have to say the finish was not the one I wanted. I am curious to see the Wyatt’s with the titles. But this match was awesome. The first two falls were quick as per usual, and the third fall was the most fun and exciting fall of a WWE tag team match I have watched since the Shield were in their heyday. The first two falls only served the purpose of creating drama for the third fall. With the finish of the match being up in the air it lended to some exciting near falls. The superkick with a retaliating spinning lariat sequence was spectacular. Two final thoughts on this match. 1. I wish the WWE tag team division was bigger, because these two teams need more teams to have matches like this with. 2. I hope Luke Harper takes Kane’s spot as the “big guy” that WWE likes to put into storylines for ten years just because they need a “big guy”. The dude is so talented. We are all sick of Kane, but can you imagine if he was as good as Harper in the ring?
Star Rating: ****1/4
Rob: This was a Luke Harper showcase if there ever were one. At least, that’s all I was hoping to get out of it. I felt I did. There’s not much to say about this other than it was very fun. I was watching with my buddy’s 10 year old kid, his first taste of WWE ever, and he was a big fan of Luke Harper (who he called “Fat Guy #2.” Fat Guy #1 is Rowan, of course.) His new fandom could not help Harper get the win, and we continue with an Usos title reign. An Usos title reign that needs to f’n end soon. Give Rybaxel the titles. Give the ‘Dusts the titles. Give Ascension the titles. Give Bull Dempsey’s fat ass both belts. Just give them away to someone, please. Am I overreacting? I don’t care. But this match was very fun. I woudn’t say great, but very fun. I give all credit to Rowan, obv. Also, Rob is 0-2 in predictions.
Star Rating: ***3/4
Bryan: The Usos retained. Why? Hell if I know. I can’t even think of a good reason. But I shouldn’t be bitching about some midcard titles, this was an awesome match. It was under the typical 2/3 falls match WWE likes to do on the weird occasion they actually do one in that they have the first two falls seem pointless just for the third fall to be really awesome, then you wonder why they wanted a 2/3 falls match in the first place. But in all honesty, this was a really awesome match. Could have finished sooner rather than later with all of the nearfall attempts by both teams, but the crowd has hot for everything and everyone here worked their asses off. They don’t need to wrestle each other ever again, but out of their best of 1,000 series this was the best one.
Star Rating: ****1/4
Dylan: There was absolutely no reason at all for this to be a ⅔ Falls match and the needless stipulation really hurt it. I understand the argument that this feud needed some sort of escalation, but the logical thing would be to put it in a cage or make it a street fight. As it was the first two falls felt like clear filler, had weird psychology and also had poor finishes. The third fall was an extremely fun, slugfest between four guys that hit hard and will take big risks by the standards of the promotion they are in. I think these guys could have had a great thirty minute match with the ⅔ Falls stip if they let it breathe, but they didn’t. Instead there were two hurried falls, followed by about seven or eight minutes of sprinty goodness. I thought last months match was much more complete, though I could see the argument that things like Rowan’s double superplex or the Harper tornado lariat near fall in this match were bigger moments. Good match overall, but the bad use of the stip kept it from being great.
Star Rating: ***1/2
WWE Divas Championship
AJ Lee (c) defeats Paige
Taylor: I was fully expecting this match to be the greatest Divas match of all time and it fell short big time. With that said, it was still a step in the right direction. AJ Lee, Emma, Paige, and Charlotte are the best group of Divas wrestlers the WWE has ever had and with Sara Del Ray training them, we are in the process of some good women’s wrestling for once. The sequence at the end with Paige breaking out of the Black Widow, AJ kicking out of the Paige Turner and then breaking out of the PTO only to hit the Shining Wizard was awesome. I just wish everything before that was just as awesome. Felt like both girls were trying “too hard” to have the match of the night and couldn’t live up to it. Maybe next time. Ps. I am sick of Jerry Lawler making terrible jokes during matches and even more sick of the commentators all snickering to each other during matches. This match should have been treated with more respect and Paige being the first person to ever break out of the Black Widow should have been treated as a much bigger deal. You could tell these guys pay attention to WWE Diva’s matches just about as much as the typical WWE fan.
Star Rating: **1/2
Bryan: The first half of this was terrible. Paige’s offense was very bad and everything seemed off kilter. Once AJ started doing the comeback it turned into a decent match, but nothing of note. I’m not sure what to think of Paige at this point. For all the great stuff she’s been hailed for in NXT I haven’t seen much of it in WWE. Not that her push allowed her to get over the same, but even in match quality it’s ranged from forgettable to decent. This would rank beyond forgettable to pretty bad, but at least the second half pulled it out of negative star range.
Star Rating: *
Dylan: This was a disaster. It wasn’t an all time terrible match or anything of that ilk, but it was clear they wanted this to be a good match, and a showcase for both woman and it fell way short. Paige was badly exposed in this. I have been an advocate of giving the Diva’s more time and presenting the matches more seriously, but it’s time to put the myth of Paige the great worker to bed. Her offense looked horrific in this, her timing was way off, she blew several spots badly, et. AJ made this watchable with her bumping, but this was not good at all.
Star Rating: *
Rusev defeats Jack Swagger
Taylor: This match was strange. It started off red hot. Then it slowed to a snail’s pace with Rusev pulling out his nerve hold. Then it had an interesting finish. Swagger put Rusev in the most vulnerable state he has been in to date with an extended Patriot Lock that Rusev was on the brink of tapping out to. Then he escaped and Swagger was knocked out on the outside to cause a count out finish. Rusev sold the injured ankle after the match very well. It appears this feud is continuing and I have zero issue with that. Both men came out of this match looking good. The WWE Universe is exploding for Swagger and Rusev continues his dominance of American Heroes. Maybe this is going to be his path. First Big E, then Swagger, and then some other American Hero superstar (perhaps Jim Duggan? SGT Slaughter?), all leading to Kurt Angle coming back to destroy all of Rusev’s monster credibility a la what Angle did to Samoa Joe in TNA. That was a joke. I just want more Swagger and Rusev.
Star Rating: **
Rob: I finally predicted one correctly!The crowd, and myself, and many of you, were so ready for this match to get going. It was surprisingly, and highly, anticipated. However, between the stalling speech by Lana, the wonky start (Rusev and Swagger brawling took a back seat to Zeb being stunned that Lana slapped him… again), and the count out finish, this match will go down as forgettable. Luckily, it was a commercial for what should hopefully be a much better, and much more satisfying, rematch at SummerSlam. This one, however, was as average as average gets.
Star Rating: **1/2
Bryan: The pre-match promo had Vince McMahon’s fingerprints all over it. They really shouldn’t have referred to current events, but of course they did, you know? Whatever, it’s what they do, it’s nothing new. Now as for the match, it was fine. I liked the Big E match from last month better. The first few minutes of this was dull, but picked up as it continued and it became pretty decent. The count out finish I thought was fine if you’re going to continue with this feud for a while, plus Swagger seems to be getting over as a babyface. Laying him out after, well it depends if they’re continuing. If this is it, then they’re doing the typical (as of late) route of burying someone after a turn. If this is leading something towards SummerSlam, then cool. Since they enjoy using current events in promos, I’m expecting this to continue.
Star Rating: **1/2
Dylan: This was about what I expected to be honest. It was a decent enough match, worked relatively simple. I thought Swagger worked hard and looked motivated,but Rusev is incredibly limited. He really doesn’t know how to work a compelling heat section, so you end up with chunks of his matches where he is clearly killing time waiting for the babyface comeback. Basically Rusev badly needs a few more big offensive spots when he is in control, though this didn’t last long enough for things to get really boring with him on top. I usually hate ankle lock spots (thanks Kurt Angle), but the ones here were well worked. I thought the finish was probably unwise in that I’m not sure how much it protected Swagger, and Rusev shouldn’t be winning in a cheap fashion like this, but it was well executed.
Star Rating: **1/2
Seth Rollins defeats Dean Ambrose by forfeit
Rob: WWE advertised this match for Battleground, a PPV that was “exclusive” to the Network. So, if you subscribed to WWE Network to see this match that WWE advertised, and you didn’t get the match that was advertised, how do you feel today? Is it that hard to advertised a confrontation, instead of a bout, because that would have actually been given to us. To those who ordered Battleground on PPV, I hope you enjoyed paying $60 for a true commercial for SummerSlam.
Bryan: Incredible match.
Dylan: Match never happened. I won’t even go into why, but the whole thing was idiotic. Given the myriad of problems I am still having with the Network, this match getting cancelled may have been the final blow to me re-upping my subscription.
Bray Wyatt vs. Chris Jericho
Taylor: Bray Wyatt is frustrating for me to watch. I love the character. I love the promos. I love all of the mannerisms and ticks he adds to the character in his matches. His moveset isn’t even bad. BUT! the execution of his moveset is what makes him so bad. I get hyped for his matches through the story and his promos and then am always so disappointed when I watch him wrestle. Jericho tried to make this a decent match. Does the WWE think Bray is one of those untouchable gimmicks that it doesn’t matter whether he wins or loses? I don’t get it. Bray is having one of the worst in-ring years of a WWE superstar I can remember in a long time. Also, Bray attempted to hit Jericho with a DDT on the apron and botched it. It was ugly looking and even worse when the commentators try to sell it as if it were “devastating”.
Star Rating: *1/2
Rob: I am 1-5 in predictions. I had Wyatt, and Wyatt lost. Good thing I did not bet on any of these results. Over the past day, I gave thought to Jericho winning. On my show, Shake Them Ropes, I played devil’s advocate and thought Jericho would win because of Wyatt’s history. He doesn’t focus on winning, but rather destroying the legacy of his opponents. He failed with Cena, and I bet the same happens with Jericho. However, Wyatt winning the first match made sense, but the match itself was nothing memorable at all.
Star Rating: *3/4
Bryan: What a dull match. There’s not much to say beyond that. Wyatt’s coolen off, Jericho’s return doesn’t feel all that special. So they go out there and have a match. It’s a fine one. Not a bad one. Not something i’d call good. But it was fine. No one cared. The finish was fucking stupid, plain and simple. Bray Wyatt getting pinned clean in the middle in the most anticlimatic manner possible. GEE, SURE EXCITED FOR THE REMATCH NEXT MONTH. If there even is one. Who the fuck knows with this booking.
Star Rating: ** (and I’m being generous with that finish)
Dylan: Yikes. I’ll be honest. In some ways this exceeded my expectations. I think Jericho is pretty cringeworthy at this point, and Bray is a guy who works to the leel of his competition. So I was surprised that they opened up with some pretty stiff spots, and actually did a few fun things here and there. Having said that, the longer this went the flatter it felt. Even worse there were some really awful moments, including an odd spot where Bray had to repeat a rib breaker, and a terrible looking apron DDT (which had an equally bad set up). Then they went and gave Jericho the clean win, on the same show where they failed to deliver on the Rollins/Ambrose match. Way to create new stars! This company will never learn.
Star Rating: *1/2
WWE Intercontinental Championship Battle Royal
Taylor: The Miz wins with the tried and true heel move of hiding after going under the bottom rope only to jump back in and win the match. Ziggler was the “last” guy standing before Miz jumped back in the ring. It would have added a little drama if they played Ziggler’s music as if he won only to have Miz play spoiler. Anyhow, I dig The Miz’s new Hollywood gimmick. He is cocky and full of himself. Classic heel character and he can pull it off so well. He has the face…..err.. Money Maker…. That anyone in the world would love to punch. I am okay with this finish. Would have been cooler if they took a page out of the WWE 1994 playbook and had the final two men of the battle royal wrestle in a match a la Rick Martel and Razor Ramon. Nevertheless, I don’t know if the Miz is the right guy to elevate the IC title, but the WWE doesn’t seem to care about “elevating” the title, so the Miz could use it to elevate his new schtick. Also, Kofi did his usual “show stealing” spots in the match.
Star Rating: **1/2
Rob: 1 for 6 in predictions. Boy, I suck. The Miz was one of the favorites, and the title doesn’t matter, this just cements the fact that it won’t matter for a while into the future, as well. I picked Ziggler to win, as I thought the IC not mattering actually helped his cause. Sadly, at this point, nothing can help Ziggler’s cause, eh? Because this show has been largely a huge disappointment, and I’m disappointed that Ziggler was used as troll bait, I will rate this poorly.
Star Rating: 1/2
Bryan: It was what it was. WWE trolled the audience again by having Ziggler eliminated. By Miz, who is the new IC champion. Kofi did his contrived spot. Cesaro’s push got killed. Beautiful booking just everywhere on this card tonight.
Star Rating: *
Dylan: I predicted Miz would win, and Miz won. It was what it was. A lot of people will talk about the cute Kofi spots, but I thought they looked overly contrived. My favorite moments in this were Titus stiffing Khali and Heath Slater getting the elimination on Cesaro. Sheamus and Dolph weren’t on the same page at all down the stretch which was odd considering how on point they usually are. Okay battle royal, but the booking of some of these guys is just ridiculous.
Star Rating: *3/4
Fatal Four Way WWE World Championship
Roman Reigns vs. John Cena vs. Kane vs. Randy Orton
Taylor: This was a typical WWE Fatal Fourway match. Everyone disappeared for a while, then everyone hit their finishers with multiple near falls. Reigns shined. Reigns appeared winded during his “action movie star” sequence, but I still ride on the Roman Reigns bandwagon with pride. The dude improves every week. Not ready for the main event, but he is improving every week. This match was exactly what I expected. Exciting only because of some near falls, with a predictable ending.
Star Rating: **3/4
Rob: Your #WWEBattleground main event had the following in its favor: 1) It took place, 2) There was a winner via pinfall or submission, 3) WWE didn’t book an ‘unpredictable’ winner for the sake of being unpredictable, 4) Adam Rose wasn’t in it. For these reasons, this main event was one of the better matches of the night. John Cena won, bringing my prediction total to 2 for 7. Horrible. Roman Reigns got a nice showing, and wasn’t geeked out at the end, so that is a plus. This match did nothing, however, to change the fact that this was a bridge show to SummerSlam. Nothing done tonight really made the show feel must see on its own. If you skipped it, you’d be no less ready for SummerSlam than those who watched it. You’d probably be better off.
Star Rating: ***
Bryan: This picked up into being a decent match. Fatal four way matches just never work for me, though. A bunch of guys lay on the floor for a while while other guys do moves and break up pinfalls. That was the entire story of the last few minutes of the match. Just kind of overdone, especially since that was the story last month in the ladder match. Not a bad match, but I think was just a hair under good territory because of the stipulations. Reigns shouldn’t be competing for the title until he gets a singles match with the actual intention of winning it. Orton and Kane should never be competing for the title again, especially Kane. An alright main event to an otherwise bad show excluding the opener.
Star Rating: ***
Dylan: Two PPV’s in a row where Cena was booked to “steal” the win after Reigns made a huge run of offense on the heels. In a sensible world that would be teasing a heel turn, but I’m almost positive that’s not going to happen (nor am I really a CENA HAS TO TURN! guy). As for the match? Well I really hate Fatal Fourways as a rule, but this wasn’t bad. Yeah they crammed a bunch of big moves/near falls into the back end – probably more than was needed – but in a match like this you expect it. I thought Reigns run of offense was fun and really made him come across like the big star in the match. Orton stealing Lance Storm spots was amusing and oddly appropriate. This wasn’t must see or anything, but on a bad show it was the second best match for whatever that is worth.
Star Rating: **3/4
