Twenty Things I Learned from WWE Battleground by Brandon Lasher
Welcome to my latest analysis column of a WWE PPV. It is part of my resolution to write about the main roster more often. Last night was Battleground and the last time we are “suppose” to see Smackdown and Raw wrestlers fight against each other. Here are the twenty things I learned from the Battleground PPV. I hope Summerslam lives up to this fine show.
Twenty Things I Learned From WWE Battleground:
1. Are people as bored of The Usos as I am? Guessing by the D.C. crowd I would say so.
2. I am happy for Breeze and Fandango. They are a good time and they deserve better than losing to every team they face. Hopefully being on Smackdown will help them shine.
3. Was anyone surprised with the reaction that Bayley got? How on earth do they still justify, as was explained after the show, Bayley being a part of NXT? The WWE makes no sense sometimes.
4. I was shocked Charlotte was the one to tap to Sasha Banks. I mean why is Dana Brooke around if she wasn’t there to lose?
5. Only Bayley can make a hug one of most over moves in pro wrestling.
6. Xavier Woods is amazing. He sold that entire Wyatt angle to perfection and got the crowd behind him in a logical way.
7. The Wyatt Family needed that win. Is it stupid to break them up? Absolutely.
8. Is Big E ok? Stop doing moves that can drop you on your head.
9. I really dislike Zack Ryder’s new music. Was there anything wrong with his previous song?
10. What can you really say about the Zayn-Owens match? I didn’t real learn anything “new”. I already knew Owens and Zayn were among the best wrestlers in the company. Heck, Sami likely has the three best WWE matches of the year. I think I might be perfectly fine with these two “fighting forever”.
11. Poor Becky Lynch and Natalya. Why does women’s wrestling always seem to follow the hottest match on the show?
12. The match itself was mixed storytelling. I know Natalya need a win but honestly does Becky ever win? If she is going to be the top face of Smackdown she will really need some PPV wins.
13. Thanks for the “Eyes Wide Shut” flashback Miz and Maryse. Just when I had gotten that scary rich-person orgy scene out of my mind.
14. I didn’t really need this match to prove to me Bob Backlund was crazy. This was well-established. The IC title deserves better than this confusing and weird match.
15. Enzo deserved the praise he got from the audience, Cass and Cena for that magnificent promo. He is quickly becoming the most creative and best talkers in this business. It even helped get the “soccer mom” chant over about Styles from Cass. Wow.
16. That was a fun six-man tag match. It finally got the crowd back into the show. I was a bit surprising to see John Cena pin Styles but it does set up a rubber match with Styles-Cena at Summerslam.
17. The promo between Jericho and Orton seemed long and pointless. It was strange to see Orton cracking jokes. When did he become the funny guy?
18. I enjoyed the “enhancement” line by Orton. It was good but if I were in Orton’s position I doubt I would make it. Would you want to crack jokes about the scariest man in the world? He could literally kill you Orton!
19. Roman Reigns is a Klingon. That is all.
20. The triple threat match was fun. The Triple Threat is hard to pull off and they kept the pace going throughout. I was surprised and happy to see Ambrose win cleanly. I was worried he was going to be a quick transitional champion but I am happy to be wrong. It gives Ambrose and Smackdown the credibly they desperately needed.
Final Thoughts
This was another fun show in a good run of PPV’s the WWE has been having. It isn’t difficult to let the deep and talented roster put on a good wrestling show. I hope that continues now with two separate rosters.
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Feel free to contact me at lasher@pacificu.edu. Additionally, I have my Twitter account, WWEBNRL as well. I would love to hear your thoughts on Battleground.