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TUCKER LIVE AT BATTLEGROUND: Instant Reaction to "Sunday Night Raw" setting up Summerslam

Jul 21, 2014 - 12:28:32 AM
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Instant Reaction - WWE Battleground PPV
By Benjamin Tucker, PWTorch TV specialist


Overall Live Score - 4.0

Battleground was presented as nothing more than a set-up for Summerslam. And even with that in mind, Sunday's event did not meet expectations. Bait-and-switch tactics, sloppy matches, and predictable (though understandable) finishes blended together to create a show that was more akin to a special event Raw than a true pay-per-view.

The most evident example of this was the Seth Rollins-Dean Ambrose saga that took place throughout the program. WWE deliberately did not deliver on a key match that had been advertised for weeks in advance. "Card subject to change" is one thing. A known bait-and-switch is another, especially when considering the prices the live audience pays for attending these more expensive "special events" and the $10 a month fee for Network subscribers. If this happened on cable? Sure, go for it. But don't give us Sunday Night Raw and call it Battleground.

Everything, from the bland set to the lack of in-ring polish made Battleground feel like a forgettable show. Even the strongest match of the show, the opening Tag Title match, had its own share of blown spots. Poor timing was abound, as seen with the entirety of Cameron's offense in her pre-show encounter with Naomi and Bray Wyatt fumbling around with Chris Jericho in the most disappointing match of the night. Bray and Y2J almost seemed to be holding too much back, wrestling in a contest that had a hard time moving into a high gear and ended suddenly with no fanfare. Also, Paige-A.J. and the main event had decent spots but lacked any sort of crowd heat. What's worse is that neither Diva bothered to play to the crowd in their match, opting to get through all of their spots whether or not the crowd cared.

The strongest portion of the show was in the mid-card. As stated previously, the tag team match was a great match that would have been even better had the two-out-of-three falls gimmick not been in effect. The first two falls did nothing but interrupt the flow of the story being told in the ring; once the final fall was in play, the Wyatts and Usos struck gold with incredible spots and nearfalls. Beyond being match of the night, the final ten minutes of the encounter showed some of the best tag team wrestling I've seen on WWE programming in a long, long time.

The Intercontinental Title battle royal, believe it or not, was the (distant) runner up for match of the night. Several different talents were spotlighted, from Bo Dallas to Dolph Ziggler to Cesaro, and the later eliminations were very dramatic and well done. Miz winning, while an unpopular move (when gauging via social media), is sensible. It gives the freshly returned heel some juice and will allow him to take his prima donna persona to a new level when it comes to title defenses. Other choices to win would have worked as well, but that doesn't make WWE's decision a bad one.

The main event was what it was. Okay nearfalls, but a finish that was never in doubt. A finish that was made even staler when Cena closed out Money in the Bank with the same AA sandwich with Kane and Orton. On a side note, the international battle of Swagger vs. Rusev match wasn't particularly strong, but was booked well, giving Swagger an out while making Rusev looked competent.

Battleground 2014 essentially had the same problem as Battleground 2013: it didn't need to exist. Summerslam fever is already in the air and this did nothing but get in the way. Yet when people spend the same amount of money for this as they do for the "Biggest Party of the Summer," you would think that the event should at least be passable and given a bit of thought. Apparently not.

Questions? Comments? Reactions? Find me on Twitter @BTuckerTorch, where I talk about wrestling and... stuff!


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