WWE Battleground 2014 Review

WWE Battleground 2014 took place at the St Pete’s Times Forum in Tampa, Florida. The inaugural Battleground was not very good. Will this year be any different? Let's take a look.

The first match on the Pre-Show was Fandango taking on Adam Rose. Layla and Summer Rae have now put their feud behind them and come out with the Rosebuds. In a short match, they distract Fandango long enough for Rose to hit the Party Foul and get the win. This match seemed to be more about the angle between the four of them and less about selling the Pay-Per-View. 

Winner: Adam Rose 

Predictions: 1 for 1

The second match on the Pre-Show was between Naomi and Cameron. There seemed to be a lot of hair pulling by both women in this match and some wrestling moves thrown in there. The end comes when Cameron throws Naomi front first into the ropes then rolls her up for the victory. This match was not very good and it had a terrible ending.  

Winner: Cameron 

Predictions: 1 for 2

The first match is a 2-out-of-3 falls match for the Tag Team Championships with Erick Rowan and Luke Harper challenging The Usos. The Wyatts work on Jey Uso and get the first fall after Jimmy Uso gets tagged in and gets creamed with a big boot by Harper. Jey Uso later on gets tagged in and takes the opportunity of Harper missing an avalanche splash to roll him up and get the second fall. After some back and forth, The Usos get the third fall after hitting a double superkick followed by a double splash on Rowan. I thought that the first two falls seemed a bit sudden. However, I thought it was a really fun match to watch, especially with the near falls near the end.

Winners; The Usos

Predictions: 2 for 3

Next is Dean Ambrose taking on Seth Rollins. At least that was the pan. Ambrose attacks Rollins while he was giving a backstage interview and he is restrained by the road agents and the referees. He is then thrown out of the building by Triple H. I guess we won’t see the match after all.

Now a match that I was looking forward to: Paige challenging AJ for the Divas Championship. Paige gets the advantage early on before getting hit with a tornado DDT. AJ later on applies the Black Widow but Paige gets out of it and hits the Paige Turner for 2. Paige goes for the PTO but AJ avoids it and almost kills Paige with the Shining Wizard to get the victory. Whilst I wished it went on for a bit longer, I thought it was a good match. The next night, Paige attacks AJ and turns heel. It will be interesting to see how Paige does as a heel because she has always been a face as “The Anti-Diva” while she was in NXT. So far, it hasn’t been too bad, so we’ll see how it turns out.

Winner: AJ

Predictions: 3 for 4

Next was Rusev with Lana taking on Jack Swagger with Zeb Colter. The match starts with Lana slapping Zeb Colter as soon as he starts to speak. During the match, Swagger keeps on trying to put on the Patriot Lock. Rusev does get to wear down Swagger, including sending him flying over the top rope. Swagger hits some big moves like the Swagger Bomb and he counters a superkick inot the Patriot Lock. Rusev does manage to get to the rope and the action goes to the outside. Swagger again applies the Patriot Lock but Rusev manages to send Swagger into the ring post. Rusev just manages to slide back in before the ten count to get the victory by countout. Afterwards, Rusev applies the Accolade on an unconscious Swagger. I thought it was a good match and it was refreshing to see Rusev have to work hard to get the victory. I look forward ot seeing more matches between the two.

Winner: Rusev

Predictions: 4 for 5

We now get Seth Rollins coming out and officially(?) winning his match against Dean Ambrose via forfeit. Ambrose, who Triple H had banned from the building, runs in and attacks Rollins. After a lengthy brawl, security manage to get Ambrose out of the building. It seems like they building it up to a match at Summerslam and that should be a good contest.

Winner: Seth Rollins (I guess)

Predictions: 5 for 6

Now another match that I was looking forward to: Bray Wyatt taking on Chris Jericho. Jericho, during the match, tries to apply the Walls of Jericho but Harper and Rowan interfere and eventually get sent to the back by referee Mike Choida. We get some really good back and forth between the two before Jericho hit the Code Breaker out of nowhere to get the win. It was a good match although nothing really stood out and I was surprised that Jericho won

Winner: Chris Jericho

Predictions:  5 for 7

After we see Dean Ambrose attack Seth Rollins as he was leaving the building, we get the battle royal for the vacant Intercontinental Championship. The competitors are: Big E, Alberto Del Rio, Cesaro, R-Truth, Ryback, Curtis Axel, Zack Ryder, Titus O’Neil, Damien Sandow, Heath Slater, Diego, Sin Cara Version 2, Xavier Woods, The Great Khali, Kofi Kingston, Bo Dallas, Dolph Ziggler, The Miz and Sheamus. Khali is, thankfully, eliminated early on and there were some good bits: Cesaro knocking Kofi off the apron and landing on top of Big E's shoulders; Cesaro then superplexing Kofi off Big E's shoulders back into the ring; and Cesaro getting shockingly eliminated by Heath Slater. It looks like Ziggler and Sheamus are the final two and Ziggler eliminates Sheamus by dropkicking an attempted shoulder block from the apron. However, The Miz, who had spent that last half of the match in a heap by the announce table, slides in and eliminates Ziggler to become the new Intercontinental champion. I really enjoyed the battle royal and whilst I was gutted that Bo Dallas didn't win, I'm happy with Hollywood Miz winning and I loved Ziggler's reaction afterwards.

Winner: The Miz

Predictions: 5 for 8

The main event is a fatal 4-way match with Roman Reigns, Kane and Randy Orton challenging John Cena for the WWE World heavyweight Championship. In the beginning, you get to see Kane and Orton work together. That falls apart when Kane covers Reigns after a DDT and Orton doesn’t take that well. You get teases of Cena and Reigns fighting each other but either Kane or Orton put a stop to it. Cena does hit the AA on Kane but he rolls out of the ring. Cena then puts Orton in the STF but Reigns drags Orton out of the ring and throws him over the announce table. Cena and Reigns then have a mini-match, in which Reigns hits the Superman punch then a spear. Reigns, later on, spears Orton through the barricade then spears Kane inside the ring and Cena breaks up the pin. Orton RKOs Reigns but Cena hits the AA on Orton, sending him on top of Kane. Cena then pins Kane to get the win. 

I thought this was a decent main event. They really made Reigns strong, although I don’t really see him as a World Champion, and they told a good story throughout the match. 

Winner: John Cena 

Predictions: 6 for 9

I thought the Battleground was good, with some enjoyable matches. However, the two matches they had for the Pre-Show were not very good. Even though a lot of their audience are watching the event through the WWE Network, there are some people paying to watch it. To help with that, they need matches on the Pre-Show that are enjoyable and I feel that they failed on that count. I hope that the Cesaro/RVD match on the SummerSlam Kick-off Show will be better than these matches.