WWE Battleground 2013 is out on DVD and Blu-Ray now, available from www.wwedvd.co.uk, priced £12.99 on DVD and £13.99 on Blu-Ray. Broadcast live on Pay-per-View from the First Niagra Centre in Buffalo, New York, USA on 6th October 2013, the show is main evented by Randy Orton and Daniel Bryan competing for the vacant WWE Championship, alongside Alberto Del Rio defending his World Heavyweight Championship against Rob Van Dam in a Battleground Hardcore Rules match and CM Punk taking on the newest Paul Heyman guy, Ryback, as well as five other matches. The commentary is provided by John Bradshaw Layfield, Michael Cole and Jerry Lawler.
Match Listing
World Heavyweight Championship Battleground Hardcore Rules Match
Alberto Del Rio (C) vs. Rob Van Dam (with Ricardo Rodriguez)
Tag Team Match
Santino Marella & The Great Khali (with Hornswoggle) vs. The Real Americans (Cesaro/Swagger) (with Zeb Colter)
Intercontinental Championship Match
Curtis Axel (C) (with Paul Heyman) vs. R-Truth
Diva's Championship Match
AJ Lee (C) vs. Brie Bella
Tag Team Match
Cody Rhodes & Goldust (with Dusty Rhodes) vs. The Shield (Reigns/Rollins) (with Dean Ambrose)
Singles Match
Bray Wyatt (with The Wyatt Family) vs. Kofi Kingston
Singles Match
CM Punk vs. Ryback (with Paul Heyman)
WWE Championship Match
Randy Orton vs. Daniel Bryan
DVD Extras
Singles Match
you Dolph Ziggler vs. Damien Sandow
Battleground Kick-Off, 6th October 2013
Rob Van Dam contemplates his WWE future
Randy Orton reacts to Battleground
Six Man Tag Team Match
Cody Rhodes, Daniel Bryan & Goldust vs. The Shield
WWE Monday Night Raw #1063, 7th October 2013
Renee Young interviews Big Show
WWE Monday Night Raw #1063, 7th October 2013
Review
Another WWE PPV that left a sour taste in the mouth. The main event of Daniel Bryan against Randy Orton for the WWE Championship is all about the finish, meaning twenty minutes plus of good quality action feel pretty pointless as soon as you notice what's happening and the show is over. The action before is very very good, with Orton and Bryan continuing to connect well in the ring. After the finish to Night of Champions, WWE really needed to deliver something concrete here and that is not what you get with this main event.
Rob Van Dam challenging Alberto Del Rio for the World Heavyweight Championship in an Battleground Hardcore Rules match is a lot of fun. There isn't a lot of wrestling, but this one is all about the spots and those spots are performed well enough to make this a decent watch. CM Punk against Ryback is a mixed bag, Ryback looks good when on the attack, but just terrible when Punk get's rolling. The storyline elements with Paul Heyman are entertaining, but the action with Punk and Ryback is pretty dull.
Goldust and Cody Rhodes taking on The Shield's Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns for a chance at WWE contracts is by far the best match of the show. It's easy to get emotionally involved in the contest, with a superb video package prior aiding that fact. Twists and turns and plenty of reversals, this match flys by. Bray Wyatt taking on Kofi Kingston is a decent, if insignificant match, with Wyatt and Kingston doing a good job on getting the crowd on side. Curtis Axel's defending the Intercontinental Championship against R-Truth is hard to get behind, with neither man particularly bringing anything exciting to that action, this feels much more like a TV bout than PPV. A filler match see's The Real Americans taking on The Great Khali and Santino Marella in a mildly entertaining comedy bout, but there is no reason for it to be on PPV. Diva's title action between AJ Lee and Brie Bella rounds of the matches on this one, it's better than you might expect but still not great.
There is a surprising amount of DVD extras on this one. Kicking off with a dire contest between Dolph Ziggler and Damien Sandow from the Battleground Kick-Off show, there was nothing to draw me into this one, although the finish is nice. Interviews with Rob Van Dam and Randy Orton are nice inclusions to follow on from the action of the PPV. The Shield's bout with Daniel Bryan, Goldust and Cody Rhodes from Monday Night Raw is also included, and it's probably one of the best matches on this DVD! Lots of exciting action and everything we've come to expect from a Shield Six Man tag. Finally, Renee Young interviews Big Show the same episode of Raw, but that might be spoilers for the main event!
Overall, this PPV doesn't offer a lot. The Shield against Cody Rhodes and Goldust is stellar action and the DVD extra with The Shield against Rhodes, Goldust and Daniel Bryan is also a solid bout, but they aren't strong enough or long enough to spill your hard earned cash on alone. The awful finish to the main event, alongside a lot of filler bouts that probably wouldn't raise your attention on an episode of Raw or Smackdown are the main problem with this one. Another one for the completists, I think.
Top Three Matches on WWE Battleground 2013
1. Tag Team Match
Cody Rhodes & Goldust (with Dusty Rhodes) vs. The Shield (Reigns/Rollins) (with Dean Ambrose)
2. Six Man Tag Team Match
Cody Rhodes, Daniel Bryan & Goldust vs. The Shield
WWE Monday Night Raw #1063, 7th October 2013
3. World Heavyweight Championship Battleground Hardcore Rules Match
Alberto Del Rio (C) vs. Rob Van Dam (with Ricardo Rodriguez)
So it had been three week's since WWE's
last Pay-Per-View offering Night of Champions had left some feeling a
little disappointed, and heading into Battleground, I can't say that
my hopes for the show were particularly high, I'm not sure why but
the card just didn't catch my attention. So let's see how it actually
went, shall we?
We kick off the show with the usual video package detailing the main
feuds heading into the show and what to expect in the course of the
three hours. As usual, this was very well produced with some nice
graphics and the key moments in the feuds between Randy Orton and
Daniel Bryan, The Shield and The Rhodes Family, and CM Punk and
Ryback. I thought it strange that they chose not to show anything
from Alberto Del Rio's feud with Rob Van Dam, with that showing just
how far the World Heavyweight Championship has fallen in prestige
over the past year or so.
World
Heavyweight Championship Battleground Hardcore Match:
Rob
Van Dam
with
Ricardo Rodriguez
vs.
Alberto
Del Rio
(17
Minutes, 22 Seconds)
This match was a lot of fun to watch from start to finish, and
certainly the best match that Van Dam and Del Rio have had on
television over the last two and a half months. In terms of actual
wrestling there wasn't a whole deal, but that's not what this match
called for. What we did get was a succession of spots that built as
the match went on, with both men bringing all they had to the
contest. With a steel chair, a ladder and steel bin to play with, Del
Rio and Van Dam created a spectacle that drew me in almost straight
away, from Van Dam's early moonsault off the barricade to Van Dam
missing a Rolling Thunder onto a Ladder, there was a lot to like
about this brawling contest. What the earlier part of the bout missed
in terms of storytelling, the later stages pilled on, with Ricardo
Rodriguez saving Van Dam from a Cross Armbreaker with a tiny bucket,
before a well worked confrontation between Rodriguez and former best
friend Del Rio, leading to Del Rio taking out Rodriguez by sending
him into the barricade. The finish was also very well worked, after
Van Dam had missed a Van Terminator, a series of attacks from Del
Rio meant that Van Dam's arm ended up trapped in between a steel
chair, allowing Del Rio to lock in the Cross Arm Breaker and pick up
the submission victory and retain the World Heavyweight Championship.
A very strong opening contest, and if we're to believe the dirtsheets
Van Dam's last for a while for WWE.
Winner
and Still World Heavyweight Champion: ALBERTO DEL RIO!
After the bout we headed to the backstage area, where The Real
Americans had something to say. Zeb Colter did the majority of the
talking, cutting a promo on Buffalo, New York, the location of
Battleground, in his usual style, claiming there were too many
Canadians in Buffalo. It was enjoyable, if not a little repetitive,
with Colter winding things up by talking about The Real Americans
opponents The Great Khali and Santino Marella, doing a good job of
papering the cracks over what is clearly a filler match on the show.
Tag
Team Match:
The
Great Khali & Santino Marella
with
Hornswoggle
vs.
The
Real Americans
(Cesaro/Swagger)
with
Zeb Colter
(7
Minutes, 11 Seconds)
Whilst this may have been mere filler, this comedy tag team match was
an entertaining couple of minutes. With solid tag team psychology,
alongside comedic spots involving Hornswoggle with his own version of
The Cobra, as well as some decent team work from The Real Americans,
this bout surpassed my expectations by quite some way. The cleverest
move made in this one was to keep Great Khali out of the match until
the very end, he might not be able to have lenghty technical
classics, but when used as an impact player he can be fairly
effective and I'm warming to his partnership with Marella, who I
think is extremely underated for what he does in the ring. The finish
saw Antonio Cesaro managed to execute the Cesaro Swing on Khali and
in terms of visual displays of strength, this was the most impressive
thing I've seen in WWE for quite some time, as Cesaro went straight
for the pinfall victory after the swing. For what it was this contest
was decent tag team bout, but will most likely be forgotten pretty
quickly.
Winners:
THE REAL AMERICANS!
They ran the Rise Above Cancer video featuring John Cena, CM Punk,
The Bella Twins, Alicia Fox and Layla, before showing Cancer
survivors in the arena. Say what you want about WWE, but the work
they are doing for Susan G. Kommen is fantastic, and hopefully is
raising a lot of money for the foundation and continuing to raise
awareness.
I honestly couldn't make myself care about this match, and I tried
pretty hard to. The action itself was decent, and it would be
difficult to fault what was going on in the ring, but there was just
no story to the action, and it was clearly hurriedly put together
over the last week of television. R-Truth just seemed like such a
random choice to face Axel, after months of irregular appearances on
television, and losing most his bouts when he did appear, I had no
emotional investment behind his character, so when Axel was beating
him down for most of the match, I simply wasn't interested. The
finish saw Axel dodge a Little Jimmy attempt from Truth by holding
onto the ropes, before hitting a Hangman's Facebuster to pick up the
pinfall victory and retain the Intercontinental Championship. Axel
risks getting lost in the mix of Paul Heyman guys at the moment, with
the focus clearly on Ryback, so it made sense to give him a clean
victory here, I'd like to see Axel move into a feud of his own soon,
with someone the audience is actually invested in, with recent
attempt with The Miz and Truth falling flat.
Winner
and still Intercontinental Champion: CURTIS AXEL!
They went on to do a quick recap of Dolph Ziggler's victory over
World Heavyweight Championship Money in the Bank holder Damien Sandow
from Battleground Kick Off, luckily the only showed the finish, which
was the only real positive from that bout.
I was pretty surprised with this bout, as for the most part it was an
enjoyable contest, with some decent wrestling action, with Brie Bella
needing to be commended for a spot that saw her collide with the
ringpost and fall off the apron to the floor. I'm still not won over
by Bella, especially as a face, and the decision to have Lee in
control for most of the match was a wise one, as Bella's wrestling
ability still isn't quite up to scratch, as a botched roll up attempt
showed. The finish saw Brie get distracted by Tamina Snuka attacking
Nikki at ringside, allowing Lee to get a roll up for a pinfall
victory and to retain the Diva's Championship. It was certainly a
wise decision to keep the title on the most popular woman the company
has, but with it not looking like this feud is over just yet, I
wouldn't be surprised if the butterfly is around the tiny waste of
Brie Bella sooner rather than later.
Winner
and still Diva's Champion: AJ LEE
Tag
Team Champions The Shield
with
United States Champion Dean Ambrose
vs.
Cody
Rhodes & Goldust
with
Dusty Rhodes
(13
Minutes, 54 Seconds)
After Michael Cole had introduced a superb video package on the feuds
between the Rhodes Family and The McMahon's we headed backstage to
Renee Young who interviewed Dusty Rhodes, Goldust & Cody Rhodes.
All three men produced excellent promos, that did a fantastic job of
getting me pumped up for the tag team contest to come. I don't know
what's happened to Cody Rhodes, but this whole feud seems to have lit
a fire underneath him, and an average promo guy has become a top
notch promo guy in the space of about two months. If WWE don't run
with this and continue to build Cody into the main event star he
deserves to be then they are complete fool.
Out of everything that was booked for this show, this was the bout
that I was most excited about heading into the event, it had been
built up very well over the past few months, and it was easy to get
emotionally invested in the Rhodes families story. Luckily, this one
did not disappoint as Goldust, Cody Rhodes, Seth Rollins and Roman
Reigns put on a quality tag team bout with a lot of twists and turns
along the way. The build up to two separate hot tags was done very
well, with The Shield working over their opponent effectively in
their usual manner, Rhodes' moonsault for the first hot tag,
especially stood out for me. I thought the finish was strong as well,
getting everyone involved, with the feel good moment of Dusty Rhodes'
fighting off Dean Ambrose with a belt, before Goldust saved his
father from Roman Reigns, building into a nice false finish as
Rollins attempted to steal a school boy roll up pin on Cody for a two
count, before Rhodes managed to hit Cross Rhodes to pick up a pinfall
victory and win his and Goldust's jobs back. Good storytelling, good
wrestling, it's difficult to pick fault with this bout and it'll be
great to see what WWE do with Goldust and Cody going forward. The
moment when a number of WWE legends and wrestlers came out to
congratulate the Rhodes family was just the icing on the cake here.
WINNERS: CODY RHODES & GOLDUST
They ran a promo for WWE's next Pay-Per-View, Hell in a Cell, which
features the bizarre choice of R-Truth talking about the Hell in a
Cell match, along side a number of clips from more recent Hell in a
Cell matches.
It was then back over to Josh Matthews and his Battleground panel of
The Miz, Titus O'Neil and Tensai, as they ran down what had happened
so far. As with Battleground Kick Off it was another painful
experience, as most of the panel seemed unaware of what had actually
been happening on the show, with O'Neil even claiming Rob Van Dam had
won the World Heavyweight Championship. These guys need to be clear
what they are going to say, otherwise it just looks a complete mess.
Backstage Raw General Manager Brad Maddox looked tired as he spoke to
Stephanie McMahon on over the phone. With Smackdown General Manager
Vickie Guerrero also turning up, it was revealed that McMahon and
Triple H had left the building, and that Maddox was in control of the
show. Maddox is doing a great job of playing the out of his depth
underling, and it's difficult not to feel sorry for the guy,
especially when the unlikeable Guerrero laughs in his face.
Kofi
Kingston
vs.
Bray
Wyatt
with
The Wyatt Family
(8
Minutes, 27 Seconds)
This bout struggled to get crowd support early on, and I have to say
that I found it difficult to buy into this one at the beginning,
because not only did it seem like it was going to be a straight up
squash match, it had been so poorly built up with a week of loose
storyline that I really had no reason to care. However, the action
was strong here, especially once Kingston got some momentum going and
it began to look like he could be able to pull of an upset victory,
with the crowd slowly warming to the action, with a springboard flip
to the outside from Kingston onto the entire Wyatt Family being a
highlight of the bout. I also thought the finish here was good, being
worked at a decent pace with a number of reversals before Wyatt
managed to hit Sister Abigail to pick up the pinfall victory. For
such a poorly built up contest, Kingston and Wyatt did a great job in
under nine minutes.
Winner: BRAY WYATT!
After the bout, Erick Rowan and Luke Harper continued the punishment
on Kingston with a series of devastating moves, finished by a Discus
Clothesline from Harper. Wyatt went on to cut a promo in his usual
bizarre style, talking about purity and the concepts of right and
wrong. I was half expecting Kane to make his return here, but it
looks like we're going to have to wait a bit longer for the Big Red
Monster to get his revenge.
Triple H's new DVD Thy Kingdom Come got a nice plug, as they played
the advert for the DVD and Blu Ray set, which we'll hopefully have a
review of very soon. It's available to preorder from
www.wwedvd.co.uk, if you're
interested in that one.
They replayed Antonio Cesaro's Giant Swing on The Great Khali from
earlier on, I suspect that one is going to replayed a lot. PUSH
CESARO DAMMIT! With Michael Cole thanks Fall Out Boy for the
Battleground theme song, “The Mighty Fall”, which had been
playing all night long.
Ryback
with
Paul Heyman
vs.
CM
Punk
(14
Minutes, 47 Seconds)
I'm kind of mixed on this bout, there were bits that worked really
well, but it just wasn't particularly exciting. When in control
Ryback looks really good, and Punk makes you believe that he is
getting hurt, but it was when Punk was in control that this match
fell apart for me. Ryback just looked so wooden and stiff that things
didn't look to be effectining him, no matter what Punk tried to do,
and I don't think that was the effect they were going for, this
wasn't Ryback no selling, it was Ryback not being able to sell. The
storyline elements of this were fun and made sense, like Heyman
causing Punk to get distracted by getting on the microphone, allowing
Ryback into the match. The finish felt incredibly old school, with
Heyman about to deliver a Singapore Cane shot to Punk, only for
referee Mike Chioda to spot what Heyman was doing, while Chioda
admonished Heyman, Ryback tried to take advantage but Punk was too
clever hitting Ryback with a low blow and picking up the pinfall
victory. This was a victory that Punk needed after a few consecutive
losses in big matches, whilst Ryback was kept looking strong by the
finish, with the storyline looking to continue for a while longer
yet.
Winner: CM PUNK!
Ah remember folks, DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME!
Back on the
Battleground Panel, they wisely ignored The Miz and Titus O'Neil,
with only Tensai allowed to speak this time, with some good words on
Punk and Ryback match, before they headed into talking about the main
event that was still to come between Randy Orton and Daniel Bryan for
the vacant WWE Championship, with some inane babbling from Miz and
O'Neil, before Tensai got his fake beard out again and tried to get
the crowd going with a “YES!” chant that was slightly more
successful than the first time he attempted it.
WWE
Championship Match
Randy
Orton
vs.
Daniel
Bryan
(25 Minutes)
Hmmm, I'm going to go straight to the finish of this one, because no
matter how good the rest of the match was (and it was very good), it
feels pretty pointless when it was all just leading to this finish.
Basically, after a blistering sequence between Orton and Bryan with a
number of pinning variations, Bryan managed to lock in the Yes Lock
and it looked like he might have the match won. With the crowd going
crazy, the Big Show's music hit and out came the World Largest
Athlete, pulling Mike Chioda out of the ring and nailing Bryan with
the Knock Out Punch. With Brad Maddox sending down fired referee
Scott Armstrong to make the count as Orton pinned Bryan, Show finally
snapped pulling Armstrong out of the ring before the three count, and
knocking him out, followed by a short confrontation with Orton,
before Big Show knocked him out as well, to finish the Pay-Per-View.
It was another what just happened moment, and one WWE couldn't really
afford after the dodgy ending of Night of Champions. They managed to
make the most popular guy in the company look like an afterthought,
which is just crazy to me. Whilst, I'll admit it was good to see Big
Show finally snap against the corporate chains he has been in over
the last few months, this was not the place to do so and ended the
Pay-Per-View on a sour note. I must stress that what Bryan and Orton
did was very enjoyable and looked to be leading to quality main
event, as an ending like that makes it hard to remember what had gone
on before. It was clear that WWE was attempted to use the finish to
gain more viewers for the next nights Raw, but you have to make sure
that people who have paid for the show get a satisfying and complete
ending first, before trying to do that.
Overall, Battleground wasn't the best pay-per-view WWE has produced
this year, with a lot of rushed together filler bouts and a
disappointing finish to the show. However, their was still some good
stuff going on, most notably Cody Rhodes and Goldust's bout with The
Shield's Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins, and a few matches that
surpassed my expectations. Hopefully, WWE will see a true return to
form in three weeks time for Hell in a Cell.
Quick
Results
World
Heavyweight Championship Battleground Hardcore Match:
