Jack-Hammer
YOU WILL RESPECT MY AUTHORITAH!!!!
We all know the drill now, keep all speculation and discussion of anything relating to the ppv, aside from matches already official, in here.
WWE Battleground General Discussion & Reviews
- Thread starter Jack-Hammer
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Jack-Hammer
YOU WILL RESPECT MY AUTHORITAH!!!!
Based just on how things are looking right now after SmackDown Live, the final card for the show should look something like this:
1. WWE Championship Punjabi Prison Match - Jinder Mahal (c) vs. Randy Orton
2. WWE United States Championship Match - AJ Styles (c) vs. Kevin Owens
3. WWE SmackDown Tag Team Championship Match - The Usos (c) vs. The New Day
4. WWE SmackDown Women's Championship #1 Contender's Fatal Five Way Match - Charlotte Flair vs. Becky Lynch vs. Natalya vs. Lana vs. Tamina
5. Flag Match - John Cena vs. Rusev
6. Singles Match - Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Baron Corbin
7. Singles Match - Sami Zayn vs. Mike Kanellis
Styles vs. Owens isn't listed on the card at WWE.com, at least as of right this minute it's not, but it'll almost certainly be added by this time next week. Given that Mike Kanellis broke a flower vase over Sami Zayn's head tonight, it's fair to say that we'll see his WWE in-ring debut against Zayn at Battleground.
On paper, it looks like a really good show.
1. WWE Championship Punjabi Prison Match - Jinder Mahal (c) vs. Randy Orton
2. WWE United States Championship Match - AJ Styles (c) vs. Kevin Owens
3. WWE SmackDown Tag Team Championship Match - The Usos (c) vs. The New Day
4. WWE SmackDown Women's Championship #1 Contender's Fatal Five Way Match - Charlotte Flair vs. Becky Lynch vs. Natalya vs. Lana vs. Tamina
5. Flag Match - John Cena vs. Rusev
6. Singles Match - Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Baron Corbin
7. Singles Match - Sami Zayn vs. Mike Kanellis
Styles vs. Owens isn't listed on the card at WWE.com, at least as of right this minute it's not, but it'll almost certainly be added by this time next week. Given that Mike Kanellis broke a flower vase over Sami Zayn's head tonight, it's fair to say that we'll see his WWE in-ring debut against Zayn at Battleground.
On paper, it looks like a really good show.
Well tonight Smackdown held the Battleground 2017 event and it was a pretty big step down for the blue brand. Raw had to win the monthly PPV battle sooner or later. I went into this show with low expectations and it still didn't meet said expectations. That says a lot. Let's take a look at the matches.
Pre-Show: Aiden English VS Tye Dillinger
Even though it was the pre-show, Aiden winning here made no sense. Tye would have benefited from the win. Oh well. It's the pre-show so it's not like it matters anyway.
The New Day VS The Usos (c) [Smackdown Tag Team Championship]
A fun start to the show. New Day winning was a very good call and I hope they will have another lengthy reign with the titles. Maybe they'll add that New Day custom strap to the titles? Surprised it wasn't used when they had the Raw Tag Team Championship. Usos will likely get a rematch at Summerslam although I'd rather see a Breezango VS New Day feud.
Baron Corbin VS Shinsuke Nakamura
This seemed to abruptly end out of nowhere and was nowhere near what I had hoped it would be. I blame Corbin mostly for that. Hope Shinsuke has a better match at Summerslam than this.
Becky Lynch VS Charlotte Flair VS Lana VS Natalya VS Tamina [Five-Way Elimination Match for Smackdown Women's Championship #1 Contendership]
This was kind of weird. The way they did three eliminations so rapidly made me wonder why they didn't just do two different matches. They could have done Becky VS Lana and Charlotte VS Natalya as two separate matches instead of this, and it would have made more sense. We would see later on that this show was full of things that didn't make much sense.
AJ Styles VS Kevin Owens [United States Championship]
The match was good, arguably the best of the night. However.... Why have AJ win in the first place if Owens was just going to win it back again!? WHY!? It made AJ's win pointless. That, plus I liked it better when Owens had the Fight Owens Fight gimmick. This "face of America" thing is stupid and it's getting really old.
John Cena VS Rusev [Flag Match]
I hope they never do another Flag match ever again. This match type has never made much sense and when not even John Cena can make a match good, it might be a good idea to go a different route. Awful. Just awful. Worst match of the night for me and I truly hate that I am saying that about a Cena match. I blame it 100% on the gimmick. Flag matches are stupid. At least they got the right call for the ending with John Cena winning. Had he lost it would have been SO much worse.
Mike Kanellis (with Maria Kanellis) VS Sami Zayn
I can't stand Kannelis. Sami was able to carry him through a decent match and it will hopefully lead to better things for Sami. Even if better things means re-starting the Owens feud yet again, over the US Championship. Maria still sucks after 13 years. It's unbelievable, really.
Jinder Mahal (c) (with The Singh Brothers) VS Randy Orton [Punjabi Prison Match for the World Heavyweight Championship]
I didn't hate this match as much as some did. Not that that's even saying much of anything considering all Punjabi Prison matches have been bad. Randy sending one of the Singh Brothers down into the table was great and the surprise return of Khali was interesting. Given that he (kayfabe) created the match type it somewhat made sense. Do we have a Punjabi stable now with Jinder, Khali, and The Singhs? It appears so. My friends and I were hoping for a Corbin cash-in at the end, that might just have saved this show. The match type still makes no sense and hopefully they don't bring it back again.
Overall Thoughts
What a mess. This was a big step down from Money In The Bank and it's safe to say that Raw destroyed Smackdown in terms of what brand put on the better show this month. A regular cage match would have been better for the main event, followed by a Corbin cash-in. Naomi should have defended her title while Charlotte and Natalya could have done a singles #1 contendership match given how rapidly everyone else got eliminated. The flag match would have been better as literally ANY other singles gimmick type. There's not much that could have saved this show. The only show worse than Battleground so far this year was Fastlane, and by a small margin. Looking forward to a significant improvement next month with Summerslam. Battleground is a completely useless PPV brand and this year's show did nothing to prove it shouldn't be removed.
Dagger's 2017 WWE PPV Rankings
1. Wrestlemania 33
2. Great Balls Of Fire 2017
3. Money In The Bank 2017
4. Elimination Chamber 2017
5. Royal Rumble 2017
6. Backlash 2017
7. Payback 2017
8. Extreme Rules 2017
9. Battleground 2017
10. Fastlane 2017
Pre-Show: Aiden English VS Tye Dillinger
Even though it was the pre-show, Aiden winning here made no sense. Tye would have benefited from the win. Oh well. It's the pre-show so it's not like it matters anyway.
The New Day VS The Usos (c) [Smackdown Tag Team Championship]
A fun start to the show. New Day winning was a very good call and I hope they will have another lengthy reign with the titles. Maybe they'll add that New Day custom strap to the titles? Surprised it wasn't used when they had the Raw Tag Team Championship. Usos will likely get a rematch at Summerslam although I'd rather see a Breezango VS New Day feud.
Baron Corbin VS Shinsuke Nakamura
This seemed to abruptly end out of nowhere and was nowhere near what I had hoped it would be. I blame Corbin mostly for that. Hope Shinsuke has a better match at Summerslam than this.
Becky Lynch VS Charlotte Flair VS Lana VS Natalya VS Tamina [Five-Way Elimination Match for Smackdown Women's Championship #1 Contendership]
This was kind of weird. The way they did three eliminations so rapidly made me wonder why they didn't just do two different matches. They could have done Becky VS Lana and Charlotte VS Natalya as two separate matches instead of this, and it would have made more sense. We would see later on that this show was full of things that didn't make much sense.
AJ Styles VS Kevin Owens [United States Championship]
The match was good, arguably the best of the night. However.... Why have AJ win in the first place if Owens was just going to win it back again!? WHY!? It made AJ's win pointless. That, plus I liked it better when Owens had the Fight Owens Fight gimmick. This "face of America" thing is stupid and it's getting really old.
John Cena VS Rusev [Flag Match]
I hope they never do another Flag match ever again. This match type has never made much sense and when not even John Cena can make a match good, it might be a good idea to go a different route. Awful. Just awful. Worst match of the night for me and I truly hate that I am saying that about a Cena match. I blame it 100% on the gimmick. Flag matches are stupid. At least they got the right call for the ending with John Cena winning. Had he lost it would have been SO much worse.
Mike Kanellis (with Maria Kanellis) VS Sami Zayn
I can't stand Kannelis. Sami was able to carry him through a decent match and it will hopefully lead to better things for Sami. Even if better things means re-starting the Owens feud yet again, over the US Championship. Maria still sucks after 13 years. It's unbelievable, really.
Jinder Mahal (c) (with The Singh Brothers) VS Randy Orton [Punjabi Prison Match for the World Heavyweight Championship]
I didn't hate this match as much as some did. Not that that's even saying much of anything considering all Punjabi Prison matches have been bad. Randy sending one of the Singh Brothers down into the table was great and the surprise return of Khali was interesting. Given that he (kayfabe) created the match type it somewhat made sense. Do we have a Punjabi stable now with Jinder, Khali, and The Singhs? It appears so. My friends and I were hoping for a Corbin cash-in at the end, that might just have saved this show. The match type still makes no sense and hopefully they don't bring it back again.
Overall Thoughts
What a mess. This was a big step down from Money In The Bank and it's safe to say that Raw destroyed Smackdown in terms of what brand put on the better show this month. A regular cage match would have been better for the main event, followed by a Corbin cash-in. Naomi should have defended her title while Charlotte and Natalya could have done a singles #1 contendership match given how rapidly everyone else got eliminated. The flag match would have been better as literally ANY other singles gimmick type. There's not much that could have saved this show. The only show worse than Battleground so far this year was Fastlane, and by a small margin. Looking forward to a significant improvement next month with Summerslam. Battleground is a completely useless PPV brand and this year's show did nothing to prove it shouldn't be removed.
Dagger's 2017 WWE PPV Rankings
1. Wrestlemania 33
2. Great Balls Of Fire 2017
3. Money In The Bank 2017
4. Elimination Chamber 2017
5. Royal Rumble 2017
6. Backlash 2017
7. Payback 2017
8. Extreme Rules 2017
9. Battleground 2017
10. Fastlane 2017
