WWE Battleground 2016 Review

Sean was at the show, so I’ve got the review for the show. Sean may post his thoughts on the show and/or talk about how it went live later. In any case, he’ll be back doing these for SummerSlam and the NXT Brooklyn show.

Sasha Banks and Bayley defeated Charlotte and Dana Brooke

Bayley got a big pop. The heels attacked the faces prior to the match starting. Once the bell rang, Charlotte got the heat on Bayley. Sasha tagged in and ran wild briefly before Charlotte cut her off and got the heat on her. Dana tagged in and was pretty much useless. I’ll give them credit for hiding her, but if she’s so limited in the ring that all she can do is punch (and she doesn’t even do that well), kick, and put on rest holds, then why is she on the main roster? Bayley tagged in and made a brief comeback before being cut off. Dana got the heat on her. Sasha got the hot tag and got a couple near falls on Charlotte. Charlotte hit Natural Selection, Bayley broke up the pin. Dana and Bayley fought outside the ring. Charlotte went for the Figure Eight, but Sasha countered into the Banks Statement. Dana pulled Charlotte out of the ring.

Finish: Once Charlotte got back in the ring, Sasha hit the backstabber and rolled into the Banks Statement and Charlotte tapped out.

A fine match other than Dana Brooke. The crowd loved Bayley. After the match, Bayley and Sasha hugged.

★★¾

The Wyatt Family (Bray Wyatt, Erick Rowan, and Braun Strowman) defeated The New Day (Big E, Kofi Kingston, and Xavier Woods)

Big E and Strowman were going to start, but Xavier tagged himself in, to face his fear. Bray tagged himself in. Xavier stood there looking scared until Kofi tagged himself in. The heels got the heat on Kofi. After a while, Big E took the hot tag and ran wild on Rowan. Not long after, the match began to break down.

With the match back under control, Bray had Kofi set up for Sister Abigail, but Xavier made the save. Bray and Xavier were face-to-face and Xavier appeared to be hypnotized. Yeah, they really did that. Xavier eventually started teeing off on Bray.

Finish: Xavier an wild on everyone but Strowman, then Bray caught Xavier, hit Sister Abigail, and pinned him.

A decent match, even if the premise was a bit lame.

★★½

Rusev (w/Lana) defeated Zack Ryder to retain the WWE United States Championship

Ryder’s new music sucks. *shakes fist at Downstait* Rusev got the heat on Ryder. The crowd chanted “U.S.A.” Ryder made a comeback and really took control on the outside.

Finish: Ryder hit the Rough Ryder, then went for the El-Bro Drop, but Rusev got a knee up. Rusev kicked Ryder in the head, then put him in the Accolade. Ryder nearly broke it, but Rusev locked it in deeper and Ryder tapped out.

Good showing by both guys. After the match, Rusev continued his attack. Mojo Rawley came to the ring to confront Ryder. Rusev just left.

★★★

Sami Zayn defeated Kevin Owens

Owens ducked out of the ring at the bell, so Zayn took the fight to him on the outside. Zayn controlled the match early before Owens shifted the momentum in his favor and began to get the heat on Zayn. Zayn made a brief comeback before Owens cut him off and began working an arm Zayn hurt doing a move from the ropes. Back in the ring, Zayn hit a Blue Thunder Bomb for a near fall. He was unable to capitalize, though. After Owens got the heat on Zayn some more, Zayn came back, eventually hitting a brainbuster on the apron. Back in the ring, Zayn took full control. Zayn would go for the DDT through the ropes on the outside, but Owens saw it coming and hit a superkick. Owens took control again and hit a frog splash for a near fall. Zayn made a comeback and went for a Heluva kick, but Owens hit a superkick and went for the Pop-up Powerbomb. Zayn hit a couple big moves to drop Owens. The crowd went nuts. Zayn went for the in, but Owens kicked out. Zayn went for a Heluva kick, but Owens countered into a Pop-up Powerbomb. Zayn got his foot to the ropes, though.

Finish: Zayn fought back, hit a pair of suplexes then a pair of Heluva Kicks and pinned him.

Zayn botched the move off the ropes to the outside. Other than that, the match was absolutely excellent.

★★★★¾

Natalya defeated Becky Lynch

The match started off somewhat slow, as Natalya kept leaving the ring. Once they were back in the ring, Natalya got the heat on Becky. Becky made a comeback and the match began to go back-and-forth, with both women looking to lock in their submission holds. Natalya got the Sharpshooter, but Becky got to the ropes.

Finish: Becky made a brief comeback before being cut off by a kick to the leg from Natalya. Natalya then locked in the Sharpshooter and forced Becky to tap out.

This isn’t their fault, but this was already the third submission finish on the show. Figure it out, guys. This should have been better than it was; that’s the fault of whoever put this match together. Natalya is pretty much the least convincing heel ever; part of that’s her fault, the majority of it is the fault of whoever decided she should play heel.

★¼

Darren Young (w/ Bob Backlund) and The Miz (w/ Maryse) fought to a countout (or maybe someone got DQ’ed, I honestly don’t know) in a match for the WWE Intercontinental Championship

The match went back-and-forth early. Miz eventually took control and put Young in a headlock. This went on long enough for a few people to start chanting “boring.” Young made a comeback and went for the Crossface Chickenwing.

Finish: Miz tried to leave, but Backlund blocked him from doing so. Young pulled Miz back into the ring. Maryse slapped Bob Backlund. Backlund went nuts and tore his shirt off. Miz went to confront Backlund and shoved him down. Young went after Miz and put him in the Chickenwing. The bell rang, but it couldn’t be a countout and I didn’t see anything that could make it a DQ. I asked Sean what happened and he didn’t know either. When I asked him what to call it, he said “terrible.” That’s about right. There’s the cherry on top to this mess of a finish.

-★★½

Enzo Amore, Big Cass, and John Cena defeated The Club (AJ Styles, Luke Gallows, and Karl Anderson)

Enzo and Cass cut a great promo. You’re probably thinking “what else is new?”, but this was ever greater than their usual great. The two teams went back-and-forth early. Eventually, The Club got the heat on Enzo. Cena took the hot tag and took control of the match. Cena went for an AA on AJ, but AJ countered and the match started to break down. Cena hit the AA on AJ, but KA, whose nickname is like an AK, pulled him out of the ring. Back in the ring, AJ hit the Styles Clash on Cena, but Cass pulled him out of the ring and hit a big boot. The match broke down again.

Finish: Cena hit the AA on AJ off the second rope.

This was an okay match, but a bit of a mess. I’m knocking a half-star off the rating because literally anyone else should’ve gotten the pin.

★★¼

Dean Ambrose defeated Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins to retain the WWE Championship

A loud “Roman sucks” chant started the match. All three men tried to gain the upper hand early on. They would all have it at one point or another, but nobody would hold onto it for long. The match spilled out of the ring, where Ambrose launched himself off the tope rope and later announce tables and Reigns tossed Rollins over the barricade. Back in the ring, Ambrose hit a couple dives off the top on Reigns for near falls, then Rollins hit one on Ambrose. Reigns ran wild to a chorus of boos. The three would wind up exchanging punches. Ambrose and Rollins both hit dives to the outside on Reigns. Rollins and Ambrose put Reigns through the Spanish announce table. Rollins hit Ambrose and Reigns with a chair. Rollins went for a buckle bomb, but Ambrose countered. Rollins hit a superplex into a falcon arrow, but Ambrose kicked out at 2. Reigns made it back into the ring and hit a powerbomb on Rollins for a near-fall. Reigns dropped Ambrose out of the ring with a Superman punch, then Rollins hit a Pedigree on Reigns for a near-fall.

Finish: Rollins went for a second Pedigree, but Reigns tried to counter. Rollins hit a buckle bomb on Reigns, which Reigns completely no-sold before hitting a spear. Reigns went for the pin, but Ambrose broke it up, hit Dirty Deeds on Reigns and pinned him. No, I’m not kidding. Roman got pinned, clean as a sheet in the middle of the ring.

After the match, the Smackdown roster came to the ring to congratulate Ambrose. Worth noting: Becky was seated next to Cena when they were shown watching the monitor and was the second person, right behind Cena, to get to the ting to congratulate Ambrose, so I’m hoping this means they’re done making Becky look like an idiot. Slightly weird: The Usos put Ambrose on their shoulders right after he pinned Reigns. As far as the match goes, unsurprisingly, Rollins and Ambrose pretty much carried the match, though Reigns did actually hold his own. Still, learn a sixth move, man.

★★★★¼

Overall: We saw a couple clunkers with the Becky-Nattie match and the Darren Young-Miz debacle, but everything else on the Battleground show was decent-to-great.

★★★