Here’s my final thoughts on WWE SmackDown Live’s Battleground 2017!
Tye Dillinger vs. Aiden English
Reactions: Now you see what happens when you give more time to the guys who really deserve it? We get solid matches like this one. Now I’m certainly guilty of thinking this would follow the same format as the other matches these men have presented. While it featured some similar moments to its predecessors, this rematch intensified the action a bit more with more meaningful offense from English. Dillinger still has the crowd behind him even in loss (there’s clear evidence of that based on the reaction he used to get while in NXT). So the L he took here won’t deter him much since it came after a decent contest against English, a talent who needs all the help he can get right now. English wins and suddenly I care about him a bit more thanks to his pre-match serenading and unique signature moves. I’m open to seeing this go down for the fifth (or is it sixth?) time.
Rating: 2 & a Half out of 5 Stars
Sami Zayn vs. Mike Kanellis
Reactions: This is the type of match that would have better served on your typical SD Live airing. The action was average at best since Mike’s choice of moves are pretty generic in nature. Zayn added a bit more fire to the match, at least. The ending almost played out the very same way, but it led right into how it was meant to play out – Exploder into the corner, then a finishing Helluva Kick. So yeah…there’s that.
Rating: 1 & a Half out of 5 Stars
AJ Styles (c) vs. Kevin Owens (WWE United States Championship)
Reactions: Huh? Everything was going so well then…that weird ass pinfall happened. That’s how they end a match that was entering into the 4-star range? Wow…that sucked. Everything that went down beforehand was pretty good, though. It was the story of a pissed off and much rougher than usual Owens facing off with an extra slippery AJ. Plenty of cool counters came to fruition here, plus both men pulled off their signature offense in more unique ways. What differentiated this match from their past meetings was the familiarity factor at play here – Owens and AJ knew each other’s biggest moves, which led to them finding several ways to counter them (Owens was especially on his A-game here). After AJ’s injured shoulder became a factor, it led right into a cool back and forth submission hold sequence. Then…that lame pinfall brought all that good action to a screeching halt. You could tell this match would have been that much sweeter if it weren’t for that abrupt ending. Dah well! Their eventual SummerSlam rematch better make up for this letdown…
Rating: 3 out of 5 Stars
Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Baron Corbin
Reactions: While this wasn’t all the way terrible, it wasn’t particularly amazing either. Its overall quality places it in that “meh…it was cool” range. Both men were extremely physical with each other at least, which gave it some life during the finishing stretch. When Corbin was in control though, the action fell into a bit of a tiresome lull. Thankfully, Nakamura’s comeback offense brought some life to the somewhat dull proceedings. I should have seen the lame ending coming, though – it was clearly meant to protect both men and give Corbin a way out of eating a big pin so soon into his MITB reign. This served its purpose of getting both men onto the PPV, at least.
Rating: 2 out of 5 Stars
Becky Lynch vs. Charlotte Flair vs. Lana vs. Natalya vs. Tamina (Fatal 5-Way Elimination Match to Determine the #1 Contender for the WWE SmackDown Women’s Championship at SummerSlam)
Reactions: With so many talented ladies in the ring (and Tamina…), I expected a more entertaining car crash-type match here. But it just turned out to be passable at best. Lana and Tamina’s dual offense worked for a bit, plus Lana was extra energetic and a huge crowd pleaser. Lynch put them both down, which led into a quick elimination from Natalya. Once again, I expected something else that I didn’t get here – a barnburner from the last two ladies, Charlotte and Natalya. But that just didn’t come to be. They went to war for a couple minutes or so until the flat finish. Even the post-match proceedings were a bit disappointing. This entire segment just didn’t do enough to make me care about the WWE SmackDown Women’s Championship and its future title match at SummerSlam.
Rating: 2 out of 5 Stars
John Cena vs. Rusev (Flag Match)
Reactions: While I still believe Rusev deserves much better gimmick wise, at least he got to lock up with Cena during a marquee matchup. The tired USA vs. Foreign Superpower storyline did nothing to help this bout, but Cena and Rusev performed admirably enough to get the crowd into it. The beginning portion of this patriotic war was your usual run-of-the-mill action I’m used to seeing from both men. Once both flags were taken from their top rope positions, the tug of war action entered into a much more entertaining phase. Rusev cut Cena off with a sick Fall Away Slam onto the entrance ramp, sidekicks and an Accolade. Cena met his offense with multiple strikes, an STF and his usual comeback offense. Cena’s AA to Rusev through two tables ended this match on a decent note. This was actually a fun match, but let’s get away from the stale “USA Over Everybody!” theme for a while.
Rating: 3 out of 5 Stars
The Usos (Jimmy Uso and Jey Uso) (c) vs. The New Day (Big E, Kofi Kingston, and/or Xavier Woods)
(WWE SmackDown Tag Team Championship)
Reactions: I WAS RIGHT! Their last PPV encounter was just a sampling of what they can with more time added to the match and a definite ending. What was provided here was a greatly paced tag team match with a hot intro, focused middle portion and a super hot ending. The Usos pulled off even more tandem offense than before, which kept the proceedings intense throughout. What also made this match stand out more than its prequel was the much quicker pairing of Kofi and Xavier. The match truly kicked into another gear when The Usos landed a sick double Powerbomb to Kofi on the outside. More insane moments followed, such as Xavier missing an elbow drop and eating a midair Superkick for his error. The action that followed all that madness up was more than enough to keep the crowd hype. Kudos to both teams for engaging in an awesome feud that got its exclamation point with an entertaining title change. Seek this one out if you missed it.
Rating: 3 & a Half out of 5 Stars
Jinder Mahal (c) (with Sunil Singh and Samir Singh) vs. Randy Orton (Punjabi Prison Match for the WWE Championship)
Reactions: I didn’t expect much from this main event since the last two times these men met in the ring, they turned out subpar matches. But this time, they finally managed to make me care about how everything between them would unfold. The start to this contest was a bit plodding and made me think I’d be treated to another ho hum bout between both men. After the final door opened up, things got a bit more interesting. The Singh Brothers actually managed to find a way to aid their meal ticket, but Orton got all viper-y on the both of them. That major crash through the announce table stands out as one of the most satisfying moments of the entire evening. Those Kendo Stick shots from both men and repeated climbing attempts added to all the excitement this match put on during its home stretch. The shock of The Great Khali’s return did even more to add even more highlight reel moments to this outing. What made this PPV closer stand out was all the unexpected mayhem that ensued from the middle to the very end.
Rating: 3 out of 5 Stars
Match of the Night
The Usos vs. The New Day!
Final Verdict
WWE Battleground 2017 was a decent PPV and a pretty easy watch. What’s so surprising about this show though is the fact that the opening tag team title match wasn’t topped by anything that followed it. That’s not to say the rest of the card outright sucked. It just means those other matches didn’t really do enough to pick up the pace of the show. Zayn vs. Kanellis, Nakamura vs. Corbin and the Women’s 5-way were nothing more than regular SD Live episode segments. AJ vs. Owens was going good until its unsatisfying finish. The Usos vs. The New Day, Cena vs. Rusev and the Punjabi Prison Match’s outlandish moments helped keep this show from being a complete washout. But still, this year’s Battleground managed to be an inoffensive show.
Final Score: 3 out of 5 Stars
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