Tuesday, March 19, 2024
EditorialBattleground plants interesting seeds for the Road to SummerSlam

Battleground plants interesting seeds for the Road to SummerSlam

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Even for WWE standards, this year’s PPVs have not been great. WWE has not produced one great PPV prior to this event. Sure, Extreme Rules, Payback and Money in the Bank were above-average shows, though they were not exactly the kind of shows anyone would go out of their way to see. Battleground, of all PPVs – a show infamous for generating excruciatingly boring shows – became the most balanced endeavors by them this year.

The show evoking interest gearing to Summerslam was one of its finest achievements. In many ways, SummerSlam is already shaping up to be a compelling show. Best of all, WWE has flexibility
too. They can go down several different paths on the road to the “biggest party of the summer”.

But, the million dollar question is whom will Dean Ambrose face.

Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins are now on different shows, and even if they made an exception to the draft separation rule, Rollins vs. Ambrose does not look that appealing for a SummerSlam main event match. Expecting people to care about a title match they saw two times on free TV already would be an audacious decision, which means the only way the could sell that match as a must-see PPV match is if they created an interesting storyline between the two.

They also could add both AJ Styles and John Cena to the title match but them having an all-out match sounds more attractive than crow-barring them in a feud with Ambrose – not to mention back-to-back triple threats WWE title matches might be overkill.

WWE has rebuilt Bray Wyatt again, though one month of reinsurance does not seem enough for him to main event Summerslam. While I am normally opposed to part-timers returning to receive title matches, Smackdown currently lacks a suitable contender so that might be their best option.

Raw’s title picture is also unclear. Does WWE settle that at Summerslam? Or, do they wait until after
Summerslam? Or, do they have the champion appear on both shows? All those choices are understandable; it boils down to whether they carry them out in a proper manner.

One thing safe to assume is that the Sami Zayn vs. Kevin Owens feud has concluded (well, at least for the
time being). This hate-filled conflict concluded impeccably with the white meat protagonist finally gaining retribution over his merciless oppressor. For such a tempestuous feud, they wrestled a rather standardized style at the outset but found their groove down the stretch, whirling this into a belligerent fray.

This match had the proper amount of visceral and cerebral touch, emotive enough to heighten the conflict and story but also systematic and commonsensical enough for the psychology and character’s depictions to be present.

By virtue of Zayn’s exquisite body language and facial expressional selling, downtrodden charm and never-say-die mentality, he is impossible to cheer against – no matter how much you like his
opponent. Zayn has proved that regardless of the time, if done right, the white meat protagonist will never be an antediluvian gimmick.

There is so much to say about this match, it would take another watch and its own column to mention all of it. In a one or the other epoch, Zayn and Owens are rare breeds who possess an unadulterated amalgamation of in-ring aesthetics (flashy moves, gut-wrenching bumps and well timed and executed hard-to-pull-off exchanges and sequences), structuralism (putting a match together, timing, pacing, building to a crescendo), and substance (psychology, storytelling, characterizations, role play).

For the most part, WWE booked everything else logically and effectively too. The only dubious booking
decisions were putting Natalya over Becky Lynch and John Cena pinning AJ Styles. Becky. The first decision being dubious is self-explanatory, but I would like to analysis the ineptness of Cena pinning Styles.

Styles and Cena might as well had another singles match, because the sole purpose of doing this match, or at least so I thought, was protecting both with either Styles continuing to get the better of Cena again or Cena finally getting the better of the Club but still protecting Styles by making one of the other members eat the pin.

Enzo and Cass certainty got a boost being involved in this feud. The match was also good, especially
the second half when chaos ensued. So, this was not a total waste. But Styles eating the pin was just so counterproductive.

The other tag matches on the card were solid. The opener was a good women’s match. It was well-followed formulaic tag wrestling with enough twists and turns to keep the crowd’s interest and did an effective job assuring Sasha Banks as a top contender. She is the most liked women’s wrestler; she has been chasing the title for a while, and people want to see her take the title from Flair; ergo, WWE needs to pull the trigger on her at SummerSlam in what should be a great match.

WWE does not receive enough commendation for their well-made video packages. The New Day vs. Wyatt Family package made the feud more compelling than how it played out on TV. Xavier
Woods’s hesitant nature was a nice touch of continuity, something that needs to happen more in PPV matches. A story that builds up a match and then plays out during it creates reasons to follow the match. It might seem small, but it makes a big difference. Woods overcame his insecurities and fears by confronting the Wyatt Family. Woods’ courageousness, however, was not enough to overcome Bray Wyatt, a nice way to reconstitute him as a dominant force.

Rusev continues to be one of the greatest men to live. While his match with Ryder did not light the world
on fire, it still made him look very strong. However, his highlight moment did not happen on the PPV. It happened rather on Twitter when he tweeted this, “I can’t believe fan jumped in the ring and nobody stopped him! I need a challenge it’s just too easy.” Shots fired.

I hope the conflict with Mojo Rawley is quickly settled so that Rusev can move onto bigger and better things. I am still crossing my fingers for a Kurt Angle return, the perfect foil for Rusev at SummerSlam.

The main event was a very good match, just coming up short of a classic because it did not reach pandemonium and lacked a predominant story panning out. The action, though, was very good. The
camera shots of both show’s locker rooms watching and the announcers selling it emphasized the importance of why it mattered what the show the WWE champion would be on. The most newsworthy moment was Dean Ambrose picking up another decisive victory over a top-level wrestler. He is developing into more than a paper champion, and the company seems to be behind him.

Overall, this was a great show. The matches were good. The main event was very good. And Kevin Owens vs. Sami Zayn was a MOTYC. The show also built well to SummerSlam without sacrificing finishes (aside from Darren Young vs. Miz) or the quality of the matches. WWE is intriguing now, with ambiguous questions and interesting feuds gearing toward their second biggest show of the year.

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