Posted October 6, 201311 yr comment_5566300 Daniel Bryan vs. Randy Orton Alberto Del Rio © vs. Rob Van Dam CM Punk vs. Ryback The Shield (c's) vs. Cody Rhodes and Goldust Curtis Axel © vs. R-Truth Kofi Kingston vs. Bray Wyatt AJ Lee © vs. Brie Bella Dolph Ziggler vs. Damien Sandow Surely one of the worst looking cards the WWE has ever put together? The only things of remote interest are the main event and the Rhodes/Shield tag. This is going to do an absolutely awful buy rate, surely? Especially since it is just being shown on regular cable in the UK, so they will lose a lot of their international buys. The cynic in me would argue that they are trying to cut the legs off Daniel Bryan, offering shows like this up as 'proof' that he cannot draw at the top of the card. There will almost certainly be another screwy finish, which will alienate more elements of the crowd. The alternative is to make tonight Bryan's final big moment of justification, where he wins clean and keeps the strap, but that would be even more of a disaster: having his huge, star making victory on such a small, underwhelming show would cut his momentum anyway, especially as it won't feel anywhere near as special as Summerslam. Admittedly I haven't watched any of the build up for this show, so the feuds could actually have been put together pretty nicely and built up some anticipation. Anybody out there wants to argue it is a solid card?
October 6, 201311 yr comment_5566305 Yeah this is pretty bad. Although "card" and "show" should be differentiated as Rhodes/Shield should be a great match and Bryan and Orton have good charisma, so it would be at least a decent show overall. I liked the idea of taking the title off Bryan after a clean finish at NoC, showed that Bryan was legit the best in the company but was just getting blatantly screwed over. Problem is they didn't capitalize on it at all and Bryan basically sat there like "hm, ok" and the interaction between him and trips/steph actually went DOWN afterward. So yes the booking of the main feud has left a lot to be desired and surely this show should do a scandalously low buyrate.
October 6, 201311 yr comment_5566307 With the exception of the Axel and Wyatt matches, the rest of the matches look fine to me. RVD and Del Rio will not be a classic but at least there is a reason to be there. Punk-Ryback will be more theater than match and the Heyman feud has been super fun so far. Ziggler vs. Sandow should be fine but nothing special but we have seen these type of undercard matches steal the show in the past. The tag and the main could range from good to great. Far from the worst card WWE has ever put together.
October 6, 201311 yr comment_5566312 I think its a great card...almost all matches have storylines going into them.. As for Bryan, screwing him here will be fine as long as he looks OK doing it....this storyline needs to continue forward, with now the "Viper" Orton being back and the feud going from there...force Bryan to jump through hoops to get back what he wants down the line... Dont kill it now.... I have seen a lot of people want the WWE to draw out storylines and go different ways with them, but as soon as things go a few weeks, people start saying they're killing it and its not gonna work...I wonder if either fans today just arent trained to deal with long term storylines (due to the everything now culture we live in) and when even teh same thing happens two weeks in a row (like Bryan getting attacked a month or so ago), fans will immediatley start with "they are doing the same thing over and over..its ruined). I want a long feud that forces Bryan to fight his way back after being fucked over by the powers when it looks like he is about to win...that makes things compelling and makes me want to see him get his revenge, but having hoops to jump through to get there, making me hate the person blocking him even more... Same thing with Punk...I hope he doesnt destroy Ryback and attack Heyman...keep things going a little longer... For Del Rio / RVD, I think RVD winning the title here is the right thing to do...time to move on and give both guys something else to do and give RVD a shot with teh title...
October 6, 201311 yr comment_5566313 You squeeze PPVS together too closely and this is what you get. They really should have added some gimmick to Bryan/Orton.
October 6, 201311 yr comment_5566321 The card looks okay I suppose. With PPVs being so close this does suffer a bit in the intrigue of the whole thing. RVD vs. ADR being a hardcore match makes me feel much more comfortable with that match being solid. Rhodes vs Shiled could be butt loads of fun. Bryan vs. Orton will likely be good even if I'm not a big fan of them going back to back on PPVs after having quite a few matches on TV before this. Yeah so I wouldn't call this great or anything but I also wouldn't come close to saying it looks actively bad.
October 6, 201311 yr comment_5566325 WWE.com says just added to the PPV: Cesaro & Swagger vs. Santino & Khali. Jesus Christ.
October 6, 201311 yr comment_5566328 You squeeze PPVS together too closely and this is what you get. They really should have added some gimmick to Bryan/Orton.The gimmick is in a few weeks when they do HIAC and Bryan finally triumphs.
October 6, 201311 yr comment_5566329 Why, why, why didn't they play up the fact that exactly one year ago Punk needed all this help (Maddox, Shield) to beat Ryback. I don't think that would castrate Punk and then you could really play up "Can Punk beat this guy?" or does did Heyman really pull trump with this coup by gaining the services of Punk's archrival. Ugh. Regardless, it remains the match I am most interested in. This is the type of PPV (not that they would ever do it) where Wargames would come in handy. You do Bryan/Ziggler/Rhodes vs Orton/Shield in a Wargames you pop the buyrate without really having to move the story along and give the faces a victory. Instead, the story does seem to have stagnated. I still would say this is best year has been the best Orton year that I can ever remember as he is actually interacting with the crowd since Wrestlemania. Besides Punk/Ryback, I am interested in Rhodes Family vs the Shield and that's about it. I don't the story for Bryan is dead yet and there are plenty of ways to go, but they have definitely hit a lull in my interest for Bryan, but thats what the upper midcard is there for and they have some good stuff in that. I never buy non-Big 4 PPVs (well except MITB 2011), but just my thoughts anyways,
October 6, 201311 yr comment_5566334 The only match I have real interest in is the Shield/Rhodes match. I'm assuming the Rhodes go over, leading to a title match where the Shield retain. This should be for the belts.
October 6, 201311 yr comment_5566356 The only match I have real interest in is the Shield/Rhodes match. I'm assuming the Rhodes go over, leading to a title match where the Shield retain. This should be for the belts. Well WWE are showing their hand with this in rather ugly fashion I think: http://www.prowrestlingscoops.com/wp-conte...y-shirt/001.jpg
October 6, 201311 yr comment_5566362 I was going to lock this thread and start a new more positive PPV recap thread but I just edited the title and I won't have to read anarchist's post again.
October 6, 201311 yr comment_5566364 Damian Sandow vs. Dolph Ziggler - HAH! Love that the preview match has a commercial break.
October 6, 201311 yr comment_5566365 I don't think we're going to get Soup's commentary since the Braves are playing but PTBN has a live blog up for commentary again tonight. http://placetobenation.com/wwe-battleground-live-blog/
October 6, 201311 yr comment_5566369 Ziggler vs. Sandow Match was fine. Nothing great. Nothing bad. Solid match to have to get the crowd going.
October 7, 201311 yr comment_5566371 Titus O Neil pulling the Lee Corso reference when Tensai started wearing a fake beard was great.
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