WWE SummerSlam 2015 review

Traditionally SummerSlam has been positioned by WWE as their number two pay-per-view. It's not felt like it for a long time though. The importance of the Royal Rumble has helped that show surpass it. It could be argued that Money in the Bank has done the same. This year WWE awarded SummerSlam a four hour run time, attached an NXT Takeover special to the weekend, and did even more media work than usual all to turn SummerSlam into a big deal. It's a smart move. If the profile of the event can be raised there's a chance it can claw back some of its importance and, in turn, become a more profitable brand. Because brands are what WWE is all about in 2015.

Awkward bants.

The show kicked off with Lillian Garcia introducing former Daily Show front man Jon Stewart as the evening's host. He got the "What?" treatment from the crowd before changing up his cadence and quipping that he'd "spent the last sixteen years talking about politics, it's nice to be back in reality." Then he played into the shouts by listing guys. This, to me, proved that he really is a fan of the company.

Mick Foley (who looks a mess) was then introduced to act as backup for an interview with Brock Lesnar. They did some awkward non-lol comedy and teased that The Rock might join them. He didn't, and wouldn't appear on the show at all. They left. The crowd seemed happy with all of this.

Then, presented by Mountain Dew and Edge shave gel, SummerSlam began.

Randy Orton v Sheamus was up first. I've made my feelings about these two abundantly clear before. 'The Viper' is so dull as a character that it's impossible to be interested in anything involving him. I'm not wild about Shaymo either, so that didn't help. The match wasn't anything special. The crowd agreed. They spent a stretch of it amusing themselves with NXT related chants. Sheamus survived a top rope draping DDT and an RKO to win with two Brogue kicks in a row.

The lads.

Things picked up with match two, the four-way tag team championship match pitting defending champs the Prime Time Players against New Day, the Lucha Dragons and Los Matadores. Before the match New Day took some microphones to say that New York knew nothing about hip hop. Then they did some singing. It was great. None of the other entrances could compare.

The match was enjoyable and competently performed. Aside from several minutes of Kofi and Big E double teaming Darren Young it kept a quick pace and gave everyone except Los Matadores (who don't seem to actually matter to anyone in WWE) moments to shine. The Lucha Dragons got to work some slick doubles spots, including a monkey flip into a 450 form Sin Cara to Kalisto. New Day got to be irritating heels. D-Young got to be babyface in peril and Titus got to look like a beast when he received a hot tag and ploughed through everyone.

The finish saw the Luchas double suplex Fernando, with Titus power bombing them as they did so. Titus went for a cover but Kofi had made a blind tag and ran in to kick him in the face. Big E pulled Titus from the ring as Kofi covered Fernando to earn his team the tag straps for the second time. Which was the right result. With so many face teams on the roster, and the Usos getting closer to a comeback, New Day are the logical choice to sit atop the division. It doesn't hurt that they're the most over thing in it either.

Backstage Jon Stewart told Adrian Neville and Stephen Amell that he was pals with Undertaker. Then some spooky lighting was turned on (or off) and 'Taker strolled by, followed by dry ice. I'm sure somebody, somewhere found this hilarious.

Dolph Ziggler v Rusev was the next match. Lana was dressed in denim to match 'The Show Off' and looked faintly ridiculous. Despite liking everyone involved in this match I found myself not enjoying as much as I'd expected to. There were a few too many rest holds and lengthy selling spots while the various big bump spots felt uninspired. It never felt as though they'd brought the match up to full speed, surprising with Ziggler involved. That said I did like Ziggler's top rope X Factor and Rusev's tumbling senton.

The match ended in a draw. Rusev had the match won with the Accolade but released it when Lana slapped Summer Rae to the ground. Rusev then dragged Ziggler out of the ring and again got distracted by Lana, allowing Ziggler to sneak in a super kick. Neither man got back to the ring before the ten count. This finish, and the spirited post-match scuffle in which Lana and Summer did some nasty-looking hair-pulling, were presumably designed to set up a mixed tag match.

Stephen Amell, taking it like a champ.

The Neville and Amell v Stardust and King Barrett match was preceded by a fun recap video done in a style that was reminiscent of both comic book movie trailers in general and the Batman 60's TV show. It was great. As was the entrance of the Cosmic Kings. The match itself was also good, giving us exactly what we needed from it: Stardust going full-on supervillain, Amell holding his own, Neville playing the stand-up babyface, and Cosmic King Wade Bad News Barrett I acting like a creep who just wanted to win a match on pay-per-view. Stardust was the undeniable star. Based on his performance here he deserves a guest role on Arrow.

Amell was isolated for a while towards the beginning of the bout. Neville was eventually tagged in to hit some fancy flips to heat the audience back up. Surprisingly he also got the pin for his team, pinning Barrett off a Red Arrow. I'd expected Stardust to lie down for Amell. It felt like the natural finish but this was better. It was sensible to have one regular pin another.

After a self-congratulatory puff piece about how much WWE "gives back to the community" we got the triple threat match for the Intercontinental championship. Big Show v Miz v Ryback. Not the match we want but the match we deserve. It's possible that the highlight of the match was Ryback's singlet, which featured the Statue of Liberty with his face on the front and "Ryback Kong" scaling the Empire State Building on the back.

The story was that 'The Awesome One' wanted to leave the fighting to 'back and Show and pick up a win by sneaking in when both were exhausted. Which made sense for his character and the way WWE three-ways are usually booked. The match was good. Big Show put in some rarely seen effort by busting out a second rope somersault senton (yes, really). Ryback demonstrated his #incrediblepower by hitting Show with a spinebuster and Shellshock. Miz was great trying to steal wins on both guys and getting frustrated when he couldn't.

The finish could have been better though. Ryback took a KO punch as he hoisted Miz up for Shellshock. Miz broke up the following pin attempt and tried for one himself. Show swatted him off and hit him with the WMD punch. Before 'The World's Largest Athlete' could get the pin Ryback threw him out of the ring and covered 'The A-Lister' to retain. They didn't outstay their welcome and made good use of their time but I was surprised Ryback was booked to look so opportunistic. Pinning Miz instead of the more physically imposing Show did no favours to a guy's whose deal is meant to be power.

Backstage Jon Stewart knocked on Brock Lesnar's door. Paul Heyman answered. They discussed Lesnar ending The Streak and how it was a bad thing. It ended with Heyman singing and asking if Letterman was busy. Comedy is not WWE's strength.

Just a bunch of lads appreciating one another's vests.

One of the hottest feuds of the last few years was officially revived in match six. Former Shield boys Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns reunited to take on the Wyatt Family of Luke Harper and Bray Wyatt.  This was, as it was always going to be, one of the best matches of the night. They stuck to the old Shield v Wyatts formula of making liberal use of signature moves, suicide dives and double teams to ensure there was always something to hold the fans' attention.

Reigns got taken out of the match after the opening brawl, leaving Ambrose to survive alone for several minutes. Reigns would eventually return to the corner just in time to receive a tag from 'The Lunatic Fringe'. The Shield lads hit a Doomsday Device and the assisted power bomb before Reigns put 'The Eater of Worlds' down with a spear. Despite being surprisingly short at just eleven minutes the match was, as stated above, one of the best of the night. I'd have no problem with the feud continuing and us getting a rematch at Night of Champions.

Speaking of champions, the title versus title match was up after that. It was preceded by a great video package that began with Cena talking about the people of New York being everyday heroes (presumably a token effort at winning the crowd over) before moving onto Rollins breaking Cena's nose and the all-time tally of world title reigns Cena has. At fifteen he's one off Ric Flair's (official) record of sixteen. They made sure to include Cena's words to Triple H on the subject of Flair being his mentor, which really helped to emphasise the title versus title stuff and the importance and significance of Cena's sixteenth world title win, whether it was to come here or not.

The initial lockup was a stalemate. Cena got the best of the second with a headlock takedown. Rollins fought back to his feet, floored Cena with a drop kick, and mocked his "You can't see me" bit. That earned him a punch to the face and another headlock.

Good guys wear white.

Rollins fought back to his feet and hit Cena with a Blockbuster before knocking him out of the ring for a pair of suicide dives and a tope. Back in the ring Rollins reversed a back drop and took Cena down with a sling blade for a two count. Cena fired back with a belly-to-back suplex and prepared for a Five Knuckle Shuffle but Rollins kicked him in the head and went for a Pedigree. Cena back dropped out of it and nailed the springboard Stunner before getting the Shuffle he'd missed moments earlier.

Rollins slipped out of an early attempt at the AA onto the top rope then launched himself knees first into Cena. He followed that with a running Shooting Star Press for a two count. He kept control by hanging Cena in a tree of woe and blasting him with a double stomp from the top rope. 'The Future' trash-talked Cena and was grabbed for a desperation AA. He kicked out and made it back to his feet for a boo-yay punch exchange. Another Pedigree attempt failed, this time with Rollins ending up taking a face plant from Cena's shoulders.

Cena got his never less than dangerous-looking top rope leg drop as Rollins staggered to his feet. That earned him a two count. They mostly botched a second rope AA counter but Rollins just about held things together for a sunset buckle bomb. He followed that with a nice frog splash but Cena kicked out and hoisted the WWE champ into position for the Attitude Adjustment. Rollins landed on his feet, hit an enziguri and rolled through a cross body to hit Cena with an AA of his own.

When Cena kicked out Rollins went to his backup option of a phoenix splash. Cena avoided that and grabbed 'The Future' for the STF. Rollins was barely in the hold before Cena released it to reapply, at which point Rollins kicked him away. Cena recovered and attempted an AA. Rollins wriggled free and tried a Pedigree. Cena broke free of that and slapped on a figure four, nicely tying into the back-story of Cena trying to equal Flair's world title reign record.

Rollins managed to flip over onto his front, reversing the pressure and forcing Cena to make the ropes and break the hold (because it's Cena, of course he does both). Cena returned to the top rope but got cut off and superplexed, with Rollins performing a surprise roll-through into a falcon arrow. Cena kicked out but remained spent on the mat. Rollins tried the phoenix splash again but missed and got scooped up for an AA. Cena hit it, but not before a ref bump took place.

After checking on the referee (whadda guy!) Cena turned around and took a knee strike t the face, the same move that had broken his nose on RAW. At that point Jon Stewart ran down to the ring with a chair and, after several awkward pauses, tapped it into Cena's stomach. A recovered Rollins then Pedigreed Cena onto the chair to retain the WWE championship and win his first ever United States championship.

Screwy swerve turn finish involving a non-contracted former political pundit aside this was the match of the night. Rollins and Cena work well together and they once again showed it here. The finish was made far easier to stomach because I'd been expecting some sort of DQ that prevented either title changing hand. The change presents some interesting options for Night of Champions. Rollins making two separate defences could be interesting and something I'd like to see.

Booker T and Byron Saxton were irate at Stewart's action over at the analyst table. Corey Graves no-sold the finish and focused on the "history making" result. Booker put over New Day and did some clapping as Renee threw to the Divas trios three-way.

After a recap video that reminded us of Stephanie McMahon taking credit for Paige's on-screen quest for a better division we got a match that was somewhat of a mixed bag. There were a handful of sloppy moments but the most awkward aspect of the match was a booking decision: the match was fought under elimination rules and saw Team BAD out first, eliminated after Brie had pinned Tamina. This showed no foresight. Had Team Bella been the first team eliminated, at the hands of the team that wouldn't ultimately win, that would have demonstrated that the newcomers on both opposing teams are every bit as good as the more established women. It would have left the fresher faces to battle amongst themselves and set up all members of both teams as potential contenders to Nikki Bellas Divas title. A later half carried by Sasha Banks and the newer girls on the PCB team could have been great.

A lot of people have picked holes in this entire Divas revolution thing. For the most part I feel it's been a little unfair. I understand the grievances people have with it but I feel it's best to focus on the fact that WWE are at least trying to go in the right direction. But booking like this, that hampers the progression of the newcomers in favour of positioning the Bellas as formidable forces, is irritating and does nothing for anyone. Not even the Bellas benefited because Nikki now has fewer credible potential title challengers than she could have had.

There was a lot wrong here but the result was entirely correct.

It wasn't all bad. The Bellas hit a nice stereo suicide dive and Nikki did a nice Alabama slam on the outside. The audience were invested in Sasha Banks, despite her not getting a great deal to do. Alicia Fox broke out her beautiful northern lights suplex. And the right team won, Becky getting the win with what can generously be called a pump handle slam. Although even this didn't seen entirely sensible. Someone (Charlotte would likely have been the best choice, all things considered) should have pinned Nikki to set them up as an obvious challenger.

Cesaro v Kevin Owens took the semi-main event slot. The reactions they got for their entrances and during the match disproves the theory that WWE fans need a cool down period before a pay-per-view main event. Both guys entered performances that made it clear they had something to prove. Each guy hit a tope to the outside. Cesaro busted out a cross body from the top rope, a gut wrench suplex from the second, and a springboard uppercut. Owens pulled out a cannonball on the outside, an inverted TKO, a somersault leg drop, and the double jump moonsault. They worked, in the words of Steve Austin, snug. KO won an enjoyable match with a top rope fishermanbuster and the pop-up power bomb.

Which left only the Undertaker v Brock Lesnar main event. The pre-match video focused on the ending of The Streak, with a variety of wrestlers appearing as talking heads to give their opinion on the subject. I'm not going to go into the history of the match here. I did that in the preview, which you can read at this link. Suffice it to say I liked the way WWE built to this rematch.

This match set a brisk pace from the start. Lesnar jumped Undertaker as he entered the ring. 'Taker fought back and knocked 'The Beast' out of the ring and to the floor. Lesnar paced about a bit before returning and taking 'The Dead Man' down to the mat to hit him with forearms. The two then returned to their feet to trade right hands as duelling chants of "Undertaker!" and "Suplex City!" rang through the arena.

'Taker got the better of the punch exchange and set up to walk the ropes with Old School but got pulled into an F5 position. He escaped and went for a choke slam. Brock escaped that. And then the suplexes started.

Undertaker took a belly-to-belly and a German suplex before managing to drive 'The Pain' head-first into a turnbuckle. He followed up with snake eyes and a big boot which sent Lesnar tumbling out of the ring. There 'The Phenom' rushed his foe into the barricades before setting him up for the apron leg drop.

Brock recovered. They traded jabs. Undi' went for a choke slam. Lesnar slipped out of it in mid-air and hit a German suplex. Then another. And another. Undertaker rolled from the ring as the duelling chants started back up. Lesnar followed and cleared the French announce table (because nothing says an event is on the scale of WrestleMania like foreign language commentary teams being flown in). 'Taker recovered and tried to Last Ride Lesnar through the table but Lesnar broke free and F5ed him through instead.

Taker returned to the ring just before the ten count expired. Lesnar looked mildly shocked before telling Undertaker he'd kill him. Undertaker again told Lesnar he'd have to then hit him with a surprise choke slam and a Tombstone.

Lesnar kicked out and was the first to sit up. Undertaker was seconds behind him and they traded right hands as they returned to their feet. Lesnar locked in a kimura in the corner, which 'The Last Outlaw' countered into a Last Ride for a two count.

If only 'Taker had tapped when Robinson was there.

Lesnar hit an F5. Undertaker kicked out. Lesnar hit another. Undertaker kicked out again then trapped Lesnar in Hell's Gate. Lesnar powered out and applied the kimura. Then the shenanigans kicked in. Undertaker tapped out as the referee was in position checking to see if Lesnar's shoulders were down for a pin and the bell rang. The ref told the timekeeper it was his job to signal for the bell to ring. Undertaker took this opportunity to hit a low blow and got Lesnar back in the Hell's Gate. Officially the match ended with Lesnar flipping off the Undertaker as he faded into unconsciousness.

After the match Heyman took a mic and said that everyone had seen 'Taker tap out. He then declared Lesnar the winner via submission. The commentators bickered about the finish for a little longer before the show finally went off the air.

This was a finish designed to keep both men strong and, possibly, to set up a rematch. Based on this I've no interest in a third bout in the series. Neither man was helped by this ending. The match and the paying audience deserved a clear winner. Either Undertaker should have won for vengeance and to show he still has it ahead of his retirement or Lesnar should have won to keep his aura intact and so as not to invalidate The Streak ending. Personally I'd have preferred a Lesnar win. That would have kept him strong and allowed for an a story in which an Undertaker plagued by self doubt boldly announced he'll retire if he can't win at WrestleMania. They could even had had 'Taker enter the Royal Rumble and winning to show that he's still as good as ever.

Overall I thought SummerSlam was perfectly fine. It was not the show it needed to be though. There were too many poor booking choices, odd run times, and matches that simply didn't have enough reason to be happening to justify this being a four hour, ten match card. The main event and the title versus title match, the things the event was built around, both failed to deliver entirely satisfying endings and for that alone it's hard to see this SummerSlam as anything more than a good but flawed time.

***

Results summary:

Sheamus defeated Randy Orton
New Day defeated the Prime Time Players, Los Matadores and the Lucha Dragons to win the tag team championship
Doph Ziggler v Rusev ended in a count out draw
Stephen Amell and Adrian Neville defeated Stardust and Bad News Barrett
Ryback defeated The Miz and Big Show to retain the Intercontinental championship
Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose defeated Bray Wyatt and Luke Harper
Seth Rollins defeated John Cena to retain the WWE championship and win the United States championship
Paige, Charlotte and Becky Lynch defeated Team BAD and Team Bella
Kevin Owens defeated Cesaro
The Undertaker defeated Brock Lesnar via referee stoppage

Rock Versus Triple H: 2015 Edition

The Rock is many things. He's a Hollywood movie star. He's a highly accomplished third generation wrestler. He's a former eight time WWE world champion. He's a future first ballot Hall of Famer. He's one of the two biggest babyfaces of the Attitude Era (the other, obviously, being 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin). Some may even go so far as to say he was the biggest star of that era but I'm not one of them.

Triple H is also many thanks. He is the current on-screen boss of the company. He too is a highly accomplished wrestler and future first ballot Hall of Fame inductee. He's also former eight time WWE champion. He's one of the two biggest heels of the Attitude Era (the other, obviously, being Vince McMahon). Some may even go so far as to say he was the biggest heel of that era but I'm not one of them.

Rock pretending to fly as he hits a Rock Bottom there.

Together they had one of the greatest rivalries of the Attitude Era. It started off over the Intercontinental title and gradually progressed to one for the world title. Somewhere along the way it became a defining feud for both men, one that didn't actually require the involvement of a title or a reason for a match to take place. It was simply one of those rivalries that had been going for so long that it was one of those rare ever-ready, ever-present disputes, the sort of thing that could flare up at any time. Sort of like Cena v Orton now, only good.

Despite the pair having separate feuds in 1998, 1999 and 2000 they never actually had a one-on-one match at WrestleMania. They completely deserved to but the closest they came was the closing portion of a four-way elimination main event, also involving Big Show and Mick Foley at WrestleMania 2000. Behind Austin versus McMahon and Austin versus The Rock it was one of the defining rivalries of the time. Behind that second programme it was the greatest rivalry of Rock's career. It was quite possibly the greatest of Triple H's, with only his work opposite the various guises of Mick Foley coming close to being both as good and as important to his career.

I mention all of this because there's been speculation since WrestleMania Play Button that Rock and Triple H will face one another at next year's WrestleMania Star in Texas. This has picked up again recently because of SummerSlam. With the event being stretched to four hours (the first WWE event not named WrestleMania to hit that mark) and being held in NYC it's fair to say that WWE will want to add something to the announced card to make it special. A showdown between the on-screen boss and his old movie-making rival would fit the bill nicely. If they came to blows to set up a future match that would be A Big Deal.

Of course, part of the previously mentioned speculative chatter regaining a Rock and Trips bout is that it would somehow involve Rhonda Rousey and Stephanie McMahon. This would make sense given the segment involving all four at 'Mania earlier this year. But while a mixed tag match at WM32 would certainly be memorable it would also feel a tiny but like a squandered opportunity.

In Rock v Triple H WWE has a perfect chance to revisit one of the company's defining rivalries and give them the only kind of match they've never had: a WrestleMania showdown. Were it to happen and Rhonda Rousey was still on the card (her ability to wrestle a match for WWE has been questioned since her UFC boss Dana White stated publicly that he wouldn't let her) then she and Steph could have a singles match. That would probably be more enjoyable anyway: a squash in which uber-heel Steph gets tapped out in a few minutes sounds like a good addition to a 'Mania card to me. Meanwhile if either Rock or Tripper were considering retiring at all in the next little while this is a match that could provide a fitting end to either career (although the assumption that Undertaker's retiring in Texas makes that unlikely, nobody wants to see two retirement matches in one night). It's the match I'd like to see WWE revisit more than any other. One final addition to the feud at a WrestleMania sounds pretty good to me.

WWE SummerSlam 2015 preview

Probably the most interesting thing to note about this year's SummerSlam is that it's the first time in what feels like years that there's been a WWE pay-per-view involving what feels like a substantial mid-card. It's become the norm to toss non-main event names into matches for the Intercontinental and US championships or pit them against established top boys like John Cena and Randy Orton in a token effort at getting them over. It's an approach that has yielded success occasionally (Cena v Owens) but has failed more often than not (Cena v Rusev, Cena v Wyatt).

I picked Cena as an example there deliberately. Despite being the biggest star on the roster it's actually Cena that's been at the heart of this mid-card resurgence. The Owens versus Cesaro rivalry has spun off from the Owens versus Cena rivalry. During that Owens was able to defeat Cena once, in a non-title match. He lost subsequent matches in which the US championship was up for grabs. Meanwhile Cena also made spirited defences against 'The Swiss Superman', with Owens interfering in many of them as he became increasingly frustrated at his own inability to beat Cena for the gold. He didn't want to see Cesaro accomplish something he was unable to.

We could also attribute the Rusev and Ziggler feud to Cena too, although his involvement there is less direct. He was the man who not only took the United States championship from Rusev but also handed him his first loss. This embarrassed 'The Super Athlete', causing him to flip out at his manager and girlfriend Lana¹. She left him and became empowered by her newfound single status because that's what happens in the good ol' US of A. There is no oppression for women, only empowerment. Anyway, while Lana was getting said empowerment (by hooking up with a new hot guy, obvs) Rusev suffered further televised losses, highlighting how important Lana had been to his career prior to their split.

Deciding to show that he was totes over Lana, Rusev hooked up with Summer Rae and encouraged her to dress like Lana. Because he'd been cast as a psychology ex-boyfriend and that's totally what psycho ex-boyfriends do. Summer also proved willing to act more submissive to Rusev, a reversal of the Lana-Rusev relationship in which it was Lana who was the dominant force. All of which could have become a very interesting story exploring the nature of relationships, moving on, and getting hung up on exes. But it didn't. Not because wrestling is ill-equipped for this sort of thing (I actually think this type of story is something wrestling can excel at) but because it wasn't given enough thought towards the start and was later hampered by Dolph Ziggler, Lana's new beau, disappearing after a beating from big Ru².

Cena himself will be both defending his United States championship and challenging for the WWE world championship. He'll be in a title versus title match against Seth Rollins. The idea here is absolutely sound. Since becoming a four time US champ at WrestleMania Cena has, amazingly, made the title mean something with exciting weekly title defences against some of the best wrestlers on the roster. Meanwhile Rollins has been a cowardly world champion, relying on interference, favourable rules and other assorted cheating to keep hold of the belt.

The story essentially sees a worthy champion who takes pride in defending and retaining his prize the right way facing off with a champion who cares only about protecting his status. It's an interesting look at what it actually means to be a champion in wrestling, and is noteworthy because it is emphatically not the sort of thing WWE usually does. Despite the high chance of the match having a screwy finish (to avoid titles changing hands) I'm looking forward to this match, because another way of looking at the match is to see it as the natural culmination of Cena's streak of matches against The New School: he's facing the original NXT champion, Triple H's on-screen golden boy, Seth Rollins. It's basically the ultimate US Open Challenge without actually being part of that series.

Away from Cena-spurred plots there's been the issues between Stardust and Green Arrow star Stephen Amell. Stardust, believing himself to be a real life super villain, took exception to Amell being in attendance at an episode of RAW and attacked him. Amell leapt the barrier and fought back (which security allowed because WWE are marks for outside talent). 'Don't Call Him Adrian' Neville then got involved, because he wears a cape and performs a move called the Red Arrow, making him a natural Amell ally in Stardust's mind. Then King Bad News Wade Barrett I got involved too, because tag matches, playa³!

Summarised here it sounds entirely daft. It has been, but to be fair that's the point of it. Stardust is a deranged character and that's what's driven the story. It works and it's a nice change of pace from the stuff that usually makes it onto RAW.

The Sheamus versus Randy Orton rivalry has continued from last month. I failed to care about it then and I still feel the same way now. 'The Viper's' character is deathly dull right now and the most interesting thing about 'The Celtic Warrior' is that he has a Money in the Bank briefcase to cash in. I don't necessarily think it will happen on this show but if it did it would be the most interesting thing Sheamus did all evening.

Rounding out the non-tag mid-card action is a triple threat for the Intercontinental championship. Originally scheduled for last month's Battleground it had to be postponed because Ryback suffered some sort of super-gross hernia. That show gave us a brief altercation between Miz and Big Show, his scheduled opponents, that hinted at 'The World's Largest Athlete' turning face (again) with the match itself being postponed because it was too valuable to simply not do⁴. Ultimately Big Show would remain a heel, surprising the many of us who have become accustomed to frequent Show swerve turns.

In all honesty I quite like this triple threat. I don't mind Ryback and I can appreciate The Miz for the effective heel he is. Big Show isn't especially welcome but if he has to be on a card this is the sort of level he should be at. It's the kind of match that establishes 'The Big Guy' as a legitimate champ, beating two upper mid-card lads at once. It doesn't hurt the IC title either, and that's not something we've been getting to say much over the last several years.

Outside of the main event the rest of the card is comprised of tag matches. The natural culmination of the rejuvenated Divas division, a nine woman, three-way trios match, has been booked already. I understand why this was done: it gets everyone on the show. The trouble is that it's a match that fees like it should end the current era of the Divas division. As the current era only started on July 13 this feels premature.

Meanwhile the tag belts will be defended in a four-way match even more blatantly slung together to get more lads onto the card to kill time. If it gets long enough it should be fun but it will be too busy and spot-heavy to become something meaningful.

Which is something that can't be said for the Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose versus Wyatt Family match. This is a rivalry that started with Bray randomly attacking Roman and cutting enigmatic promos that seemed to hint at the involvement of the latter's kid. Family-stuff aside this shouldn't have come as a surprise to anyone: all Bray Wyatt feuds begin with him attacking someone for literally no reason at all.

The end of their singles match at Battleground saw Luke Harper run-in and throw Reigns into a ring post, allowing 'The Eater of Worlds' to win. This signalled the reunion of the Wyatt Family, a faction which makes the already enjoyable Harper and Wyatt so much better. Wyatt is more eerie when he has vacant followers at his beck and call, while Harper benefits from being associated with someone who can provide him with things to do.

Reigns brought in backup against the Family in the form of his buddy and old Shield teammate Dean Ambrose. The original plan was apparently for Sting to join up with Ambrose and Reigns but when Erick Rowan was unable to rejoin the Wyatt flock (because he's not healed up from an injury yet) that was nixed. Frankly it feels like a bullet was dodged there. 'The Stinger' would almost certainly have looked out of place alongside Reigns and Ambrose and I can't imagine a match involving him in the Seth Rollins spot could have done justice to the enjoyable Shield-Wyatts showdowns we had in 2014.

Which just leaves the main event: Brock Lesnar versus The Undertaker. There's so much history to this that I doubt I can do it justice in a couple of paragraphs but I'll give it a go...

WrestleMania XXX saw Lesnar hand 'Taker his first ever defeat at in the series' history. This was a significant deal because 'The Dead Man' had appeared at twenty-one previous 'Mania's and it was the sort of record that nobody in wrestling ever gets close to. It's something that not even the greatest of bookers could have planned.

This victory shocked pretty much everyone and set Lesnar up as an unstoppable beast, to the point where his advocate Paul Heyman actually began referring to him as 'The Beast Incarnate'. Lesnar went on a tear, trouncing John Cena in a staggeringly one-sided match for the WWE championship at SummerSlam 2014 and holding the gold until WrestleMania 31 eight months later. Though he lost the title at 'Mania he was not pinned or submitted: Seth Rollins cashed in his magical get-a-title-match-whenever-you-like contract and pinned Lesnar's opponent, Roman Reigns, to become the champ.

Naturally this annoyed 'The Beast' and he went nuts the next night on RAW. This caused on-screen bosses The Authority to suspend indefinitely. Surprisingly that suspension didn't actually last too long and Lesnar was brought back for his contractually obligated rematch with Rollins at Battleground. There 'The Pain' seemed to be on course to win the title back... until the lights cut out and came back on to reveal The Undertaker.

'The Phenom' made short work of Lesnar at Battleground, giving him a choke slam, a pair of Tombstone piledrivers and a kick in the privates. Things would be different the next evening on RAW: Lesnar was prepared and they had an intense brawl that saw a large portion of the roster hit the ring to join security in holding the two powerhouses apart. Since then Undertaker has (glossed over his return earlier in the year to defeat Wyatt at WrestleMania and) revealed that the reason he attacked Lesnar was that he was tired of Heyman going on and on and on and on and on and on about The Streak being taken from him. On the one hand you can empathise with 'Taker on that: it was humiliating. But on the other Heyman was obviously going to talk it up because it will go down as one of the biggest moment's of his client's career.

Basically this is being built as a big deal of a rematch. It absolutely is but there are slight problems with the premise. Firstly, the conflict between the two centres around Undertaker's Streak, so having them face off at event that isn't WrestleMania feels peculiar. Secondly, it feels strange for 'Taker to be positioned as the heel. And he is being positioned as the heel, whether people are going to react to him as one or not. He's kicked Brock low twice. It's nice in that it plays up Undertaker's I-will-gain-vengeance-at-any-cost mentality but at this point in his career (very likely less than a year away from retiring after playing the same character for two and a half decades) it feels like Undie should be a babyface.

Which isn't to say the match won't be good. It will be. Undertaker suffered a concussion in their WM30 showdown and he'll want to prove all the doubters that say he can't have a cracking match anymore wrong. When they feuded in 2003 (admittedly twelve years and many injures ago) Lesnar and 'Taker had wild chemistry. There's no reason to think they don't still have it. They just need to avoid head trauma to get through this.

All of which brings me to predictions. Rollins v Cena seems like a shmoz waiting to happen. Ryback retaining seems like a safe assumption seeing as it's his first title reign in WWE and he's not really gotten to do much yet, while the time feels right for a title change with the tag straps. I'd like to say the Lucha Dragons will win but I think New Day could regain to set up a proper title chase for Sin Cara and Kalisto (which they totally deserve). In the same vein I think Paige, Becky and Charlotte could win their Divas triple threat to set them up as the top contenders for Nikki's championship.

I'll be surprised if the celebrity special tag bout doesn't end with Stephen Amell proving he can defeat fully trained and experienced professional wrestlers, because WWE, as stated above, love to make outside stars look strong (although admittedly this wouldn't be the worst decision in the world). I expect the other big tag match to be won by Reigns and Ambrose. A swerve turn by Ambrose seems likely at some point because it's the sort of feud that could stretch for a while and see Reigns through to December or January, when he can start focusing on winning the WWE title again. SummerSlam seems the wrong time for it though: if it happened the NYC crowd would favour Ambrose, making Reigns look like a heel and a chump. I can't believe WWE would want to put their next golden boy, who they've been handling with kid gloves, in that situation.

Orton v Sheamus, Cesaro v Owens and Ziggler v Rusev could each go either way. I'll pick Sheamus, because it's his turn, Owens, because the company has seemed higher on him lately than tey have Cesaro (and they can book him to cheat), and Ziggler because Lana shenanigans are Rusev's Achilles heel.

The main event is tough. I could see each guy going over. Undertaker "needs" his win back and further rebuilding for his last hurrah next year (assuming it's coming). Lesnar needs to remain the dominating, unstoppable force he's been for much of the past few years. The Streak ending stalled Undertaker and caused the final years of his career to lose steam, because without The Streak he's pretty much just an old lad with a phantastical gimmick who may or may not deliver once the bell ring. Having the suspense his Streak provided really helped him. It's not on the same scale but Lesnar's continued dominance helps him in a similar fashion. It's for that reason that I hope 'The Beast' wins, just as I hoped he'd lose on the night he became 'The Conqueror of The Streak'.

***

Predictions summary:

Brock Lesnar to defeat The Undertaker
John Cena v Seth Rollins to end in a draw
Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns to defeat The Wyatt Family
Paige, Becky Lynch and Charlotte to defeat BAD and Team Bella
Kevin Owens to defeat Cesaro
Adrian Neville and Stephen Amell to defeat Stardust and King Barrett
Ryback to retain the Intercontinental championship against The Miz and Big Show
New Day to win the tag team championship
Dolph Ziggler to defeat Rusev
Sheamus to defeat Randy Orton

***

¹ Here I just want to pause and comment on the nature of the Rusev-Lana relationship. Between Rusev's debut and WrestleMania 31 the pair seemed to be nothing more than colleagues. Once Rusev went crazy and blamed Lana for his loss to Big Match Jern in an I Quit match this was retconned and we were informed that they'd basically been knocking boots all along.

Which would be fine if it weren't for the confusing wrinkle that Rusev and Lana are a real life couple who love together. When they were being presented as manager and client they were dating. Now they're separated on-screen but still dating. This is one of those times when the best thing to do is roll your eyes and say "Wrestling, eh?"

² In reality he was filming a probably terrible WWE Studios film.

³ Holla holla!

⁴ At least that's wat I'm assuming WWE thinks. Obviously Ryback versus The Miz versus Big Show is not an especially great match but at least assuming there's some value attached to it within the company gives it some logical reason for happening here.

Revolutionising the Divas Division

The July 13 RAW saw the main roster debuts of Sasha Banks, Charlotte and Becky Lynch. Hardly breaking news at this point I know, it's taken me a while to get a post together on the call-ups. Not doing a post simply wasn't an option: the significance of the three women being promoted from developmental simultaneously cannot be understated.

Paige and her NXT allies, the unofficially dubbed Powerbuff Girls.

Moving a number of women from NXT's women's division is a sign that WWE management recognise change is needed in the way women are presented by the company. Having them be three of the four best wrestlers (the fourth, to clarify, is Bayley) is a sign that this isn't just a case restocking a depleted division but a drive to improve quality. Had the former been what the company desired they simply could have gone with utilising existing bit part players Alicia Fox, Cameron, Summer Rae and Rosa Mendes. That wrestlers who have been receiving critical praise were chosen to join the division tells us that creating a competitive, layered and compelling division is the goal.

As does, of course, the manner in which the three were promoted. They were introduced by Stephanie McMahon. Having a McMahon hype you up before your first appearance is a big deal, because they're the owners of the company and if they're going out of their way to talk you up it sends the message that you're worth attention¹. Te same goes for interacting with a champion in your first segment. Basically everything about the way the women were introduced was designed to let anyone unfamiliar with them know they're a big deal and reassure people who've enjoyed their work in NXT that they'll get the same kind of opportunities on RAW and SmackDown.

Naomi versus Banks could be great. Just saying...

Since the call-up the company has stuck to its guns on the revamped Divas scene. Charlotte, Banks and Brie Bella wrestled an eleven and a half minute three-way at Battleground. The following evening's RAW saw Charlotte defeat Brie in a nine minute match and Naomi and Banks topple Lynch and Paige in a little under fifteen minutes. The July 23 SmackDown saw a thirteen minute tag match, and the Monday 27 RAW a fourteen minute singles match between Paige and Banks. The newcomers haven't been booked to steamroll their more established counterparts but they have been made to look competitive, an intelligent approach that considers the long-term future of the division.

I'm not claiming the matches have all been classics. They haven't. The only one that can accurately be said to be n above average affair was the Banks versus Paige match, and that was at least partly due to Banks being the reigning NXT women's champion and 'The Anti-Diva's' history in the developmental league (and with that title) making for an interesting background to the meeting. But they have been longer than the average Divas match of the last few years, and they've been wrestled like the people involved have something to prove, presumably because they do.

The decision to form three factions is what I like most about the restructuring of the division. It keeps things simple and gives each Divas match a reason for happening. Going by the numbers there are now twenty-seven singles matches, eighteen tag combos, three six women tags, and the obviously climactic three-way trios collision that can be cycled through. That's easily enough to keep the division feeling fresh and exciting for months. If things are paced properly and the story is told right WWE could do something special with Nikki Bella edging closer and closer to becoming the longest reigning Divas champion ever².

Can Nikki Bella become the longest reigning Divas champion ever?
A strong maybe from me.

Whether Nikki achieves this feat or not, and personally I think she will because she seems liked within the company and the people that run the company are vindictive enough to want to take the chance to take an accolade away from AJ, she'll lose the title at some point. When she does it will be to a member of a rival faction, because these are the women who will form the focal point of the division for the foreseeable future. When that happens it opens up longer term stories of rivalries between people who are currently allies. Charlotte winning the title could set up a friendly series with Paige, for example, while Banks and Naomi seem destined to clash over "leadership" of their BAD stable.

It's taken WWE far too long to get back around to presenting its women wrestlers as athletes who have the same athleticism and competitive drive as their male counterparts but at least they got to it eventually. It was at least worth the wait as the situation they've created by going with three promotions at once has given us the most promising Diva line-up in years and dozens of potential storylines, matches and feuds. If they can meet half of the potential they'll be doing okay.

***

¹ we will at this point overlook the fact that Steph, while great on the mic, is nowhere near the level of her dad, the one and only Vinnie Mac.

² As things stand right now she will surpass AJ Lee's current 295 day record on September 15. That's the Tuesday before Night of Champions. It seems reasonably safe to assume that if Nikki leaves August's SummerSlam with the butterfly belt she'll make it NOC as champ, breaking Lee's record.

Undertaker: The Final Months?

Undertaker and Brock Lesnar will headline SummerSlam in a rematch from last year's WrestleMania. You know, that match in which 'The Pain' ended The Undertaker's 'Mania winning streak. I've seen the match described elsewhere (specifically Cageside Seats) as God versus Death. I like that description, even though I think it'd be more accurate to cast Lesnar as the Devil, what with him being frequently referred to as 'The Beast' and all.

Catfight!

The match will probably be good. Lesnar has had nothing but excellent matches since he defeated Undi' last year and both men will likely want to erase the memories of that subpar outing (which suffered in quality because 'Taker got a concussion in the first few minutes) with a slobberknocker here. They already seem to be benefiting from a superior build: Undertaker's return at Battleground and the brawl the two had the following evening on RAW knocked spots off the clichéd and dull sequence of segments, culminating with a contract signing, the two slumped through before WrestleMania XXX.

There are arguments to be made for both men winning. 'The Dead Man' "needs" his win back and to be rebuilt as a strong force ahead of his presumed retirement match at WrestleMania Play Button. Lesnar needs to remain the most dominant force in the company because that's what people like about him. Obviously only one of them will win. It doesn't really matter who it is. The more interesting topic is what Undertaker is going to do after 'The Hottest Event of the Summer'.

Broadly speaking there are two things he could do. One is disappear again and only return when WrestleMania 32 is the company's focus (which would be any time from January). The other is to stick around and appear regularly until retiring at 'Mania.

I'd prefer the latter. If Undertaker is going to retire next year (and the smart bet is that he will) then he deserves to have one final semi-full time run. We don't need to see him wrestling on TV. In fact we don't even need to see him every week. But appearances on the monthly pay-per-views (or special events as they're styled now) would give 'The Phenom' the chance to work with guys he's never faced before he leaves. Guys like Sheamus, Seth Rollins, Roman Reigns, and Kevin Owens would all benefit from a 'Taker match on their CV. UT would benefit from wrestling these guys as he'd be getting fresh opponents eager to put in the extra work to make the bout memorable, lessening the pressure on him. The PPVs themselves would benefit from 'Taker wrestling as the matches could be pushed, subtly or not, as amongst the last of 'Taker's career.

Is this schedule, or a similar one, likely? We can't and won't know until SummerSlam's bee and gone. We can say that Undertaker looks healthy and put in a spirited performance on the July 20 RAW. But we can also note that he struggled ever so slightly when hoisting Lesnar up for the Tombstone at Battleground. If I had to guess I'd say that we won't be seeing Undertaker wrestling on that many shows between SummerSlam and WrestleMania, a shame because there are plenty of storyline opportunities for him outside of his current programme with 'The Conqueror'.

I'd love to be wrong, and I hope he gets to do something at Survivor Series, if only to allow him to celebrate his twenty-fifth anniversary under the gimmick. That would be fitting if he's on the cusp of retirement.

WWE Battleground 2015 review

Battleground was, amongst other things, a indication of Randy Orton's standing in WWE in 2015. This is a man who just under two years ago was positioned as the company's top heel and on-screen undisputed top star. Since splitting with his benefactors The Authority last year he's had an underwhelming feud with Seth Rollins and nothing else. After playing a relatively minor part at Money in the Bank this show saw him relegated to a thoroughly mid-card outing against Sheamus, and in his home town no less.

It's peculiar how the standing of someone like Orton can fluctuate so drastically. He's been on the roster for well over a decade now and despite this, and the fact that he's a favourite of the McMahons and is amongst the best wrestlers on the roster (when he's motivated) he frequently finds himself dropping down to programmes such as this, his momentum and focus drained. It's impossible to imagine this happening to John Cena, who is a close parallel to Orton in terms of years served and standing on the backstage pecking order.

But hey, this is a company that finds it a struggle to sustain a push for pretty much everyone. That's why Bad News Barrett defeated R-Truth on the pre-show (in a match that should make it clear why I don't write about pre-shows) despite having won the allegedly star-making King of the Ring tournament in April and Adrian Neville, the man who debuted to much fanfare the night after WrestleMania and who we're supposed to believe has been pegged as a future headliner, was nowhere to be seen on this show. For that matter it's why the Divas division which was given some fresh talent in a high profile and well received segment on RAW just six days earlier wasn't considered important enough to have its match announced in advance for this show.

Orty won his opening match against Shaymo with an RKO (outta nowhere!), an interesting outcome with Sheamus being the Money in the Bank holder but not exactly massively surprising. It was a pretty enjoyable match for the most part but we didn't see anything special. It would probably have been improved by losing a couple of minutes, to be honest.

After a recap of the main roster debuts of Charlotte, Becky Lynch and Sasha Banks we were shown Stephanie McMahon chatting to Jojo backstage. After pandering to the St Louis fans (to make it clear she was a face at this point) she announced that there would be a triple threat later in the night with a representative of each Divas team involved.

Five!

New Day followed that with some chatting of their own, only they did it on their way to the ring for their tag title match. They said they'd been tested for five weeks (prompting a nice call-back to Big E's obsession with the number five that he had in NXT) but they hadn't lost their way. They ended by saying they deserved to win and that they'd defeat the Prime Time Players. It was a great promo, mostly because they're such smug idiots. Big E in particular was great (again).

The more prominent New Day combo of Kofi Kingston and Big E represented the team in the match. It makes sense that they get to wrestle the most because they're the more capable members of the group and it frees Xavier Woods up to ran around the ring being a modern day Bill Alfonso. He came out with such gems as "Worst. Leg drop. Ever" after Titus leg dropped Big E, "What happened to you?" after Darren Young had been launched out of the ring by Big E, and "There it is again: triceps meat!"

The match followed the standard WWE pattern: the heels isolated D-Young and worked him over in the corner. After several minutes Young tagged out to Titus, who smashed his way through Kingston and Big E. The crowd were really into Titus at that point, which just goes to show that if guys are booked to their strengths people will react.

After being distracted by Woods Titus tagged back out. Young immediately hit a crisp overhead belly-to-belly on Kingston, walloped Big E with a rolling elbow, and back dropped Woods on the ring apron. Back in the ring he was caught with a spin kick by Kofi and set up for the Big Ending by Big E. He wriggled out of that, avoided a Trouble in Paradise, and hit the one-time 'Wildcat' with a gutbuster. Titus was then tagged back in to hit the match-winning Clash of the Titus.

It was nice to see the Prime Time Players turn in another strong performance after years of being considers just another team. They've shown they have something to offer the division. It's just a shame they've not had the chance to work with Cesaro and Kiss, Harper and Rowan and the Usos, all three teams being afflicted by injuries. We do have a PTPs versus Lucha Dragons match to look forward to though. That could be interesting.

Backstage Paige talked about how she'd been wanting change for the Divas division for months and she's psyched to have Charlotte and Becky Lynch helping her. Lynch said they should tear the division down and rebuild the entire thing. Charlotte said they'd do with flair. I'd like weak, obvious puns to become her new gimmick.

Match three was Roman Reigns versus Bray Wyatt. One of the most interesting thing about the match was the video package that explained why it was happening. Mostly because it highlighted how weird the rivalry between the two is. Wyatt started off by talking about how it should have been him that won Money in the Bank, which made sense because wrestlers should want to win that as it gives them a world title match with a practically guaranteed victory. That he'd be jealous of Reigns being in the match and cost him the win made sense. What didn't make sense was that the feud quickly degenerated into mid-90's level Undertaker-esque mind games, complete with doppelgangers, promos about loved ones, and the apparent ability to teleport.

I like the Wyatt character and I'm not averse to Reigns as a top guy but none of this has done either man any favours.

Do you care? Do I? Who even knows anymore...

The match was slow and featured little to hold attention. Reigns started off by lumping Wyatt but had the tables turned on him with a punch to the mouth from the outside. From there 'The Eater of Worlds' controlled a brawl around ringside for several minutes, the highlight of which was him screeching with laughter at the Spanish announce team. Reigns would eventually make a comeback after being trapped in a sleeper for what felt like five minutes, battering 'The New Face of Fear' with right hands, clotheslines and other assorted basic power moves.

Reigns went for the Drive-By (the awful name for his running drop kick) but got caught with a clothesline by Wyatt. After giving Reigns a senton on the outside Wyatt rolled Reigns back into the ring and continued to work him over. Reigns would fight back, allowing the two to exchange signature moves and finishers in what was the hottest portion of the match and should have been the finishing sequence. Instead they had Wyatt kick out of a Superman punch, counter a spear with a kick to the face, and floor Reigns with a right hand for a two count before both men took a breather and the match continued.

The actual finish saw a lad in a hoodie jump the barrier and shove Reigns into a ring post as he was throwing chairs into the ring. Wyatt then hit him with Sister Abigail in the ring and pinned him. The hooded lad then joined Wyatt and revealed himself as Luke Harper. While run-in finishes are never ideal I was okay with this one. The Wyatt Family should never have been broken up. Putting them back together is the most sensible thing that could have been done.

After a SummerSlam hype video and a shot of the St Louis Cardinals (a team I care so little about I can't even be bothered to Google what they play) we got a segment of Jojo interviewing Beautiful and Dangerous (geddit? Because it spells BAD!) backstage. Jojo asked if they'd had trouble picking a representative for the triple threat. Naomi went the basic heel route and asked if Jojo was implying BAD were trouble. She then told us the strengths of each member: Tamina's the muscle, Naomi's the razzle and the dazzle (whatever that's supposed to mean), and Sasha's the NXT women's champion, which was presumably Naomi's backhanded way of admitting Banks is the best wrestler of the trio (because she is). Banks basically said she'd show what she was all about in the match. The three then wandered off and went straight into their entrance.

Your brand new Divas division.

Banks and Charlotte represented their teams. Nikki Bella teased that she'd wrestle for Team Bella before telling the crowd "Not tonight" and leaving the ring. It would be Brie that wrestled for the Bellas. In my opinion Alicia Fox would have been the best choice form that team in terms of wrestling ability. I suspect WWE wanted an actual Bella in the match though.

The match was essentially another Charlotte versus Sasha Banks match with Brie interfering every so often. The NXT girls were pleasingly over. The audience reacted strongly to Charlotte's Flair mannerisms and broke into a "Like a boss!" chant when Banks was in control. The match got over ten minutes and held the crowd's attention with solid wrestling work (mostly between Charlotte and Banks), high spots (mostly in the form of dives out of the ring), and by allowing everyone involved (including those at ringside) to get across something of their character. Charlotte won with the figure eight leg lock on Brie after Brie had broken up a Bank Statement on Charlotte.

The penultimate match (not the semi-event slot, as you'll read below) was Kevin Owens versus John Cena for Cena's United States championship. Owens was the heavy favourite with the live crowd, just as he had been in the previous two meetings. Both lads put on a great match, just as they had in their previous two meetings. Highlights included: Owens catching Cena as he attemptd a cross body block and giving him a version of the World's Strongest Slam; Owens rolling out of the way of the Five Knuckle Shuffle setup and luring Cena into position for a Swanton bomb, only to be met with knees; Owens stealing the Five Knuckle Shuffle for himself; Owens reversing the springboard Stunner into a German suplex; Owens' second rope fisherman buster; Cena reversing the pop-up power bomb into a hurricanrana; Owens hitting an AA and applying the STF; and Owens taking a springboard Stunner only to stay on his feet and floor the champ with a lariat.

Even though he's turning out great matches Cena's
still doing sloppy applications of the STF.

The finishing sequence saw Cena hit an Attitude Adjustment from the second rope. Despite it being the third of the match overall and WWE matches very, very rarely seeing someone kick out of a third finisher Owens kicked out. Cena sold absolute disbelief as Cole emphasised he'd not seen him looked so stunned since he lost to The Rock at WrestleMania XXVIII. Owens was deadweight as Cena pulled him up but managed to sneak in a small package for a very believable two count. Cena then applied the STF, forcing Owens to tap out.

That Owens lost was disappointing. But he was kept strong in defeat, fighting against the STF and being allowed to kick out of the AA three times. It verges on amazing that Cena has been this good in 2015. It just shows that if he feels he has something to prove against someone he'll work hard to produce a cracking match. That's three match of the year contenders he's had with Owens now, in addition to the various TV matches he's had with Sami Zayn, Cesaro, Dean Ambrose and others. I wouldn't mind Owens v Cena IV at SummerSlam, even though this was framed as the final entry in their series.

Miz wandered out to the ring after that, just as Cole and company were talking about Ryback being pulled from his scheduled title defence due to a staph infection. 'The Awesome One' ran down 'The Big Guy' for getting injured and depriving him of his championship victory. He proclaimed himself the toughest man in the building and urged Big Show to retire, prompting 'The World's Largest Athlete' to waddle out to the ring. Miz tried sweet talking him but got a KO punch for his trouble. The audience enjoyed that. I was just happy that the segment was kept short.

Which just left the WWE world championship match, Seth Rollins defending against Brock Lesnar. Everything immediately before the match, the hype video, the entrances, was excellent, perfectly building anticipation for the big fight. At the bell Lesnar rushed Rollins into a corner and hit him with shoulder tackles. Rollins managed to slip away and left the ring. 'The Pain' followed him and got caught with punches as he rolled back in. He shrugged those off and tried a suplex. Rollins clenched the ropes and got in some well-placed kicks on the challenger. He headed to the top rope and launched himself off, hoping to daze the big man.

Suplex city. Population; Seth Rollins.

It didn't work. He got caught. And then the suplexes began. Rollins absorbed five German suplexes before he rolled outside the ring, grabbed the title belt ad tried to leave through the crowd. Lesnar leapt out of the ring, launched himself over the crowd barrier and through Rollins back into the ring.

Rollins took another German suplex and some elbow strikes before reversing a suplex and wobbling Lesnar with a super kick and some strikes of his won, all aimed at the hamstring. Lesnar was taken down to his knees and took four super kicks as he staggered back up. The champ tried for a Pedigree but Lesnar turned it into an F5 attempt.

Rollins escaped that and kneed 'The Beast' out of the ring, following him out with a suicide dive. He returned to the ring to go for a second but Lesnar slipped in after him and met him with a belly-to-belly suplex off the ropes, Rollins' seventh suplex overall. Lesnar hit five more German suplexes on Rollins. Rollins responded by slapping Lesnar. Lesnar smirked and gave Rollins (unsurprisingly) another German suplex.

After that Lesnar scooped Rollins up and blasted him with an F5. The count went as far as two before the lights cut out and a gong sounded.

Yes, he first ever singles match between Brock Lesnar and Seth Rollins was interrupted by the return of the fifty-year-old Undertaker.

To his credit Lesnar sold the appearance like The Undertaker was the scariest sight he'd ever seen. That was the best approach to take but considering his standing within the company there was no guarantee he'd do it. He had, after all, beaten 'The Dead Man' with relative ease in their last encounter a year and a half earlier and been on a tear ever since. If anyone on the roster could justifiably stare down 'Taker and treat him like a washed up has-been it was Lesnar. Not doing so retained the air of credibility that's needed for whatever Undertaer does next.

Still over after all these years.

Based on what we see next that seems like a rematch with Lesnar at SummerSlam. 'Taker went for a choke slam. Lesnar escaped and went for an F5. Undertaker escaped that, kicked Lesnar low, and gave him both a choke slam and a Tombstone piledriver. He went to leave but returned to hit a second Tombstone when Lesnar dragged himself up to his feet. The response was wild, but a few boos stood out amongst the pro-Undertaker cheers and chants.

The show went off the air with Undertaker marching backstage and Heyman tending to Brock Lesnar in the ring. The fate of Seth Rollins was left unknown.

As a show Battleground was pretty good, on the whole. The main event was great and although it went to a non-finish it did so for the right reasons and provided something that satisfied in place of a hot match. Owens v Cena III was every bit as good as their previous two encounters, the Divas were finally presented as a serious division again on pay-per-view, and the tag titles were attached to another enjoyable match. There were less  good additions like Orton v Sheamus and Wyatt v Reigns but they were never actively bad. It stopped short of being a top notch show but it was a highly enjoyable couple of hours.

***

Results summary:

Randy Orton defeated Sheamus
The Prime Time Players defeated New Day to retain the tag team championship
Bray Wyatt defeated Roman Reigns
Charlotte defeated Brie Bella and Sasha Banks
John Cena defeated Kevin Owens to retain the United States championship
Brock Lesnar v Seth Rollins went to a non-finish when The Undertaker returned and attacked Lesnar