JamieStevenson Posted June 28, 2017 Share Posted June 28, 2017 We're not far off the biggest event of the summer, SummerSlam. But first we have a SmackDown exclusive PPV taking place on the 23rd July 2017, Battleground. This will follow the 1 hour Pre-Show, 3 hour main card format, live on the WWE Network. For ourselves that means Midnight for the Pre-Show and a 1AM start for the main card. This will take place at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. This will be the 5th Battleground PPV. SmackDown have a lot of making up to do after a disappointing Money in the Bank show. Confirmed Matches: Tye Dillinger vs Aiden English (Kickoff Match). Sami Zayn vs Mike Kanellis. Charlotte Flair vs Natalya vs Lana vs Tamina vs Becky Lynch in a Fatal-5-Way Elimination Match to become the #1 Contender for the WWE SmackDown Women's Championship. Shinsuke Nakamura vs Baron Corbin. The Usos (C) vs The New Day for the WWE SmackDown Tag Team Championship. John Cena vs Rusev in a Flag Match. AJ Styles (C) vs Kevin Owens for the WWE United States Championship. Jinder Mahal (C) vs Randy Orton in a Punjabi Prison Match for the WWE Championship. Possible Matches: Breezango vs Mystery Attackers. John Cena had been on hiatus from WWE since WrestleMania 33. On the June 6th Episode of SmackDown Live it was announced that John Cena would make his return on the Independence Day episode. It was announced Cena would be a free agent, upon his return he confirmed he'd be appearing for both the Raw and SmackDown brands. He was then interrupted by Rusev, making his first appearance for the SmackDown brand since transferring during the Superstar Shake-Up.. Rusev complained that he did not receive any commercials for his eventual return, unlike Cena, who did. He said that the "American Dream" and the United States were a joke, after which, Cena challenged Rusev to a Flag Match. Rusev accepted and General Manager Daniel Bryan scheduled the match for Battleground. The following week, Rusev attacked Cena after Cena had accepted AJ Styles' U.S. Championship Open Challenge. On the go home SmackDown Live, Cena gave a patriotic speech about the United States and what the U.S. flag meant to the country. He said that at Battleground, the U.S. flag would fly high, after which, Cena retrieved the flag waved it, but was attacked by Rusev, who applied the Accolade on Cena. Cena briefly tried to fight out of it bu the hold overwhelmed him and was left lying in the ring. The returning New Day faced The Usos at the Money in the Bank PPV. In what was a very good back and forth match, The Usos retreated into the crowd and accepted a countout loss, therefore remaining WWE SmackDown Tag Team Champions. On the following SmackDown Live, The New Day taunted The Usos and Big E defeated Jimmy Uso. On the June 27th episode of SmackDown Live, The Usos defeated The Hype Bros to prevent them from becoming the new number 1 contenders for the WWE SmackDown Tag Team Championship. The New Day came out after the match to challenge The Usos to a rematch at Battleground, which was accepted. On the July 4th episode of SmackDown Live, The New Day and The Usos had a rap battle hosted by rapper Wale. The New Day won after The Usos took offense and attacked The New Day. There were some great lines in this and it's well worth a watch. Over the next two weeks, the teams traded wins in singles matches where Woods defeated Jey and Jimmy defeated Kingston. Baron Corbin attacked Shunsuke Nakamura during his entrance for the Money in the Bank Ladder Match. Nakamura missed most of the match before making a miraculous comeback. Corbin went on to win the match and the Money in the Bank briefcase. On the June 27th episode of SmackDown Live, Baron Corbin defeated Sami Zayn. Nakamura was asked backstage if he wanted to get his hands on Corbin one-on-one. Nakamura acknowledged that Corbin is dangerous but suggested that he was scared of him and that's why he attacked him. The following week as Nakamura was about to be interviewed again, Corbin attacked him and the pair came to blows. Corbin got the better of him before officials separated them. The MITB winner told Nakamura that he was not scared of him at all. Shunsuke Nakamura was scheduled to face Baron Corbin on the July 11th episode of SmackDown Live but the match didn't get started as the pair brawled. The fought among the fans and just outside the ring before the referees finally broke it up. Their match was then rescheduled to take place at the Battleground PPV. On the go home episode of SmackDown Live, in typical fashion Baron Corbin attacked Shunsuke Nakamura during his entrance before a tag team match. AJ Styles and Kevin Owens joined them on the stage for a brief brawl before it broke up and the match went ahead. Owens and Corbin won the match after Owens hit Styles with a Pop-Up Powerbomb. The SmackDown Women's Division has hit hard times with the booking and it isn't getting any better. Naomi squashed Lana for 3 weeks straight and it was clear there is no number 1 contender. On the July 11th episode of SmackDown Live, Naomi went to see Commissioner Shane McMahon to see who her next challenger would be and stated it better not be Lana. Charlotte Flair came into the office and agreed, then suddenly all of the women appeared looking for their shot. Shane McMahon then booked a Fatal-5-Way Elimination Match at Battleground with the winner facing Naomi at SummerSlam. Tensions arise between the women and Shane booked a tag team match for later in the show. Tamina and Natalya defeated Charlotte Flair and Becky Lynch. On the go home episode of SmackDown Live, Shane just happened to have all of the women in his office again and said he needed to make a match for tonight. After a lot of bickering nonsense between the 5 women featured in Sunday's match, finally Becky Lynch vs Charlotte Flair was booked. Lynch won a competitive match via Dis-Arm-Her and the pair embraced after the match showing respect and friendship. On the June 13th episode of SmackDown Live, Fandango was pretty exited to show off his male romper to his partner Tyler Breeze. Only to find him on the ground after being attacked. At Money in the Bank they received a clue as to who had attacked them during their Fashion Files segment. They were told be meet their attackers in the ring. It was revealed to be The Ascension and Breezango went on to defeat them. On the June 27th episode of SmackDown Live, Breezango interrogated The Ascension during Fashion Vice. The Ascension denied actually attacking Breezango and only showed at Money on the Bank just get to get a spot on the card. The office was trashed whilst both teams were in the room together, further suggesting that The Ascension were the attackers. Two weeks later Breezango turned into Texas Rangers to continue their case, this time questioning The Hype Bros if they had any involvement in Tyler Breeze's attack. The attack happened to be on the night of Zack Ryder's return to SmackDown Live. Mojo stated it wasn't them as they wouldn't do anything so shady. A bit of tension between the Hype Bros arises as Ryder reminds Mojo of his shady actions last week in eliminating his partner during the Independence Day Battle Royal. Mojo defended himself by saying it was every man for himself. Closing the segment it appears the horse Fandango rode in on has been stolen. On the go home episode of SmackDown Live, Breezango were still searching for the truth about the attack. A delivery man had a package for them to sign for. Inside the package was the head of the horse that Fandango had last week and a note that simply said BATTLEGROUND. Fandango said this will all end on Sunday. It's unclear whether this is just a simple reveal or if there will be a match but hopefully worth tuning in for. The Kickoff match is once again Tye Dillinger taking on Aiden English. There's not really been any interaction between the two since their last encounter at Money in the Bank. No real storyline here at all and not a very exciting match up but if you're a fan of Tye Dillinger you might watch it. The official theme of Battleground 2017 is Whatever It Takes by Imagine Dragons, which is from the new album Evolve. You can find it on all of the usual platforms, single and album out now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NotThePars Posted June 28, 2017 Share Posted June 28, 2017 Hard to call the WWE Championship match. You'd expect Orton to pick up the win at least once but at the same time can WWE really resist Big Match John vanquishing another disrespectful foreigner? At the same time I have this nagging feeling Orton might be trading a few titles for him to go up against Cena for a winner takes all 17th world title win at the next Mania. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dazzle Posted June 28, 2017 Share Posted June 28, 2017 1 hour ago, NotThePars said: Hard to call the WWE Championship match. You'd expect Orton to pick up the win at least once but at the same time can WWE really resist Big Match John vanquishing another disrespectful foreigner? At the same time I have this nagging feeling Orton might be trading a few titles for him to go up against Cena for a winner takes all 17th world title win at the next Mania. I feel like we're heading in that direction as well, I said a while back I see Orton winning here and Corbin cashing in pretty quickly meaning Orton has 14 and chasing 15. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NotThePars Posted June 28, 2017 Share Posted June 28, 2017 I feel like we're heading in that direction as well, I said a while back I see Orton winning here and Corbin cashing in pretty quickly meaning Orton has 14 and chasing 15. Orton's spoken a couple of times about facing Cena again in the news the past few months. I guess it'll become clearer when we see if Reigns and Lesnar will be held back for Wrestlemania. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
forameus Posted June 29, 2017 Share Posted June 29, 2017 Nah, Orton's not winning. Not that it made much sense to put it on Mahal to begin with, but would it make sense to have Orton win it on what is his 103rd rematch? Have Orton put him over as best he can and let both move on to something different. Even if that is Cena. Think he could pull a pretty decent match out of Mahal, and I wouldn't be entirely against them having him get the record at Summerslam. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NotThePars Posted July 1, 2017 Share Posted July 1, 2017 But Mahal's made it so PERSONAL goddammit. And to a proud American like Randy no less. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamieStevenson Posted July 5, 2017 Author Share Posted July 5, 2017 Two of the worst stipulations on the same show. Count me in folks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamieStevenson Posted July 12, 2017 Author Share Posted July 12, 2017 A women's fatal-5-way? We've only seen that 15 times since the brand split. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamieStevenson Posted July 18, 2017 Author Share Posted July 18, 2017 Jerry Lawler hosting the post-Battleground Talking Smack . That's awful patter, Renee should just resign now there's nothing left for her. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamieStevenson Posted July 19, 2017 Author Share Posted July 19, 2017 Dillinger vs English is the Kickoff match again. Breezango's attackers will be revealed on the show, unclear whether this is just a reveal or a match. I'll be fully updating this thread tomorrow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
forameus Posted July 19, 2017 Share Posted July 19, 2017 12 hours ago, JamieStevenson said: Jerry Lawler hosting the post-Battleground Talking Smack . That's awful patter, Renee should just resign now there's nothing left for her. PUPPIES, JS! Assume she's being punished for being a bit pissed off at its cancellation. Can't think of any other reason it could be given that she's easily the best at that kind of role they have. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DA Baracus Posted July 19, 2017 Share Posted July 19, 2017 4 hours ago, JamieStevenson said: Dillinger vs English is the Kickoff match again. Breezango's attackers will be revealed on the show, unclear whether this is just a reveal or a match. I'll be fully updating this thread tomorrow. Wait, what? I thought the attackers were The Ascension as revealed on the last PPV? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamieStevenson Posted July 19, 2017 Author Share Posted July 19, 2017 Wait, what? I thought the attackers were The Ascension as revealed on the last PPV? Nope. They said they never attacked them and only came out that night just to be involved in a PPV match Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FifeArab Posted July 22, 2017 Share Posted July 22, 2017 Off on Monday so will watch this when I wake up. Tbh I'm not really bothered about any match. Smackdown was so good a few months ago, now it's rank. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamieStevenson Posted July 22, 2017 Author Share Posted July 22, 2017 I don't think I'm actually watching this live as I'm heading down to Blackpool first thing in the morning and don't actually have the desire to even finish my opening post in this thread. I might do Saturday night when I get back from the football but wouldn't count on it. Styles vs Owens will be great and hoping Nakamura vs Corbin will be a fun scrap. I really hope Harper & Rowan are back together on Sunday, they could do great things in the tag team division. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamieStevenson Posted July 23, 2017 Author Share Posted July 23, 2017 I'm gonna get up at 5AM to watch this before I head down south. It's going to be pish isn't it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheGoon Posted July 23, 2017 Share Posted July 23, 2017 1 hour ago, JamieStevenson said: I'm gonna get up at 5AM to watch this before I head down south. It's going to be pish isn't it? Yes, yes it is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ludo*1 Posted July 23, 2017 Share Posted July 23, 2017 I'm off tomorrow and just had a look at the card - there's literally nothing worth staying up for. AJ likely to be involved in a great match but the card looks very weak with few exceptions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheGoon Posted July 24, 2017 Share Posted July 24, 2017 8 hours ago, JamieStevenson said: I'm gonna get up at 5AM to watch this before I head down south. It's going to be pish isn't it? Go back to bed mate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YER SISTERS YER MAW Posted July 24, 2017 Share Posted July 24, 2017 Kevin Owens on 'Talking Smack' afterwards was more entertaining than the actual PPV. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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