Battleground (2013)

Battleground (2013)
File:WWE Battleground 2013 poster.jpg Promotional poster featuring Ryback
Tagline(s)	Unlimited Energy
Theme song(s)	"The Mighty Fall" by Fall Out Boy feat. Big Sean
Information
Promotion	WWE
Date	October 6, 2013
Attendance	11,700
Venue	First Niagara Center
City	Buffalo, New York
Pay-per-view chronology
Night of Champions (2013) Battleground (2013) Hell in a Cell (2013)
Battleground chronology
First Battleground (2013) Battleground (2014)

Battleground (2013) was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by WWE. It took place on October 6, 2013 at the First Niagara Center in Buffalo, New York. This pay-per-view was announced on the April 8, 2013 Raw as the new October WWE pay-per-view, a week after Over the Limit. This was the first annual Battleground event. The event received 114,000 buys worldwide, making it the second lowest number (to the ECW December to Dismember) in the last 17 years. The buy rate was down from the last Over the Limit event of 167,000.

Background

See also: Professional wrestling

Battleground featured eight professional wrestling matches and one pre-show match that involved wrestlers from pre-existing feuds, plots, and storylines that played out on WWE's primary television programs Raw and SmackDown. Wrestlers portrayed villains, heroes, or less distinguishable characters in the scripted events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches.

After defeating Randy Orton at Night of Champions for the WWE Championship, Daniel Bryan was stripped of the title after referee Scott Armstrong admitted to a fast 3-count. However, Triple H did not give Orton the title back since he and his wife Stephanie McMahon believed that Orton's performance at Night of Champions was not what they wanted the face of the WWE to be, stating that they wanted the more ruthless Orton that they feuded with previously. It was then announced that Bryan and Orton would face off once more for the vacant championship.

At Night of Champions Rob Van Dam faced the champion Alberto Del Rio for the World Heavyweight Championship in which Van Dam won by disqualification. On the September 20 episode of SmackDown, Triple H gave Van Dam a rematch with Del Rio at Battleground for the World Heavyweight Championship. Immediately afterwards, Del Rio would proceed to viciously assault Van Dam backstage. The next week, the match was made as a Hardcore match. On the October 4 episode of SmackDown, Van Dam defeated Fandango via disqualification, but after the match, Van Dam placed a trash can at Fandango's face, and hit him with a Van Terminator. Later that night, Van Dam sent the broken trash can to Del Rio as a "gift" for him.

CM Punk began feuding with Paul Heyman in July after Heyman cost him the Money in the Bank ladder match for a WWE Championship contract at Money in the Bank (due to Punk earlier telling Heyman he didn't want him to be his manager). This resulted in Punk fighting and losing to Brock Lesnar at SummerSlam. Punk continued to feud with Heyman and his other client, Curtis Axel resulting in a handicap elimination match at Night of Champions. After Axel was eliminated, Punk handcuffed and beat down Heyman much like Heyman had done to him a couple of weeks prior on Raw. However, Ryback made the save, putting Punk through a table and costing him the match. On the September 23 episode of Raw, it was announced that Punk would face Ryback at Battleground.

Also on September 23, Brie Bella pinned AJ Lee during a 10-diva tag team match, leading to Brie receiving a match for AJ's Divas Championship at the pay-per-view.

On the September 30 episode of Raw, Cody Rhodes (who had weeks earlier been fired from WWE in part due to perceived insubordination by Triple H) and Goldust (who was lobbying to get his younger brother's job back) were given a non-title tag team match against WWE Tag Team Champions of The Shield (Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns) by Triple H and Stephanie McMahon; if the Rhodes brothers had won, they would got their jobs back. If the Shield had won, Goldust and Cody's father Dusty Rhodes would have been fired from his position as an NXT trainer, and the Rhodes Family would be banned from WWE.

The same night, R-Truth defeated Intercontinental Champion Curtis Axel in a non-title match. Two nights later on Main Event, it was announced that Truth would get a title match against Axel at Battleground.

On the September 30 Raw and the October 4 SmackDown, Bray Wyatt delivered cryptic messages to Kofi Kingston after Kingston's matches, leading to a match between them at the pay-per-view.

Another scheduled match featured Santino Marella teaming with The Great Khali to take on The Real Americans (Antonio Cesaro and Jack Swagger) in a tag team match.

Event

The pre-show included the Kickoff panel of Josh Mathews, Tensai, The Miz and Titus O’Neil previewing the matches. Also on the Kickoff show, Dolph Ziggler defeated Damien Sandow after hitting the Zig-Zag for the win.

Miscellaneous

The English commentators were Michael Cole, Jerry Lawler and John "Bradshaw" Layfield while there were also Spanish and German commentators ringside. Lilian Garcia and Justin Roberts were ring announcers.

Preliminary matches

The first match of the night saw Alberto Del Rio defending the World Heavyweight Championship against Rob Van Dam. Del Rio strikes first and beats RVD down to the mat. Del Rio goes under the ring but RVD baseball slides and kicks him into the barrier. RVD follows and works Del Rio over on the floor, with a moonsault off the barrier. RVD springboards in with a DDT and drops Del Rio on the chair. Del Rio turns it around with a Backstabber. Del Rio hits with chair shots to the back. Del Rio wedges a chair into the turnbuckles but turns around to a big kick from RVD. RVD brings a ladder from under the ring. Del Rio grabs the ladder and they struggle for it. RVD comes back in the ring with a thrust kick from the top. RVD stands the ladder up in the corner. RVD whips Del Rio into the ladder again and he follows up with a heel kick. RVD goes for a catapult off of the ladder but it’s blocked. Del Rio lands a big enziguri. Del Rio gets a trash can from under the ring and beats RVD with it. Del Rio comes off the second rope with the trash can but RVD kicks it into his face. RVD lays the ladder flat on the mat in front of the turnbuckles and slams Del Rio on top of it. RVD with a split legged moonsault on top of Del Rio and the ladder. RVD goes for Rolling Thunder on top of it but Del Rio moves and RVD lands badly. Del Rio goes for the cross armbreaker and locks it in. Ricardo runs in and nails Del Rio with the bucket, breaking the hold. Del Rio tosses RVD out to the floor and he lands on a trash can. Ricardo hands him the bucket but stops and kicks him below the belt. Ricardo nails Del Rio with the bucket and they go to the floor. Del Rio throws Ricardo hard into the barrier, and lays him out with a big kick. Del Rio falls to the floor with the ladder on top of him. RVD nails a splash from the apron to Del Rio and the ladder. RVD goes to the top with the chair for a Van Terminator across the ring. Del Rio moves and RVD lands hard. Del Rio grabs the chair and sets it up. RVD blocks him with a jawbreaker. RVD charges but Del Rio hits a drop toe hold, sending RVD face first into the chair. Del Rio with a superkick to the face. Del Rio wraps RVD’s arm in the chair and stomps away. Del Rio applies the cross armbreaker with the chair still wrapped around RVD’s arm and RVD taps out for the win.

The second match of the night was a Tag team match between the team of The Great Khali and Santino Marella vs. The Real Americans. Santino starts things off with Swagger. Swagger takes Santino to the mat. They lock up again and Swagger applies another headlock. Santino scoop slams Swagger and pulls out the Cobra. Swagger charges and gets hip tossed. Santino goes for the Cobra but Swagger jumps to the floor. Cesaro tags in and goes to work on Santino. Cesaro keeps control of Santino. Swagger comes back in for more offense on Santino. Santino manages to turn it around with a back drop on Swagger. Khali and Cesaro tag in. Khali unloads on Cesaro and takes him to the corner. Khali with huge elbows and chops to the chest. Khali nails the big overhead chop on Cesaro but Swagger breaks the pin at 2. Khali sends Swagger to the floor with a big chop to the head. Cesaro and Khali go at it. Cesaro takes his leg out. Cesaro does the very impressive Cesaro Swing on Khali for the pin and the win.

The third match was Curtis Axel defending the WWE Intercontinental Championship against R-truth. Axel won by hitting Hangman's facebuster, thus retaining his title.

The fourth match was AJ Lee defending the WWE Divas Championship against Brie Bella. Brie unloads on AJ and takes her to the mat. Tamina gets in the way and won’t let Brie to AJ. Brie chases AJ back into the ring, blocks her. Brie takes AJ to the corner with kicks and beats her down. AJ turns things around and sends Brie out to the floor. AJ stomps away in the corner some more before showing off. She charges in the corner and misses. Brie tries for a comeback but AJ unloads on her arm. AJ with an armbar as Nikki Bella cheers her sister on from ringside. AJ turns around to a dropkick from Brie, followed by a roll up. Brie with a clothesline and another dropkick, and another. Brie with a backbreaker over her knee for another 2 count. Tamina starts attacking Nikki at ringside. She shoves Nikki face first into the apron, distracting Brie. Brie goes to save her sister but AJ rolls her up from behind for the win.

The fifth match was a Tag team match between the team of Cody Rhodes and Goldust vs. The Shield, with Rhodes family's job on the line. Cody starts things out with Rollins. Reigns comes in and gets sent to the corner where Goldust gets some shots in. Goldust tags in and they double team Reigns but Rollins pulls him to safety. They walk towards Dusty at ringside with a 3 on 3 stare down. Goldust runs over Reigns and tags in Cody for a little double teaming. Rollins tags in and keeps Cody down in The Shield’s corner. Rhodes turns it around and takes Rollins to another corner for a beatdown. Rollins comes in off the top with some double teaming as they keep Cody in their corner again. Cody looks to fight them both off but Rollins takes him to the top. Cody fights Rollins and Reigns off. He nails a big moonsault on Rollins. Goldust and Reigns come in on tags. Goldust unloads and hits the big right hand. Goldust with an atomic drop and a kick to the face. Goldust mounts Reigns with right hands in the corner now. Reigns misses a splash in the corner. Goldust misses a clothesline and flies out to the ring in front of Rollins and Ambrose. Cody comes over to even things up. Goldust makes it back in at the 9 count. Reigns tags in, and keeps Goldust grounded with a headlock. Goldust finally fights out Reigns hits a big flying clothesline. Reigns drags Goldust back to their corner and tags in Rollins for more offense on Goldust. He runs the ropes but Goldust catches him in a big powerslam. Cody finally tags in and goes at it with Rollins with a springboard dropkick. Reigns goes down. Cody charges in the corner but Rollins blocks him. Cody with a muscle buster out of the corner. Cody covers for 2 as Reigns breaks the pin. Goldust takes out Reigns but Reigns hits Goldust and sends him to the floor. Cody with a Disaster Kick on Reigns. Cody clotheslines Reigns to the floor. Ambrose gets up but Cody knocks him off the apron. Ambrose distracts Cody, allowing Rollins to attack from behind. Dusty approaches Ambrose and throws his hat at him. Dusty hits a right hand and a bionic elbow on Ambrose, as Ambrose retreats from Dusty. Goldust stops Reigns from attacking Dusty on the floor. Rollins with a roll up on Cody for 2. Cody nails Cross Rhodes for the win.

The sixth match was Bray Wyatt facing off against Kofi Kingston, which Wyatt won after hitting the Sister Abigail for the win.

The seventh match was CM Punk facing off against new Paul Heyman Guy, Ryback. They lock up and go at it, going to the corner. They lock up again and Ryback nails shoulder thrusts in the corner. Punk comes back with kicks and sends Ryback out to the floor. They end back up on the floor. Punk goes on top of the barrier and leaps off but Ryback catches him. Punk counters and sends Ryback into the ring post. Punk with kicks until Ryback sends him face first into the turnbuckles. Ryback presses Punk from the top to the mat. Ryback slides Punk across the ring and into the bottom of the ring post. Ryback with more offense including chops in the corner. Punk tries to make a comeback but Ryback runs over him. Ryback suplexes Punk and drops him on the top rope before kicking him to the apron. Ryback is still in control as he taunts Punk and slaps him around. Punk turns it around and unloads with elbows. Ryback charges but misses in the corner. He misses again and hits the ring post. Punk comes back with kicks. Punk comes back with a swinging neckbreaker and calls for GTS. Heyman takes a mic at ringside and introduces himself, distracting Punk. Heyman brags about pinning Punk and says he’s the best in the world. Punk turns around to Ryback running over him. Ryback nails a powerbomb for a close 2 count. Ryback goes for it but Punk slides out and drops Ryback with part of a roundhouse kick. Punk misses the next high knee and Ryback grabs him in mid-air. Punk counters and takes Ryback down. Punk goes for GTS but Ryback fights out with elbows. Ryback works Punk over on the ropes now. Heyman pulls a kendo stick out from under the ring and the referee catches him. Punk takes advantage of the referee being distracted and hits a low blow on Ryback for the win.

Main Event

The main event was Daniel Bryan facing of against Randy Orton for the vacant WWE Championship. Bryan takes Orton to the mat first and they trade holds. Bryan with a pin attempt. Orton drops Bryan with a shoulder. More back and forth with holds on the mat. Bryan unloads on Orton with forearms on the mat while he has him in a submission. Bryan climbs up for a superplex but Orton crotches him on the top rope. Orton turns it around and mounts Bryan in the corner with right hands. Orton runs into a big boot but catches Bryan with a powerslam. Orton ends up on the floor and Bryan leaps out with a suicide dive. Bryan with kicks up against the barrier. Bryan whips Orton hard into the barrier and follows up with a big dropkick. Bryan goes up top but Orton catches him in a powerbomb. Orton applies a Boston crab. Bryan crawls for the ropes but Orton pulls him back to the center of the ring. Bryan goes for the Yes Lock but Orton makes it to the ropes. Bryan slides out of the ring but Orton counters and sends him into the steps. Orton takes Bryan back to the top for a superplex. Bryan headbutts Orton back to the mat. Orton goes right back and crotches Bryan on the top. Orton climbs back up and nails the superplex. They get up and go at it, trading shots in the middle of the ring. Bryan tries to suplex Orton in from the apron but Orton counters and suplexes Bryan hard out to the floor. Orton takes apart the Spanish announcers table. Orton goes to powerbomb Bryan through it but Bryan slides out and unloads with kicks. Bryan sends Orton into the steel steps. Bryan climbs to the top and nails the big headbutt. Bryan hits two more dropkicks in the corner and Orton goes down. Bryan with kicks to the chest as Orton is on his knees. Orton blocks the roundhouse kick and suplexes Bryan over his head. Orton nails the second rope draping DDT and readies for the RKO. Bryan blocks the RKO. Orton ducks a kick and rolls Bryan up for 2. Bryan counters and applies the Yes Lock. Big Show’s music hits and out he comes running to the ring. Show pulls the referee to the floor. Bryan breaks the hold and looks at Show in shock. Bryan asks Show what he’s doing. Show responds with a knockout punch through the ropes. Brad Maddox appears on the stage and calls out referee Scott Armstrong. He comes in to count the pin but Show pulls him out of the ring. Show knocks out Armstrong with a punch. Show enters the ring and has words with Orton. Show drops Orton with a knockout punch. The event goes off the air with Orton and Bryan still down.

Aftermath

The next night on Raw, Brad Maddox announced that Randy Orton would face Daniel Bryan once again at Hell in a Cell in a Hell in a Cell match with a special guest referee. The WWE Universe was allowed to choose amongst Booker T, Bob Backlund and Shawn Michaels. Michaels won the vote. Orton won the match and the title after Michaels superkicked Bryan.

Stephanie McMahon fired Big Show after knocking out Bryan and Orton. Later that night, he knocked out Triple H. On the October 18 episode of SmackDown, Show knocked out Raw General Manager, Brad Maddox. On the October 21 episode of Raw, he brought a truck to the arena to stop The Authority and Orton, and the following week, he knocked him out because of the bankruptcy of The Authority. Michael Cole interviewed Triple H that Big Show would be banned from WWE. On the November 4 episode of Raw, Show got his job back and would face Orton for the WWE Championship at Survivor Series, which Orton won.

With Rob Van Dam out of the title picture, Alberto Del Rio tried to coerce Vickie Guerrero to make him the "face of the WWE" due to the fact he was the only active major champion. Later that night, Del Rio went to compete in a match against Ricardo Rodriguez. Vickie would then announce that Del Rio must defend the World Heavyweight Championship against John Cena, who had been out of action since SummerSlam due to an elbow injury. He attacked Rodriguez with a steel chair after he won the match. Del Rio lost the title to Cena at Hell in a Cell.

CM Punk would continue his feud with Paul Heyman and Ryback once again after he defeated the latter due to a low blow, which the referee never saw because Heyman diverted the latter's attention by taking out a kendo stick from under the ring and attempt to strike Punk. On October 9, WWE.com announced that CM Punk would face Ryback again in a rematch at Hell in a Cell. On the October 14 episode of Raw, Heyman complained to General Manager Brad Maddox that Punk used a low blow to defeat Ryback while the referee's back was turned, so Maddox decided to have a Beat the Clock challenge in which Ryback would face R-Truth, then CM Punk would face Curtis Axel, where whoever won their match in the fastest time (assuming Ryback or Punk would win), could then pick the stipulation at Hell in a Cell. Ryback defeated Truth in 5:44, and Punk pinned Axel in 5:33, thus Punk was able to beat the clock and pick the stipulation. Punk chose to fight both Ryback and Heyman in a Hell in a Cell handicap match. Punk won the match and attacked Heyman on the top of the cell. This was Punk's last singles match on pay-per-view, as on January 26, 2014, after the Royal Rumble, he left WWE and later retired from professional wrestling.

Cody Rhodes and Goldust, who fought The Shield (Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns) to a winning effort at Battleground (and saving Dusty Rhodes job as a NXT trainer, including their own), challenged the duo again for the WWE Tag Team Championship in a no disqualification tag team match. Rhodes and Goldust would finally defeat The Shield due to Big Show knocking out Rollins and Reigns, and the Rhodes Brothers became the new WWE Tag Team Champions.

AJ Lee was legitimately sent home from the following night's Raw after she showed signs of a concussion stemming from when her head struck a ring post during her title defense at Battleground. On the October 18 episode of SmackDown, Brie Bella defeated Lee in a non-title singles match and three days later on Raw, she along with her sister Nikki defeated AJ and Tamina Snuka in a divas tag team match with Brie pinning AJ again, earning Brie a Divas Championship match at Hell in a Cell.

Reception

Battleground was heavily criticized by critics and fans alike. Mike Johnson, from PWInsider, said that "WWE failed that night" and "really owes their audience an apology". James Cadwell, from PWTorch, said that the Intercontinental Championship match and Punk-Ryback were "house show level". He continued: "WWE had to put the 'feel-good' Rhodes Family Victory on the PPV to throw viewers a bone, but ending a title match for the vacant WWE Title without a finish and putting the spotlight on Big Show isn't going to build a lot of goodwill with an audience that is checking out of Raw right now. Overall, the main event was a notch or two below last month's offering. They just never moved into second gear". The event was voted by the Wrestling Observer Newsletter as the worst major wrestling show of 2013.

Results

No.	Results	Stipulations	Times
1P	Dolph Ziggler defeated Damien Sandow	Singles match	10:08
2	Alberto Del Rio (c) defeated Rob Van Dam (with Ricardo Rodriguez)	Hardcore match for the World Heavyweight Championship	16:04
3	The Real Americans (Antonio Cesaro and Jack Swagger) (with Zeb Colter) defeated Santino Marella and The Great Khali (with Hornswoggle)	Tag team match	07:11
4	Curtis Axel (c) (with Paul Heyman) defeated R-Truth	Singles match for the WWE Intercontinental Championship	07:36
5	AJ Lee (c) (with Tamina Snuka) defeated Brie Bella (with Nikki Bella)	Singles match for the WWE Divas Championship	06:37
6	Cody Rhodes and Goldust (with Dusty Rhodes) defeated The Shield (Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns) (with Dean Ambrose)	Tag team match Since Cody and Goldust won, they were reinstated by WWE. Had The Shield won, Dusty would lose his job as an NXT trainer and the Rhodes family would be terminated from WWE.	13:51
7	Bray Wyatt (with Luke Harper and Erick Rowan) defeated Kofi Kingston	Singles match	08:27
8	CM Punk defeated Ryback (with Paul Heyman)	Singles match	14:48
9	Daniel Bryan vs. Randy Orton ended in a no contest	Singles match for the vacant WWE Championship	23:49
(c) – refers to the champion(s) heading into the match P – indicates the match took place on the pre-show

See also

• List of WWE pay-per-view events

External links

• Battleground Website