Battleground (2015)

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Battleground (2015)
File:Battleground 2015 poster.jpg
Theme
song
(s)
"Heavy" by The Glorious Sons
Information
Promotion WWE
Sponsor(s) Mountain Dew Kickstart[1]
Date July 19, 2015
Attendance 11,000
Venue Scottrade Center
City St. Louis, Missouri
WWE Network event chronology
The Beast in the East Battleground (2015) NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn
Battleground chronology
Battleground (2014) Battleground (2015) Battleground (2016)

Battleground (2015) was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by WWE. It took place on July 19, 2015, at the Scottrade Center in the St. Louis, Missouri.[2] It was the third event under the Battleground chronology. Battleground was available for free to new subscribers on WWE's monthly subscription service, the WWE Network in over 140 countries.[3][4]

Seven matches were contested at the event, with one match on the pre-show. In the main event between WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins and Brock Lesnar ended in a disqualification, when The Undertaker made his unexpected return (and his first appearance on pay-per-view in WWE since WrestleMania 31) and attacked Lesnar. This was initially reported as a "no contest", but on the following night on Raw, Lilian Garcia announced that Brock Lesnar as the winner by disqualification, and Seth Rollins is still champion. The event received 76,000 buys (excluding WWE Network views), slightly down on the previous year's 99,000 buys.[5]

Background

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Battleground featured professional wrestling matches, involving wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds or storylines playing out on WWE's primary television programs, Raw, SmackDown and NXT. Wrestlers portrayed heroes or villains as they followed a series of events, building tensions and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches.[6][7]

At Money in the Bank, Seth Rollins defeated Dean Ambrose in a ladder match to retain his WWE World Heavyweight Championship.[8] On the June 15 episode of Raw, The Authority reinstated Brock Lesnar, who returned to the WWE and invoked his rematch clause (after losing the championship to Rollins at WrestleMania 31) to face Rollins at Battleground for the championship.[9] On the July 6 episode of Raw, Lesnar attacked Rollins' bodyguards J&J Security (Jamie Noble and Joey Mercury), breaking Noble's arm with a Kimura lock and executing a belly-to-belly suplex on Mercury onto a car's windshield. This infuriated Rollins, who said Lesnar had no respect for other people's belongings and that at Battleground, Rollins was going to burn "Suplex City" to the ground.[10] During the contract signing on the July 13 episode of Raw, Lesnar thwarted Rollins and Kane's attempt to attack him, ending with Lesnar breaking Kane's ankle with the steel steps. After Lesnar had left, Rollins proceeded to stomp on Kane's injured ankle, while shouting at him "he was a piece of crap".[11]

On the May 21 episode of SmackDown, Bray Wyatt was defeated by Dean Ambrose, after Roman Reigns interfered in the match on Ambrose's behalf by executing a Superman punch on Wyatt.[12] On the June 1 episode of Raw, Reigns defeated Wyatt to retain his spot in the Money in the Bank ladder match.[13] At Money in the Bank, during the Money in the Bank ladder match, Wyatt knocked Reigns off the ladder right before Reigns could grab the briefcase. During the event, it was announced Reigns would face Wyatt at Battleground.[8]

At Money in the Bank, Big Show defeated Intercontinental Champion Ryback by disqualification after The Miz attacked Big Show; therefore, Ryback still would retained the title.[8] On the June 15 episode of Raw, Miz defeated Big Show by countout as Big Show was distracted confronting Ryback.[9] On June 22, it was announced on WWE.com; Ryback would defend the title against Big Show and Miz in a triple threat match at the event. However, it was announced on WWE.com on July 15, Ryback has sustained an injury two days prior during his match on Raw and would not be able to defend the Intercontinental Championship at Battleground and the match was officially postponed.[14]

At Money in the Bank, The Prime Time Players defeated The New Day to win the WWE Tag Team Championship.[8] On the June 15 episode of Raw, The Prime Time Players and Neville defeated The New Day.[9] On June 22, it was announced on WWE.com, The Prime Time Players would defend the titles against The New Day at the event.

At Elimination Chamber, NXT Champion Kevin Owens defeated United States Champion John Cena.[15] At Money in the Bank, Cena defeated Owens in a rematch.[8] On the June 15 episode of Raw, Owens challenged Cena to a match at Battleground for the United States Championship.[9] On the June 22 episode of Raw, Cena accepted Owens' challenge.[16] At The Beast in the East on July 4, Owens lost the NXT Championship to Finn Bálor.[17]

At Money in the Bank, Sheamus won the Money in the Bank ladder match for a WWE World Heavyweight Championship match contract.[8] On the June 15 episode of Raw, Randy Orton, who also participated in the match, attacked Sheamus after his match against Dean Ambrose, but Sheamus later attacked Orton during his match against Kane.[9] On the July 6 episode of Raw, Orton returned and attacked Sheamus, after his match against Roman Reigns.[10] On July 13, it was announced on WWE.com, Orton would face Sheamus at the event.

At Elimination Chamber, R-Truth eliminated King Barrett during the Elimination Chamber match for the Intercontinental Championship.[15] On the Money in the Bank pre-show, Truth defeated Barrett.[18] In the following weeks, Truth mocked Barrett, wearing his royal crown and cape. On the July 6 episode of Raw, Barrett defeated Truth.[10] On the July 13 episode of Raw, Truth defeated Barrett. It was then announced, Truth would face Barrett on the Battleground Kickoff show, with Barrett's King of the Ring crown on the line.[11]

Event

Pre-show

The pre-show saw King Barrett defeated R-Truth to retain his King of the Ring crown.

Main card

The first match for the night was Randy Orton taking on Sheamus. Towards the end of the match, Sheamus executed a Brogue Kick on Orton, but could not capitalize. Orton attempted an RKO but Sheamus countered into the Texas Cloverleaf until Orton reached the ropes. With both men regaining their composure, Orton executed an RKO followed by a pin to win the match.

The second match for the night saw The Prime Time Players (Darren Young and Titus O'Neil) defending the WWE Tag Team Championship against The New Day (Big E and Kofi Kingston). O'Neil won the match by executing the Clash of Titus on Big E, thus winning the match and retaining the titles.

The third match was Bray Wyatt taking on Roman Reigns. This was a vicious back-and-forth match which a lot of reversals and signature moves, including Reigns shoved into the steel steps and Wyatt eating a Superman Punch from Reigns. The climax of the match saw a hooded person attack Reigns which then allowed Wyatt to execute Sister Abigail for the win. The mystery person was revealed as Luke Harper indicating a Wyatt family reunion.

The fourth match was an impromptu match featuring Charlotte (representing Team PCB), Brie Bella (representing Team Bella) and Sasha Banks (representing Team BAD) in a triple threat match. Charlotte won the match by making Brie tap out to the figure eight.

The fifth match was John Cena defending the WWE United States Championship against Kevin Owens. Like their previous two encounters, this was another vicious back-and-forth. During the course of the match, Owens kicked out of three AA's (Attitude Adjustment) including a Super AA from the top rope, Cena kicked out of two pop-up powerbombs, Owens kicked out of his own finisher move executed by Cena while Cena kicked out of his own finisher move used by Owens and Owens use Cena's own submission move (STF) on Cena, but Cena managed to break the hold. The end of the match saw Owens tapping out to Cena's STF therefore Cena won the match and retained the WWE United States Championship.

Next was a promo featuring The Miz who bragged about being the toughest person and Ryback being scared of him (referring to the WWE Intercontinental Championship match that was cancelled due to Ryback's injury also involving Big Show). Big Show showed up moments later and knocked out Miz.

Main event

The main event was Seth Rollins defending the WWE World Heavyweight Championship against Brock Lesnar. Lesnar executed 13 German suplexes in the match while Rollins managed to have a little more offense. The ending saw Lesnar execute an F5, but as he went for a cover, the lights went out. When the lights returned, The Undertaker emerged and attacked Lesnar with a lowblow, chokeslam and two tombstone piledrivers. Rollins retained the title by disqualification.

Results

No. Results Stipulations Times[19][20]
1P King Barrett defeated R-Truth Singles match for Barrett's King of the Ring crown[21] 9:15
2 Randy Orton defeated Sheamus Singles match[22] 16:54
3 The Prime Time Players (Darren Young and Titus O'Neil) (c) defeated The New Day (Big E and Kofi Kingston) (with Xavier Woods) Tag team match for the WWE Tag Team Championship[23] 8:50
4 Bray Wyatt defeated Roman Reigns Singles match[24] 22:42
5 Charlotte (with Paige and Becky Lynch) defeated Brie Bella (with Nikki Bella and Alicia Fox) and Sasha Banks (with Naomi and Tamina) by submission Triple threat match[25] 11:30
6 John Cena (c) defeated Kevin Owens by submission Singles match for the WWE United States Championship 22:11
7 Brock Lesnar (with Paul Heyman) defeated Seth Rollins (c) by disqualification[Note 1] Singles match for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship[26][27] 9:00
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  • (c) – refers to the champion(s) heading into the match
  • P – indicates the match took place on the pre-show
  1. This match originally ended in a no contest, but the following night on Raw, Lilian Garcia declared that Lesnar won by disqualification, and Rollins is still champion.

Aftermath

The next night on Raw, The Undertaker explained his actions for attacking Brock Lesnar was for revenge, not because of Lesnar ending his Undefeated WrestleMania Streak at WrestleMania XXX but because of his and Paul Heyman's constant taunting and mockery of him and Lesnar's greatest achievement. On the same night, the two engaged in a vicious brawl which prompted half of the WWE roster and many security guards to separate the two. It was later announced on the same episode of Raw the two would face off in the main event at SummerSlam. At SummerSlam, The Undertaker won in a controversial ending by submission leading to a final battle between the two in a Hell in a Cell match at Hell in a Cell which Lesnar won to end their rivalry once and for all.

On the following nights Raw, John Cena confronted Seth Rollins over his cowardly tactics to retain the WWE World Heavyweight Championship, going as far as calling him a joke. Cena then challenged Rollins for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship that night which Rollins refused. On the July 27 Raw Cena once again challenged Rollins for the title but this time The Authority denied his request and instead had him defend the WWE United States Championship against Rollins that night which Cena retained but receiving a legitimate broken nose in the process. After recovering, Cena would accept Rollins challenge on August 11 episode of Tough Enough to a Winner takes all match at SummerSlam where Cena would lose the WWE United States Championship to Rollins thanks to interference by SummerSlam host Jon Stewart.

Luke Harper's interference in Bray Wyatt's favour during his match with Roman Reigns led to Wyatt partly reuniting The Wyatt Family. On the following nights Raw Reigns defeated Harper by disqualification after Wyatt attacked him leading to Dean Ambrose who was in Reigns corner during the match to get involved in Reigns ongoing feud with The Wyatt Family. Reigns and Ambrose would defeat Wyatt and Harper in a tag team match at SummerSlam.

After failing to beat John Cena for the WWE United States Championship. Kevin Owens began a brief feud with Cesaro by attacking him after his match against Seth Rollins on the July 23 SmackDown, leading to a match between the two at SummerSlam where Owens defeated Cesaro. Prior to his victory a day before SummerSlam, Owens failed to win back the NXT Championship from Finn Bálor in a Ladder match at NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn.

The Prime Time Players reign as Tag Team Champions would come to an end at SummerSlam where they lost the WWE Tag Team Championship to The New Day in a Fatal 4-Way tag team match also involving Los Matadores and The Lucha Dragons.

Randy Orton's feud with Sheamus continued after Battleground leading to a rematch at SummerSlam where Sheamus defeated Orton to temporarily end their feud.

See also

References

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  5. http://wrestlechat.net/pay-per-view-buys-for-wwe-battleground-2015-released
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  27. http://www.wwe.com/shows/wwebattleground/2015/seth-rollins-vs-brock-lesnar-wwe-world-heavyweight-championship-match-27515138

External links