Tag: Battleground

The way in which Raw has gained momentum and SmackDown has lost momentum since the Superstar Shake-Up is fascinating, and yet the evidence is clearly on show here, with big matches and star power carrying the red brand, whereas baffling pushes, strange booking and disappointing performances mostly define the blue brand.

Raw’s Universal Champion Brock Lesnar defends his title against Samoa Joe in a hotly-anticipated showdown at Great Balls of Fire, while SmackDown’s WWE Champion Jinder Mahal resurrects the dreaded Punjabi Prison as he faces Randy Orton at Battleground!

The first Battleground event has a decent line-up, but strangely misfires in several ways, making it feel like a glorified episode of Raw. Therefore, whilst not terrible, the DVD is a bit of a struggle to watch.

Battleground 2014 was the poorest WWE event of the year thus far, and therefore it's hard to recommend the DVD release. The review could potentially end there, but I'll go into a bit more detail.

Battleground 2015 is a pretty good option with a superb Cena-Owens match, some strong action in the Orton-Sheamus and Reigns-Wyatt battles, and while the match is largely unspectacular, the ending to Rollins-Lesnar is definitely memorable.

The long-anticipated match between all three members of The Shield was just as explosive as the WWE Universe imagined. And with the winner taking WWE’s most prestigious championship to either Raw or SmackDown, the result of match goes on to the shape the future landscape of WWE.