Views From The Turnbuckle: Battleground Review, The Deadman Rises, Cena Rolls, Star Ratings And More

The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the opinions of WrestlingInc or its staff.

I still call these shows PPV's but WWE has changed the terminology to calling them "WWE Network Special Events". With the addition of a billion of these events a year and the WWE Network sponsoring some sub-PPV events, there has been a change in what a big PPV-level event actually means. A lot of the time, especially on lesser events like Battleground, WWE doesn't really give the fans a whole lot. Sure there is the occasional title change, but overall the average relevancy of the show has dipped. Battleground 2015, is an outlier. Some fans may call it a "B PPV" and in years past it certainly has been, but tonight's show was essential for every WWE fan to watch, making it arguably the best show they have had all year.

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Brock Lesnar vs Seth Rollins-**1/2

Technically speaking this was the worst match on the show, but please, the star system isn't everything. There is a laundry list of questions following this match, but the important thing is that The Undertaker is back, and hopefully he is going to answer some of these questions tomorrow night.

The first thing is why did The Undertaker decide to exact his revenge on Brock Lesnar at Battleground? The obvious reason why The Undertaker is mad at Brock Lesnar is because Brock broke the streak, but that was over a year ago. The Undertaker didn't have a rematch after losing to Lesnar, Lesnar moved onto the WWE World Heavyweight Championship and The Undertaker was put into a program with Bray Wyatt. The Undertaker could have wrestled Lesnar any time he wanted, but he sat on it for over a year, why? A possible reason could be that The Undertaker is cahoots with Seth Rollins, but that just sounds too crazy to believe, even in WWE.

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The return of The Undertaker is a curveball into the booking of Lesnar. At this point, Lesnar is the biggest babyface in the company and fans love cheering for him. Even if he were to go against top babyfaces like Cena, The Rock or Daniel Bryan, he would still likely be overwhelmingly be cheered by the fans. The only man that get a bigger pop than Lesnar is probably The Undertaker, and lo and behold here he comes motoring down the highway, ready to out-babyface Brock Lesnar.

There are many questions, but right now none of that really matters. The Undertaker is the perfect opponent for Brock Lesnar. Lesnar has dominated every formidable wrestler in the company and no force in WWE has shown the ability to withstand his power. The perception of Lesnar is so tremendous, his matches are completely different than anybody else's in the company. Whether he is wrestling Kofi Kingston or the WWE Champion, it is always a squash match for Brock Lesnar. The only person whose perception rival's Lesnar is a man who has worked 25 years to give off the impression he isn't mortal. It's just perfect.

Kevin Owens vs John Cena-***3/4

The latest installment of their feud was a good match, but when compared to the previous two matches, this one was an obvious step down. The first match was borderline brilliant, the second match was very solid, but this one was just came off as kind of a repeat of the first two matches, and it wasn't that special.

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Cena winning via submission is another in a long list of disappointing decisions made by WWE in regards to the booking of John Cena. The main reason Owens vs Cena I was so great was because Owens picked up a surprising victory over Cena. That made the feud different than pretty much any other Cena feud. Since then? Owens has been booked EXACTLY like every other villain that has been knocked down by Cena. A clean pinfall loss, followed by complaining, then a submission loss, undoubtedly to be followed by more complaining. I get it, Owens can come out and say that he wasn't really submitting (he only gave a few light slaps to his wrist which the referee took as a submission) and they can have another match, but unfortunately the damage has already been done. If Owens comes out and complains that the referee blew it, then he will be no different than any other heel WWE has on their roster.

The match was decent and Owens kicked out of a lot of high-impact moves from Cena, but ultimately he lost to Cena in a good match, making it no different than any of the other opponents Cena has defeated during his US Championship reign. This match ended up looking just like the one between Cena and Cesaro, and although I love Cesaro, Owens has shown way, way more potential to be a superstar for WWE than Cesaro, and he is entitled to be booked as a much more legitimate rival for Cena. But because he is facing Cena, Owens doesn't get that benefit, he has to look like a mere mortal while Cena remains on his unattainable pedestal of dominance. The worst part of this is WWE teased us with Owens' first victory, they told everybody that Owens wasn't going to be treated like every other opponent of John Cena's. They lied.

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Sasha Banks vs Brie Bella vs Charlotte-***1/2

The goal here was clearly to put the new Divas' over (I expect to see Becky Lynch tomorrow night) and to show what they can do in the ring. To that end, the three women in the ring delivered and put on the best Diva's match at a WWE PPV this year. Perhaps even more important was that the crowd cared a lot more about this match than any Diva's match that I can remember. It has only been a very short time, but so far WWE has shown that they are extremely committed to using the NXT call-ups to change the impression of what the Diva's division is all about. It's mostly been a lot of talk and not a ton of action, I mean, we are only one match into this revolution, and WWE is well-known to announce big plans and then totally crap the bed on the execution of said plan, but so far so good. Even if you are not necessarily a big fan of women's wrestling, a much improved Diva's division increases the quality of WWE programming, so it is a big step forward for everyone.

Roman Reigns vs Bray Wyatt-***1/4

The start of this match was similar to the one between Orton and Sheamus, the big difference being that the fans cared a lot about the outcome of that match and they only-kind-of-sort-of cared about the outcome of this match. However, both men worked really hard in this match and although it wasn't always smooth, they did have the crowd invested in it before the finish.

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The finish is par for the course for WWE, Reigns of course couldn't lose cleanly, so they had Luke Harper, freed up to do something due to Erick Rowan's injury, rejoin Wyatt and cost Reigns the match. What a perfect example of circular WWE booking. They broke up Wyatt and his "family" for no real reason, proceeded to do nothing with Rowan and Harper outside of a blink-and-you-missed-it Intercontinental Championship reign for Haprer. Wyatt on the other hand managed to be a jobber to the stars and has lost a significant amount of his mystique. Pairing them up again is essentially an admittance that WWE shouldn't have broken them up in the first place.

Randy Orton vs Sheamus-***3/4

The crowd gets the MVP award for this match, as they were alive for the entire match supporting their hometown wrestler, Randy Orton. The constant involvement from the crowd made the feud and the match seem more important than it has been over the last month or so. Sheamus vs Randy Orton was not a rivalry that was lighting the world on fire headed into Battleground, but the crowd reacted as if it was the hottest thing going in WWE. The reaction that each performer was getting from the crowd deftly fed each of their performances, and the result was a very good opening match. The only real complaint I have is that it was a clean loss for Sheamus, the Money in the Bank contract holder, who looks eons away from the world championship right now.

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The Prime Time Players vs The New Day-***

Xavier Woods has become a true hidden treasure for WWE. He controlled every aspect of this match despite not even being in it. The charisma, the constant trash talking outside of the ring, his non-stop hype for his teammates; that is a rare skill, and WWE should be working towards exploiting that. The match was fun, but I don't care for The Prime Time Players picking up the victory. I dubbed them the "PR Champions" because both members of the team are great PR hubs for WWE, and that likely played a role in the decision to take the titles off of The New Day. The Prime Time Players get decent reactions from the crowd and there is some talent there, but when you watch The New Day work, how great their chemistry on the mic is when they are cutting group promos before the match, the reaction they get from the crowd, it is obvious that the tag team division should be built around this team. However, WWE has sacrificed the obvious at the altar of good PR, and the fans don't really win that way.

You can follow Jesse Collings on Twitter@JesseCollings

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