MURICA!!!

BELL2BELL WRESTLING REVIEW: WWE BATTLEGROUND 2017

Announcers: Tom Phillips, JBL & Byron Saxton

Location: Philadelphia, PN

Venue: Wells Fargo Center

Show kicks off with The New Day challenging The Usos for the Smackdown tag team titles. Kofi & Xavier instead of Big E for this match and it starts at a very fast pace. Crowd is hot for New Day but there is some notable duelling chants for Usos. Xavier takes alot of double team moves until he gets back into it with a flying drop kick. Kofi tries a trust fall but is caught by The Usos and drops him with a powerbomb on the outside. Xavier does some cool looking flippy move that I have no idea what is called! Xavier takes a lifting Samoan drop but kicks out. And then when trying to fly he eats a savage super kick but kicks out at last second! Kofi gets back into the match and he and Xavier hit a great double team move but only gets two. Kofi gets taken down with a super kick and a splash but again only gets two! Kofi hits trouble in paradise and Xavier hits springboard flying elbow drop for the win. New tag champs! Awesome match to start the show!

Shinsuke Nakamura battles Baron Corbin next. No attacks during entrances this time! Crowd is HEAVILY behind Nakamura. Both guys spend time playing mind games commanding the ring. Baron uses his boxing background and power game to ground Nakamura. Nakamura gets advantage back using his MMA background using submission moves. The crowd chants 'Corbin sucks' and he responds by yelling at them 'I'm doing pretty good dummies!' Nakamura uses his strong style legs to take down Corbin. Twice with charging knees in the corner taking the wind out of Corbin. Corbin slides out the ring and back in decapitating Nakamura with a clothesline. Kinshasa attempt is countered into a deep six that only gets two! Vicious back and forth sequence til Corbin is taken out with a spin kick and a kick to the back of the head. Nakamura attempts an Explorer but his kicked below the belt resulting in a DQ. After the bell Corbin takes down Nakamura with a briefcase shot and the End of Days. Good physical match even if the ending wasn't decisive! 

Huge match in the women's division next. 5-way elimination match between Becky Lynch, Charlotte Flair, Lana, Natalaya and Tamina with the winner facing Naomi for the title at SunmerSlam. Frantic start as you expect from multi person matches. Naomi is on commentary doing a fairly decent job not being too overbearing. Lana and Tamina double team Charlotte continuing their recent alliance. Becky comes in to even the odds and the heels are suplex out of the ring. Becky and Charlotte fight continuing from their match on Smackdown recently. Bexploders from Lynch on Lana and Natalaya and tries it on Tamina but is super kicked instead. Frantic eliminations as Becky makes Tamina and then Lana tap out before being rolled up by Natalaya for the pin. Charlotte shows some great strength slowly lifting up Natalaya for a powerbomb only for two. Charlotte hits the moonsault but only on Natalaya's knees who takes advantage rolling Charlotte up for the win. After the match Naomi offers a handshake to Natalaya but she walks away. Another good match and good set up for the SunmerSlam match.

United States title match as AJ Styles defends against former champion Kevin Owens. Crowd already sounds more into this match than the previous two. Styles out manoeuvres Owens to begin with forcing Owens regularly to the outside. Owens takes Styles down and yells at the crowd like he does best while Styles is in a chin lock. Owens goes for a Senton but Styles gets the knees up. Both men are back up until Owens drops Styles with a sick DDT. Styles takes down Owens with a strong striking combination and the two go back and forth until Styles hits the fireman's carry neckbreaker only for two. Styles attempts a springboard 450 splash but Owens gets the knees up in time. Styles counters Owens superplex attempt into a torture rack drop again only for two. Styles attempts the phenomenal forearm but Owens gets out the way and swipes AJs leg and he lands hard on his shoulder. AJ attempts a style clash but it is countered and Owens just flings AJ into the ref taking him out! They trade submissions back and forth until Owens rolls up Styles and gets the surprise roll up and win. Another good match even with a bit of strange ending.

Time to go old school and overly patriotic as we have ourselves a flag match. Mr USA himself John Cena battles Bulgarian brute Rusev. Usual mixed reaction for big match John. Rusev makes multiple attempts to grab his flag but is stopped each time by Cena. Rusev returns the favour when Cena goes for the flag and drops him with an electric chair drop. Slow back and forth between these two not really captivating people's interest. Cena goes for a leg drop but is countered into a powerbomb allowing Rusev to grab the Bulgarian flag. Cena drops Rusev with the AA and then makes him pass out to the STF to allow him to grab the American flag. The commentators seem to be explaining the rules alot making it sound more difficult than it actually is. The two men keep trying to take the flag up the ramp but keep being stopped by the other. Rusev nails Cena with a fall-away slam on the stage then went for a couple of tables. Now it's getting interesting. Just as Cena was about to win Rusev blocks him off and makes him pass out to the Accolade. Rusev is about to plant his flag but is blocked at the last second for heightened drama. Cena counters out of the Accolade and AAs Rusev off the podium through two tables. Cena plants the American flag for the win. Yawn. Boring match with boring winner.

After that boring match we were treated to 'The Fashion X-Files' and we were suppose to find out who has been causing Breezango problems. We got more questions than answer though as they were attacked when the lights went out and Fandango was dragged away off camera. The mystery continues! 

The power of love is here and Maria and Mike Kanellis have arrived for a rematch with Sami Zayn. Much like the match on Smackdown Sami dominates the opening moments until Maria gets in between them and Mike takes advantage with a nasty punch. Mike gets alot more aggressive offence in between various moments of PDA with Maria. Sami gets back into it with clothesline and a flying cross body but can't put Mike away yet. Sami goes for the Explorer but Maria gets in the way again. Sami finally gets the Explorer and the Helluva kick. Decent match that was better than the Smackdown match and will probably have a better rubber match in the future.

MAIN EVENT TIME!! Ominous music plays as the Punjabi Prison is lowered. WWE Championship Jinder Mahal makes his way out first without The Singh Brothers. Randy Orton comes out to a fairly good reaction. Crowd hasn't been massively into this PPV so far other than the Tag and US title matches. The Punjabi Prison does look very impressive but it looks very hard to see anything going on! Almost immediately one of the doors is asked to be opened and they fight to escape but neither can and that door stays shut for the rest of the match. Jinder works Ortons arm stretching it around the structure. Jinder calls for another door to be opened and once again neither man can escape. 2 down 2 to go. Both men take vicious shots into the structure including Orton suplexing Jinder twice into the structure. Randy asks for the third door to be opened but like the previous two neither man can get out before time. Randy drops Jinder with his draping DDT and asks for the final door to be opened. Randy hits the RKO which brings out The Singh Brothers who drag Mahal out of the door but Randy can't get out in time. Orton climbs out of the inner structure and onto the outer structure and both men fight at the top. Orton manages to knock Mahal off but the Singhs manage to pull Orton down. Orton fights off the Singhs pulling down Mahal and is fighting everyone! Jinder strikes Orton with Kendo stick shots until Orton gets one of his own and goes crazy on Mahal and The Singhs. Samir Singh manages to get through a gap in the structure and stops Orton escaping until he is punched off by Orton and crashes through an announce table. Orton takes a steel chair to Sunil Singh and Mahal. Just as Orton looks like he's about to leave out comes THE GREAT KAHLI!! Kahli shakes the structure knocking Orton down and Kahli has Orton in a choke hold allowing Mahal to escape. Shocking return and a match that I thought was better than anyone thought it would be.

And that WWE Battleground 2017. Overall I though there were some really good matches and some very savage hard hitting action. The Cena/Rusev match really dragged the show down and the US title match finish was a bit odd. The crowd didn't seem to want to get into the show that much for whatever reason which didn't help the vibe of the show. I'm interested to see where Smackdown goes heading into SummerSlam and I look forward to another great Usos/New Day tag title match. 

Thank you everyone for reading. Let me know what you thought of the show in the comments or let me know on twitter @chris_dons