The Main Events
Cody Rhodes and Goldust defeated The Shield. Like I said in my Top 10 article this week, Cody and Goldust needed a clean victory here. There was so much going into this match. Without the titles on the line, it should have been simple to figure out who would win. Cody and Goldust are two very talented guys that have the backing of everyone in the back right now. I can recall being so upset he lost the Money in the Bank ladder match. I will go on record saying that I was dead wrong in being upset. Look at what he is doing now compared to Damien Sandow. One guy is thriving and the other is basically irrelevant. The match was great, best of the night. I really loved that Cody had to fight out of the double teaming of Rollins and Reigns. This gave the hot tag to Goldust. He comes in and cleans some house. The action goes to the outside and Goldust is now thrown into the barricade as Cody gets a tag and connects with a beautiful dropkick. Dean Ambrose and Dusty Rhodes insert themselves into the match. He hits a Bionic Elbow onto Ambrose and Reigns goes after him. Goldust tackles him and Rhodes hits his finisher for the victory. I like this ending because they needed to show vulnerability in the group. Cody and Goldust will only continue to be an important part in a bigger picture. We shall see where this takes them.
Grade: B+
Daniel Bryan vs. Randy Orton ends in No Contest. The match itself was pretty good. I can remember saying to myself that this match had an excellent speed and perfection to it at the very beginning. You need to realize that WWE is trying to do something very hard right now. They are trying to make Bryan their number one guy while building Randy Orton all the way back up to being a dominant heel. Don't they overshadow one another at times? After about 15-20 minutes, Big Show comes out and knocks out Bryan. This prompts Brad Maddox out to bring Scott Armstrong for the pin. Big Show drags out Armstrong and punches him. Big Show gets back into the ring and punches Orton. The show ends with Big Show standing in the ring and no winner. Yes, that is how the show ended. Terrible. Simply terrible. You cannot end a show with this, one that was not as important as an ending to Smackdown or Raw. That is what WWE did here. They let down the entire WWE Universe and really told us that they do not care about what is best for business. I was shocked it ended like this. Big Show ends the night and no winner is declared. I cannot say terrible more than enough right now.
Grade: D
WWE Battleground Grade: C-… Worst of the year.
