WWE Battleground 2014 - Predictions and More

WWE and the WWE Network present Battleground! Live on the WWE Network on Sunday, July 20, 2014 at 8:00PM. Kick-off show starts at 7:30PM. The Number Two Contenders, The Teacher and Doc Manson are here to share their thoughts on the card and their predictions coming out of Battleground and leading into the build for SummerSlam!

 

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The Teacher:  Well, Doc, I have to tell you; this is shaping up to be a pretty good show all the way around.  Looking over the matches as they stand today (Thursday), there is only one that I could absolutely care less about, and that one is likely going to be on the pre-show, which I won’t be watching anyway.  I’m excited for Sunday night!

Doc Manson: Good to be here, Teach. How’s it going, internet? I think you’ve pretty much laid out the big picture. I’m expecting a good show. All of the matches have something to catch my interest, with a few highlights with potential for match of night. In my mind, Seth Rollins vs. Dean Ambrose could be one hell of a match up, and I’m looking forward to seeing how the Intercontinental Battle Royal turns out.

Class is in Session: A Tale of Two Rookies, Adam Rose and Bo Dallas

We begin our class today with a variation of one of the great opening lines in the history of literature.

“He had the best of gimmicks, he had the worst of gimmicks.”

In the first half of 2014 in the WWE, two young new superstars named Adam Rose and Bo Dallas emerged, looking to continue the success they had experienced in NXT.  Each one had something unique to offer the wrestling world that seemed to capture fan attention, both positively and negatively.  It seemed, as recently as two months ago, that these rookies were going to be fixtures on RAW and Smackdown for years to come.

Now, however, it seems that their two career paths are heading in opposite directions.  Adam Rose has, almost overnight, become a joke, fighting with Damien Sandow over ownership of a Sonic hot dog.  Bo Dallas, on the other hand, is riding high into Battleground, where he stands as a potential favorite to win the vacant Intercontinental title.

How did this happen?  How can one man’s star rise so quickly while another plummets equally as fast?

It is in answering this question that we find today’s lesson.

Lab Works: Portrait of Malice, Ambrose v. Rollins

Dean Ambrose has the potential to be a very dangerous man, an observation of which his former Shield-brother, Seth Rollins, is aware. If Seth Rollins is "the Architect" of the Shield, and Roman Reigns was the heavy-lifter, then perhaps Dean Ambrose might be best described as the rabid dog.

Dogs can be dangerous creatures, particularly when provoked. In my mind, the Shield placated Dean Ambrose. He suppressed his more dangerous, unpredictable urges for the greater good. In believing in the Shield, Dean Ambrose was a part of a pack, a communal entity larger than himself into which he could invest his more chaotic and destructive tendencies. With the chair shots that ultimately disbanded the Shield, Seth Rollins awakened a sleeping dog and, as Seth is discovering, that dog is both hungry and angry.

Lessons From the Network: Battlebowl 1993

Historical Context

Back in the early 1990's, wrestling companies were looking for ways to make their Pay-Per-Views stand out.  For the World Wrestling Federation, there were unique events like Survivor Series and Royal Rumble. (At one point, class, all of the SS matches were elimination tags, and the Royal Rumble was always. . . ALWAYS. . . the last match of the night).

WCW had begun to head down a similar road.  (The very first “War Games”, basically a Survivor Series match held in a steel cage, also took place in 1993.)  In November of that month, they designed an entire PPV around another concept they had done twice before, this one called Battlebowl.  As WWE Network explains, "Stars are forced to randomly team up through a Lethal Lottery. Winning teams advance to the enormous Battlebowl Battle Royal main event."

The winner of Battlebowl was awarded with a ring (In WCW at the time, there was a push for more legitimacy, hence the use of rings after winning a “Bowl”) and all but guaranteeing themselves a title shot at a future date.  For those with a more modern view, consider this a grandfather to Money in the Bank.

It should be noted that this was the only time Battlebowl was a separate Pay-Per-View.  The reason why is our first lesson.

Lesson #1:  Too much of anything is no good.

Lessons from the WWE Network: A Syllabus

Wrestling 101: Lessons from the WWE Network

Class Syllabus

Instructor:  The Teacher

Description:  This course involves a thorough examination of the 466 (and growing) list of Pay-Per-View events currently listed on the WWE Network, exploring the history of the NWA / WCW, ECW, and WWE.  This course is designed for the subscriber overwhelmed by the sheer enormity of the content in front of them, though an experienced PPV viewer may also find the review helpful. 

Objectives: 

- To explore the history of professional wrestling, be it the good, the bad or the absolutely dreadful.

- To highlight events, characters and matches that may have been lost to the sands of time.

- To foster broader appreciation for the current WWE product through study of lessons from the past.

Lab Works: The Past and Future of Cesaro

Hey, folks, Doc Manson here. I've been going over my notes, and I'd like to chat for a moment about the Swiss Superman, the King of Swing, and the winner of the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal at Wrestleania 30, Antonio Cesaro.

This guy became something of a fan favorite over the course of the last year, no doubt due to his natural charisma and his amazing feats of strength. The shot of Cesaro lifting Big Show over the top rope at Wrestlemania 30, paying striking visual homage to the Hogan/Andre slam at Wrestlemania III, is a moment with the potential to live in highlight reels for years to come.

The Teacher's Lounge: He is The Miz, and right now, he is Awesome!

In addition to the conversations Doc and I will be having about most things wrestling each week, we will also be sharing some more independent thoughts on the segments, matches or storylines that caught our attention.  This week, I’d like to talk about a wrestler that I have recently begun to enjoy a lot, even though I’m incredibly ashamed to admit it.  However, they say that admitting you have a problem is the first step to recovery, so here goes.

Hi.  I am The Teacher and I. . . . Man, this is hard.  I like. . .

*deep breath*

I like The Miz.

The RAW Response - 7/14/14

The Teacher: Monday Night Raw is in the books for July 14th, and the battleground for Battleground is set.  The biggest question is, Doc. . . Did you sign up for your free preview of WWE Network?

Doc Manson: Sadly, no. I’m already a subscriber. They sure don’t want anyone to forget that the WWE Network is a thing that you can pay money for down the road though.

T: The way they were going, I’m surprised Vince McMahon didn’t come to the ring, get down on his hands and knees and beg everyone to sign up.

D: That’s practically what John Cena did in the opening segment of RAW. Nothing like taking a time out from selling the current angle to sell the Network instead.

T:  Yesterday we gave our State of the WWE, and at that time, you and I disagreed on our opinion of Roman Reigns’ personality.  Having forced myself to watch the opening promo (a segment I usually fast forward through), I’ll have to admit I was wrong.  Reigns does seem to be coming into his own on the mic, which is really the only thing keeping him from total stardom.

D: Stardom is headed to Roman Reigns, regardless of his work on the mic. He is improving, but is still green next to Cena and even Ambrose. Still, you can’t argue with the crowd. They are behind Reigns in a big, loud way.

T: Were you surprised Ambrose didn’t come out during the main event?  I expected him to run out in a hospital gown and beat down Rollins with his IV bag.

State of the WWE

The Teacher:  For our first foray into the blogging realm, we thought we’d step back a bit and give you our “State of the WWE”.   What we like, what we don’t like, and how we feel about where things are going.  So, Doc, start us off.  What’s the biggest reason you’re watching WWE right now?

Doc Manson: There are many good reasons to be watching WWE right now. After years of wishing for new stars, there are a plethora of new faces. Bray Wyatt, Dean Ambrose, Roman Reigns - all of these guys are highlights right now.

The Teacher: I notice you didn’t include Seth Rollins in said plethora.

Doc Manson: Not to take anything away from the guy, but Seth Rollins was always the least interesting of the guys in The Shield. Personality-wise he has been pretty one note. He has some killer abilities between the ropes, for sure, but he’s going to have to show me something more than the cowardly heel before I can jump on the Rollins hype-train.

T:  Why is he called “The Architect”?  Where did that nickname come from?