Battleground 2013: The Rhodes Family Saves a Bad Debut

Alberto Del Rio and Rob Van Dam open the pay-per-view with a Hardcore Match that gives the card one of its stronger conventional attractions. Van Dam uses chairs, a ladder and a trash can to create the kind of chaotic environment the stipulation promises, while Del Rio keeps returning to the injured arm and his submission game. Ricardo Rodriguez briefly becomes involved, but the match never loses its focus on the championship. Van Dam survives several dangerous positions and creates late momentum with his aerial offense. Del Rio eventually traps the arm inside a chair and applies the Cross Armbreaker. Van Dam submits, giving Del Rio a decisive retention and a finish that uses the stipulation directly rather than treating the weapons as decoration.

The Real Americans against Santino Marella and The Great Khali is a short midcard tag match whose most memorable feature is Antonio Cesaro's strength. Swagger and Cesaro isolate Santino long enough to create a basic control segment, while Khali's size gives the babyface team an obvious comeback route once he enters. The match never develops enough depth for the result to feel especially important. Its defining moment comes when Cesaro gets Khali off his feet and sends him around in the Cesaro Swing. Cesaro follows that visual with the pin to secure the victory. The crowd gets a memorable power spot and the Real Americans get a clean win, but the bout otherwise plays like a compact television attraction on a pay-per-view card.

Curtis Axel's Intercontinental Championship defense against R-Truth receives enough time to become a real match, but very little about the presentation makes the title feel important. Truth brings the faster offense and earns several brief bursts of crowd support, while Axel works a steady control segment without generating much urgency. The match is technically competent and avoids major mistakes, yet the pacing stays flat for most of its seven-plus minutes. Truth creates one late opening and appears ready to push the champion into a stronger finishing sequence. Axel cuts him off, lands the Hangman's Facebuster and scores the clean pin. The retention is straightforward, but the match does little to elevate Axel, Truth or the Intercontinental Championship beyond their existing television roles.

AJ Lee and Brie Bella work a compact Divas Championship match built around Brie's recent non-title victory and the Total Divas conflict surrounding the champion. Brie gets enough offense to make the title opportunity feel legitimate, and AJ repeatedly looks for ways to slow the pace rather than engage in a longer exchange. Tamina Snuka and Nikki Bella remain important at ringside, which keeps the match connected to the broader division story. The finish comes when Tamina distracts Nikki and AJ capitalizes inside the ring. AJ catches Brie with a Schoolboy and scores the pin to retain. The bout is more coherent than spectacular, and the interference keeps the title reign moving while preventing the match from reaching a more satisfying competitive conclusion.

Cody Rhodes and Goldust against Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns is the emotional and wrestling high point of Battleground 2013. The stipulation gives every exchange urgency because a Rhodes victory restores Cody's job, while a loss would also cost Goldust and Dusty Rhodes their places in WWE. The Shield controls long stretches through teamwork and power, but Goldust's comeback changes the energy of the match before the finish becomes chaotic around ringside. Dusty neutralizes Dean Ambrose with an elbow, creating the opening his sons need. Cody catches Rollins and lands Cross Rhodes for the pin. The victory delivers the rare completely satisfying payoff on the show and immediately positions the Rhodes family story for the championship program that follows.

Bray Wyatt's singles match with Kofi Kingston is designed to establish Wyatt's pay-per-view presence without asking the feud to carry major storyline weight. Kingston's speed creates enough contrast to keep the match moving, while Luke Harper and Erick Rowan at ringside make every escape feel temporary. Wyatt absorbs the faster offense and repeatedly turns the match back toward slower, heavier exchanges. Kingston produces a few credible comeback moments but never fully escapes the sense that he is fighting the entire Wyatt Family environment. Wyatt eventually cuts him off and lands Sister Abigail for the pin. The clean victory is useful for the newer character and the match is solid enough, but it remains a supporting attraction rather than an event-defining program.

CM Punk and Ryback continue the Paul Heyman rivalry in a match that is more about advancing the feud than producing a satisfying pay-per-view finish. Ryback uses his size to control long stretches, while Punk works underneath and tries to create openings through speed, strikes and counters. The match never fully escapes a methodical rhythm, and Heyman's presence at ringside keeps the focus divided between the wrestlers and the ongoing manager story. Late in the match, Heyman pulls out a kendo stick while the referee is distracted. Punk uses the same distraction to hit Ryback with a low blow. He scores the pin immediately afterward, getting the victory without settling the feud and setting up the rematch inside Hell in a Cell.

Daniel Bryan and Randy Orton receive more than twenty-five minutes to settle the vacant WWE Championship, but Battleground ends with the exact kind of unresolved finish the stipulation seems designed to avoid. The wrestling is solid and physical, with both men gradually building toward their signature finishing sequences while the crowd waits for a definitive champion. That investment collapses when Big Show enters and attacks Bryan, referee Scott Armstrong and finally Orton. The match is ruled a no contest, leaving the championship vacant. The angle advances Big Show's conflict with The Authority and sends Bryan and Orton toward Hell in a Cell. As the main event of a new pay-per-view, however, the absence of a winner produces a deeply frustrating final impression and overwhelms much of the good work before it.