Jim Ross on Flag Match, Punjabi Prison Match, Natalya, Styles-Owens, More

Newest blog posting by Jim Ross on his official blog discussed a variety of topics including Battlegrounds’ Flag and Punajbi Prison matches, Natalya winning Smackdown’s Women’s #1 Contenders match, Styles-Owens match for the United States Championship, and more.

On the topic of the Flag match and Punjabi Prison match from Battlegrounds, Ross felt both were tough matches for the crowd be invested in due to the nature of those matches compared to other match types in the WWE. In regards to the Punjabi Prison, Ross felt the match’s biggest problems were the WWE not doing a good job explaining the unique rules and the structure of the double cages.

“Any time two major, main event level matches have little to no ‘near falls’ included due to the structure of their match i.e. the Punjabi Prison bout and the Flag Match, it’s a risky premise. I’m still not sure that I could pass a quiz on the rules of the Punjabi Prison match, which had challenging sight lines for TV through all the bamboo, etc. Those basic challenges can make it hard for the live audience to emotionally invest.”

On the topic of Natalya winning Smackdown’s Women’s number one contenders match, Ross stated he was surprised she won but felt it was the right decision. He viewed it as Smackdown trying to build up more of their women’s division to be ready for higher profile matches than just relying solely on Charlotte for big star power.

“Surprised that Nattie won the women’s bout, but not displeased. Many fans are complaining that Charlotte did not win but that was not a concern for me as its simply a matter of getting more talents, in this case Nattie, better ready for higher profile bookings. Charlotte is ‘ready’ whether she won Sunday night or not but Charlotte needs more, viable opponents going forward and Nattie, for one, can certainly fill that void.”

Ross revealed he enjoyed the United States championship match between AJ Styles and Kevin Owens at Battlegrounds but felt the match had more left in the tank. He stated something felt off about the match overall but not in terms of it being bad in quality.

Enjoyed the AJ-Owens bout but was expecting a bit more from two of my favorite athletes currently in the business. The match was far from ‘bad’ but it was lacking a bit of ‘magic,’ for the lack of a better term or description. Nonetheless if I was starting a ‘territory’ I’d love to have them both on any roster that I would comprise.

Other topics discussed included PWTorch’s Bruce Mitchell as next week’s guest for the Ross Report, the passion fans have for wrestling, and upcoming wrestling-related events on his schedule.