WWE Battleground Results – July 23, 2017 – Jinder Mahal vs. Randy Orton

Jul 23, 2017

WWE Battleground
July 23, 2017
Philadelphia, PA
Commentary: Tom Phillips, JBL, Byron Saxton

Kickoff Show Match
Tye Dillinger vs. Aiden English

Aiden English actually finished his song. This match was better than the other basic matches they’ve previously had. Towards the end, English hit his DDT-like finisher (?), but Dillinger kicked out. English threw a tantrum, then started mocking Dillinger’s “10” taunt, making a “zero” gesture, then went for a Tye Breaker, but Dillinger escaped. Dillinger then nailed him with punches in the corner as the crowd chanted “10,” but English escaped and slammed Dillinger’s face down on the turnbuckle. English then hit him with some sort of move for the win… Like he picked him up with sort of a full-nelson, then turned him over sideways and landed him on his face. Didn’t look that great.

Winner: Aiden English (~10 minutes)

WWE SmackDown Tag Team Championship
The Usos (c) vs. The New Day

Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods wrestled, while Big E hung out at ringside. The Usos dominated Xavier early until Kofi came in and “cleaned house.” He dived backwards off the top rope onto the Usos on the outside, but they caught him and powerbombed him on the floor. Woods walked onto the actual top rope and jumped off, but was hit with a kick to the face. After being beaten down again, Woods finally tagged Kofi in and they hit the “Midnight Hour” off the top rope, but the Uso kicked out. Jimmy hit a superkick on Kofi and Jey hit a splash off the top, but Kofi kicked out. The Usos went for a double splash off the top, but Woods knocked Jey off, and Jimmy missed his splash. Woods was tagged in and walked on the top rope and hit an elbow drop on Jimmy for the win. Better match than I expected.

Winners and new WWE SmackDown Tag Team Champions: The New Day (~14 minutes)

Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Baron Corbin

Corbin controlled most of the match early on, with Nakamura getting in a couple of flurries of kicks and knees. About 10 minutes in, Nakamura went for the Kinshasa, but Corbin picked him up and hit him with the Deep Six, but Nakamura kicked out. Nakamura nailed Corbin with a bunch of kicks again, knocking Corbin down, then set up for the Kinshasa in the corner, but Corbin didn’t get up off the mat. Nakamura went to pick him up, but Corbin nailed him with a low blow mule kick and the ref called for the DQ. This match was pretty bad…

Winner by disqualification: Shinsuke Nakamura (~13 minutes)

After the match, Nakamura writhed in pain, grabbing his balls. Corbin smiled and grabbed his Money in the Bank briefcase. He nailed Nakamura with it, then laid him out with the End of Days.

5-Way Elimination Match
Winner Faces Women’s Champion at SummerSlam
Becky Lynch vs. Charlotte Flair vs. Lana vs. Natalya vs. Tamina

Naomi made her entrance first and sat at the announce table. Lana and Tamina worked together, double teaming Charlotte for like three minutes until Becky Lynch made the save. After some action between all the women, Becky locked on the Disarmer on Lana, but Tamina made the save. Becky then locked on the Disarmer on Tamina and Tamina tapped.

Tamina was eliminated by Becky Lynch

Becky then immediately locked the Disarmer on Lana again and she tapped.

Lana was eliminated by Becky Lynch

Natalya ran in and rolled up Becky Lynch for a quick pin.

Becky Lynch was eliminated by Natalya

Charlotte and Natalya were left and fought each other. Charlotte went for a moonsault but Natalya got her knees up. She then threw Charlotte’s head down onto the turnbuckle and rolled her up for the win in a pretty weak finish. Natalya will face the SmackDown Women’s Champion at SummerSlam.

Winner: Natalya (~11 minutes)

After the match, Naomi went into the ring and offered a handshake to Natalya, but Natalya just stared her down and walked away.

WWE United States Championship
AJ Styles (c) vs. Kevin Owens

Insanely long rest hold by Owens… Owens controlled most of the match early on until Styles hit him with a fireman’s carry neckbreaker. Styles went for a springboard 450 splash but Owens got his knees up. Later, Owens went to work on Styles’ shoulder, throwing him into the ring post. Styles suddenly went for the Styles Clash, but couldn’t lift Owens up because of his hurt shoulder. Owens threw AJ Styles into the referee, knocking him out. They each locked on alternating submission moves, but neither man tapped out. The referee was still out. Styles then locked on a crossface, but Owens escaped and rolled over onto AJ Styles, pinning him. The referee came back to life and counted the 3 in a really awkward finish. Weird match.

Winner and new WWE United States Champion: Kevin Owens (~18 minutes)

Backstage: Jinder Mahal and the Singh Brothers

Backstage, the Singh Brothers came up to Jinder Mahal and said that they regret to inform him that they will not be at ringside, but they’ll be watching backstage to celebrate his win. Jinder Mahal did his usual schtick about winning for the millions of people in India and said that he alone would defeat Randy Orton.

Flag Match
John Cena vs. Rusev

They recapped the embarrassing Cena patriotic flag shit from SmackDown. To win the match, they had to grab their own flag and bring it down the entrance ramp and place it onto a podium. Rusev controlled most of the match for like the first 10 minutes, but wasn’t able to grab his flag. Really boring match early and the crowd was also basically dead. Finally, Cena went for a dropkick or something off the top but Rusev caught him in a kinda botched powerbomb. Rusev climbed up and finally grabbed his flag, but as he came down to the ring, Cena knocked him out, then hit him with the Attitude Adjustment. Cena locked on an STF on Rusev, who tapped out, but you can’t win that way. Cena grabbed the American flag, but as he came down, Rusev nailed him with a superkick.

They battled down the entrance ramp, with each guy trying to bring his flag down to the podium. Rusev set up two tables next to the American podium, then went for an AA on Cena, but he broke free. Both men then clotheslined each other on the ramp. Cena grabbed the American flag and started crawling towards the podium, but Rusev grabbed the flag stand and nailed Cena with it. Rusev then locked on the Accolade. He slowly went and grabbed the Bulgarian flag and tried to dramatically and slowly place it onto his podium, but of course Cena broke it up. Rusev tried to lock on the Accolade again, but Cena picked him up, climbed up the podium, and nailed him with a big AA through two tables below. He grabbed the American flag and placed it on the podium for the win.

Winner: John Cena (~21 minutes)

Segment: The Fashion X-Files

WHO attacked @mmmgorgeous and @WWEFandango!?! The truth is still out there… #WWEBattleground #FashionFiles @ViktorRiseWWE @KonnorWWE pic.twitter.com/fUJdH8Ub87

— WWE (@WWE) July 24, 2017

At Breezango’s office, they said that the mystery was finally about to be solved, and the Ascension came in. The Ascension said that it was them all along. Breeze said that that’s a letdown, but most season finales are disappointing. Fandango said that they weren’t even at the show last week because they were at the Eddie Money show. The Ascension denied that. Fandango pulled out his decapitated stuffed horse and the Ascension were shocked and grossed out. Fandango knew it wasn’t really them and told them to get out of there, and they did. Suddenly, the lights went out and Tyler Breeze was attacked. The lights went out again and Fandango was attacked, then dragged off… “To be continued.”

Sami Zayn vs. Mike Kanellis

Mike and Maria did a lot of heel PDA during the match, even rubbing noses over Sami’s lifeless body on the outside after he was knocked out with a punch by Kanellis. A few minutes into the match, Zayn went for an Exploder suplex in the corner, but Maria climbed into the ring and stood in the corner, stopping Zayn. The ref finally got her out of the ring and Zayn immediately went for an Exploder again, this time hitting it. He then hit a Helluva Kick for the win.

Winner: Sami Zayn (~7 minutes)

WWE Championship
Punjabi Prison Match
Jinder Mahal (c) vs. Randy Orton

Within the first few seconds, they each went for one of the doors, but couldn’t make it out within 60 seconds and the door was shut for good. Phillips said that there were 3 doors remaining. Jinder beat down Orton for a couple of minutes and called for another door to be opened, but again, Orton stopped him and neither man could make it out in time, so it was shut for good. Same with the third door. Orton called for the final door to be opened, then went for an RKO, but Jinder blocked it. Jinder went for the Khallas, but Orton countered into an RKO. He went to walk out of the door, but the Singh Brothers suddenly appeared and nailed Orton, then dragged Jinder out of the door. Jinder still needed to climb the outer structure. Everyone kept saying the word “structure” repeatedly. Like 150 times.

Jinder started climbing the outer “structure” and Randy climbed the inner structure, then jumped off onto the outer structure and knocked Jinder down. The Singh Brothers, still inside the “structure,” grabbed Orton and attacked him. Jinder grabbed a kendo stick and nailed Orton with it. Jinder went for the Khallas, but Orton blocked it and nailed Jinder and the Singh Brothers with the kendo stick. Orton started climbing up again, but Samir Singh (who was small enough to go through a hole in the cage) climbed the outside and fought Orton near the top of the cage. Orton punched him and he fell off near the top of the cage through an announce table on the outside. Damn.

Orton nailed Jinder and Sunil Singh with a steel chair and started climbing up again. Suddenly, Jinder Mahal’s music hit and The Great Khali came out… He started shaking the cage, knocking Orton down. He grabbed Orton by the throat through the cage and choked him as Jinder Mahal climbed out for the win.

Winner: Jinder Mahal (~28 minutes)

After the match, Khali and Jinder hugged in celebration.