WWE Battleground 2017 review: What we learned, takeaways, future projections

Flag Match

John Cena vs. Rusev

What we learned: We learned here that there is still no such thing as a good Flag Match. Seriously, how boring was this match until the end? Might I add that ending was as predictable as anything in WWE history.

A Flag Match is just a bad concept to begin with but this may have worked a little better when Rusev was carrying around the Russian flag, not a Bulgarian flag, a country that still maintains a solid relationship with the United States. Furthermore, this would have made much more sense when John Cena returned to WWE on July 4. Have the match there, get it over with and move on. Rusev never stood a chance here and that’s unfortunate as he still has the ability to be one of the top heels on the blue brand.

Instead, the Bulgarian Brute was fed to John Cena, whom I usually attempt to defend but just can’t in this one. This entire program was a waste of time. As for the actual match, the crowd wasn’t into this one at all. The pace was slow from the start and didn’t pick up until the action reached the stage. The table spot was good but that’s all I took from this one.

What’s next: I actually don’t know what they can do with Rusev at this point. I’m not going to say he’s been completely buried but he has no momentum whatsoever at this stage of his career. Maybe find him another tag team partner or something just to give him some direction. As for this version of All-American John Cena, the next logical step for him will be going for his 17th WWE Championship against another non-American in Jinder Mahal. I’ll get a little more into that at the end of this review.