WWE Battleground

WWE Battleground is a professional wrestling event produced by WWE, a Connecticut-based promotion. It was broadcast live and available only through pay-per-view (PPV) and the WWE Network. The event was established in 2013, debuting in October on WWE's pay-per-view calendar, replacing Over the Limit. In 2014, Battleground moved up to the July slot, becoming the promotion's annual July PPV. To coincide with the brand extension that was reintroduced in July 2016, the 2017 event was held exclusively for wrestlers from the SmackDown brand. Battleground was then discontinued as WWE reduced the amount of yearly PPVs produced after they had discontinued brand-exclusive PPVs following WrestleMania 34 in April 2018. It was resurrected in 2023 as an NXT branded-event.

This article is about the former WWE pay-per-view event. For the 2020 video game, see WWE 2K Battlegrounds.
WWE Battleground
NXT Battleground logo used as of 2023
Other name(s)NXT Battleground (2023–present)
Promotion(s)WWE
Brand(s)SmackDown (2017)
NXT (2023–present)
First event2013

History

On the July 29, 2013, episode of Raw, WWE announced a new pay-per-view (PPV) titled Battleground to be held on October 6 that year at the First Niagara Center in Buffalo, New York. It replaced Over the Limit, which had been held annually in May from 2010 to 2012, but was going to be held in October 2013 before WWE decided to discontinue Over the Limit.[1] The event returned in 2014, but was moved up to July, thus establishing the event as WWE's annual July PPV. In addition to PPV, the 2014 event was the first Battleground to air on WWE's online streaming service, the WWE Network, which launched earlier that year in February.[2]

The 2016 event was regarded as the last PPV event featuring wrestlers from both the Raw and SmackDown brands, before the newly reinstated brand extension went into full effect; after SummerSlam that year, monthly PPVs became brand-exclusive, excluding the "Big Four" (Royal Rumble, WrestleMania, SummerSlam, and Survivor Series).[3] The 2017 event was in turn a SmackDown-exclusive event.[4] Battleground was expected to return in 2018 for the Raw brand; however, the event was taken off WWE's PPV lineup as after WrestleMania 34 that year, brand-exclusive PPVs were discontinued, resulting in WWE reducing the amount of yearly PPVs produced.[5]

Events
SmackDown-branded event NXT-branded event
# Event Date City Venue Main Event Ref.
1 Battleground (2013) October 6, 2013 Buffalo, New York First Niagara Center Randy Orton vs. Daniel Bryan for the vacant WWE Championship [6][7]
2 Battleground (2014) July 20, 2014 Tampa, Florida Tampa Bay Times Forum John Cena (c) vs. Randy Orton vs. Kane vs. Roman Reigns in a fatal four-way match for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship [2]
3 Battleground (2015) July 19, 2015 St. Louis, Missouri Scottrade Center Seth Rollins (c) vs. Brock Lesnar for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship [8]
4 Battleground (2016) July 24, 2016 Washington, D.C. Verizon Center Dean Ambrose (c) vs. Roman Reigns vs. Seth Rollins in a triple threat match for the WWE Championship [3]
5 Battleground (2017) July 23, 2017 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Wells Fargo Center Jinder Mahal (c) vs. Randy Orton in a Punjabi Prison match for the WWE Championship [4]
6 NXT Battleground (2023) May 28, 2023 Lowell, Massachusetts Tsongas Center TBD [9]
(c) – refers to the champion(s) heading into the match

See also

References
  1. Salgado, Sebastian (July 30, 2013). "WWE officially announces the Battleground PPV". Super Luchas. Retrieved November 24, 2021.
  2. "WWE Battleground tickets | Tampa Bay Times Forum, Tampa, FL | Jul 20, 2014 at 07:30pm". WWE. Archived from the original on 14 June 2014. Retrieved 17 January 2021.
  3. "Get WWE Battleground tickets now". WWE. Retrieved June 23, 2016.
  4. "WWE Battleground 2017 tickets available now". WWE. April 24, 2017. Retrieved June 19, 2017.
  5. WWE.com Staff (February 17, 2018). "WWE pay-per-views just got bigger for 2018!". WWE.com. Retrieved February 19, 2018.
  6. "Battleground PPV Results 10/6 (Hour 1): World Title match opens the PPV, plus IC Title & Divas Title matches". pwtorch.com.
  7. "Battleground PPV Results 10/6 (Hour 3): WWE Title match, power outage situation, Punk vs. Ryback". pwtorch.com.
  8. Johnson, Mike. "COMPLETE 2015 WWE PPV SCHEDULE". pwinsider.com. Retrieved 7 January 2015.
  9. Defelice, Robert (March 30, 2023). "Shawn Michaels Announces NXT Battleground 2023 Will Emanate From Lowell, Massachusetts". Fightful. Retrieved March 30, 2023.
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