The moment that Ryback revealed that he had a staph infection and couldnt compete at Battleground, speculation began as to how WWE would plug that hole on the card. Would Rybacks opponents face each other? Would guys like Dean Ambrose, Rusev or Cesaro get a short match to showcase their skills? Cesaro in particular has been on a tear since Tyson Kidd went down with an injury, taking John Cena to the limit twice and nearly toppling Rusev on Monday night. A return bout against Rusev could have stolen the show. Even a squash to showcase his talents would have been a better use of time than having Miz strut to the ring to run his mouth and ultimately get knocked out by Big Show. Had it been Raw, putting Miz on TV to run his mouth and ultimately get knocked out wouldve been satisfying. But on PPV, youre just eating up time that could have gone to another match. When youve got guys like the ones mentioned above, it showed you used poor judgement in having them sit on the sidelines.
Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fondly remembers watching WrestleMania III, IV, V and VI and Saturday Night's Main Event, came back to wrestling during the Attitude Era, and has been a consumer of sports entertainment since then. He's written for WhatCulture for more than a decade, establishing the Ups and Downs articles for WWE Raw and WWE PPVs/PLEs and composing pieces on a variety of topics.
