28 October 2018
Here it was, Battleground 2018. Sasha let out a slight sigh of nerves. A combination of it being her first ppv in more than 6 months and the magnitude of the storyline had made this the most nervous she had been for a match since her WrestleMania debut more than two years ago.
It was a storyline that she had been enjoying, too. That week on Raw, the Wyatt's and The Shield had got into a brawl that had ultimately been won by the cult- casting doubt over The Shield'S ability to win at the ppv. The final image as Raw had went off the air that week was Bray Wyatt delivering the Sister Abigail to Sasha.
As it had been a significant part of the build-up, Sasha had managed to convince Triple H that the men and women in the match should be allowed to wrestle each other, and it had been announced through a Tweet from Raw GM Kurt Angle, that competitors would not be disqualified for attacking members of the opposite sex.
In the arena, the video package summarising the rivalry had not long finished and all four members of The Wyatt Family had entered the ring.
SIERRA. HOTEL. INDIA. ECHO. LIMA. DELTA. SHIELD.
The Shield's entrance music rang out through the arena as Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, Dean Ambrose and Sasha Banks walked down the steps and jumped over the barricade- intense glares on their faces and not taking their eyes off the Wyatt clan in the ring.
As The Shield arrived at the ring, they circled it, ensuring that none of the Wyatt's would have anywhere to run in the inevitably ensuing brawl. All four slowly climbed up onto the apron and stepped into the ring.
Immediately, Dean went after Bray Wyatt whilst Sasha, Roman and Seth attacked Paige, Harper and Rowan, respectively. Each member of the Wyatt Family was thrown into a corner with a Shield member stomping away on them. However, when Paige dodged an attempt at Banks' double knees to the gut, and caught The Boss with the RamPaige, the tide was turned against The Shield, with Sister Abigail going to help Bray in dealing with the Lunatic Fringe.
Eventually, the referee gained some control over the situation, with Roman starting the match officially against Wyatt. The two briefly locked up, before the Samoan overpowered the patriarch of the cult and threw him into the Shield's corner and tagging in Dean.
Ambrose stomped away at his rival for some time before making a quick tag to Seth, who in turn tagged the Big Dog back in. Dean went to his knees as Rollins did a ninja roll into the middle of the ring before running back and using the Lunatic Fringe as a launching pad to hit the New Face of Fear with a forearm to the face. The Architect then pushed Wyatt from the back of his head into a hard clothesline from Reigns.
It continued like this for some time, with The Shield successfully making quick tags and keeping themselves fresh whilst isolating Bray. However, when Harper distracted the referee, Wyatt was able to hit Roman with a low blow and turned to tag in Paige.
Once regaining his bearings, Reigns tagged in Sasha, who thus far had been performing well in her role and had managed to adjust her style of wrestling to suit the 'pack of wolves' mentality that the Hounds of Justice were known for. For her tag, Sasha decided to climb to the top rope and attempt to catch Abigail with a Meteroa, but the Raven Haired woman proved too strong and caught the Boss in mid air before hitting a Powerbomb for a two fall.
For the next few minutes, The Wyatt Family made use of Kurt Angle's added stipulation and tagged in and out of the match frequently, beating down Sasha Banks as they did so. Only when countering a running senton attempt from the Patriarch of the Wyatt Family did Banks manage to tag out of the match. Dean Ambrose being entered into the fray as a result.
The Lunatic Fringe being relatively fresh, and having avoided taking much punishment, managed to gain an advantage over the tagged-in Rowan- hitting Big Red with a number of forearm attacks before executing a running bulldog out of the corner.
Ambrose climbed to the top rope and jumped, catching a standing Rowan with an elbow drop. Signalling to the WWE Universe that it was over, Dean picked up Rowan and grabbed him in a side headlock, hitting Dirty Deeds and rolling the larger man into the cover.
Just before the referees hand struck three, however, Harper broke up the pinfall. It was at this point that the match broke down. Before managing to stand up from breaking the fall, Seth Rollins ran into the ring and Stomped Harper's head hard into the mat. Turning around, The Architect was caught unaware that Bray Wyatt was standing behind him, and caught struck with a vicious Sister Abigail. Wyatt's celebration wasn't long, however, before he got caught by surprise by a Roman Reigns Spear.
Reigns was then attacked by an aggressive Paige headbutt, the pale woman successful in neutering The Big Dog for the time being.
Sasha Banks then ran into the ring, attempting to catch her opponent with a drop kick, but was instead caught with a clothesline and picked up and hit with the RamPaige elevated DDT manoeuvre. Distracted by the melee around him, the Lunatic Fringe was unaware that Rowan had got back to his feet, and was struck by a double handed Chokeslammed.
Big Red rolled Ambrose into the cover. "One! Two! Three! Ring the bell!" the referee shouted- signalling to the timekeeper that the match was over and that the Wyatt Family had won.
As Seth was the Universal Champion and Roman was the Intercontinental Champion, neither title was defended on the Raw-exclusive Battleground PPV, and as such the final image before the show went off the air was that of the Wyatt Family celebrating over the prone form of Dean Ambrose, the rest of The Shield scattered around ringside.
And that's it for this chapter. Sorry it took so long, I went through a bit of a mentally and found myself without the motivation to write for a while. But, I'm back now, so I hoped you enjoyed chapter 10. Let me know what you thought in a review. Next time, The Shield and Bayley go on a journey, so we'll see Sasha assimilate with her new tag/road partners a bit, then after that we'll be back into Raw and the storyline. Anyway, thanks for reading, I'm hoping to have Chapter 11 up by about Wednesday, so look out for that. In the meantime, don't forget to leave a review and let me know if there's anything you'd like to see or just to give me feedback on the match.