The Revival

**Battleground** was an event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment's (WWE) ECW brand, which took place on September 16, 2007 at the Daskalakis Athletic Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was broadcast on Sci-Fi. Battleground was the first event held by the new ECW brand, with the new *ECW* television series debuting the following Tuesday, and retroactively is the first event of the Extreme Takeover series.

Seven matches were featured on the card. The main event was a Fatal 4-Way Ladder match for the newly-instated ECW World Championship. Four qualification matches took place during the event, Rob Van Dam versus Hardcore Holly, Rhyno versus Test, Jeff Hardy versus Stevie Richards, and Sabu versus Matt Morgan, with the winners advancing to the main event. The featured matches on the undercard included an interpromotional Extreme Rules mixed tag team match between ECW wrestlers Tommy Dreamer and Jazz, and Raw wrestlers Edge and Lita, and the Dudley Boys versus Deuce and Domino, in the latter's WWE in-ring debut.

## Event

#### **Preliminary matches**

The event began with ECW General Manager Paul Heyman welcoming the live crowd and television audience to the show, announcing that by the end of the event there would be a new ECW World Champion, decided via a Fatal 4-Way Ladder match.

The inaugural match was the first of four qualifying matches for the main event. The World Heavyweight Champion Rob Van Dam faced Hardcore Holly, who had defected from the SmackDown brand to the ECW brand. Toward the end of the match, RVD performed a Split Legged Moonsault and Five Star Frog Splash to win the match and advance to the main event.

In the second qualifying match, two SmackDown turned ECW wrestlers Test and Rhyno faced off. Rhyno made his full-time return since being injured in November 2005 (he did compete in a match at ECW One Night Stand 2007). After a back and forth encounter, Rhyno defeated Test following a Gore. Rhyno advanced to the main event.

Following that, Raw turned ECW wrestler Stevie Richards faced Jeff Hardy in a qualifying match. Richards made his first in-ring appearance since December 2006, and Hardy made his first appearance since leaving WWE in 2003. In the end, Hardy performed a Twist of Fate and Swanton Bomb to win the match and advance to the main event.

In the final qualifying match, ECW alumni Sabu faced Matt Morgan. Morgan made his full-time return since injury and last match at Survivor Series 2006. As Morgan was a free agent, he was available to sign with the ECW brand. Sabu defeated Morgan following an Arabian Facecrusher.

Next, was a tag team match between the Dudley Boys and Deuce and Domino. The Dudley Boys made their full-time return to WWE since leaving in December 2005 (however they did compete at ECW One Night Stand 2006 and 2007). Deuce and Domino made their WWE debut at the event. Despite an impressive showing by Deuce and Domino, the veteran Dudley Boys performed a 3D on Deuce to win the match.

After that, Raw wrestlers Edge and Lita faced ECW wrestlers Jazz (who had defected from the Raw brand) and Tommy Dreamer in an interpromotional Extreme Rules mixed tag team match. Text here.

Prior to the main event, the event featured an in-ring segment featuring a number of ECW wrestlers, including Sandman, Balls Mahoney, Little Guido and Vito (The Full Blooded Italians (FBI)) and Justin Credible. The segment ended with Sandman caning the FBI and Credible as they retreated from the ring.

#### **Main event**

In the main event, the four wrestlers who won qualifying matches previously - Jeff Hardy, Rhyno, Rob Van Dam and Sabu - competed in a Fatal 4-Way Ladder match to crown the new ECW World Champion.

## Results

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 (c) - refers to the champion(s) heading into the match