Battleground Kick-off Show started off the night with Dolph Ziggler defeating Damien Sandow - who outwitted himself taking off his protective knee pad as he pelted Ziggler with a series of knees, only to injure himself and get caught with Ziggler's Zig Zag finisher for the lose.
Alberto Del Rio opened up the inaugural WWE pay-per-view defending his World Heavyweight Championship against Rob Van Dam in a Battleground Hardcore Rules match. RVD showed the champion how extreme he can get using every weapon at his disposal to wear down the champion. Del Rio regained the advantage and had Van Dam in the Cross Armbreaker when Ricardo Rodriguez hit Del Rio with a spit bucket to break the hold. Rodriguez hit the champion with the bucket again and took a beating for his troubles, with Del Rio refocusing his attack on RVD, wrapping a metal chair around RVD's arm and cinching the Cross Armbreaker to force the former ECW champion tap out.
In a match that was announced earlier in the day, Santino Marella and The Great Khali went up against The Real Americans - Jack Swagger and Antonio Cesaro, with the Real Americans working efficiently in keeping the Great Khali out the match. Khali eventually got the hot-tag from Marella and took advantage until Cesaro took the big man down to the mat, dizzying the behemoth with the Cesaro Swing, in an impressive show of strength, spinning him 11 times to score the pin and the victory for The Real Americans.
Curtis Axel defended his Intercontinental title against R-Truth, who scored a pin on the champion last Monday night on Raw. Without CM Punk to help him, R-Truth got caught with a Hangman's Facebuster allowing Axel to retain his title.
WWE Divas champion AJ Lee, who is hellbent on beating all of the Total Divas, defended her title against cast-member Brie Bella. Bella took control but AJ capitalized on Bella letting her guard down, smashing her against the ring post to take advantage. AJ used a variety of submission holds to wear down Bella before the Total Diva mounted a comeback but got distracted by Tamina, who accompanied the champion to ringside. AJ's new bodyguard was choking out Nikki Bella, allowing AJ to roll up the challenger for the three count and regain her title.
WWE Tag Team Champions The Shield - Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns - took on The Rhodes, Cody Rhodes and Goldust, with the family's jobs with the company on the line. The Rhodes had control early on but Goldust attempted a cross-body that missed, with him landing on the hard floor. The Rhodes would eventually regain control, with Cody nailing Rollins with the Crossroads, after Rollins missed with a clothesline, for the huge victory for the legendary wrestling clan.
From the Rhodes Family to the Wyatt Family, as Bray Wyatt went up against Kofi Kingston, who relented against his much bigger opponent only to get overpowered by Wyatt. Kingston fought back valiantly but could not compensate for Wyatt's strength, setting up Kingston for the Sister Abigail finisher and the pin.
Ryback went up against CM Punk next, with Ryback taking advantage of his size difference right away, imposing his will over the much smaller CM Punk as Paul Heyman looked on with glee. Ryback squashed Punk from wire-to-wire, with Punk mounting as much of an offense as he could muster only to get distracted by Heyman. Ryback continued mauling Punk before Heyman grabbed a kendo stick from under the ring to teach his former pupil a lesson. Heyman got ready to swing but was caught by the referee before he could strike Punk, buying the "Straight-Edge Superstar" time to regain his wits, low-blowing Ryback while the official was distracted by his former mentor, scoring the win with his guile.
Prior to the main event, there were technical difficulties that delayed the start of the but were quickly resolved for the Daniel Bryan and Randy Orton bout for the vacant WWE Title. Orton surprised Bryan with a submission move of his own midway through the match, clamping a Boston Crab on Bryan to wear the former champion down. Bryan fought back and clamped the Yes! Lock on Orton, who looked on the verge of tapping out before the Big Show's music surprised everyone. The Big Show dragged the referee out the ring, knocked him and Bryan out before Raw general manager Brad Maddox - who was left in charge after Triple H and Stephanie McMahon were called away from the arena on business - came out to the ramp and called out recently fired referee Scott Armstrong to make the three-count. Big Show knocked out Armstrong with a WMD, fed up with following The Authority's direction. Orton got in the Big Show's face and ate a WMD, with the Big Show standing tall in the middle of the ring and WWE Title still vacant after a no-contest finish to end the show.