WWE Battleground 2016 - The Future is Set

The dust has settled on Battleground.  Starting tomorrow, we enter a "New Era" in the WWE with the brand extension in full effect.  The show was very entertaining from top to bottom, and did a good job at setting up stars for this new era. This show had very few low points and held interest for over 3 hours, and that includes the Kickoff show.  They started setting a good foundation for the new era with Breezango beating the Usos on the Battleground Kickoff show. This sets them up nicely as a meaningful team in the Smackdown tag division.

Bayley and Sasha celebrate

The main card started off with a bang. We got the first appearance of Bayley on a WWE main roster card.  This was billed as a one night rental for Sasha Banks.  This may be an extremely smart move to introduce her, let her finish her NXT run, then bring her on after Summerslam.  Bayley received an enormous pop from the Washington D.C. crowd, and all the ladies gave a good performance for a very solid opener. This perfectly set up a Summerslam match between Sasha and Charlotte for the WWE Women's Championship.

The Wyatts vs. New Day was a fine match. It wasn't anything special, but it told a decent story with Xavier Woods overcoming his fear of Bray Wyatt.  It dragged when the Wyatts were in control, but the New Day are over enough that the crowd wasn't fully dead.  Bray Wyatt winning was logical, as he is probably the lead contender for the WWE championship on Smackdown... we will get back to that later.

Owens vs Zayn in a classic

Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens kicked major ass. The vignette was pretty good, even though the feud had cooled off due to over-saturation and questionable booking.  That didn't matter in the end, because these boys killed it in the ring.  Even with a botch in the middle, these two put on a masterclass performance. The story of Sami having to beat Kevin once and for all is so easy to tell, and these two delivered it greatly.  The finishing stretch of this match was so compelling, and the audience was on edge.  These two even got a standing ovation before the match was over!  Sami hitting the Helluva Kick, holding an unconscious Kevin up while looking conflicted, then deciding to hit him again was such a beautiful finish. I don't know what's next, but I don't need to worry about that. I will just enjoy how great this was.

I don't have much to say about the US Championship or IC Title matches, as they were forgone conclusions and didn't add much to the show.  The Becky and Natalya match had the very difficult task of following the Zayn/Owens classic.  Their match wasn't bad, and Natalya winning keeps her relevant on a small roster of women on Smackdown.

Enzo killing it on the mic

Enzo Amore spit fire for a really long time in a pre-match promo.  He talked for forever, and stayed over the entire time. Cena reacting to Enzo's promo was awesome and it felt special.  The match was fun, nothing overtly special, but the crowd ate it up and the finish sets up a Summerslam match between Cena and Styles.  Everyone shined in this match and Enzo is incredibly over with the audience and this act is steamrolling into RAW as one of their hottest acts.

I will briefly say that the Highlight Reel happened.  Orton was in a strangely chipper mood, and also took a shot at Brock's drug test failure.  I don't think this was very good, but it happened.  That's all I've got.

The main event delivered well and had a great result, in my opinion. This was the second best match on the card, and it was really fun to watch.  They had a big match feel, and everyone had good moments. The fast pace of most of the match kept the match entertaining.  I enjoyed the Shield callbacks including the powerbomb through the table. The most important thing in this match for me is that Dean Ambrose was solidified as a main eventer.  Dean pinned Roman clean and takes the championship to Smackdown Live.  Daniel Bryan and Shane's reaction was cool and the post match celebration felt special for the Smackdown brand.

Where does the WWE go from here?  Do the WWE Championship, WWE Women's Championship and the WWE Tag Team Championships become double branded?  Do they create more belts?  Monday and Tuesday feel important after this show, as a lot of things still need to be settled in this new era.  I just hope whatever they do, it is entertaining.