WWE SmackDown Results: Winners, Grades, Reaction and Highlights from July 16

Every week on Bleacher Report, I take an in-depth look at WWE SmackDown to recap the action, offer analysis and grade the matches, segments and anything else that takes place on the show, as well as make a few predictions for future events.

With just a few days to go until Battleground, this was WWE's last chance to put a bow on all the feuds that will make up the matches on the pay-per-view card.

With Ryback's status changing after an unfortunate injury, reported by WWE.com, the Intercontinental Championship will no longer be defended. This means something new has to take the place of the scheduled Triple Threat match.

At least it wasn't one of the more prominent bouts on the card, so it won't affect the overall quality of the show.

Let's take a look at everything that happened on this week's episode of SmackDown.

Opening Segment

Roman Reigns opened the show with a promo about his upcoming match against Bray Wyatt. He also hyped the main event, in which he would team with Dean Ambrose to take on Sheamus and Big Show.

It didn't take long for Bray Wyatt to interrupt from the big screen. He did a good job looking upset about Reigns' attack on him on Raw, but he also claimed he knew the attack was coming and almost admired Reigns for what he did.

Reigns challenged him to come to the ring, but Wyatt wasn't going to give him the satisfaction. It was a pretty typical opening segment, but it did a good job pushing their feud heading into Battleground.

Reigns has improved quite a bit since the beginning of the year. He is much more comfortable on the mic, which is going to be key to getting back into the main event scene.

Grade: B-

Notes and Highlights

• Wyatt is still awesome in a lot of ways, but his gimmick is becoming repetitive. WWE needs to find a new way to use him before nobody cares anymore.
• Whoever was running the smoke machine during Wyatt's portion of this segment pumped just a little too much smoke into the room. It's surprising Wyatt wasn't coughing.
• WWE had a golden opportunity to make this a much more personal feud by using Reigns' daughter, but nothing ever came of it.

The New Day vs. Lucha Dragons

Titus O'Neil and Darren Young joined the commentary team for the tag match between the New Day and Lucha Dragons. Big E and Kofi Kingston represented their team while Xavier Woods used his big mouth to encourage them from ringside.

The best thing about this match was that WWE gave them two segments to work with. Tag matches have so many more moving parts than singles bouts, so short encounters are usually pretty weak.

Young and O'Neil put Sin Cara and Kalisto over quite a bit, and there's no denying they deserve it. The Lucha Dragons are exciting every single time they compete.

Thanks to a little help from Woods, the New Day picked up the win. They talked some trash afterward, but retreated up the ramp once Young and O'Neil went into the ring to confront them.

Grade: B

Notes and Highlights

• Titus O'Neil's tie and pocket square game was on point.
• It seems like it's always Kingston and Big E in tag matches. Woods only seems to be involved in singles and six-man bouts for some reason.
• It was nice to see Young contributing a little more at the table. He is usually overshadowed by O'Neil's big personality when they do commentary.
• Big E might need to bring back his signature handkerchief. He was sweating like a turkey at Thanksgiving.

Jack Swagger vs. King Barrett

King Barrett picked up a quick win over Jack Swagger with a Bull Hammer. It was your basic fast match. Swagger got in a little offense, but Barrett dominated.

As King Barrett was celebrating, King What's Up came out with his towel, paper crown and plunger. Barrett got really upset and went on a rant about how Truth is mocking the very concept of the King of the Ring tournament.

The fact his crown is on the line at Battleground certainly makes things more interesting, but not by much. This feud is good for Truth because it gets him exposure, but it's hurting Barrett. He should be fighting for titles, not feuding with glorified jobbers.

Grade: C-

Notes and Highlights

• Who else completely forgot Jack Swagger worked for WWE until he came out for this match?
• Swagger deleted his Twitter account recently. Is it possible this is a sign that he is leaving the company? It would be a shame if this was his last match with WWE.
• Having Truth's plunger be wet is kind of a nice touch to his gimmick, even if it is ridiculous.

Cesaro vs. Rusev

Cesaro continued his string of impressive performances with a match against Rusev, but he can't take all the credit. Rusev was just as vital to the success of this bout.

Both of these men do things you wouldn't think either is capable of on a regular basis. Cesaro never seems to run out of tricks, and Rusev has more athleticism than anyone else his size.

This might not have been as good as the Triple Threat match we saw between these two and Kevin Owens on Raw, but it was a solid match with a lot of great action. Cesaro picking up the clean win made things even better.

Seeing the way the crowd has been reacting to him lately provides hope that Cesaro is finally starting to make people realize just how good he really is.

Grade: A-

Notes and Highlights

• Cesaro ran into Kevin Owens backstage, but nothing happened. It might be a tease for a future feud between the two.
• The springboard uppercut Cesaro has been using lately is a thing of beauty.
• Have you noticed more Superstars and Divas have a submission hold as a potential finisher than ever before? Cesaro adding the Sharpshooter to his repertoire makes it more apparent.
• The editing team did a good job hiding how Cesaro didn't really connect with an uppercut as Rusev was coming off the top rope.

Neville vs. Stardust

Neville and Stardust continued the feud they started on Raw with another singles match. Stardust tried to win with dirty tactics again, but the ref was in position to see him grabbing the ropes for leverage.

Neville took advantage of the situation and picked up a quick win to redeem himself after losing on Monday. This was too short to be anything special, but it will be interesting to see where this feud goes.

This could really help both men if WWE actually follows through with them instead of treating this like a short-term program.

Grade: C+

Notes and Highlights

• The presentation of this storyline as a comic book-style feud between a hero and a villain might be an indication that Stephen Amell will indeed face Stardust at SummerSlam.
• Does Jerry Lawler really own a Batmobile or was he just making stuff up to be funny?
• Jimmy Uso said Stardust was like a cross between the Joker and the Riddler. He is more like a combination of the Riddler and Scarecrow in my opinion.

Big Show and Sheamus vs. Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose

The main event tag match was relatively entertaining, but Reigns, Ambrose, Big Show and Sheamus couldn't match the efforts of Cesaro and Rusev.

The weirdest thing about this match was there was no mention of the Miz or Ryback. You would think WWE would acknowledge the change to the IC title match at Battleground, but it never happened.

As expected, Wyatt caused a disqualification by attacking Reigns. However, Reigns got the last laugh by landing a Superman punch.

Grade: B

Notes and Highlights

• The one thing WWE is really bad at is acknowledging its own history. Big Show and Sheamus have feuded a lot in the past, but we are supposed to believe they're friends now they are both heels.
• Ambrose needs a real feud. He is too talented to be Reigns' sidekick.
• Big Show and Ambrose going through the announce table was a nice spot, but the table broke way easier than it should have.

Final Thoughts and Predictions

As a show that was meant to send us into the next pay-per-view, SmackDown did a good job of addressing all the major feuds and giving a few people who won't be on the card a chance to shine.

Cesaro continues to impress with every performance. He is quite literally the Swiss Army knife of wrestlers. He can basically do anything he wants in the ring and make it look good.

The storyline with King Barrett and R-Truth has been dragged out a little too long, but it's better for them to have a goofy feud than no feud at all.

Battleground has the potential to be a great show based on the matches that are scheduled to take place. This week's predictions will focus on the outcomes of those bouts.

Predictions

• King Barrett will beat R-Truth and keep his crown.
• Roman Reigns will defeat Bray Wyatt.
• The Prime Time Players will retain the tag titles.
• Kevin Owens will defeat John Cena to become the new U.S. champion.
• Randy Orton will defeat Sheamus.
• Seth Rollins will retain the WWE World Heavyweight Championship, but not by defeating Brock Lesnar. He will likely get himself disqualified.

What did you think of this week's SmackDown?

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