WWE SmackDown Results: Biggest Winners, Losers and Moments from July 16

Just 72 hours away from Battleground and a date with Bray Wyatt in one of the night's marquee bouts, Roman Reigns established himself as the biggest winner of July 16 episode of SmackDown, thanks to a strong opening promo and an intense main event performance.

The ongoing program with Wyatt, which will culminate in what is sure to be one of the most intensely personal contests on this Sunday's card, has brought out the best in Reigns as of late. He has been more ferocious in his ring work and more compelling on the mic, two areas that have needed to be addressed for some time now.

Thursday night, fans got just a small taste of what they can expect in St. Louis this weekend, as he exploded across the squared circle with a Superman Punch to Wyatt and a gigantic spear to Sheamus.

WWE's phenomenal booking of the second-generation star really hammered home the point that he was the star of Thursday night's broadcast.

On a night where WWE put the final touches on its build to Battleground, which other Superstars had productive nights and which found themselves lacking momentum considerably heading into this weekend's WWE Network presentation?

Take a look for yourself with this week's biggest winners and losers from SmackDown.

Winner: Cesaro

The Swiss Superstar continued to roll Thursday night, becoming just the second man ever to pin Rusev clean in singles competition.

The victory was somewhat of a shock because it certainly felt as though the Bulgarian Brute was in the middle of being rebuilt after the first half of the summer saw him injured and split from Lana.

Cesaro delivered another outstanding performance, proving himself to be one of the handful of best workers in the industry. There was no gimmicky Cesaro Swing or unnecessary pandering to the audience. Instead, the crowd provided a huge reaction to the victory because the WWE Universe is invested in him due to the hard work and dedication he demonstrates every time he sets foot inside the squared circle.

Hopefully, WWE Creative can maintain his current push beyond Battleground because for the first time in over a year, it feels like Cesaro finally has the momentum behind him that he has been lacking for so long.

Loser: King Barrett

Sure, the 2015 King of the Ring picked up a victory over Jack Swagger Thursday night, but who doesn't these days?

What made Barrett a loser on this week's show actually came after the match, when he tried so very hard to add a sense of seriousness to his upcoming Kickoff Show match against R-Truth. Unfortunately, the feud is so underwhelming and Truth's gimmick is so over-the-top stupid that there really is no fixing the sinkhole WWE Creative has created with this one.

Barrett deserves so much better, and watching him spin his wheels on a worthless feud such as this is just further proof of how much he has been let down by those in management.

Unfortunately for him, he is becoming a permanent fixture on the loser side of things as a result.

Winners: The New Day

As they prepare to try and wrest the tag team titles back from the Prime Time Players Sunday night, The New Day squared off with the Lucha Dragons Thursday night. The result was one of their strongest performances since dropping the championships at Money in the Bank and a win they desperately needed.

Big E has developed into one of the industry's most underrated wrestlers, with a knack for entertaining and an in-ring game that has improved by leaps and bounds since he arrived on the main roster in late 2012. Kofi Kingston is even finding himself more and more comfortable in his heel role and cut a strong promo after the win.

As the mouthpiece, Xavier Woods is outstanding, whether that means talking trash to the opposition from ringside, inciting a chorus of boos from fans while running his mouth or delivering a more traditional in-ring promo that generates tons of heat. 

They needed momentum ahead of Battleground and they got it. Now it will be up to WWE Creative to decide whether it wants to reignite the flame and reestablish the trio after cutting their legs out from underneath them at last month's pay-per-view.