WWE Battleground 2016: Feuds Most Deserving of Midcard Spot

With a WWE Championship match that will be heavily under the spotlight at July 24's WWE Battleground show, it's perhaps easy to overlook the action happening in the midcard—but don't expect it to be a disappointment.

There are some fantastic matches lined up for the show, which will surely serve as the appetiser for a large portion of the SummerSlam card in August.

With WWE's talent pool the richest it's been in years, it's inevitable there are plenty of active rivalries that are more than worthy of a spot on the Battleground midcard.

In fact, that midcard could even overshadow the main event matches—that's how healthy things are right now. Here's a look at three matches that will make the midcard go off with a real bang. 

Sami Zayn vs. Kevin Owens

WWE is building this match up as if it will be the final meeting between Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens. Fans feel it won't be—a bout at SummerSlam surely beckons—but that doesn't mean this rivalry isn't well worth its spot on the Battleground card.

The beauty of Zayn vs. Owens is you simply never know what you're going to get. The match could end in a no-contest as the two brawl all across the arena, Zayn could pick up a shock win that would prompt Owens into retaliating or K.O. could strengthen his reputation with a victory.

It's interesting there is no stipulation attached to the match. That could obviously change before Battleground, but if it's just a standard one-on-one match, it lends further weight to the argument they're going to meet again in a bigger bout at SummerSlam.

That could see them lock horns in a Last Man Standing match or even an Iron Man contest. 

But at Battleground, Zayn and Owens will once again prove their rivalry is one of the hottest in WWE with another brilliant wrestling match.

The New Day vs. The Wyatt Family

Announcing The Wyatt Family as The New Day's next challengers for the tag titles certainly took a few people by surprise, but it has proved to be one of the company's most compelling feuds of the last few weeks.

The return of the Wyatts naturally gave the whole roster a lift, as Bray Wyatt himself has been a big miss for WWE, let alone Erick Rowan and Braun Strowman by his side.

WWE is teasing some major fractions within The New Day too, making this contest one of the most intriguing heading into Battleground.

Will Xavier Woods manage to stay on the same page as Big E and Kofi Kingston as the match draws closer? That is the main question fans are asking, and the booking of Woods in recent weeks has given this rivalry a fresh dynamic.

It's likely The New Day will survive the threat of The Wyatt Family—certainly at Battleground—but you suspect this feud will run.

Given the unpredictability it's thrown up since it began, WWE fans can be confident of being surprised again in the run to SummerSlam.

Rusev vs. TBD

It may seem strange to put Rusev's potential United States Championship match on this list when it's not even clear which Superstar he's fighting yet, but that's just a sign of how good The Bulgarian Brute has been of late.

Those disastrous angles involving Dolph Ziggler, Lana and Summer Rae—as well as The League of Nations stable—seem such a long time ago.

Since getting the United States Championship back in May, Rusev has looked close to his best once again. 

WWE has booked him well and is making him look like the credible heel most people knew he could have been all along.

No matter his opponent at Battleground—it's probably safe to rule Titus O'Neil out of the running after their match on the most recent edition of Raw—it will be a match worth watching.

The balance between the focus on Lana at ringside and Rusev inside the ring is also spot-on. In the past, there had maybe been too much attention on Lana, but WWE is placing more of the spotlight on Rusev and allowing him to showcase his talents.

That's no bad thing whatsoever. Expect the brand split to only intensify and increase Rusev's standing within WWE.