WWE Battleground 2016: Power Ranking Matches Most Likely to Steal the Show
Sunday night, World Wrestling Entertainment presents Battleground, the last pay-per-view before the brand extension takes over and separates Raw and SmackDown for good.
A WWE Championship Triple Threat match pitting former Shield teammates Dean Ambrose, Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins against each other two years after the trio split headlines the card.
With John Cena, AJ Styles, Sami Zayn, Sasha Banks, Kevin Owens and The New Day making up the remainder of the card, the WWE Network broadcast promises to be a night of entertaining action.
Superstars will be looking to deliver performances that generate interest in them from management ahead of the first week of exclusive Raw and SmackDown programming. Which Superstars will rise to the occasion, and which will find it more difficult based on their matchups on the event card?
Ahead of the imperative pay-per-view extravaganza, find out which match has the most potential to steal the show and which contest will be hurting for fan investment with this in-depth look at Sunday's spectacular.
8. Intercontinental Championship Match: Darren Young vs. The Miz
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There has been nothing about Darren Young's revamped character that has inspired excitement among WWE fans. It has been largely comedy-based, though hardly amusing, and his wins have been mostly fluky. Bob Backlund is over more than he is, creating an environment detrimental to the future of Young's singles run.
Post-WrestleMania 32, The Miz was on fire, delivering his best work in the ring and on the microphone. Unfortunately, his brief hiatus to film The Marine 5: Battleground severely halted his momentum. He is nowhere near as hot as he was through April and May and now is expected to be the driving force in getting Young over.
It has not worked to this point, and outside of Miz's ability to play to the crowd, the likelihood is strong that fans greet Sunday's intercontinental title match with silence.
Both men are solid in-ring workers with attentions for fundamentals. But beyond that, Young is not nearly hot enough as a babyface to generate excitement. The result will be a solid-yet-unspectacular match fans forget by the time the next bout kicks off.
7. Sasha Banks and a Mystery Partner vs. Charlotte and Dana Brooke
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The talent involved in Sunday's women's tag team match is undeniable, so its low ranking here is more indicative of the mystery surrounding Banks' tag team partner than an indictment of the performers involved.
The names of several female performers have been debated about and speculated upon over the last two weeks. Everyone from Bayley to Nia Jax has been discussed, but no one knows for sure who will set foot inside the squared circle Sunday night, backing up The Boss as she continues to chase the Women's Championship.
More importantly, the possibility that the contest turns into more of an angle than a wrestling match also hangs over the bout like a dark cloud.
Banks and Charlotte are great, and Dana Brooke has been better than expected thus far in her main-roster run. The company's ability to deliver on the fourth competitor will weigh heavily on the overall quality of the bout and will influence whether it is a damn fine representation of women's wrestling in 2016 or a disappointing letdown, considering the heat surrounding the program.
6. United States Championship Match: Zack Ryder vs. Rusev
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Rusev is an outstanding professional wrestler. In fact, he is probably among the top 10 in the entire promotion when he's at his best. The way he combines a power game with his speed and agility is simply amazing. Sunday night, he battles one of the most underrated workers on the entire roster, Zack Ryder.
Long Island Iced Z has worked hard to get back to a relevant spot on the card. Sunday night, he will have the opportunity to pay it off when he competes for the same United States Championship he held with such pride back in 2011.
With each ending up on opposite sides of the brand extension, no one expects Ryder to win and take the U.S. title over to SmackDown, which already has its own secondary championship. What the WWE Universe may not be prepared for, though, is a great display of David vs. Goliath as Ryder admirably fills the role of the plucky underdog.
Their styles compliment each other. It will be their ability to tell a story that captivates fans, primarily through dramatic near-falls, that will be imperative to keeping the audience invested.
The story is fairly weak, so the quality of Sunday's match will be squarely on the Superstars themselves.
5. The New Day vs. The Wyatt Family
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The New Day and The Wyatt Family had a much greater, more physical brawl at the heels' compound on the July 11 episode of Raw, leading some to believe their Battleground match could be the sleeper hit of the entire event.
A fight without constraints is entirely different than a standard tag team match, which Sunday's battle is being billed as. Is it likely that the action breaks down on occasion? Of course, but it will likely lack the intensity that the wild and chaotic battle two weeks ago thrived on.
The talent involved is good enough to produce a great tag match on its own, without the bells and whistles of weapons and fast-paced jump cuts. But one has to wonder whether the WWE draft results will hurt interest in the match.
After all, Bray Wyatt and Erick Rowan will be excommunicating themselves from the rivalry to terrorize SmackDown, leaving The New Day and Braun Strowman on Raw. Could the lack of future for the program hurt its ability to draw heat come Sunday night?
The answer to that question could determine the overall quality of the match.
4. Becky Lynch vs. Natalya
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The dark horse of Sunday's show is the contest between Becky Lynch and Natalya. A grudge match born of a shocking betrayal at the hands of The Queen of Harts, it should prove to be one of the most emotionally charged bouts of the entire night.
Considering the talent of the two wrestlers involved, it could also be one of the best.
Natalya is a master technician, a performer whose strength is in her mat game. She has the ability to work a body part and force a submission out of her opponent with the famed Sharpshooter. Few possess a better understanding of why a wrestler uses the moves that he or she does than the third-generation competitor.
Lynch is the fiery babyface whose greatest weapons are the suplexes she throws to set up the Disarmer. She, too, is a technique-based performer but is not afraid to throw fists when the time calls for it.
With this being the middle chapter in their story, there is always a possibility that they could save their best for a later date. Determined to show they are every bit as good as the women involved in the current championship hunt, though, expect them to go all-out in an attempt to steal the attention away from their peers.
3. John Cena, Big Cass & Enzo Amore vs. The Club
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Styles has been one of the best wrestlers on the planet for years now. Sunday at Battleground, he will partner with Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows as The Club battles Cena, Enzo Amore and Big Cass in a match featuring some of the hottest performers in all of WWE.
Enzo and Big Cass in particular have been extraordinary in carrying the feud, with Cena busy hosting awards shows. They have been the babyfaces the entire rivalry has been built around and should bring their unbridled energy to the proceedings.
Styles has been phenomenal as the lead villain in the program, openly mocking Cena and creating a Twitter hashtag (#BeatUpJohnCena) to build the feud. His in-ring work, particularly with Amore, has been the typically outstanding fare.
Factor in the chemistry Anderson and Gallows have shown with the popular babyfaces and you have a recipe for a red-hot tag match in what will amount to the last time these six Superstars appear together in any sort of match.
2. Triple Threat Match for the WWE Championship
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For just over a year, The Shield dominated professional wrestling, beating the biggest names in the industry en route to becoming the first legitimate breakout stars WWE has produced in quite some time. Their breakup led to the advent of three singles stars capable of carrying the company. Sunday night at Battleground, those three Superstars will battle for the top prize in the business.
Ambrose enters the match the champion, with Rollins and the returning Reigns his top contenders.
The backstory and history between the Superstars will ensure fans are invested in the match, while their penchant for delivering some of the best headliners dating back to 2014 should ensure the match has a decent shot of stealing the show.
Ambrose is a steady, if not frenetic, worker. Reigns is an explosive big man with a knack for delivering above and beyond expectations. Finally, Rollins is one of the best wrestlers on the planet when he is "on," his tireless dedication to being the best in the industry readily apparent.
Together, they should piece together a match fitting of the hype and excitement that finally waves goodbye to The Shield.
For the time being, at least.
1. Sami Zayn vs. Kevin Owens
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Have Owens and Zayn ever wrestled a match against each other that did not steal the show? It certainly does not feel like it, at least not recently.
At Payback, on the heels of WrestleMania 32, the two captivated fans with a dramatic and emotionally-fueled match that saw Owens pick up the win. Since then, the good friends turned bitter enemies have waged war in arenas around the world, their feud unending.
The latest chapter of their rivalry will spill into the nation's capital, Washington, D.C., for one of the most anticipated matches of the Battleground pay-per-view.
With so much attention given to the Triple Threat main event and the recent WWE draft, expect Zayn and Owens to be motivated to steal the show and remind fans why they are tops in their field in terms of consistently great in-ring performance.
It is with that in mind that they take the top spot on this countdown.
Will the other matches in the top three deliver in a big way? Probably, but none are as sure a thing as Owens vs. Zayn.
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