WWE Battleground 2016 Results: Power Ranking Every Match at PPV
WWE delivered one of its finest pay-per-views of 2016 Sunday night with Battleground, the final presentation of the joint-brand era.
With Superstars heading their separate ways, going off to achieve greatness on either Raw or SmackDown, everyone was looking to leave an indelible mark on the event. They did just that, with the in-ring product phenomenal and the heat from the audience scorching and sustained.
There was so much to love about the work of the Superstars that deciding whose match was better than others' proved difficult. Yet there were little things that separated the fifth-best contest from the No. 1.
On the heels of Sunday's superb event, and two credible Match of the Year contenders, relive the Battleground pay-per-view with this ranking of the night's nine bouts.
9. Darren Young vs. The Miz
1 of 9
The lack of a compelling story and chemistry between Intercontinental champion The Miz and No. 1 contender Darren Young resulted in an underwhelming match that was easily the worst of the Battleground pay-per-view.
There was nothing technically wrong with the match. Young is a sound wrestler and Miz is enjoying his strongest year between the ropes to date. The issue was twofold in that the fans had no reason to invest emotionally and, worse yet, Young is a nondescript babyface who was not appropriately built leading up to his championship opportunity.
That the ending was a confusing mess, each man disqualified for what his manager did on the arena floor, did not help matters.
As Young released the Crossface Chicken Wing he had trapped Miz in, he stared at his hands, just as motivational coach Bob Backlund used to do after ripping an opponent's shoulder out of its socket. It was the only interesting development of the entire match, providing hope the character may not be as one-dimensional as it seems.
8. Zack Ryder vs. Rusev
2 of 9
Zack Ryder returned to pay-per-view action Sunday night with a United States Championship match against the mighty Rusev.
Despite a plucky babyface performance, which saw Long Island Iced Z come within seconds of regaining the title he held with great pride some five years ago, the Bulgarian Brute leveled Ryder and forced a tapout with The Accolade.
A match featuring a basic layout, it was solid enough but never evolved past what one would expect to see on an episode of Raw or SmackDown.
Thus, on a night of superb in-ring action, it ranks near the bottom of our list, though that is in no way indicative of a bad or underwhelming match. It simply means everything else on the card was that much better.
7. The Usos vs. Breezango
3 of 9
Fans had no reason to expect a good match out of The Usos and Breezango. What on the surface appeared to be a throwaway contest designed only to heat up the crowd ahead of the main-card matches was instead one of the more surprising bouts of the night.
The crowd in Washington, D.C., was red-hot for the heels, cheering Tyler Breeze and Fandango rather than the frenetically paced babyface twins. Rightfully so too. Prince Pretty and WWE's resident ballroom dancer turned in a strong performance in a match that evolved into a Superkick Party late.
In the end, Breeze got his knees up on a top-rope splash attempt and cradled Jey Uso for the pinfall victory.
The clean win was a nice surprise and exactly the type of victory Breezango needs to continue garnering credibility as WWE looks to lay the foundations of the SmackDown tag team division.
6. Sasha Banks and Bayley vs. Charlotte and Dana Brooke
4 of 9
The main show kicked off with the long-awaited debut of Bayley, who joined Sasha Banks to defeat Charlotte and Dana Brooke in a huge women's tag team match.
The heels isolated Banks early, then did the same to her partner, much to the dismay of the fans in the Verizon Center. The Boss exploded into the match off a hot tag, though, and delivered the Bank Statement to put the women's champion away and score the tapout victory.
The crowd was phenomenal, fueling the performers to deliver performances that far exceeded those of a typical tag bout. While there were many who expected Bayley would be the mystery partner, the moment she stepped through the curtain was one of the most emotional in recent WWE history.
The smile on Banks' face said so—as did the pop Bayley received, which was easily the loudest of the night.
Strong in-ring chemistry and a well-laid-out match made for the perfect way to kickoff the night's festivities.
5. Becky Lynch vs. Natalya
5 of 9
Becky Lynch vs. Natalya may not have had the same level of hype as the women's tag team match, but that did not stop the supremely talented wrestlers from delivering a slightly better product from an in-ring perspective.
There was nothing flashy about the contest whatsoever. Natalya isolated the knee of her lass-kicking opponent and won the thing with the Sharpshooter. Lynch was the consummate babyface, selling for the majority of the match before fighting back late with her explosive comeback but falling short of a much-needed win.
The outcome should propel the feud, and Natalya's underhanded method of taking Lynch's knee out, using the referee as a distraction, only ensures that the Irish heroine will be looking for revenge.
Hopefully their next encounter can be appreciated by fans rather than being thrown out after a Match of the Year candidate and left to suffer from the consequent lack of crowd response like Sunday's bout was.
4. The New Day vs. the Wyatt Family
6 of 9
Xavier Woods was a nervous, terrified mess as he set foot inside the squared circle with his New Day brethren, Kofi Kingston and Big E, to battle The Wyatt Family's Bray Wyatt, Erick Rowan and Braun Strowman.
It would almost derail the tag team champions right out of the gate. Instead, Kingston and Big E carried the majority of the action and nearly pulled off the win. When Woods did finally did jump into the action, he came face-to-face with Bray and appeared mesmerized by The Reaper of Souls.
But then he snapped out of it and the match hit a whole new level. Fans erupted as Woods unloaded on Bray, overcoming his fear, telling a strong story that culminated in a pleasing fashion. Unfortunately, Wyatt's brief spider walk again sent Woods into a fear-induced trance and allowed the third-generation star to flatten him with Sister Abigail for the pinfall win.
Big E was mightily impressive, tossing Rowan with an impressive belly-to-belly suplex and taking Strowman to the arena floor with a scary spear. In the end, though, the heels went over on their final night as a unit in one of the better matches on the entire card.
3. John Cena, Enzo Amore and Big Cass vs. the Club
7 of 9
Crowd response and a fired up Enzo Amore helped catapult this match past The New Day vs. The Wyatt Family, even if the action was never quite as fluid as it was in that contest.
Amore was the real star of Sunday's big six-man tag team match, which pitted him, Big Cass and John Cena against The Club's AJ Styles, Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson. From his opening promo to his babyface-in-peril act that is reminiscent of Ricky Morton's shtick, straight through to his fearless encounter with Gallows and Anderson late, The Certified G broke out with the type of performance that confirmed his star potential.
Styles was his typically great self, even if his performance Sunday night was somewhat understated in comparison to his previous pay-per-view showings.
Cena scored the win for his team, pinning The Phenomenal One and presumably setting up a deciding showdown with Styles at SummerSlam.
Hardly a pretty match by any means, it benefited from a molten-hot crowd and inspired performances from all those involved.
2. Dean Ambrose vs. Seth Rollins vs. Roman Reigns
8 of 9One of the beautiful things the Triple Threat match for the WWE Championship did was rely on prior events between The Shield to form the foundation of its story.
Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins worked together to put Roman Reigns through a table with a powerbomb, much like the trio did to many a rival during their days as wrestling's most imposing stable. Then, there was the sneaky steel chair shot to the back by Rollins, reminiscent of his shocking betrayal of his brothers some two years ago.
Those spots helped elevate the bout from a great match to one of the best main events of 2016.
Reigns was solid as the insurmountable powerhouse whose downfall came only when Ambrose and Rollins set aside their differences to double-team him.
An action-packed match that never slowed its pace, the main event delivered a clear victor, in clean fashion, and allowed SmackDown to celebrate to close out the show.
1. Sami Zayn vs. Kevin Owens
9 of 9
The years-long feud between Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens culminated in another extraordinary bout Sunday night, stealing the show out from underneath the much-hyped main event and delivering a Match of the Year candidate.
Owens and Zayn were phenomenal from bell to bell, their chemistry captivating fans and even leading to a standing ovation
Commentators Michael Cole, John Bradshaw Layfield and Byron Saxton set aside the bantering and told the story of the Superstars, relaying to the audience that the counters executed by the Superstars were the result of their familiarity with one another. Cole even pointed out the matching colors worn by the competitors was a reflection of their past friendship.
Emotions were high, and the Superstars did a phenomenal job demonstrating as much.
The finish helped put an exclamation point on the contest, as Zayn showed more intensity and anger than he has to this point on the main roster, executing a Helluva Kick on his former friend-turned-bitter enemy for the pinfall victory.
It did not long for "match of the year" to start circulating around social media, and rightfully so.
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