WWE Battleground 2016: Top Takeaways from Latest PPV Event

Sunday's WWE Battleground 2016 saw a showdown between new brands at the Verizon Center in Washington, D.C. Monday Night Raw and SmackDown Live saw three of their championships hang in the balance, and no one could be quite sure who and what brands would walk out with championship gold.

This year's edition of the pay-per-view provided more than three title matches, though. It was the end of an era for WWE, signaling the final day before Raw and SmackDown officially became separate shows with separate brands, which made Battleground more important than ever before.

The three former members of The Shield fought over the most important prize in the company: the WWE Championship. Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens battled one last time to settle a rivalry that has consumed their careers up to this point. Factions went to war as The New Day battled The Wyatt Family and John Cena recruited Enzo and Big Cass to help him combat The Club.

It was one of the most exciting nights of wrestling in recent memory, with two rosters wrestling with an extra edge, feeling the importance of the night and their impending futures. The best of the best clashed, and only a handful walked out feeling like true victors.

While Battleground had a noticeably widespread effect on the landscape of WWE, the show offered a few significant takeaways that could very well affect the way WWE evolves over the coming months.

The Brand Split Is Already Breeding Better Competition

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The reason for a brand split is often to give more talent a brighter spotlight in which to succeed. When divisions are split down the middle, the hierarchy is often reset on each brand. Wrestlers who couldn't even get TV time a month ago now have a chance to compete for championship gold, while wrestlers often playing enhancement roles begin gaining more victories.

Battleground showed the more competitive edge that comes with the brand split as early as the kickoff show, as The Usos and Breezango fought as evenly matched adversaries in a five-minute match littered with near-falls and high-flying spots. With these two now near the top of the SmackDown tag team division, it was important they both look credible, as they were struggling a month back.

While both Zack Ryder and Darren Young were seen as one time challengers to the midcard champions, they both were allowed to wrestle competitive matches against accomplished veterans in Rusev and The Miz. We even saw two heated women's matches including a nine minute showing between Becky Lynch and Natalya with no championship on the line.

While these new brands may take some time to get used to, the reshuffling of the roster is already paying dividends. Superstars are getting their due time to perform and look competitive. Hopefully, this will only continue to be true when Raw and SmackDown begin airing as rival shows and many more wrestlers play important roles to help each brand succeed.

Sami Zayn Is Ready for a Main Event Push

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While there were many fantastic performances at Battleground, only two wrestlers stole the show.

Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn have fought before in both WWE and NXT, but their greatest match in WWE to date happened at Battleground, where the two men went 18 minutes back and forth and showed they still had more than a few tricks up their sleeve.

While Owens has always been pegged for a main event spot in WWE, particularly since the brand split, Zayn has not had quite the same recognition up to this point. Much of his success could be seen as storyline fuel to push Owens to the top of the roster, but it is time now though to admit that Zayn is just as ready as Owens for a top spot in the business.

With at least two Match of the Year candidates just this year—his match with Owens at Battleground and WrestleMania week show-stealer with Shinsuke Nakamura at NXT TakeOver: Dallas—Zayn has been putting up top-notch performances only rivaled this year by the consistent efforts of AJ Styles and Roman Reigns.

Zayn has also been great when handed a microphone on frequent guest commentator spots and impassioned promos, particularly those directed at Owens. Other than Seth Rollins and Reigns, there is room for fresh blood at the top of the Raw roster, and Zayn has proved he can put on consistent main event-level performances at every major show.

The Championship Imbalance Needs to Be Fixed

WWE has consistently held to one championship structure. In order to have a complete brand, you must have at least one world championship, one midcard championship, one women's championship and one pair of tag team championships, plus perhaps one specialty championship.

Right now, SmackDown only has two championships to its name: the WWE Championship and the Intercontinental Championship, both defended successfully at Battleground. Meanwhile, Raw has three championships: the United States Championship, the WWE Tag Team Championships and the Women's Championship.

Unless WWE plans to use the imbalance of championship gold as a storyline, this structure will need to change. Dean Ambrose is now the only world champion in the company, but he can only be challenged by SmackDown talent. Similarly, SmackDown's women's division and tag team divisions are left with no championships to contest.

There are two potential solutions to this issue. First, the WWE Championship, Women's Championship and WWE Tag Team Championships could be made cross-brand titles, with champions required to defend against members of both rosters, particularly at major events.

Second, and the more likely scenario, is that WWE could create a separate World Championship for Raw and separate Women's and Tag Team Championships for SmackDown so that the major wrestling divisions all have something to fight for.

Until that time, the stakes for Raw and SmackDown will feel decidedly imbalanced.

The Road to SummerSlam Is Uncertain

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Second only to WrestleMania, SummerSlam is a massive show for WWE. Around this time each year, WWE's primary concern has been to set up matches for the big event.

Given Battleground's place on the PPV docket, it has often been a lackluster show precisely because of WWE's insistence on setting up SummerSlam.

This year, though, Battleground was used less as buildup to SummerSlam and more as a final salute to the pre-brand-split era of the WWE. The New Day and The Wyatt Family are now split apart by brands. Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn have seemingly settled their longstanding rivalry. Dean Ambrose has even won his war with his Shield brethren.

Other than the confirmed showdown between Brock Lesnar and Randy Orton, the only matches we can expect to see on the SummerSlam card are John Cena vs. AJ Styles and Charlotte vs. Sasha Banks. That leaves quite a bit of uncertainty surrounding a show with a likely four-hour running time.

At this point, we have no idea who will be first up to bat to compete against Rusev for the United States Champion or The Miz for the Intercontinental Championship. More importantly, SmackDown's WWE champion is left waiting for a challenge, with all his major former rivals now on Monday Night Raw.

As we enter the new brand-split Raw and SmackDown, WWE has trusted in the excitement of uncertainty rather than the pull of anticipation for this year's SummerSlam.