Battleground has the unfortunate place as taking place after the draft and before SummerSlam. It's simply the aftermath of a big event and the springboard to the biggest event of the summer. There's a lot of odd booking choices but it does have a huge main event almost 4 years in the making and another great match in a lifelong series. I'm only going to really talk about the major matches in detail.
Let's see...both midcard titles are being defended and it's against unlikely challengers. Miz defends against Darren Young while Rusev defends against Zack Ryder. Interesting choices to the say the least. It's funny when you have guys like Apollo Crews and Baron Corbin doing nothing while two guys from a past generation are getting shots. With Rusev and Young on Raw and Miz and Ryder on Smackdown, there could be some serious changes. The titles could end up switching shows by the night's end. It's safe to say that whichever match goes on first will reveal the ending of the other match. For example, if Young somehow beats Miz then Ryder will definitely beat Rusev, just so both shows have a mid card title. That being said, I expect both champions to retain. Miz will go onto feud with Crews, Ryder and/or Ziggler while Rusev will feud with Young, Zayn or Cesaro.
Two major six man tag matches will take place as well. The now AJ Styles-less Club will face John Cena, Enzo and Cass while The Wyatt Family will face The New Day. Both The Club and The Wyatt Family were split in the draft as Styles is alone on Smackdown and Braun Strowman is alone on Raw. With Balor on Raw with Gallows and Anderson, it's only a matter of time before The Club becomes The Balor Club right? Bray Wyatt on his own and with a smaller roster might finally mean he'll be in the title picture but with mega star John Cena, Randy Orton and AJ Styles on the brand, it's still going to be a struggle. Cena and his team will win as Cena and Styles will have the big rematch at SummerSlam, like they should and I think The Wyatt Family was going to win to set up a title match in the future but does anyone really want Wyatt and Rowan as champions? No? Face teams win.
Two women's matches will take place as Becky Lynch will face Natayla and Charlotte gets another free pass to continue her reign as champion as she teams with Dana Brooke to face Sasha Banks and a partner of her choosing. Both women's matches are very intriguing. Becky and Nattie will have one of the better matches of the night if they give it enough time. Both are amazing in ring competitors and will shine in this match. In the tag match, everyone is asking the question; just who could Sasha get to compete with her? Everyone is clamoring for Bayley to finally make her main roster debut as she's still apart of the NXT brand and wasn't drafted. I personally thought it was going to be Nikki Bella, who's been battling with an injury lately and trying to get back into ring shape. The only other choice would be Nia Jax but going by NXT, she's heel. There's no reason to join Sasha. Regardless of her partner, Sasha will get the victory over Charlotte to set up the title match at SummerSlam. Becky and Nattie are both on Smackdown so I think Nattie will pick up the first victory here to begin a tense feud. The women's division on both shows is pretty awesome. Alexa Bliss and Carmella will eventually join the fray and change the game for Smackdown but anyway, Natalya will win and Sasha and her partner, I'm going to say Nikki Bella, will win.
The last two matches are what the entire show is built around. The first is a match between life time rivals Kevin Owes and Sami Zayn. The main event is the match almost four years in the making. Dean Ambrose will defend the WWE Title against former Shield brethren Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns. First, the match between Zayn and Owens will be violent and probably one the show is remembered for. Zayn hasn't gotten a win over Owens under the WWE umbrella yet so it's obvious Zayn is going to go over here. The title match, not so much. Ambrose is the WWE Champion and on Smackdown while Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns are over on Raw. Ambrose having a long run with the title doesn't seem likely and with Ambrose on the same brand as Cena, Styles and Orton, I just don't see Ambrose as the champion of the show. I'm fine with it but the way WWE has portrayed Smackdonw already, it doesn't seem likely. On the other hand, if Ambrose doesn't win, you'd be giving either Reigns his 4th reign or Rollins his 3rd reign. That's a lot for so early in their careers. I just don't see the top title on the so called B show. I'd love to see it but there's just too many stars on Raw for that. Raw didn't draft Seth Rollins first for nothing. It will be a great show but I think Rollins will regain the title and build toward a program with either Reigns, Zayn or yes, Finn Balor. So, the big winners from the main events matches will be Sami Zayn and Seth Rollins.
This is the prelude to the entire New Era. Let's see how they build toward SummerSlam
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