On the heels of the first WWE draft in years, WWE came out with the latest edition of Battleground. Here’s what we did have to look forward to - who’s going to be Sasha Banks’ mysterious partner to take on Charlotte and Dana Brooke? Is The Club still going to beat up John Cena, since it may just be their last time together after Styles got drafted to Smackdown? Chris Jericho hosting a 9-month absent Randy Orton on The Highlight Reel and Zayn-Owens continues.
And finally, the Shield Triple Threat which is a WrestleMania main event match, not to mention Reigns’ first appearance on live TV after his suspension
Here are the 5 points to note from Battleground-
Hug Life
Sasha Banks walked out to a great pop. The audience is excited for this match since the rumors suggested that Bayley might be Banks’ mystery partner. They waited it out after Banks’ theme song.
The crowd was getting amped up and then it happened. The theme song we’ve all been waiting for hit the main roster and that pop was louder and wilder than that any other Superstar’s on this night.
The audience were glad to see the Hugster and together, the former arch-rivals from NXT defeated the Women’s Champion and her ally. It seems this may just be a one-off thing for Bayley and a great opportunity for Banks to head into SummerSlam as a definitive contender for the Women’s Title.
And Still!
Some rumors do not come true. After weeks of speculating that Ambrose will lose his title at Battleground to Seth Rollins, WWE completely shifted trajectory with Ambrose scoring the victory by pinning a returning Roman Reigns and keeping the WWE World Heavyweight Championship for SmackDown. No titles changed hands in this PPV.
The whole locker room was watching from their respective dens and the General Managers were all hyped up to see where this one went. Raw had a 2 out of 3 chance to take the title and it was all upto Ambrose to take the title for SmackDown.
Rollins called for the trademark Shield fist bump only to get fisted in the face by Reigns. Ambrose and Rollins teamed up to take out Roman Reigns once and for all, putting him through the Spanish announce table.
Rollins even replayed the way he broke up the Shield with chair shots to both Reigns and Ambrose.
The title stays with the blue brand. What will the red brand do now?
Outta Nowhere
Talking of great pops, Orton got one for his return on the Highlight Reel. He was there to talk about his absence and his match against Brock Lesnar at SummerSlam. But after talking about his ovation, Orton and Jericho began their very interesting, often hilarious, interaction which turned into quite a shoot on Lesnar.
Jericho thought Orton was scared of Lesnar. He shot back at Jericho by saying that he wanted his return to be epic and hence the decision to face Lesnar instead of being like Jericho and facing Fandango, the man who beat Jericho at WrestleMania 29.
Orton stated that it takes 20 suplexes to go to Suplex City but it only takes one RKO to reach Viperville. And then he followed it with “no enhancements needed”!!!. Jericho, much like anybody else, thought this little comment will get him in trouble.
The segment ended with an RKO OUTTA NOWHERE.
Beat Up The Club
Enzo Amore and Big Cass walked out to a reaction that has been following them ever since they began their shtick. These guys are over wherever they go.
John Cena loved every second of their promo on The Club much like the Washington DC crowd. Amore even made a verb out of the place saying that the Club can’t “Washington DC me”
This may very well be the last time AJ Styles teams up with Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson. It all ended with a loss for the famous team after Styles took an AA from the top rope from John Cena. Both of them have a pinfall victory over each. They now can continue their feud on SmackDown without The Realest Guys and the rest of The Club.
The Rest Of The Orchestra
Darren Young got disqualified and Rusev couldn’t take the hype when Mojo Rawley made his debut to save his NXT teammate Zack Ryder from getting unrecognizably twisted with The Accolade. Sami Zayn got a victory in a great match but this does not look like closure. This will go on forever and it ain’t at all boring. That’s the power of a great story well-told.
The Wyatt Family defeated New Day and it should be noted that Xavier Woods has done an exceptional job of making Wyatt and his family look like the threats they are. Most successfully so.
He looked amply creeped out by Wyatts’ actions in the final moments of the match and the family scored a much impactful win.
