9 Things WWE Got Right At Battleground 2016
WWE made a lot of right moves last night, and SummerSlam is all the better for it.
World Wrestling Entertainment has a pretty wretched record when it comes to the final pay-per-view before SummerSlam.
That may be a little strong, but the months between WrestleMania and SummerSlam traditionally haven't been the best for the company from a creative standpoint. 2016 has been a different kind of year for WWE, however, and this year they hit something of a home run with Battleground.
The card was stacked, further proof if proof need be that WWE has truly begun paying more attention to the shows long regarded as 'B' class. The show featured a number of seriously high-profile matches, including a main event that could very well have been the most anticipated match in WWE's cannon.
The show delivered, but there's more to professional wrestling than good matches. What matters is the avenues a promotion can open itself up to through the booking decisions made on the big stages, the possibilities those decisions open up.
Battleground saw stories end (in theory), stories begin and stories continue, and when we look back at 2016 it will be a show that ranks in the top half of WWE shows for the year. On the whole the booking made sense, and as fans we can approach SummerSlam with optimism.
Here are nine things WWE got right at WWE Battleground.
9. The Continued Degradation Of The Usos
On the WWE Battleground Kickoff show, Breezango pulled off something of an upset by defeating the 2015 Slammy Award winning Tag Team of the Year, The Usos. They also did so void of shenanigans with Tyler Breeze countering a Samoan Splash into a roll-up for a clean as a whistle 1-2-3.
The Usos are in dire need of a refresh, and unless they are going to be consigned to the jobber end of the stick in the near future the only way is to turn them heel. They were front and centre with Dean Ambrose on their shoulders at the end of the show, something that suggests they are still considering leading lights in the WWE tag team landscape, but doing so as babyfaces makes no sense.
The duo now find themselves on SmackDown Live, the show that arguably has the weaker tag division. What it does have however is the hottest tag team in the company in the shape of American Alpha. A heel turn for The Usos to build towards a big match against Gable and Jordan makes a whole heap of sense.
Losing to Breeze and Fandango as a result was absolutely the right decision. The name 'Breezango' has to go though. What is it with WWE and portmanteau tag names? Jeri-Show was fine, RybAxel was fun for a moment, but Breezango? Lazy.