10 New Directions After WWE Battleground 2016

With United States Champion Rusev and his challenger, Zack Ryder, being sent to separate brands in the Draft, many expected the champ to retain at Battleground on Sunday.

However, I doubt so many people envisaged seeing Mojo Rawley take to the ring to come to the aid of his fallen Hype Bro.

Wrestling logic might suggest that this would make Rawley the next challenger for Rusev’s US title. But again, that doesn’t quite add up with either man being on separate rosters - Rusev on Raw and Rawley on SmackDown.

So maybe this was just a means of bringing the Hype Bros back together, or perhaps setting them up to fall out over their US title pursuits? Mind you, if it’s the former, I’m not sure how this couldn’t have waited for an upcoming episode of SmackDown.

One possible explanation for all this could be that for the Big Four PPVs (such as SummerSlam) they’ll be allowed to host inter-promotional matches. As such, Rawley would indeed be able to challenge for Rusev’s Championship, although he hasn’t really done anything to warrant that position other than getting hyped and shepherding the Bulgarian Brute out of the ring.

Regardless of whether or not I’m a fan of it, events at Battleground suggest that Rusev vs. Rawley may well prove to be our new direction in the US title picture.