5 Biggest Winners & Losers From WWE Battleground 2016

In a night of thrills, spills, and outstanding in-ring action, WWE delivered one of their best shows of the year at a time when they desperately need to succeed.

Initial reaction to the newly-drafted Raw and SmackDown rosters has been mostly negative, but the combined roster went out with a bang last night, with Battleground providing numerous talking points and renewed hope for WWE’s immediate future.

While ultimately a set-up show for SummerSlam, Battleground was a hearty appetizer, and answered several questions ahead of the Brand Split’s official debut on tonight’s Raw. We now know that the United States and Intercontinental Championships will stay on Raw and SD respectively, and, more importantly, that the World Heavyweight Championship will remain on Tuesday nights.

Dean Ambrose has been certified as “The Guy” (for now), Seth Rollins failed to deliver on his promise to bring the belt home, and Roman Reigns’ days in the spotlight look like they are all but over. Elsewhere, Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens tore the house down in the latest installment of their never-ending rivalry, while John Cena gained a measure of revenge by pinning AJ Styles in their six-man tag.

But who were the real winners and losers? Who gained the most momentum at Battleground, and who fell further down the rankings?

Looking beyond simple wins and losses, here are the 5 biggest winners and losers from WWE Battleground 2016, starting with the latter.

Jimmy and Jey Uso have largely struggled for direction ever since their second reign as WWE Tag Team Championships came to an end in February 2015.

They’ve been paired with their cousin Roman Reigns intermittently (particularly throughout his feud with The Club), but outside of that, they’ve been mostly used as bit-part players in the tag division, and they hit a new low at Battleground.

Losing to Tyler Breeze and Fandango was bad enough for their momentum. “Breezango” have long been established as one of the division’s relative joke teams, trading wins and (mostly) losses with the likes of The Shining Stars and The Golden Truth, and their victory effectively shunts The Usos to the bottom of the pile.

The cherry on top came later in the evening, however, when Jimmy and Jey joined the rest of the SmackDown roster to celebrate Dean Ambrose’s win in the night’s main event. For whatever reason, the Usos were chosen to hoist Dean on their shoulders just moments after they’d pinned their own flesh and blood, and their dead-behind-the-eyes facial expressions said it all.

The Draft appeared to place The Usos as one of (if not the) top team in SmackDown’s threadbare division, but their future has never looked bleaker.