WWE Battleground 2017 review: What we learned, takeaways, future projections

What we took away, what we learned and what the future holds for the superstars of SmackDown Live following Sunday night’s WWE Battleground pay-per-view.

Well, we don’t have any Great Balls of Fire jokes to make this time around, but trust me, there were plenty of other jokes at the WWE Battleground pay-per-view on Sunday night.

This was the last pay-per-view event for either brand before we head to Brooklyn next month for SummerSlam, and while not every match was a complete waste of time, there really weren’t a lot of high points for the superstars of SmackDown Live. There wasn’t a ton of buzz heading into WWE Battleground but when your main event is a match that’s happened only twice with neither of them being very good at all, why would there be?

There were a couple matches on the card that I thought might deliver given the participants but even the majority of those left me uninterested and just plain bored. Even a Philadelphia crowd couldn’t save the night and that’s saying something. I will give them credit for trying their best to stay in it, but in the end, WWE Battleground was one of the worst WWE events of the year. But hey, at least Aiden English got himself a win in the kickoff match with Tye Dillinger. Oh wait, that didn’t seem to make much sense either. Okay, we’ll try this. At least the Breezango segment was entertaining again. Okay, maybe that isn’t exactly true either.

Nevertheless, we still have to get into this so let’s go ahead and at least get to a match that actually did provide some entertainment.

SmackDown Tag Team Championship Match

The Usos (c) vs. The New Day

What we learned: We learned here that these two teams still work really well together and can provide us with some entertaining wrestling matches.

It was interesting that Xavier Woods got the call for this one over Big E but it worked out rather nicely. Woods has always been entertaining but usually doesn’t get the big spots. However, over the last few weeks, he’s really stepped up his game in this rivalry and did so once again on Sunday night.

The two teams worked a great back-and-forth contest here with a lot of great nearfalls. The Usos are still using the superkicks a little too much but they were still near their best in this match. The intensity was there on both sides and there were a lot of great spots that electrified the Philly crowd, who were really into this one. The match was a perfect length and really got the show moving as the curtain-jerker is supposed to do. I didn’t realize that the show was going to peak here but standing on its own, the match was fantastic with The New Day finally getting the win they’ve been looking for to once again become tag champs. Really good effort here from all involved.

What’s next: Going into WWE Battleground, I thought that this might be the last match in the rivalry but with The New Day picking up the victory, that obviously isn’t the case with the rematch clause and all. A rematch at SummerSlam looks likely here and I think it would be great to end this thing with some sort of stipulation for their next encounter. I think a ladder match with the titles hanging in the balance would be the perfect way to put this program to bed.