Ranking All 7 WWE SmackDown PPVs Since the Brand Split

Source: WWE.com

6. Battleground

So Battleground wasn’t the worst event SmackDown has put forward over the last year, but it doesn’t even come close to the top spot. There aren’t a whole lot of words to describe the event other than “average”, as while nothing on the card stood out as absolutely terrible, not a whole lot really shined through as spectacular either.

The opening rematch between The Usos and The New Day from Money in the Bank was extremely riveting, with a whole host of sick spots and false finishes prompting the audience to chant “this is awesome” not fifteen minutes into the show.

Aside from that, things started to go downhill pretty swiftly. The Corbin-Nakamura match was slow with barely any standout moments, a disappointing pattern we’re seeing with the Japanese icon’s singles matches on the main roster so far.

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The women’s elimination match served its purpose to get all women on the show, but when Naomi isn’t defending the title it doesn’t matter who’s competing. The championship looks meaningless because it seems being No. 1 contender is more important than being champion. Hopefully we see some changes soon if Carmella cashes in at SummerSlam after Naomi’s defense against Natalya.

The U.S. Championship match was very good, verging on great towards the end, with Styles and Owens maintaining a steady pace and leading towards a big finish – but it never came. Styles never hit the Styles Clash or the Phenomenal Forearm, but instead Owens pinned the man clean as a means of reversing a submission.

The issue here is that the ref, who had been injured, took a lifetime to count the pin and AJ Styles just sat there and let it happen, before looking gobsmacked at what just transpired. It just made the whole situation look goofy, and didn’t make Owens look like a dastardly heel – if that’s what they were shooting for.

Cena’s flag match with Rusev was predictable and could’ve been done on the Independence Day edition of SmackDown Live. Rusev’s momentum upon returning to competition seems to be squandered already with the loss.

The main event Punjabi Prison match wasn’t as a bad as many expected, however. It started slowly as with any Orton-Mahal match thus far, but once the two men escaped the inner cage, the pace really picked up – with that sickening spot that saw one of the Singh brothers crash through the announce table.

The return of The Great Khali was a shocking development that led nicely to the inevitable result of Mahal picking up the win, and although Khali has never been a great performer, maybe this is the alliance Mahal needs to really hit home as champion. Who knows? Either way, the pay-per-view didn’t hold up with the best of SmackDown’s PPVs so far, and it seems there is plenty to work on ahead of SummerSlam and beyond as we progress further into the brand split.