14th July 2016

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Sasha Banks def. Dana Brooke

Following Sasha Banks’ victory over Dana Brooke on Monday’s Raw, WWE Women’s Champion Charlotte informed The Boss that she would have to prove she could defeat Brooke again before even being considered for an opportunity at her title.

Huge Women's Division tag team match made for WWE Battleground

In the subsequent contest on SmackDown, Banks withstood Brooke’s powerful offense in order to make her opponent tap-out to The Bank Statement, taking out Charlotte in the process.

Yet, before The Boss could celebrate, Charlotte viciously attacked her and booted her in the face before hurling her over the SmackDown announcer’s table.

Towering over Banks as she laid prone on the cement, Charlotte’s message was clear: She is the true Boss.

Dolph Ziggler def. Rusev

Following Rusev’s vicious attack of Zack Ryder and his acceptance of Long Island Iced-Z’s challenge for a United States Championship Match on Raw, The Bulgarian Brute turned his attention to Dolph Ziggler on SmackDown.

Rusev seemed to have the match well in hand against The Showoff until, in a measure of retribution from Monday, Ryder emerged, ultimately distracting the United States Champion and allowing Ziggler to roll up his adversary for the three-count.

As the dust cleared, Rusev became enraged and began destroying everything in sight.
Advantage Ryder.

AJ Styles & Karl Anderson def. Enzo Amore & Big Cass

Claiming they didn’t have anything better to do than hurt The Club, Enzo & Big Cass took on AJ Styles and Karl Anderson in a thrilling tag team showdown on the final Thursday SmackDown.

With the referee distracted in the height of the action, an interfering Luke Gallows craftily, and shadily, toppled Big Cass and sent the 7-footer off the apron before Enzo could tag him in.

This opened the door for Anderson to ambush Big Cass on the ringside floor, as The Phenomenal One locked in the Calf Crusher on Amore in the middle of the ring for the submission victory.

Kalisto def. Tyler Breeze

With both of their respective partners at ringside, Tyler Breeze and Kalisto engaged in a hard-hitting contest – hoping to impress the powers-that-be heading into Tuesday’s WWE Draft.

However, in spite of a strong offense by Tyler Breeze, the human pinball Kalisto ultimately triumphed over Prince Pretty with the Salida Del Sol.

“Miz TV” with special guests Darren Young and Bob Backlund

Following his upset victory in theIntercontinental Championship No. 1 Contender’s Battle Royal on Monday’s Raw, Darren Young and his life coach, WWE Hall of Famer Bob Backlund, joined the current titleholder The Miz and his wife Maryse on “Miz TV.”

After presenting a series of moments from Backlund’s extraordinary career, The A-lister insulted his Battleground challenger by introducing a supposed compilation of Young’s greatest moments and then showed only bar codes.

As the explosive situation reached a fevered pitch and Young got in Miz’s face – with his life coach cheering him on – the Intercontinental Champion opted to calmly leave the ring.

The mind games have begun as their match at WWE Battleground approaches.

Seth Rollins and Kevin Owens def. Dean Ambrose and Sami Zayn

Before WWE Champion Dean Ambrose’s main event match against Kevin Owens could begin, Seth Rollins, the Superstar who will challenge for The Lunatic Fringe’s WWE Championship on Raw this Monday, made an unscheduled appearance on SmackDown commentary to lend his thoughts on the upcoming showdown.

However, before the one-on-one encounter between Ambrose and Owens was a minute long, Rollins blindsided Ambrose and opened the door for a two-on-one assault on the titleholder.

WWE Battleground preview: Triple Threat Match
Yet, their numbers advantage was short-lived as Sami Zayn soon came to The Lunatic Fringe’s aid.
From there, the contest was restarted into a tag team contest, pitting Rollins and Owens against Ambrose and Zayn for the first time in history.

The action was intense as both pairs of future Battleground opponents gave it everything they had on the final Thursday edition of SmackDown. In the closing moments, “The Underdog from The Underground” made a critical mistake. With Ambrose down, Zayn missed a Helluva Kick on Rollins.

This allowed Owens to trip up with his one-time friend and set up a Rollins Pedigree for the victory.
Following the match, Rollins and Owens tried to continue their assault on Zayn, but Ambrose put an immediate stop to it.

The Architect and The Lunatic Fringe scrapped it out before Ambrose got the upperhand, sending both his opponents heading for the hills.

Don’t miss the WWE Draft when SmackDown Live premieres this Tuesday night at 8/7 C, with a SmackDown Live Pre-Show at 7/6 C across all digital platforms and the WWE Draft Center Live three-hour supplemental show at 8/7 C exclusively on the award-winning WWE Network.