Dean Ambrose celebrates with the SmackDown Live locker room after retaining his WWE Championship. Photo from WWE.com
“The Man” and “The Guy” are no match for “The Lunatic Fringe.”
Dean Ambrose bested Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns to successfully defend his WWE Championship in their triple threat match in the main event at WWE Battleground Sunday (Monday Manila time) in Washington DC.
In the long awaited duel between the former The Shield brothers, Ambrose kept the biggest prize in his clutches as the whole SmackDown Live roster celebrated their champion to end the show.
Reigns fended off a turnbuckle-bomb from Rollins and hit him with a Superman punch and a Spear, but that was when Ambrose interjected himself back in the fray, stopping Reigns’ pin attempt and hitting him with the Dirty Deeds for the pinfall victory.
The match also showed glimpses of the faction’s old moves, with Ambrose and Rollins teaming up to powerbomb Reigns through the Spanish announce table.
It also left the Raw brand without a world champion, as both Rollins, the top pick in the recently concluded WWE Draft, and Reigns failed to bring the title back to the flagship show.
But it’s not only Ambrose who retained his championship.
Rusev made Zack Ryder tap out to The Accolade to defend his United States Championship, while The Miz kept the belt despite losing to Darren Young via count-out.
WWE Tag Team Champions The New Day fell to The Wyatt Family in a non-title six-man tag match, which saw Bray Wyatt hit a scared Xavier Woods with the Sister Abigail for the three-count.
John Cena hit rival AJ Styles with the Attitude Adjustment from the second rope to give him and teammates Enzo Amore and Big Cass the huge victory over The Club.
Sami Zayn also closed his bitter rivalry with friend-turned-foe Kevin Owens in a hellacious battle, which ended after Zayn hit Owens with a pair of Helluva Kicks.
NXT standout Bayley came out and was the surprise tag team partner for Sasha Banks in the night’s curtain raiser as the duo beat the team of WWE Women’s Champion Charlotte and protege Dana Brooke. Banks made Charlotte tap out to the Banks Statement for the win.
Natalya also made Becky Lynch submit after she put her in the Sharp Shooter.
Randy Orton made his return after a nine-month layoff, guesting at Chris Jericho’s Highlight Reel.
Hyping up his SummerSlam match against Brock Lesnar, Orton admitted that he knows the pain the former UFC Heavyweight Champion can inflict to him.
He also took a swipe at Lesnar for his failed drug tests.
“It only takes one RKO to get to Viperville, no enhancements needed,” alluding to Lesnar’s recent drug testing problems.
Jericho then baited him numerous times to hit an RKO before finally obliging to wrap up the segment.
In the pre-show, Breezango scored an upset victory over The Usos with Tyler Breeze securing the roll-up for the W.