WWE Battleground 2016: Dean Ambrose vs. Seth Rollins vs. Roman Reigns full match preview

Triple Threat Match for the WWE Championship

Dean Ambrose (c) vs Seth Rollins vs Roman Reigns

All three members of The Shield had a legitimate claim to the WWE Championship within a 2-minute span at last month’s pay-per-view. Now it’s time to see which man truly deserves the gold the most.

The Road to Battleground 2016

Last month at Money in the Bank 2016, Seth Rollins successfully completed his comeback from a devastating knee injury when he defeated Roman Reigns for the WWE Championship. This rebuilt version of Seth appeared to be much more of a bad-ass than his cowardly 2015 incarnation, as he only needed the help of one ref bump to secure the victory.

But Seth’s celebration in the ring was ruined by Dean Ambrose’s music, and the Lunatic Fringe appeared from behind and walloped Seth over the head with the Money in the Bank briefcase. One dirty deeds later, and Dean Ambrose stole the WWE Championship from Seth Rollins, just like that.

The wrestling world was abuzz over this shocking victory for Ambrose, and then the next night on Raw the main event for Battleground 2016 was officially booked - a triple threat match between the former Shield members. This dream match was finally happening after more than a two-year wait.

But the very next day all of these developments were immediately overshadowed by the breaking news that Roman Reigns was suspended for 30 days for violating WWE’s wellness policy.

The timing for this suspension seemed awfully interesting, considering that Roman Reigns lost his championship on Sunday, was booked into the main event of Battleground 2016 on Monday, and was then suspended on Tuesday. His 30-day suspension was set to expire just in time to allow him to compete at Battleground 2016. There’s nothing fishy at all about this, sure.

At any rate, Seth Rollins immediately took advantage of the situation by debuting his Rollins Report and grilling Roman on all the tough questions:

With Roman out of the picture for a few weeks, Seth and Dean honed their sights on each other. Dean essentially told Seth that he could fight him for the championship any time, any place, and so this led to a one-on-one championship match. Not surprisingly, there was a controversial ending that left nobody satisfied.

The next night they had a rematch, and this time Dean pinned Seth in definitive fashion.

As a backdrop to all of this, WWE was in the process of drafting separate rosters to the Raw and SmackDown Live brands. Seth and Roman were drafted to Raw, while Dean Ambrose was drafted to SmackDown Live. This means that Battleground 2016 is the last time you’ll see Dean Ambrose compete in the same ring with his former Shield brothers, at least for the indefinite future.

What’s at stake?

The WWE Championship is the biggest prize at stake in this match, of course, but bragging rights for Shield supremacy are on the line as well.

This match also has significant ramifications for the Raw and SmackDown Live brands, because only one brand can be home to the WWE Championship. The SmackDown Live brand will launch with a rocky start if Dean Ambrose winds up on the losing end at Battleground 2016.

Finally, we may gain some insight as to how Vince McMahon’s view of Roman Reigns has changed, if at all, as a result of his wellness policy violation. If Roman shows up after a 30-day absence and steamrolls his opponents with ease, rendering the last 30 days meaningless, that probably won’t sit well with the WWE Universe. And it would be a strong sign that Vince still has every intention of building the company around Roman Reigns.

But if Roman loses, this might finally signify that Vince McMahon is ready to move on from his two-year experiment of trying to make Roman Reigns the face of the company.

Tune into Battleground 2016 and keep it here on Cageside Seats to see which member of The Shield walks out as WWE Champion!