The 2017 Battleground was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) and livestreaming event produced by WWE, held exclusively for wrestlers from the promotion's main roster brand, SmackDown. It was the fifth annual Battleground and took place on July 23, 2017, at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Eight matches were contested at the event, including one match on the Kickoff pre-show. In the main event, Jinder Mahal defeated Randy Orton in the third-ever Punjabi Prison match to retain the WWE Championship. The ending of the match also saw a one-off surprise appearance by The Great Khali, who last performed in WWE in November 2014. In other prominent matches, Kevin Owens defeated AJ Styles to win his third United States Championship, John Cena defeated Rusev in a flag match, and in the opening bout, The New Day (Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods) defeated The Usos (Jey Uso and Jimmy Uso) to win the SmackDown Tag Team Championship.
This was the final Battleground held until 2023. It was originally planned to return as a Raw-exclusive event in 2018, but following WrestleMania 34 in April that year, WWE discontinued brand-exclusive PPV and livestreaming events for the main roster, reducing the amount of these events produced per year, with Battleground's originally planned 2018 date and location given to Extreme Rules. In 2023, Battleground was reinstated as an annual livestreaming event for WWE's developmental brand, NXT.
Production Background
Battleground was an annual July professional wrestling event established by WWE in 2013, although the original event was held in October. It was originally broadcast exclusively via pay-per-view (PPV) before it began simultaneously livestreaming on the WWE Network in 2014. Announced on March 27, 2017, the fifth event was scheduled to be held on July 23 at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It exclusively featured wrestlers from the SmackDown brand division. Tickets went on sale on April 22. This was the first Battleground to be brand-exclusive, as although the previous year's event was the first to be held following the reintroduction of the brand extension, it featured wrestlers from both Raw and SmackDown as brand-exclusive PPV and livestreaming events did not begin until after SummerSlam that year.
Storylines The event comprised eight matches, including one on the Kickoff pre-show, that resulted from scripted storylines. Results were predetermined by WWE's writers on the SmackDown brand, while storylines were produced on WWE's weekly television show, SmackDown Live.
At Money in the Bank, Jinder Mahal defeated Randy Orton to retain the WWE Championship. On the following episode of SmackDown, Orton explained in a sit-down interview that he lost focus after The Singh Brothers (Samir Singh and Sunil Singh) attempted to attack his father, "Cowboy" Bob Orton, who was seated at ringside for the match. He said that he understood having allies, referencing his time in Evolution, The Legacy, and The Authority, but he would not tolerate people disrespecting his family. He said that he was no longer concerned with becoming a fourteen-time world champion; he only wanted to hurt Mahal. Later that night after Mahal defeated Luke Harper, Orton attacked The Singh Brothers, and then Mahal, who escaped into the crowd. The following week, Orton said that he wanted a rematch for the title and that if he did not receive it, he would continue to attack Mahal anywhere he saw him. Commissioner Shane McMahon, who sympathized with Orton over Mahal and The Singh Brothers disrespecting his family, gave Orton a title rematch at Battleground, but allowed Mahal to choose the stipulation. Mahal chose a Punjabi Prison match, made famous by The Great Khali, marking the third Punjabi Prison match in WWE history and the first since 2007. On the July 4 episode, Orton said that he would punish Mahal in the Punjabi Prison. Mahal responded and said that he would be bringing the Punjabi Prison to SmackDown the following week. That episode, while inside of the Punjabi Prison, The Singh Brothers explained the rules of the match while Mahal said that there would be no escape for Orton. Orton then came out and said that since the two of them would be locked in the prison, Mahal would not be able to have help from The Singh Brothers, who were the reason why Mahal won the title and subsequently retained it beforehand.
At Money in the Bank, The New Day (Big E and Kofi Kingston with Xavier Woods) defeated SmackDown Tag Team Champions The Usos (Jey Uso and Jimmy Uso) by countout, thus The Usos retained. On the following episode of SmackDown, The New Day taunted how The Usos backed out of the match and Big E defeated Jimmy. The following week, after The Usos defeated The Hype Bros (Mojo Rawley and Zack Ryder), preventing them from becoming the number one contenders, The New Day confronted and challenged The Usos to another title match at Battleground, and The Usos accepted. On the July 4 episode, The New Day and The Usos had a rap battle hosted by Wale. The New Day won after The Usos took offense and attacked The New Day. Over the next two weeks, the teams traded wins in singles matches where Woods defeated Jey and Jimmy defeated Kingston.
On the June 20 episode of SmackDown, then-United States Champion Kevin Owens issued a U.S. Championship Open Challenge to any local competitor. AJ Styles came out to accept the challenge, but Owens denied him since Styles was not from Dayton, Ohio. American Alpha's Chad Gable then answered the challenge, claiming he had moved to Dayton "that morning", but Owens retained in the ensuing match. The following week, Styles confronted General Manager Daniel Bryan and said that Owens did not know what an Open Challenge was. Owens interrupted and said that Styles was complaining. Bryan then said that when John Cena hosted the U.S. Championship Open Challenge, it was open to anyone. Bryan decided that for the July 4 episode of SmackDown, there would be an Independence Day Battle Royal, where the winner would face Owens for the United States Championship at Battleground. That episode, Styles defeated Gable to qualify for the battle royal and subsequently won the battle royal. After Styles' victory, Owens, who was seated at ringside, attacked Styles, but Styles fought him off and posed with the title belt. Three days later, despite becoming the number one contender for the title at Battleground, Styles faced Owens at a WWE Live event in Madison Square Garden and defeated him to win the United States Championship. On the following episode of SmackDown, the new champion issued his own U.S. Championship Open Challenge, which was accepted by Cena. Before the match could occur, Owens and Rusev confronted and attacked both Cena and Styles. Styles and Cena defeated Owens and Rusev in a tag team match, and Owens invoked his championship rematch for Battleground. The following week, Styles teamed up with Shinsuke Nakamura in a losing effort against Owens and Baron Corbin.
After WrestleMania 33, John Cena went on a hiatus from WWE to film the second season of the television series American Grit. On the June 6 episode of SmackDown, it was announced that Cena would make his return to the SmackDown brand on the July 4 episode. However, on Raw the following week, it was announced that Cena was a free agent, and had become a free agent during the 2017 WWE Superstar Shake-up. Also during the Superstar Shake-up, Rusev was moved to the SmackDown brand, but at the time, he was out for a shoulder injury that required surgery. Since then, he appeared in a couple of WWE.com videos demanding a WWE Championship match at Money in the Bank, but was not granted his request. On the July 4 episode of SmackDown, Cena made his return and announced that he would appear for both the Raw and SmackDown brands. He was then interrupted by Rusev, making his first appearance for the SmackDown brand. Rusev complained that he did not receive any commercials for his eventual return, unlike Cena, who did. He said that the "American Dream" and the United States were a joke, after which, Cena challenged Rusev to a flag match. Rusev accepted and General Manager Daniel Bryan scheduled the match for Battleground. The following week, Rusev attacked Cena after Cena had accepted AJ Styles' U.S. Championship Open Challenge. On the final SmackDown before Battleground, Cena gave a patriotic speech about the United States and what the U.S. flag meant to the country. He said that at Battleground, the U.S. flag would fly high, after which, Cena retrieved the flag and waved it, but was attacked from behind by Rusev, who applied the Accolade on Cena.
At Money in the Bank, Naomi defeated Lana to retain the SmackDown Women's Championship, and again in two back-to-back rematches on SmackDown. On the July 11 episode, Naomi confronted Commissioner Shane McMahon about who her next opponent would be. Charlotte Flair interrupted and said that she should be the next challenger, followed by Becky Lynch, Tamina, Natalya, and Lana. Shane decided that at Battleground, the five would face each other in a fatal five-way elimination match to determine the number one contender for the SmackDown Women's Championship at SummerSlam. Flair and Lynch then teamed up in a losing effort against Natalya and Tamina due to a distraction from Lana. The following week, Shane gave all five women a pep talk and wanted two of them to face each other that night. Flair stepped up and wanted to face Lana, but ultimately ended up facing Lynch out of suggestion from Natalya. Lynch subsequently defeated Flair, but after the match, they were attacked by Tamina, Lana, and Natalya. Natalya then attacked Tamina, who was then attacked by Lana, and Lana and Tamina had a stare down. Also that episode, Naomi said that besides Lana, whoever wins at Battleground could be her toughest challenge at SummerSlam. She was then interrupted by Carmella, who had won the Women's Money in the Bank ladder match to earn a SmackDown Women's Championship match contract. Carmella said that wherever the champion goes, she goes, and said that she would see Naomi at Battleground.
At Money in the Bank, as Shinsuke Nakamura was making his entrance for the titular Money in the Bank ladder match, he was attacked from behind by Baron Corbin, which took Nakamura out for a majority of the match; Corbin ultimately won and received a contract for a WWE Championship match. On the June 27 episode of SmackDown, after witnessing Corbin defeat Sami Zayn, interviewer Dasha Fuentes asked Nakamura if he would like a one-on-one match with Mr. Money in the Bank. Nakamura replied that although Corbin was dangerous, he was afraid of Nakamura. Backstage the following week, as Fuentes attempted to have another interview with Nakamura, Corbin attacked Nakamura with his Money in the Bank briefcase and said that he was not scared of Nakamura. The two were set to have a match on the July 11 episode, but the two fought before the match, and their match was rescheduled for Battleground. The following week, Nakamura teamed up with AJ Styles to face Corbin and Kevin Owens. As Nakamura made his entrance, he was again attacked from behind by Corbin, and Corbin and Owens defeated Nakamura and Styles.