WWE Stomping Grounds Review - June 23, 2019

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Drew Gulak def. Akira Tozawa and Tony Nese in a Triple Threat Match to Win the WWE Cruiserweight Championship

As much as I'd like to see the Cruiserweights make the main card on these pay-per-views (like they did at Money in the Bank), they probably benefited from being on the Kickoff show because the crowd was at its hottest. This was all action from bell to bell and the audience ate up everything they did. It was perfectly paced and while I would have preferred to see Nese's title reign continue, it was cool to see Gulak get his moment after all these years. Nese was protected in that Gulak pinned Tozawa to win the title, meaning Nese vs. Gulak is only inevitable.

Raw Women's Champion Becky Lynch def. Lacey Evans

I doubt many people were looking forward to this match coming into the pay-per-view because of how it was an unnecessary rematch from Money in the Bank, so it was smart to open the event with it to get it out of the way early. To their credit, it was a significant improvement over their original encounter as it was much smoother and it was easily Evans' best showing to date. Hopefully we can move on from this feud now that Lynch has beaten Evans clean twice now.

Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn def. The New Day

There was no need for this considering there was nothing at stake and Owens and Zayn having been losing constantly for weeks. That said, it ended up being way better than expected because they were allowed to do more than they normally would in a regular TV match. Owens and Zayn came across as extra motivated and I was happy that they won. Now is the question is if they can maintain momentum going forward or if New Day will get their win back as soon as SmackDown Live.

Ricochet def. Samoa Joe to Win the United States Championship

I was extremely excited for this match more than any other on this card and it did not disappoint. They played up the David vs. Goliath dynamic nicely and had terrific chemistry together despite this being their first one-on-one outing against each other in WWE. I have no doubt they could do even better with a bit more time, so I'm hoping the rivalry continues in the weeks ahead. Ricochet's Raw run got off to a shaky start, but it's awesome to see him become United States Champion within a matter of months. Ricochet vs. AJ Styles? Sign me up!

SmackDown Tag Team Champions Daniel Bryan and Rowan def. Heavy Machinery

I completely forgot Stomping Grounds would be emanating from Bryan's home state of Washington, so it was a pleasant surprise to hear the crowd got nuts for him when he made his entrance. They remained hot for him throughout the bout and it made for an enjoyable encounter. Heavy Machinery got the heel treatment, unfortunately, but they put forth a hell of an effort and looked credible in defeat. Bryan rolling up Tucker for the victory gives me hope that Heavy Machinery will earn themselves another shot at the straps soon.

SmackDown Women's Champion Bayley def. Alexa Bliss

They did a decent job of progressing the story with Bayley, Bliss and Nikki Cross, but from an in-ring standpoint, there wasn't anything terribly exciting about this match. It was far from terrible, but I think most of the crowd was waiting for Cross to interfere. She did at the end, but it didn't lead to anything. I'm assuming Bliss will blame her for the loss and that will be the catalyst for their split. I'd be in favor of them dragging it out a little longer, but it's time for Bayley to start focusing on other challenges from her own brand.

Roman Reigns def. Drew McIntyre

Their WrestleMania match fell flat for me and many others, but both guys had strong performances here. The involvement from Shane McMahon was predictable yet tolerable and McIntyre scored plenty of offense before finally losing. That doesn't mean I'm a fan of the finish, though. Shane can beat Reigns but not McIntyre? I feel that sends the wrong message about McIntyre and the rest of the roster in that they aren't on the same level as Shane, who isn't even an active competitor. I'm sure Reigns will beat Shane at Extreme Rules, but all hope may be lost for McIntyre.

WWE Champion Kofi Kingston def. Dolph Ziggler in a Steel Cage Match

You can usually count on Kingston and Ziggler to deliver a quality contest, but their Super ShowDown match was mediocre and now this underwhelmed as well. Granted, I never viewed Ziggler as a legitimate threat to the title at any point during this program, but this was still way too lengthy and boring for my liking. It didn't help that we just got a Steel Cage matchup at Money in the Bank last month and that wasn't exactly must-see, either. If nothing else, that finish was fantastic with Kingston leaping over Ziggler through the cage door and down to the floor.

Universal Champion Seth Rollins def. Baron Corbin in a No Count-out, No Disqualification Match (Lacey Evans Served as Special Guest Referee)

The swerve with Evans being named the special guest referee was actually well done since Rollins couldn't assault her the same way he did everyone else on Raw and SmackDown Live this past week. It was merely a matter of when and not if Lynch would surface to help out Rollins and it became even more obvious after they added the No Disqualification stipulation. The crowd crapped on this early on, but I didn't mind it. They weren't going to contest a classic either way, so the route they took with it was probably for the best. WWE has been mentioning that Rollins and Lynch are a couple constantly on Raw lately, so you had to know something like this would happen eventually.

Overall Show

My expectations for Stomping Grounds were fairly low going in because of how bad the build was, but this turned out to be a damn good show with an excellent undercard and two newsworthy title changes. There weren't any horrendous booking decisions, but those last four matches didn't light the world in my opinion. All in all, I was left satisfied by the show. There's no telling whether Raw and SmackDown will be able to keep it rolling, but I'm not getting my hopes up.