WWE Stomping Grounds wasted little time in wiping away the memory of Super Showdown with fun matches and a good-paced card. The typical problems remained like lazy storytelling (Universal Championship match) and the PA system helping the crowd to be louder than usual (a section at the bottom of the screen did most of the cheering. The ones on the other side of the ring (top of the screen) were quiet and lifeless most of the night.
But beyond that, the event had an old school feel, harkening back to the Madison Square Garden and smaller venues from when the WWE (then the WWF) was establishing itself. It left a gritty fell and made it more enjoyable overall.
Cruiserweight Championship (Preshow): Drew Gulak beat Akira Tozawa (pinfall) and Tony Nese (c) by pinfall
What was arguable the best match of the night set the bar high as the three Superstars excelled as their chemistry meshed perfectly. Nese and Tozawa’ styles complimented Gulak’s power to give us a fast paced, exciting match with timely saves and an great finish when Gulak hit a torture rack neckbreaker on Tozawa for the pin.
Raw Women’s Championship: Becky Lynch (c) beat Lacey Evans by submission
A decent opening match was owed more to Lynch’s ability as Evans continues to grows her in ring talent. Lynch dominated early until she was thrown into the announcer’s table, injuring her ribs. Evans then focused on Lynch’s midsection for most of the match, and even escaped a Dis-Arm-Her before her arrogance got the best of her and she wiped her armpits with her handkerchief, then threw it in a downed Lynch’s face. Lynch used it as a makeshift mandible claw, then slapped on a Dis-Arm-Her for the tapout.
Heyman Makes a Deal
Paul Heyman was caught coming out of Baron Corbin’s dressing room and quickly pointed out how both Kofi Kingston and Seth Rollins were potential targets of Brock Lesner before leaving. Corbin then came out and said he found an unbiased referee, and once he beat Rollins for the championship, he’d then worry about Lesner.
This ignited fans’ hopes that Lesner or another heavyweight would be the special guest referee, but instead led to greater disappointment. More on this later in the Universal Championship match recap.
Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens beat The New Day (Xavier Woods and Big E) by pinfall
In arguably the second best match of the night, the chemistry between these four continued to amaze as this was a better match than expected, given how the feud feels stale anymore.
The match started out fast as Owens superkicked Big E off the apron, then isolated Woods, but then it kinda went crazy. In the opening minutes, Woods absorbed a total of five superkicks, three senton bombs, and even Zayn’s Blue Thunder Bomb for multiple pinning attempts, which he kicked out of each time. While it’s great seeing a Superstar overcome strong obstacles, this was overkill and the match should’ve been over in the first few minutes.
Instead, it took several exchanges with Big E and Woods before Owens finally hit Woods with a stunner (seriously, how many times has he been thwarted?) for the pin.
United States Championship: Ricochet beat Samoa Joe (c) by pinfall
After absorbing a tremendous amount of punishment, Ricochet finally hit with a 630 for the pin.
This was both a surprise and not a surprise as Ricochet’s been getting a much deserved push. The surprise came with Ricochet winning after being abused all match. While him winning a tough match puts him on the map, maybe drawing it out more through a feud would’ve been better? Kind of a Rocky Balboa/Apollo Creed type of thing. That said, the match was a lot of fun to watch and was the textbook way of putting over a babyface.
The real payout came after the match when Ricochet was congratulated backstage by Rollins, Charlotte Flair, Heavy Machinery, and even Triple H. A couple of matches later, AJ Styles and The Club greeted Ricochet, and Styles promised to see him on Raw. Guess we know who Ricochet’s next rivalry is with,
Smackdown Tag Team Championship: Daniel Byran and Rowen (c) beat Heavy Machinery by pinfall
Bryan was clearly the fan favorite as he was regularly cheered by his home state’s crowd, adding credence to not only him and Rowen, but Heavy Machinery, too. The match was as well done as any of the night, and all four Superstars sold out to the hilt, lifting Heavy Machinery to the next level.
In the end, despite Otis getting the best of Rowen in an exchange of blows and Tucker doing suicide dives off the top rope, the match came down to a Bryan-esk win with a quick rollup smallpackage of Tucker for the win.
Smackdown’s Women’s Championship: Bayley (c) beat Alexa Bliss by pinfall
An earlier promo showed Bliss and Cross backstage talking about how they knew “the real” Bayley after her actions on Smackdown, and it gave one reason to wonder if Cross would cost Bliss her chance at a title.
Jump to the match, and following an exchange of sunset flip powerbombs, Bayley suicide dove through the ropes, but Bliss pushed away from Cross, forcing Cross to absorb the impact. Afterwards, an infuriated Cross interfered while Bliss was about to hit a Twisted Bliss. The distraction was enough for Bayley to gather herself and counter a delayed Twisted Bliss with a double knee to the face and a Bayley-to-belly finisher suplex for the pin.
Roman Reigns beat Drew McIntyre (with Shane McMahon in his corner) by pinfall
Another fun match, Reigns started off hot before being intercepted by McIntyre after chasing Shane through the crowd. The match quickly became the most physical of the night, as both men hammered on each other, with the occasional interference from Shane saving McIntyre from a pin to turning the tide.
McIntyre kicked out after a Superman Punch, but Shane had to pull the referee out of the ring following a spear to save the pin.
Reigns then countered a Claymore with a Superman Punch, threw Shane through the ropes when he tried to interfere, then hit McIntyre with a spear for the pin.
Afterwards, an incensed Shane said Reigns would have to face him and McIntyre on Raw in a handicao match.
WWE Heavyweight Championship: Kofi Kingston (c) beat Dolph Ziggler by a door escape
As the overall theme of the night suggested, this was a throwback to the old school steel cage matches (minus the blood) as Ziggler and Kingston used every tactic at their disposal, and exhausted every attempted way to win the match through pins, submissions, and escape attempts.
Kingston nearly won by accident when Ziggler superkicked him through the open door, but Ziggler caught him at the last second and pulled him back in. A short time later, Ziggler had the match won as all he had to do was crawl out of the door, but Kingston dove over him to reach the floor first.
Overall, this was a fun match with a very creative ending.
Universal Heavyweight Championship: Seth Rollins beat Baron Corbin by pinfall
To put it nicely, the highlight of this match was Becky Lynch coming out to beat on Lacey Evans at the end. Seriously.
After having his appointed special guest referees beaten by Rollins, Corbin picked Lacey Evans, who did her best to help Corbin win. After Corbin was put through the announcer’s table and should’ve been counted out, Evans changed the match to no count outs. Then, when Corbin used a steel chair on Rollins, she changed it to no disqualification.
Interesting enough, it wasn’t until Evans hit Rollins with a low blow (Lynch even stated this on her Instagram) that Lynch came out and knocked her senseless. While referees pulled her off of Evans, Rollins countered an End of Days with a superkick, then a Stomp, to which, referee John Cone (who cost Corbin his previous title attempt at Super Showdown. We now have a name for a Dangerous Danny Davis angle) took over and counted Corbin out with a quicker-than usual count.
While this match exemplified everything that’s been wrong with the WWE lately, it’s important to note that Lynch coming out was one of the few times the fans were on their feet throughout the night, so guess that means it was successful? It may be hard for us to get past the fake hype that’s usually saved for Raw or Smackdown, but at least the overall show was a step in the right direction.
