WWE Stomping Grounds: Honest Thoughts

This past weekend fans witnessed the first-ever WWE Stomping Grounds PPV and with a card full of title matches and interesting bouts, there was a promise good quality wrestling and the chance of a couple of surprises. Talking of surprises I was left stunned at just how much I did enjoy this PPV and in today's blog post we are going to be taking a look back at some of the best moments of the night so grab a drink and let's jump into things.

Telling a Story From Start to Finish 

The first match of the night saw the RAW women's champion defend her title against newcomer Lacey Evans in what was a decent contest but far from the standout of the night. The match did see Evans have an excellent performance and her showing throughout this match was exactly what she needed and while there is still so much to see from her this was a great performance from the former NXT star. While Evans failed to capture gold for a second time against Lynch she wasn't done for the night and in the main event was booked as Baron Corbin's special guest referee in a twist that made so much sense and opened so many doors. Here we saw the real-life relationship between Lynch and Rollins and Becky's on-screen rivalry with Lacey come together. This was a perfect example of great storytelling and the real-life element here really was brilliant. We can expect to see some mixed tag team competition between these stars in the future.

A Much-Needed Win

When it comes to tag team action this past weekend at the Stomping Grounds PPV I wasn’t left all too impressed. The action we saw between the New Day and Zayn and Owens made for a solid contest with smart booking from the get-go. What we saw in this match was the experience and the heart of the New Day come into play. These guys are multi-time champions and that really did show here, from Xavier Woods refusing to give in during those early stages of the match to the challenge they put up here, however, Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn had a brilliant showing throughout. The dominant from the get-go and the win didn’t come as a surprise at all. The pair needed the momentum and the win will most certainly go a long way.

The Surprise Victory

Arguably the biggest surprise of the night came from the United States Championship bout between Ricochet and Samoa Joe. The match itself showed just how different the two stars are and the clash of styles made for a solid contest kept fairly short and sweet. The end result, however, was one that really did surprise me! Like many, I was expecting to see Samoa Joe return his championship and so when it was Ricochet who picked up the surprise win it made for a real special moment! There is no denying Ricochet is massively deserving of this win and seeing how much of a big deal the WWE made this moment really added to the general vibe. Of course, I do doubt whether this will be a lengthy reign or not but regardless nothing can take away how special and well done this moment was.

Welcome Back Bliss

This past Sunday also saw Alexa Bliss compete in her first title match in a while and after months being in and out of action, this was an important night for her. Now, the history between Bliss and Bayley is, of course, strong and we saw that throughout this match. They both represent something completely different from one another and once in the ring they are more than capable of delivering a great matchup and that’s exactly what we saw here last night. While Bliss didn’t walk away with the Smackdown LIVE Women’s championship she had an excellent showing in this match and both women came out looking strong not to mention that it will be interesting to see what goes down between Alexa and Nikki Cross next. 

The Biggest Mistake of the Night

Without a shadow of a doubt, I believe the biggest mistake the WWE made during the Stomping Grounds PPV was not giving Drew McIntyre the win over Roman Reigns. With Shane by his side, it would have made all the sense in the world for Drew to pick up this huge and much-needed victory. We saw Shane play a huge role in this match from the very start however, the WWE was able to make a vital mistake in the booking of the end result. Bouncing back isn’t going to be an easy task for McIntyre considering the major mistakes in booking the WWE have made, however, there could still be big work coming up for both Shane and McIntyre in the coming weeks and months.  

A Great Night for New Faces

While this wasn’t the strongest PPV of the year so far it was a strong night for some of the newer faces on the roster. We witnessed Lacey Evans in her best main roster back to date showing the world she is a top talent with bags of potential sure to become a champion one day. Ricochet had the night we had all been waiting to see from him when he won his first main roster title becoming the new United States champion and when we move over to the tag team division, Heavy Machinery took part in what was hands down their best match to date. We will haven’t seen the very best of any of these superstars and there really is still so much left to see but Stomping Grounds was a big night for all four superstars. 

All the Heart but Something Missing

If you read my Stomping Grounds prediction post, you would have seen that I was actually really looking forward to the WWE Championship match between Kofi Kingston and Dolph Ziggler. With both men having such a similar journey in the WWE and their story being so strong I was expecting this t be a solid match especially considering the athleticism and wrestling skill and experience among them however, while the match had some solid spots and was full of heart it was missing something. The match wasn’t as good as I was expecting it to be however, I did like the story between the two, the way the match ended and seeing how much the contest meant to both men.

Overall, I felt as though this was an interesting one. Becky Lynch and Seth Rollins walked away as the biggest talking points of the night and as I mentioned earlier, I loved what the WWE did here. Ricochet’s win was another major highlight but if I’m being totally honest this was a PPV you easily could have skipped, and the WWE will really need to turn things up a heck of a lot more to draw in more attention heading into SummerSlam season.

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