We’ve got a new United States Champion!
We’ve got a new Cruiserweight Champion!
We got half a really good wrestling show!
But then we got…
Baron Corbin and Lacey Evans’ midcard vortex.
I’m Oli Davis, press the thumbs up button, give us a subscribe and answer our question
of the day in the comments down below: Who would you have chosen for the special guest
referee?
Because I’ll be replying to people FROM OUTTA NOWHERE!...telling you literally anyone
other than Lacey Evans.
Also vote in the poll above my head to give your rating for the show, where you can choose
from: Best of Both Worlds, Great Per View, Thumbs in the Middle, Meh Per View and Worst
of Both Worlds.
While I review WWE Stomping Names, Time to Kick Grounds and Take Ass 2019.
Tony Nese wasn’t only representing 205 Live by its Cruiserweight championship in the first
match, he was also cosplaying as its logo to kick things off.
If you thought normal Cruiserweight singles matches were exciting, the triple threat stipulation
here made the division even more dynamic - with non-stop inventive spots and near falls just
being broken up by the third man.
And for a change, the excellent Tacoma, Washington crowd were with them from the start, opposed
to the cruiserweights having to win the audience over, meaning the action only escalated from
the beginning to a very dramatic last few minutes of big move, near fall, big move,
near fall, big move, Drew Gulak throws Tony Nese out the ring to pin Akira Tozawa, new
Cruiserweight Champion.
The main show was kicked off by a video package with 1960s hit These Boots Are Made for Walkin’
- or, as Vince McMahon knows it, that current day trendy pop song all the kids are grooving
to right now - and then we got the SmackDown Women’s title match of Becky Lynch vs Lacey
Evans.
While the hot Tacoma crowd were very much into cheering Becky, they weren’t into booing
Evans - suggesting she’s not actually over as a convincing heel.
Something this match did nothing to help, as 10 minutes in, she tapped out immediately
to Becky’s Disarmher.
I’m sure that totally signals the end of the Lacey vs Becky feud we’ve been stuck
in since WrestleMania…
Ali then had a really cool video package where he delivered an inspiring monologue and walked
around the streets seeing a woman drinking a bottle of beer, a man getting mugged, some
dude pushing his girlfriend - and doing absolutely nothing to help them.
Paul Heyman then walked out of Baron Corbin’s locker room, because not even the advocate
for the Money in the Bank briefcase holder can escape the pull of Baron Corbin’s midcard
vortex! Heyman teased cashing in, as always, and then
Corbin came out to say he’s chosen his special guest referee, who will call it right down
the middle for no favours.
The ‘favours’ being the clue there.
Main event wrestlers aren’t the only thing Baron Corbin’s midcard vortex can ‘pull’.
Then came the match of the night for me, an excellently structured, brilliantly worked
tag match of Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn vs the New Day.
KO started the match by immediately knocking Big E off the apron and hitting four superkicks
on Xavier Woods for a near fall, and then didn’t relent, with Sami tagging in for
a Blue Thunder Bomb, and Owens following up with a Bullfrog Splash.
It was a great strategy considering how Sami lost the first fall immediately in their 2
out of 3 falls match on Tuesday’s SmackDown, and psychologically, it also perfectly let
Woods play the babyface in peril This all built wonderfully to Big E’s eventual
hot tag, and an amazingly good near fall following a Sami Helluva Kick on Xavier followed up
by an Owens Pop Up Powerbomb that Big E just broke up.
But while Big E had taken out Sami on the outside with his terrifying dive through the
ropes , Owens hit a stunner on Woods for the win.
This was a fantastically paced and laid out match, and the New Day losing was a neat detail
for Kofi Kingston’s match later on.
I know Zayn is on Raw, but WWE should make him a permanent team with Owens - because
a SmackDown tag division with them, the New Day and Daniel Bryan and Rowan could start
a golden era of tag wrestling on the show.
Then continuing the actually good wrestling, Ricochet and Samoa Joe put on a very well
worked match based around Ricochet’s speed - pew pew - against Joe’s power.
What was most impressive besides the usual Ricochet flips, though, was how realistic
their strikes looked.
Even in slow motion, Joe’s forearms and Ricochet’s enziguri looked like they were
genuinely connecting.
Probably because, in Joe’s case, they were.
He’s terrifying.
And then after a 630 splash, Ricochet became the new United States Champion, his first
title on the main roster.
Unfortunately it’s the one title that seems to be cursed with injuries, screwy finishes
and WWE just not caring about it.
Hopefully that’s about to change, as later on Luke Gallows, Karl Anderson and AJ Styles
crashed Ricochet’s US title photoshoot, saying they’ll see him on Monday Night Raw.
I’m still not going to believe The Club are reforming.
Fool me once, WWE, Shane McMahon on You.
Fool me 38 times…
Shane McMahon on me.
But any cynicism was quickly replaced by Ricochet’s good feels, who walked backstage to find several
babyfaces applauding him in the Gorilla Position.
You know, babyfaces like Seth Rollins, Curt Hawkins, Zack Ryder, Carmella, Heavy Machinery
and Charlotte.
Massive women’s division babyface Charlotte.
Don’t pay attention to that, though, here’s Daddy Triple H!
Charlotte aside, this was a very nice moment, and transitioned seamlessly into Heavy Machinery
coming out for their match next.
Which was a really fun SmackDown tag title fight against Daniel Bryan and Rowan... just
for the wrong reasons.
The crowd was amazingly hot for the wrong team.
Washington is Bryan’s home state, and he fittingly received the biggest reaction of
the night - and eco-based chants like ‘Please Recycle’ and ‘Drive A Prius’.
Unfortunately, that’s not what you want when you’re trying to get over your new
babyface tag team in their first proper title match.
The crowd booed Heavy Machinery, throwing the dynamic of Otis’ babyface comeback off.
Bryan eventually rolled up Tucker to retain.
Bayley vs Alexa Bliss Unfortunately that’s where the great in-ring
wrestling started to decline on this show.
I thought Stomping Grounds might be WWE’s surprise pay-per-view hit of the year up until
this point, but the main event matches dragged the event down.
Bayley defending her SmackDown women’s title against Alexa Bliss was a microcosm of what’s
been wrong with their overall feud - the action between Bliss and Bayley is engaging, but
anything involving Nikki Cross fell flat.
And that’s what the finish was built around, where Bayley had taken out Cross accidentally
with a dive, so Nikki ran in and inadvertently distracted Alexa, costing her the match.
Roman Reigns vs Drew McIntyre Now it’s time for the WrestleMania rematch
nobody wanted - Roman Reigns vs Drew McIntyre 2: This time it’s personal… just with
Shane McMahon rather than Drew.
This was all just a filler proxy match to stretch out the McMahon vs Reigns story, where
the two couldn’t keep their hands off each other more than Becky Lynch and Seth Rollins
- all despite McIntyre being Roman’s actual opponent.
Which is a Shane, as Drew was doing everything he could to get over, with kip-ups, sit ups
and Alabama Slams on the commentary table.
It followed the normal Reigns structure for the most part - him getting worked over by
the heel, and a big comeback overcoming the odds to win at the end.
This was much better than their WrestleMania encounter.
But third time’s really the charm, as Shane announced later on that him and Drew would
take on Roman in a 2-on-1 handicap match on Raw.
Long live the OmniShane!
Dolph Ziggler showed really good intensity in the following steel cage match, but he
passed his WWE expiration date a good few years ago, and he’s impossible to buy as
a credible threat.
Most of the match was built around him and Kofi Kingston trying to escape through the
door, which Kofi eventually did spectacularly, diving over Dolph through the ropes to beat
him to the ground.
A very innovative finish to a rather plodding match, although it does make the championship
look a bit stupid.
SmackDown’s best wrestler will be decided by… who can get through a door first.
While Raw’s main events haven’t been safe from Baron Corbin’s midcard vortex for a
while now, Stomping Grounds officially marks the first time a pay-per-view has been fully
sucked into it.
But, let’s be honest, Corbin isn’t the draw here.
It’s the two other stories surrounding his match: will Brock cash in, and who will be
the special guest referee?
WWE answered both those questions… by faceplanting directly into the centre of the Earth.
Because they somehow found a worse reveal than Lesnar, which wouldn’t make sense,
or Shane McMahon, which would be frustrating: No, instead WWE went with Lacey Evans.
Which the crowd reacted to by chanting ‘boring’, ‘this is stupid’, Daniel Bryan, CM Punk
and AEW.
WWE fans to AEW confirmed!
It was then that all the Becky Lynch and Seth Rollins references on commentary throughout
the night made sense - to the extent where Michael Cole clunkily referred to the Universal
Champion as Becky Lynch’s boyfriend.
And Becky loves Becky Lynch’s boyfriend so much, it took her a good 15 minutes to
come out and save him.
15 far too long minutes of Baron and Lacey cheating with chairs, slow counts and rules
changes.
Becky eventually ran out and beat up Lacey, meaning John Cone could jump in and count
Seth’s Stomp pin on Baron - which is all presumably the set up to a deeply uninspiring
Seth and Becky vs Corbin and Evans mixed-tag at Extreme Rules.
Because now, not even the Raw Women’s Title can escape the pull of Baron Corbin’s midcard
vortex, nothing is safe, run, run while you still have a chance!
While the first half of the show was really very good, the main event matches dragged
and were booked with dud angles.
But, to their credit, the Washington crowd were hot throughout, and the duration was
a much more forgiving three and a quarter hours.
Huh, it’s almost like those two things are connected?
Like the crowd weren’t beaten down by a seven hour show.
Stomping Grounds is Thumbs in the Middle.
How did WWE come up with Stomping Grounds’ great tag line?
Watch our WrestleTalk team sketch in the brand new episode of ScreenGrapple by clicking the
video on the right!
Avengers: Endgame alternate end scene has been revealed?
Find out the huge effects it could’ve had on the MCU by clicking the video below that.
I’ve been Oli Davis, and that was wrestling.