WWE Stomping Grounds 2019 preview
On June 23, the WWE Network presents its first Stomping Grounds pay-per-view, live from the Tacoma Dome in Tacoma, Washington. There are nine announced matches on this card (a number that may or may not include the Kickoff Show match, as it has yet to be announced at the time of this writing), including the never-before-seen match between United States Champion Samoa Joe and Ricochet and a number of rematches. So let’s look at the matchups.
Tony Nese (c) vs. Drew Gulak vs. Akira Tozawa, in a Triple Threat match for the WWE Cruiserweight Championship
The story: The other week, Drew Gulak and Akira Tozawa competed in a Fatal 4-Way to determine who Tony Nese’s next Cruiserweight Championship challenger would be…and ended up somehow pinning each other. Tony Nese has no problem taking on all comers, so he’s willing to take on both men to defend his championship.
Prediction: It might just finally be time for Drew Gulak to finally win the Cruiserweight Championship and truly mold 205 Live in his image.
The New Day (Big E & Xavier Woods) vs. Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn
The story: Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn have been coming after Kofi Kingston (and the rest of The New Day) alongside Dolph Ziggler, though it’s currently Ziggler’s time challenging for the WWE Championship. (But as Kofi has noted, he’s already beaten all three of them.) And with Big E officially back in action, he can finally get revenge on Kevin “Big O” Owens for his actions when he played The New Day.
Prediction: Just as a general rule, I say never bet against The New Day. And never bet against there being a chance for Sami Zayn to lose, unfortunately.
Daniel Bryan & Rowan (c) vs. Heavy Machinery (Otis & Tucker), for the SmackDown Tag Team Championship
The story: Well, I guess the SmackDown Tag Team Champions need some challengers, and Heavy Machinery is around again. Really, without Wild Card Rule, there isn’t really another tag team to challenge the current champions. (Well, besides The New Day…but Big E and Xavier Woods will be busy with Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn. I guess The B-Team is on SmackDown too?)
Prediction: While Heavy Machinery is truly too precious for this world, that’s not going to help the duo beat Daniel fricken' Bryan (and Rowan). Plus, Bryan will most likely be the (sort of, kind of) beloved hometown boy in this match, and you don’t want Otis and Tucker to get booed if they beat him.
Roman Reigns vs. Drew McIntyre
The story: Roman Reigns beat Drew McIntyre at WrestleMania 35, so you’d think that would be the end of that. But then Drew McIntyre teamed up with Shane McMahon, who beat Roman at Super ShowDown (yeah, that happened), and Roman is coming for him.
Prediction: With Elias and Shane (and even The Revival) by his side, there’s a chance that Drew McIntyre could win. Otherwise, he’s just losing to Roman Reigns again.
Samoa Joe (c) vs. Ricochet, for the United States Championship
The story: First of all, Samoa Joe got the United States Championship back when an injured Rey Mysterio relinquished the title back to him (as Joe’s shoulders were also very much up when Rey beat him for the title). Then a couple of weeks ago, five competitors made their intentions very clear about wanting Joe’s championship: The Miz, Bobby Lashley, Braun Strowman, Cesaro and Ricochet. This past week on Raw, Ricochet won an elimination Fatal 5-Way to get the opportunity to challenge Joe here. Joe tried to take Ricochet out after the win, but Ricochet came out on top.
Prediction: This should be great — especially as a fresh match — and it could go either way. But I’m betting on Joe.
Becky Lynch (c) vs. Lacey Evans, for the Raw Women’s Championship
The story: Lacey Evans didn’t win Becky’s Raw Women’s Championship at the Money in the Bank pay-per-view…but she did cost Becky the SmackDown Women’s Championship in her match against Charlotte Flair (leading to Bayley’s same-night Money in the Bank contract cash-in). And she won’t stop getting in Becky’s face, so the Irish Lass Kicker will have to stop The Lady.
Prediction: “The Man” is going to shut “The Lady” up once and for all.
Bayley (c) vs. Alexa Bliss, for the SmackDown Women’s Championship
The story: Because of the Wild Card Rule, Raw Superstar Alexa Bliss is allowed to challenge for the SmackDown Women’s Championship. This feud has definitely been better than Bayley and Alexa’s first feud, with the abomination known as “Bayley, This Is Your Life” and Alexa being proved right that Bayley was a loser who couldn’t get extreme. Plus, there’s the Nikki Cross of it all, where Nikki Cross is the latest female Superstar not to realize you can’t trust Alexa Bliss.
Prediction: Will history repeat itself? Probably. But for Bayley’s sake — the poor woman gets booed for no reason other than the crowd has no faith in her because of said history — hopefully, she retains.
Seth Rollins (c) vs. Baron Corbin, in a Special Referee match for the WWE Universal Championship
The story: After losing to Seth Rollins at Super ShowDown — and generally losing big matches pretty often — Baron Corbin has somehow gotten another shot at the Universal Championship
Prediction: As for who the special guest referee will be? Well, whoever it is, they’ll have to be a very brave — or very dumb — person. (Or Brock Lesnar, despite Paul Heyman telling all of us it’s not going to be Brock Lesnar.) Rollins already told us what he’d do to them. Also, Rollins is retaining.
Kofi Kingston (c) vs. Dolph Ziggler, in a Steel Cage match for the WWE Championship
The story: After losing to Kofi Kingston at Super ShowDown — and generally losing big matches pretty often — Dolph Ziggler has somehow gotten another shot at the WWE Championship. He keeps screaming, “It should've been me,” and to be fair, there is a compelling story in there of Kofi and Dolph’s past midcard rivalries coming back to haunt Ziggler when Kofi won the big one (at WrestleMania!) and has the whole WWE Universe behind him. But it’s still funny to laugh at Ziggler screaming, “It should've been me."
Prediction: Sorry, Ziggle, it’s gonna be Kofi.
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