Before addressing what did happen, let me address who did not show up at Stomping Grounds and may have been pivotal pieces if they had been present: The Miz didn’t make an appearance, and this was surprising because I figure that he might appear in the Roman Reigns match and help him get the victory over Drew McIntyre, but it was good to see Roman get the victory on his own.
Finn Balor I also did not make an appearance, which was less of a surprise. He deserved about a month off after taking that powerbomb on a ladder from Andrade at Money in the Bank. Another thing that was surprising was the feminist to the match between Seth Rollins and Baron Corbin. Here was my master plan: Bobby Lashley as the special guest referee (anything would have been better than Lacey Evans. This decision felt out of context and someone forced. Maybe a healthy Nia Jax would’ve been a decent choice that would have made sense), Corbin wins and becomes Universal Champion, and Brock Lesnar catches in a few minutes later to become champion. Lashley is still in the ring and has a standoff with Lesnar, setting up an epic Universal Title match at SummerSlam.
This is all hypothetical thinking, but there were several great surprises at the pay-per-view, the top one being Ricochet winning the United States Championship. No offense at all to Samoa Joe, but this will propel Ricochet’s career exponentially and solidify his name as a top superstar. In the immediate future, however, WWE should absolutely explore the possibility of a feud between The One and Only and The Phenomenal AJ Styles.
It was nice to end the show with WWE’s top power couple, walking out both with their titles in hand. On to other matters: it is obvious what WWE is trying to do by having Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn beat The New Day with Owens getting the pin. The plan is most likely for Kevin Owens to be the man to end Kofi Kingston’s WWE Championship reign, perhaps at SummerSlam.
How about the strength of Xavier Woods though squatting Big E and failing the first time but getting it the second? It was a great surprise, by the way, to see the very creative ending to the Steel Cage match with Kofi jumping over Dolph for the victory, doing a suicide dive onto absolutely no one. I personally have always been a much bigger fan of Hell in a Cell matches, but even I have to admit that was some great work.
It was an extremely intelligent decision by WWE to have Daniel Bryan and Rowan retain their titles because Tacoma absolutely loved Bryan since it was his home state. Tucker and Otis are starting to turn some heads, however.
On another note, Nikki Cross set up what looks to be a surefire match at SummerSlam with Alexa Bliss by costing her the SmackDown Women’s Championship. The dynamic between Corey Graves and Byron Saxton is hilarious, with Corey constantly making jabs at Byron – and Michael Cole simply moves on with the commentary as if there is zero animosity in the air.