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Make no mistake about it. WWE Stomping Grounds 2019 was an absolutely solid PPV from start to finish. The bookings were exciting and WWE absolutely blew everyone away. To be fair, the expectations were very low to begin with, so even a moderately good PPV would have achieved that purpose.
Either way, it was definitely a really good PPV and fans should be excited for the direction in the next couple of months. Hopefully, there won't be as much repition as there was before and it'll help make the product a little more refreshing.
What we need are new rivalries and based off the outcomes of WWE Stomping Grounds 2019, there will be some fresh feuds. Either way, the PPV in itself was not without its flaws. Here are a few mistakes WWE made.
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#5 The interference spot in the SmackDown Women's title match
First off, we commend WWE for doing the right thing with regards to Bayley. Instead of having her get humiliated by Alexa Bliss again, they gave her a win, albeit a dirty one.
In the latest WWE NEWS, Alexa Bliss was on the verge of victory when Nikki Cross came in and tried to get her hands on Bayley herself (the champion had hit a suicide dive on Cross moments earlier) and the chaos led to Bliss losing the match.
Now we do get that it was done to further the Alexa Bliss-Nikki Cross story, but was Bayley really supposed to be a side character despite being champion? Moreover, the interference spot was so overdone and unnecessary. The match wasn't a classic in itself but it was good enough, pretty much what you would expect from those two.
As we said, the fact that the right person went over definitely softens it a little bit. But Bayley deserves better.
#4 Expecting Heavy Machinery to get cheered over Daniel Bryan
Heavy Machinery had their first major opportunity on the main roster when they took on the team of Daniel Bryan and Rowan. Now there was concern as to Bryan's health. Usually, when a superstar is in risk of an injury (or concussion, in Bryan's case), they're usually put in a tag team so that they can be present in the ring while being involved minimally from a physical standpoint.
That wasn't the case tonight as Daniel Bryan went all guns blazing at Heavy Machinery. In fact, Heavy Machinery, despite being babyfaces were booed pretty heavily while Daniel Bryan got cheered for the first time in a long time.
WWE made a big mistake in thinking that Heavy Machinery would get cheered. Bryan got booed when the story called for it (such as the one with Kofi Kingston, for example). Hopefully, they don't get punished the way EC3 was.
#3 The length of the Roman Reigns vs Drew McIntyre match
Roman Reigns vs Drew McIntyre was one of those matches on the card that really made fans groan. They saw it at WrestleMania 35 and they saw it again on RAW. Neither of those matches set the world on fire and it was crystal clear at WWE Stomping Grounds 2019 as well.
WWE had two full hours to kill with only three matches left, which is probably why they decided to give so much time to Roman Reigns vs Drew McIntyre. It went on for a little over 17 minutes but even that felt too long.
We understand that they needed to really expand on the Shane McMahon-Roman Reigns story, but that was injustice to McIntyre who deserves to be more than just a side character for some other rivalry. The match did him no favours but the hot crowd saved them big time.
#2 Placing the WWE title match second last
Let's make it clear - Kofi Kingston vs Dolph Ziggler was a solid match in every possible way. The psychology was great and they proved to have great chemistry together. Kofi Kingston would expectedly retain the title, also winning his first-ever steel cage match.
However, there was one major problem with this match - the crowd really wasn't hot for it. There were many great spots and the finish itself was absolutely fantastic - something that nobody saw coming.
Even the subtitles of the finish and how Kofi Kingston landed safely despite taking a big dive is one to marvel about, but the crowd response didn't reflect that. WWE made a mistake by placing it in the co-main event because it was clear that fans had gotten a bit burned out by that point. It should have been a sleeper match instead.
#1 Baron Corbin in the main event
When Chris Jericho criticized WWE for putting Baron Corbin in the main event, he was absolutely spot on and it was made even clearer at WWE Stomping Grounds 2019. On his podcast, he stated
"This match, to me, once again is one of the problems with WWE and maybe one of the reasons why tickets haven’t sold well in Tacoma. We just saw this match two weeks ago at Super (Show Down)
“The classic thing is my neighbour is a good guy too, [that] doesn’t mean [Corbin] should be headlining pay-per-views over and over again. There’s heat, there’s go-away heat, there’s this guy isn’t ready heat. Corbin [is a] solid worker, solid personality, great guy. I don’t think he’s ready for the main event especially when you got Samoa Joe four or five matches down working for the United States Championship. Flip-flop it.
He stated that Kurt Angle vs Samoa Joe was TNA's highest-selling feud . In hindsight, it was clear that fans didn't want to see Corbin in the main event and he got verbally punished for it. He's 100% not ready to be a main eventer yet.
