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WWE puts on its first PPV under the Stomping Grounds moniker this weekend. The card is rife with rematches from both WrestleMania 35 and more recently, Super ShowDown.
While WWE has often had rematches on successive PPVs, the fact is that they've had some ratings problems and one would think that they might try to switch things up in order to fix those issues.
But regardless of their current problems, WWE went ahead with four rematches on the card, three of which are for titles. Roman Reigns and Drew McIntyre also have a rematch, but theirs will be one dating back to this year's 'Mania.
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Some first-time challengers like Heavy Machinery and Ricochet get their first shots at titles. Tony Nese also defends his title on a PPV for the second time. Regardless of the rematches on the card, some bouts have had better builds than others.
The length of some of the feuds has helped them while also hurting others. One feud in particular also revisits a battle from a few years ago. Here are the matches at Stomping Grounds ranked from the worst build to best build up.
#9 US Championship match - Samoa Joe (c) vs. Ricochet
Although I ranked this the lowest of the matches in terms of its build up, it has potential to be match of the night. Both performers are top notch, and Ricochet has been wowing the RAW audiences every Monday night.
The reason for such a low ranking stems from only determining Samoa Joe's challenger this past Monday. While he was handed the title again due to Rey Mysterio's injury, they could have had the Fatal Five-Way last episode instead of this week.
Because of that, there isn't much of any build to speak of other than a six-man tag match last week and when Ricochet helped eliminate Joe at SSD.
Joe did make an emphatic statement by doing his usual attack after his challenger was determined. That still didn't push the build for this match ahead of any other matches.
#8 Triple Threat match for the Cruiserweight Championship - Tony Nese (c) vs. Drew Gulak vs. Akira Tozawa
Tony Nese has wrestled almost everyone on 205 Live, thus making it hard to offer up many new match ups. His first defense was against Ariya Daivari at Money in the Bank, and he retained his title in a decent match.
In order to freshen up 205 Live after the Superstar Shake Up, Oney Lorcan has appeared on the show as have the Singh Brothers. On the second-to-last episode of 205 Live, a Fatal Four-Way was held in order to determine Nese's next foe.
Lorcan, Akira Tozawa, Drew Gulak and Humberto Carillo all battled for the right to challenge Nese at Stomping Grounds. Gulak and Tozawa pinned each other at the same time, creating a dual-winner situation on the purple brand.
This past week's episode made the title match at Stomping Grounds a Triple Threat match. Those matches are usually fast-paced and exciting, but despite the two-week build to name a challenger, this match is ranked towards the bottom.
It's not to say that they didn't tease things in prior weeks, but only recently was a challenger determined.
#7 SmackDown Live Tag Team Title match - The Planet's Champions (c) vs. Heavy Machinery
The Planet's Champions first ran into Heavy Machinery after winning the vacant SmackDown Tag Titles. Otis looked longingly at the titles, but nothing came from it until Daniel Bryan's promo a week or so later.
In the promo, he called the tag division a joke, stating so because the Bar, New Day and Usos were no longer currently active tag teams on the Blue Brand. While Big E has returned to action and thus to tag team action, they will likely be in the running soon.
After lambasting the division, the only team that came out looking for a shot was the purveyors of 'Steaks and Weights'. The division is in shambles so it makes sense for the new tag team to get a shot to at least keep the champs busy for a PPV or two.
Two weeks ago, Heavy Machinery interrupted the Planet's Champions before they were to face the YOLO County Tag Champs.
Instead of having a champ-vs.-champ match, Bryan insisted that Heavy Machinery face the YOLO boys instead. Even though Otis and Tucker won, it doesn't necessarily mean that beating two jobbers makes them worthy of a title shot.
The build has been decent but not top-notch. It's not the division's fault for having been left without a bunch of viable contenders but instead the fault lies with WWE for leaving it so barren after the Shake Up.
#6 Raw Women's Title match - Becky Lynch (c) vs. Lacey Evans
Even though this is a title rematch from MITB, there haven't been many new aspects added to it. Prior to the build to their first match, the main sticking point for the feud was that Lynch wasn't a lady and not deserving to represent the women of WWE.
After a lackluster match between the two ladies at MITB, Lynch apparently wasn't done with Evans due to the Southern Sassy Belle costing Lynch her SmackDown Women's Title. Nikki Cross also joined RAW during that time, but the division is still lacking viable challengers for Lynch.
Because of that, WWE is running this rematch but under the same build as their prior match. Lynch has maintained her bashing of Evans in the middle of the ring while the Southern Sassy Belle continues to dispel The Man's worthiness to represent women as RAW's champion.
Despite the multi-month build to the feud, due to no new wrinkles being added to it, the build has basically been the same as it was for MITB. I think it might have been better to have Lynch retain both titles at MITB only to lose her blue one at Stomping Grounds.
Some of her luster from being a dual champ wore off simply by not defending each title at least once. Having Bayley cash in at Stomping Grounds would have at least made the PPV more memorable for the anticipation of Bayley's cash in.
Had she done double duty at both MITB and Stomping Grounds, then it would have helped her keep some of her mystique. But they had to have a five-minute ninth title reign for Charlotte Flair, so here we are.
#5 Xavier Woods and Big E vs. Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn
The other members of the New Day also get a match at Stomping Grounds. Owens' involvement goes back to Fastlane where he was given the title shot instead of Kofi Kingston. After that, he supported the New Day and became a member of the faction while Big E was out with injury.
Right after 'Mania, though, Owens turned on both Kingston and Xavier Woods. He then received another title shot, only this time against Kingston instead of Bryan. Once the turn was made, any time Owens has needed an ally, old friend Sami Zayn has appeared.
Each man has followed members of the New Day when they went to RAW. Zayn has also routinely gone to SmackDown under the wildcard rule in order to help his friend.
When I speak of layers being added to feuds, this is one that has added new ones. Owens' heel turn after befriending the New Day, his constant torment of the trio and the addition of Zayn have all added something new to the feud.
Instead of rehashing the same rhetoric like Lynch and Evans, this build has included a new aspect and old, reliable allies.
#4 Steel Cage match for the WWE Championship - Kofi Kingston (c) vs. Dolph Ziggler
While the tag team match featuring Big E and Woods might have had a build going back to March, this one has two big differences. The first one that amps it up is that it is a title match. Despite Ziggler already challenging and failing in his bid to become WWE Champion again, any match for a title immediately has higher stakes than a normal match.
The other layer that brings this ahead of some of the other matches is that it isn't a normal match but has Steel Cage stipulations added to it. Those types of matches are meant to be used to make feuds seem more personal and riskier due to the nature of the match.
How many times during that type of match are wrestlers thrown into the steel or how often are their faces rubbed against it? The commentators always make it seem extra brutal every time a match like this takes place.
This match doesn't rank any higher because none of the rhetoric changed during the promos. Ziggler still did his best Batista impression by continually spewing the 'It should have been me!' line.
It's nothing new and although it makes Ziggler seem like he's at a breaking point, it hasn't added anything to improve the feud like a Steel Cage has.
#3 Roman Reigns vs. Drew McIntyre
Instead of facing Elias or Shane McMahon, this time Reigns is opposed by the man he faced at WrestleMania 35, Drew McIntyre. It was the first singles match for The Big Dog after he had returned from Leukemia treatment. There was no way he was losing that match.
But even though they had their bout at the Show of Shows, McIntyre has continually been involved in tormenting Reigns alongside McMahon. They've continually jumped shows to attack each other with the biggest impact happening on RAW this Monday.
McMahon was having yet another celebration backstage with both McIntyre and the Revival. Shane continued to mock both Reigns and The Miz, but The Big Dog went to the back to get his revenge instead of sitting and waiting in the ring.
He attacked everyone associated with Shane and even punked the Chairman's son out with a beating in the ring.
This feud has had multiple players and allies in it but the opponents in Reigns' matches have changed each time. This will be the first rematch on PPV and it will likely be filled with loads of interference.
The Revival, Usos, The Miz, Shane and Elias are all without matches booked for the show. It is likely because they will factor into this match somehow. All I know is that McIntyre needs the win more than Reigns, but they won't likely have Reigns lose two-straight PPV matches.
#2 SmackDown Women's Title match - Bayley (c) vs. Alexa Bliss
The reason why I ranked this second-highest is two-fold. The first reason is because of the history between these two women.
Bliss defeated Bayley for the title when both were members of the RAW roster. While some of the segments lacked in entertainment value, the feud was still a good representation of the mean girl picking on the upstanding citizen.
Since their bad blood extends to over two years ago, this feud has multiple layers. Bayley has constantly told Nikki Cross not to trust Bliss due to their past interactions. Cross hasn't listened, but the jury is still out as to if Bliss is being genuine or playing her usual tricks.
The second reason why this is ranked so high is because of this week's 'A Moment of Bliss' segment. Talk show segments are all usually the same, and although this was the usual battle-talking, it was the work of the women doing the battling that pushed it higher. Bliss and Bayley both went back as far as NXT to revisit their history. Bliss said that Bayley ignored her and that Flair was the only one who was nice to her.
Bliss has also been saying that Bayley is fake and isn't the same person on screen that she is behind the scenes. She's used Twitter posts as reasons that Bayley is two-faced, but we all know that Bliss is notorious for just that. For those reasons and the fact that both women have really brought it with their promos lately, this is ranked in the second slot.
#1 Universal Championship match w/ special guest referee - Seth Rollins (c) vs. Baron Corbin
Even if you cannot stand Baron Corbin, the build for this feud has been done extremely well. While we all know that Corbin isn't likely to win the title from Rollins, WWE is still doing its best to present the odds as stacked against the Universal Champ.
Corbin was his own worst enemy at SSD because he terrorized that match's referee. But as most heels do, they blame their losses on anyone and everyone else. It is strange that Corbin went from being blamed for Raw's drop in ratings last December to getting another shot at the title. Instead, he should have been reprimanded for his action in Jeddah in some fashion.
The whole pursuit to find a special guest referee for the match has been fun to watch because every time he picked someone, you knew that they would be getting trucked by Rollins at some point. It happened to Zayn, Owens, EC3, Elias, Eric Young and the B-Team.
Because he's seemed so desperate and willing to do anything to save his title, Rollins has seemed more like an unhinged individual. Brock Lesnar and MITB has made 'the Beastslayer' paranoid like an animal backed into a corner.
A good portion of both Raw and SmackDown were allotted to Corbin's search for someone to basically cheat in his favor during the upcoming match. It even took up an in-ring segment with 'the Kevin and Sami Show'. Corbin may not be winning the title, but his character work has been great during the build to Stomping Grounds.
