10 WWE Stomping Grounds Impulse Reactions
In which a crowd chants "Straight Fire Burns It Down" in the main event. Or "AEW". One of the two.
In the predictions companion piece for this pay-per-view, your writer flippantly noted how virtually every wrestler on this card walked, talked and acted as if the name of the show wasn't totally f*cking stupid - everybody was rattling off the "kick *ss/take names" catchphrase, very few of them were acknowledging the Saudi Arabian original versions of the match and hardly anybody seemed troubled about not knowing what show they even worked on in the run-up to it.
Fans were...less enthused, to say the least.
Perhaps because of the cloud hanging around from the aforementioned oil money propaganza, or because a B-Show hadn't looked more like a Z-Show in forever, audiences seemingly weren't keen on buying what WWE were selling. Yet, for half of Stomping Grounds, the few that did score tickets for the Tacoma Dome seemed thrilled with their choice.
The "card of two halves" cliche isn't quite accurate in this case, though. A red hot start was first cut off and then cut to pieces by some truly turgid booking that was head-scratchingly weird at best and mind-blowingly stupid at worst. The show didn't so much fall apart as it did fall over, stumbling all the way down in a protracted, overwrought version of the originally-intended tumble.
This was sadly the Stomping Grounds many predicted. Universal Champion Seth Rollins rather regrettably wasn't one of them...
10. Tony Nese Vs. Akira Tozawa Vs. Drew Gulak
There a 2️⃣ for 1️⃣ special today? #205Live #WWEStompingGrounds @DrewGulak @TonyNese @TozawaAkira pic.twitter.com/fIRqtwESQW
— WWE Universe (@WWEUniverse) June 23, 2019
There was an awkward inevitability about the Cruiserweight Title landing back on the pre-show after a missed Money In The Bank opportunity several weeks ago. Typical to the tragedy associated with the brand, this knocked last month's effort into a cocked hat.
Loaded with a stream of three-way crowd-poppers, this mirrored the thrilling final stretch of the television match that afforded the challengers their places on the show in the first place. A triple german suplex pinning combination rocked the Tacoma Dome early on, whilst Tozawa breaking the Gu-lock with a high angle senton from out-of-nowhere kicked off a scintillating closing stretch full of enough nearfalls to trigger an organic mid-match standing ovation.
This was, at times, legitimately breathtaking. A fairly surprising title change furnished it with a pleasing finish too - Tony Nese hadn't yet gotten his feet wet with the purple prize, but Drew Gulak's (and perhaps, 205 Live's) impressive reinvention may in fact suit it even more.