9 Match Star Ratings For WWE Stomping Grounds

3. Roman Reigns Vs. Drew McIntyre

Kofi Ziggler Stars
WWE.com

Better than their underwhelming WrestleMania 35 clash, this ultimately told a story that was at once reasonably effective but totally damning: Shane McMahon can defeat Roman Reigns with assistance, but Drew McIntyre cannot.

Shane McMahon is the Chosen One.

That paints a numbing picture of WWE in 2019, and while Reigns and McIntyre hardly painted a masterpiece, there was a crunching and engaging physicality to this that unglued the crowd in patches. Reigns looked like a beast and a star when he launched himself over the top rope to pound McIntyre with a plancha in what was possibly the best spot of the show. It looked outstanding.

The bruising dynamic needed an urgency to carry it, but the match went a few minutes too long. It sagged with basic rest holds, which the audience had grown weary of in the preceding match. A blemish on WWE's uninspired producers, it was equally a blemish on WWE's creative team; this was yet another match in which the referee was framed as an idiot to drive a passé plot. Michael Cole waved this away as the "veteran prowess" of Shane McMahon, and he timed his interference well enough, for the most part, but this sort of storytelling just feels like a symptom of WWE's definitive malaise.

They worked hard, they laid their sh*t in, and they mostly kept the crowd. Solid in physical connection and ultimately in quality.

Star Rating: **3/4

Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!