Stomping Grounds 2019

Stomping Grounds 2019 is a professional wrestling pay-per-view and WWE Network event produced by WWE for their Raw, SmackDown and 205 Live brands. It took place on June 23, 2019 at the Tacoma Dome in Tacoma, Washington.
== Storylines ==
The show included matches resulting from scripted storylines, where wrestlers portray heroes, villains, or less distinguishable characters in scripted events that build tension and culminate in a wrestling match or series of matches. Results are predetermined by WWE's writers on the Raw and SmackDown brands, while storylines are produced on WWE's weekly television shows, Monday Night Raw and SmackDown Live.
At Money in the Bank, Bayley won the women's Money in the Bank ladder match and later that night cashed in the contract on Charlotte Flair to win the SmackDown Women's Championship. On the June 4 episode of SmackDown, Flair competed in a triple threat match against Carmella and Raw's Alexa Bliss, who appeared via the wild card rule, in order to earn a rematch against Bayley for the title at Stomping Grounds. Bliss, however, won the match, thus Bliss earned the title match.
At WrestleMania 35, Roman Reigns defeated Drew McIntyre. Reigns was then drafted to SmackDown in the Superstar Shake-up, while McIntyre joined forces with Shane McMahon, but lost another match to Reigns by disqualification when Reigns appeared on the May 6 episode of Raw via the wild card rule. At Super Show-Down, Shane defeated Reigns thanks to a Claymore from McIntyre while the referee was incapacitated. Afterwards, another match between Reigns and McIntyre was scheduled for Stomping Grounds.
At Money in the Bank, Becky Lynch defended both the Raw and SmackDown Women's Championships. She retained the Raw Women's Championship against Lacey Evans, who in turn caused Lynch to lose the SmackDown Women's Championship to Charlotte Flair. After more feuding on Raw, another match between the two for the Raw Women's Championship was scheduled for Stomping Grounds.
At Super ShowDown, Seth Rollins retained the Universal Championship against Baron Corbin after Corbin got into an argument with the referee, allowing Rollins to roll-up the distracted Corbin for the win. Afterwards, a title rematch was scheduled for Stomping Grounds.
At Super ShowDown, Kofi Kingston defeated Dolph Ziggler to retain the WWE Championship thanks to interference from fellow New Day member Xavier Woods. Following the match, an irate Ziggler claimed he would have beaten Kingston had it not been for Woods and then challenged Kingston to a steel cage match for the title at Stomping Grounds and Kingston accepted.
On the June 11 episode of SmackDown, The New Day (Big E, Kofi Kingston, and Xavier Woods) defeated the team of Dolph Ziggler, Kevin Owens, and Sami Zayn, the latter appearing via the wild card rule. On the following Raw, wild card guests The New Day defeated the team of Owens (also appearing via the wild card rule), Zayn, and Baron Corbin in a Best Two Out Of Three Falls Match. A tag team match between New Day's Big E and Woods against Owens and Zayn was then scheduled for Stomping Grounds.
On the June 11 episode of 205 Live, a fatal four-way match between Akira Tozawa, Oney Lorcan, Humberto Carrillo, and Drew Gulak occurred to determine the number one contender against Tony Nese for the WWE Cruiserweight Championship at Stomping Grounds. The match, however, ended with both Gulak and Tozawa scoring a double pin. The show ended with General Manager Drake Maverick and referees discussing the decision.
On the June 10 episode of Raw, United States Champion Samoa Joe was a guest on The Miz's "Miz TV". They were interrupted by Braun Strowman, Bobby Lashley, Ricochet, and Cesaro. A fatal five-way elimination match between Strowman, Lashley, Ricochet, Cesaro, and Miz was then scheduled for the following Raw with the winner facing Joe for the United States Championship at Stomping Grounds, which was won by Ricochet.
After SmackDown Tag Team Champions Daniel Bryan and Rowan berated the SmackDown tag team division on the May 28 episode of SmackDown, Heavy Machinery (Otis and Tucker) interrupted and challenged the champions to a title match, which was accepted but for a later time. On the June 11 episode, Bryan and Rowan were set to have a title unification match with the kayfabe Yolo County Tag Team Champions, a couple of "local" wrestlers with cardboard belts. Heavy Machinery came out before the match and accused Bryan and Rowan of avoiding their challenge. Bryan said that Heavy Machinery needed to earn the opportunity and had them instead face the enhancement talent, who Heavy Machinery quickly defeated. Bryan and Rowan were then scheduled to defend the SmackDown Tag Team Championship against Heavy Machinery at Stomping Grounds.
== Event ==
=== Pre-show ===
During the pre-show, Tony Nese defended the WWE Cruiserweight Championship against Drew Gulak and Akira Tozawa. In the end, Nese was knocked out of the ring by Towaza. Gulak then performed an Argentine neckbreaker on Tozawa to win the title for the first time.
=== Preliminary matches ===
The actual pay-per-view began with Becky Lynch defending the Raw Women's Championship against Lacey Evans. In the end, Lynch forced Evans to submit to the Dis-Arm-Her to retain the title.
In the next match, Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn faced The New Day (represented by Big E and Xavier Woods). In the end, Owens hit Woods with a Stunner to win the match.
Samoa Joe then defended the United States Championship against Ricochet. The end came when Ricochet hit Joe with a Codebreaker and a 630° senton to win the title.
Next, Daniel Bryan and Rowan defended the SmackDown Tag Team Championship against Heavy Machinery (Otis and Tucker). In the end, after Tucker took Rowan out on the outside of the ring, Bryan rolled up Tucker to retain the titles.
Then, Bayley defended the SmackDown Women's Championship against Raw's Alexa Bliss (with Nikki Cross). Near the end, Bliss went for Twisted Bliss, but Cross attempted to attack Bayley for attacking her earlier. Bliss then attempted Twisted Bliss again, but Bayley got her knees up. Bayley then hit Bliss with a Bayley-to-Belly to retain.
After that, Roman Reigns faced Drew McIntyre (with Shane McMahon). Shane tried various ways to help McIntyre defeat Reigns. In the end, McIntyre set up for a Claymore, but Reigns countered with a superman punch and a Spear to win the match.
In the penultimate match, Kofi Kingston defended the WWE Championship against Dolph Ziggler in a steel cage match. In the end, as Ziggler was attempting to crawl out of the cage door, Kingston jumped over Ziggler and through the door to escape the cage first and retain the title.
=== Main event ===
In the main event, Seth Rollins defended the Universal Championship against Baron Corbin, who revealed the special guest referee to be Lacey Evans. Throughout the match, Evans favored Corbin as a way to redeem herself from her loss earlier in the night against Becky Lynch, Rollins' real-life girlfriend. After Rollins powerbombed Corbin through the English announcers' table, Evans counted up to 9 before changing the stipulation of the match to a no countout match. Later, Corbin used a steel chair that Rollins brought to the ring earlier. Rather than disqualifying Corbin, Evans added that the match was now also a No Disqualification match. Corbin attempted to perform a DDT on Rollins on the steel chair, but Rollins countered and performd a Falcon Arrow to Corbin onto the steel chair, but Evans refused to count. A frustrated Rollins turned his attention to Evans, who slapped and kicked him. Corbin then got his attention and Evans low-blowed Rollins, allowing Corbin to perform the End of Days on Rollins. Before Evans could count the pin, however, Lynch ran out and attacked Evans. Other referees broke the two up, one of them being John Cone (the referee Corbin had blamed for costing him his match at Super ShowDown), who in turn replaced Evans as referee, much to Corbin's anger. Corbin attempted another End of Days, but Rollins countered into a Superkick and The Stomp to retain the title.
==Match Preview==
Bayley vs. Alexa Bliss 	Preview
Roman Reigns vs. Drew McIntyre 	Preview
Becky Lynch vs. Lacey Evans 	Preview
Seth Rollins vs. Baron Corbin 	Preview
Kofi Kingston vs. Dolph Ziggler 	Preview
Samoa Joe vs. Ricochet 	Preview
The New Day vs. Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn 	Preview
Tony Nese vs. Akira Tozawa vs. Drew Gulak	Preview
Daniel Bryan & Rowan vs. Heavy Machinery 	Preview
==Results==
;
;
*Kickoff Show: Drew Gulak defeated Tony Nese (c) and Akira Tozawa in a Triple Threat Match to win the WWE Cruiserweight Championship (11:20)
*Becky Lynch (c) defeated Lacey Evans to retain the WWE Raw Women's Championship (11:30)
*Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn defeated The New Day (Big E & Xavier Woods) (11:05)
*Ricochet defeated Samoa Joe (c) to win the WWE United States Championship (12:25)
*Daniel Bryan & Rowan (c) defeated Heavy Machinery (Otis & Tucker) to retain the WWE SmackDown Tag Team Championship (14:25)
*Bayley (c) defeated Alexa Bliss (w/ Nikki Cross) to retain the WWE SmackDown Women's Championship (10:35)
*Roman Reigns defeated Drew McIntyre (w/ Shane McMahon) (17:20)
*Kofi Kingston (c) defeated Dolph Ziggler in a Steel cage match to retain the WWE Championship (20:00)
*Seth Rollins (c) defeated Baron Corbin to retain the WWE Universal Championship (Special Referee: Lacey Evans) (18:25)
==Other on-screen talent==
;Commentators
*Aiden English 
*Akshay Kapoor 
*Byron Saxton 
*Corey Graves 
*Carlos Cabrera 
*Marcelo Rodríguez 
*Carsten Schaefer 
*Tim Haber 
*Calvin Knie 
*Funaki 
*Jean Brassard 
*Marco Alfaro 
*Meng Ai 
*Michael Cole 
*Moti Margolin 
*Nigel McGuinness 
*Obaid Kadwani 
*Ray Rougeau 
*Renee Young 
*Roberto Figueroa 
*Sean Deng 
*Shun Yamaguchi 
*Tom Phillips 
*Vic Joseph 
*Zhan Pomerantsev	
;Interviewers
*Charly Caruso
*Kayla Braxton
;Pre-show panel
*Jonathan Coachman
*Charly Caruso
*Booker T
*David Otunga
;Ring announcer
*Greg Hamilton 
*Mike Rome 
;Referees
*Danilo Anfibio
*Mike Chioda
*John Cone
*Lacey Evans
*Darrick Moore
*Charles Robinson
*Rod Zapata
==See also==
*List of WWE pay-per-view events
*World Wrestling Entertainment/Event history
*Event gallery
==DVD release==
* Stomping Grounds 2019 on DVD
==External links==
* Stomping Grounds 2019 Official website
* Stomping Grounds 2019 Kickoff Show on WWE Network
* Stomping Grounds 2019 on WWE Network
* Stomping Grounds 2019 on WWE Network Kickoff at CAGEMATCH.net
* Stomping Grounds 2019 at CAGEMATCH.net
Category:World Wrestling Entertainment pay-per-view events
Category:2019 pay-per-view events
Category:Stomping Grounds
Category:Events with Steel Cage matches
Category:Events with Guest Referees