WWE Stomping Grounds 2019: 5 Potential Finishes for Samoa Joe vs Ricochet - United States Championship

Samoa Joe lost the United States Championship back at Money in the Bank, but because Rey Mysterio suffered an injury as part of their match and the company was unable to clear him to compete a few weeks ago, he was forced to give relinquish the Championship and hand it back to Samoa Joe just weeks later.

Mysterio is now sidelined as he looks to fix his injured shoulder, but this Monday night on Raw, Joe was at ringside to see Ricochet come out on top in a fatal five-way elimination match to become number one contender before he attacked Ricochet to send a message.

The United States Championship was Joe's first title on the main roster and since he's now a two-time Champion, he will be hoping to hold onto the title much longer this time around, whilst Ricochet is already hungry for his first main roster piece of gold.

That being said, let's take a look at five potential finishes to the match between Samoa Joe and Richocet for the US title at WWE Stomping Grounds.

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#5 Ricochet becomes United States Champion

Ricochet is a former North American Champion, which means that he has been able to prove his worth on NXT for a long time before he came to the main roster earlier this year. There have been many reports Ricochet's run on the main roster has made a number of NXT stars think twice about promotion, so this could be WWE's chance to turn it around.

Ricochet is an exciting superstar and much like Rey Mysterio, he is fast and agile which means that he could come out on top against Joe and lift his first main roster Championship if The One and Only uses the same tactics as The Master of The 619.

#4 Samoa Joe successfully defends his United States Championship

Samoa Joe is definitely someone who strikes fear into the hearts of many of his challengers, but now that he has a Championship belt he wears a target on his back. Joe was able to successfully defend the title against Rey Mysterio back at WrestleMania in a very quick match, but at Money in the Bank, all of his hard work was undone.

Joe may have been able to gain his Championship back through a technicality, since his shoulders weren't technically down for the pin, but he will be wanting to prove that he is the rightful Champion. To do so, he needs to come out on top on Sunday night so that he can continue to reign over his division like the Samoan Submission Machine that he still claims to be.

#3 Dominick interferes in the match

Dominick was brought in to be part of a storyline between his father Rey Mysterio and Samoa Joe when the company was pushing them into a feud, but right now, Mysterio's medical status is unknown.

When Mysterio relinquished the Championship he did so in an honorable way and was still attacked by Samoa Joe afterward, something that Dominick must have seen from wherever he was watching the show at the time. Dominick is a trained wrestler, which means that if he wanted to he could have included himself in many of the matches between his father and Joe, but after Joe attacked Mysterio a few weeks ago he finally has a reason to go after him and if he's able to cost him the United States Championship in the process then it would give both superstars enough ammunition to build an interesting feud,

#2 Samoa Joe is disqualified

Samoa Joe has a temper on him which means that sometimes he doesn't play by the rules, even if that means that he's not winning matches. There's no added stipulation on this match which means that it's Champions advantage so Ricochet has to pin Joe, but Joe doesn't have to pin Ricochet.

Ricochet has shown that he is a handful for many of his opponents and if it all becomes too much for Joe he has become accustomed to either running away with his title and living to fight another day or purposely being disqualified so that he can retain his Championship. Stomping Grounds is a filler pay-per-view so this ending could lead to a no-DQ match at Extreme Rules and allow Ricochet to gain some revenge in a match without rules.

#1 Rey Mysterio returns

Rey Mysterio never lost the Championship, so you can bet that he will be looking for a way to win it back when he's fit and ready to fight. His current medical status is unknown, but even if he isn't cleared for in-ring competition, there is no reason why he can't come out to provide a distraction that would then allow Ricochet to win the title.

The best thing that WWE could do in this situation is to allow Dominick to dress up like his father and then distract Joe long enough for him to lose the title and then take the mask off and reveal that it wasn't actually Mysterio. This only has to be long enough for a roll-up victory, but it would definitely lead to an interesting feud between Joe and the younger Mysterio if he's ready.