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Last Sunday, WWE presented its fan-base with the inaugural edition of WWE Stomping Grounds. The event ran for 4 hours long, with an hour-long pre-show. 9 matches were contested throughout the night, with one taking place during the pre-show.
At WWE Stomping Grounds, Seth Rollins triumphed over Baron Corbin with assistance from Becky Lynch to retain his Universal title in the main event of the night. Kofi Kingston escaped the steel cage first to retain his WWE title against Dolph Ziggler.
Ricochet dethroned Samoa Joe in a thriller to win the US title. Roman Reigns survived the underhanded tactics of Shane McMahon to vanquish Drew McIntyre. Becky Lynch retained her Raw Women's title against Lacey Evans in the show opener.
Elsewhere on the card, Daniel Bryan & Rowan remained SmackDown Tag Team Champions after they overcame the challenge of Heavy Machinery. Bayley retained the SmackDown Women's title against Alexa Bliss successfully and the villainous duo of Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn defeated The New Day's Xavier Woods and Big E.
The fans' response to WWE Stomping Grounds has shown that most found it to be a decent event, with its fair share of highs and lows. There were multiple talking points coming out of the event. In this slideshow, we will take a look at 3 of the most significant takeaways.
#3 Dolph Ziggler will never dominate the top card regularly
Last night's WWE title match made one point crystal clear and that's Dolph Ziggler will never be a mainstay in the main event scene of the WWE. Ziggler is destined to stay in the mid-card in WWE, no matter how hard the Showoff tries to impress the management or the fans.
Ziggler has been unable to break the glass ceiling that has prevented him from achieving the heights that the likes of John Cena, Daniel Bryan, Randy Orton, and so many others have. I don't know what barrier is hampering Ziggler's success, but whatever it is, it is one that the Showoff hasn't been able to overcome.
Kofi Kingston realized his dream this WrestleMania and Ziggler set out to ruin Kofi's magical run, but he failed miserably. If the feud with Kofi doesn't continue, then Ziggler will fall down the pecking order.
#2 WWE is pushing Shane McMahon over the moon, whether fans like it or not
Apparently, the conclusion to Roman Reigns' match with Drew McIntyre at Stomping Grounds showed that Shane and Roman have unsettled business. The announcement of the handicap match between the duo of Shane and McIntyre and the one-man army of Roman made the aforementioned statement all the more certain.
The rivalry between Shane and Roman has garnered more criticism than interest and it's high time that WWE ended this lackluster feud. It has taken up too much valuable time of WWE television and talent backstage isn't jubilant with Shane McMahon's push, especially as he gets to appear on both shows regularly due to the Wild Card rule.
My guess is that WWE sees money in Shane McMahon Vs Roman Reigns. WWE will try to extend this rivalry through SummerSlam, where Roman will get the final laugh over Shane and his henchmen (or Shane alone, if McIntyre, Elias or The Revival aren't involved).
#1 Seth Rollins and Becky Lynch are WWE's power couple
When Baron Corbin announced Lacey Evans as the special guest referee of the Universal title match, fans were astonished. Some were pleased, but the majority of the crowd was displeased. Evans was biased and did everything she could to hand over the title to her friend, Corbin. However, Becky Lynch's arrival turned the tables against Evans and Corbin.
Lynch took out Evans and subsequently rendered her post as the special guest referee irrelevant. From thereon, it was a completely different story as Rollins gained the advantage over Corbin and retained the title. Rollins and Lynch celebrated together and it was a euphoric moment which left fans ecstatic.
The two are a real-life couple and I believe we will see more of them as an on-screen couple now after Stomping Grounds. WWE took two stale rivalries and converted it into one awesome one at WWE Stomping Grounds. On the following Raw, a mixed tag-team match between the two newly-formed teams was scheduled for Extreme Rules, where the winners would take both the Universal and Raw Women's titles.
