WWE: What’s next for Seth Rollins after Stomping Grounds?

After an interesting turn of events at WWE Stomping Grounds, what’s next for Seth Rollins and the Universal Championship?

At WWE Stomping Grounds, Seth Rollins successfully retained his Universal Championship against Baron Corbin. That statement, however, is burying the real lead story from WWE’s newest pay-per-view.

After Baron Corbin named Lacey Evans the special guest referee for their match, and some underhanded tactics were introduced to the proceedings as a result, Becky Lynch hit the ring to take out her challenger from earlier in the night.

This, far more so than any ambulance rides or WWE.com articles, was then the big on-screen confirmation of Rollins’ and Lynch’s real relationship.

While you’re mileage for WWE using that relationship in an angle may vary, no one can deny it provides an interesting twist to both superstars current storylines.

Even though both Rollins and Lynch seemingly knocked their opponents to the back of the line at Stomping Grounds, this new turn of events could lead to an extension of both feuds.

Whether or not that extension would lead all the way to Extreme Rules on July 14th remains to be seen, but an intergender tag match almost certainly seems to be in the cards at some point in the near future between everyone involved.

If Seth Rollins and Becky Lynch aren’t still fighting Lacey Evans and Baron Corbin at Extreme Rules though, who should their next opponents be?

For Lynch, the answer could be fairly simple. There’s quite a few women who have yet to receive a shot at Lynch who could easily be elevated to the level of title contention. Superstars like Dana Brooke, Sarah Logan, Natalya, and practically anyone from the SmackDown roster could all fairly easily be made into a viable Extreme Rules opponent for ‘The Man’.

Seth Rollins case is different. It’s surprising to say, but Baron Corbin really was the best positioned superstar on the roster to face Rollins.

If Corbin isn’t Rollins opponent at Extreme Rules, either because of his 2 losses to Rollins or from a lack of storyline left in spite of the addition of Lynch and Evans to their feud, then there really isn’t any clear challengers left for Rollins.

Most of the top heels on Raw have suffered recent losses in some form or another that would seemingly make it hard for them to be considered real challengers.

Bobby Lashley has been on the losing end of a feud with Braun Strowman, and Drew McIntyre just suffered another loss to Roman Reigns.

Samoa Joe would have been a fairly viable option, especially considering some of the history already built between the 2, but his loss of the United States Championship to Ricochet at Stomping Grounds would make a transition into the Universal Championship picture awkward at best.

That leaves us with either a SmackDown superstar as Rollins’ challenger, or someone who’s currently a face. Neither of those options are an ideal solution, but that doesn’t mean they lack potential.

Seth Rollins could end up facing someone like Kevin Owens or Randy Orton from SmackDown at Extreme Rules. Both of them would be more than credible opponents who could be plugged into a rivalry with minimal effort.

The only major problem is that Kofi Kingston is also in need of a fresh challenger, and Orton and Owens would have to be seen as prime candidates to fill that role. There’s also the whole issue of WWE abusing the wild card rule, but at this point it would be unrealistically to consider that anything but a minor hurdle for the company.

Back on Raw, Rollins could be challenged by a face like Braun Strowman. Strowman has slowly built up some good wins lately, but is still missing the final push needed to reclaim the momentum he had in early 2018.

Strowman could also potentially skirt the line between heel and face enough to make a 1-on-1 feud feel logical. It might not be the perfect situation, especially considering Strowman’s connection with the audience really hasn’t been tested extensively lately, but it could be the most viable option for WWE when it comes to the Universal Championship.

No matter what direction WWE chooses to go with the Universal Championship though, Seth Rollins’ storyline heading into Extreme Rules will certainly be an interesting situation to watch unfold.