Going into Stomping Grounds, WWE had yet to announce the special guest referee for Seth Rollins vs. Baron Corbin.
The reveal was left until right before the main event started, with Corbin choosing Lacey Evans to referee the Universal title match. Evans being the referee played into Rollins and Becky Lynch’s real-life relationship being part of their on-screen characters. After Evans slapped Rollins and low blowed him near the end of the match, Lynch came down and took out Evans.
Referee John Cone then counted the pin for Rollins as he retained the Universal title after hitting a Curb Stomp on Corbin.
Evans had added no countout and no disqualification stipulations during the match to help Corbin. She also refused to count to three for Rollins.
In storyline, Corbin got to pick his own referee for the match. The stipulation stemmed from Corbin losing to Rollins at Super ShowDown after Corbin got into an argument with Cone.
Lynch retained the Raw Women’s Championship by submitting Evans with the Dis-Arm-Her in the opening match of the Stomping Grounds main card.