“Clash of Champions” Review

Seth Rollins & Braun Strowman Vs. Robert Roode & Dolph Ziggler
Yup, opened up the show like I thought. And Dolph & Roode won, also like I thought. But now I regret and dislike the finish. It would’ve been so intriguing to have Braun & Seth to win a hard-fought match together, getting a passionate win together, celebrating together only to immediately realize that they are immediate enemies…
Becky Lynch backstage segment
Oh shit. Listen to the cadence, the material, the delivery of that promo. This whole time we thought Becky was Stone Cold, but… Shit. She’s The Rock.
Bayley Vs. Charlotte Flair
No Sasha interference, and not a long match at all, with a weird ending. But I loved this. When was the last time we saw an exposed turnbuckle factor into a finish? I didn’t think Charlotte was lose clean, and she certainly didn’t. This slow burn with Bayley’s full heel turn is fantastic.

The New Day Vs. The Revival
Honestly, a pretty unsettling finish. The Revival essentially torturing Xavier Woods and then mocking him while they did it with the Figure-Four on the injured knee was pretty messed up. But having an edge is never a bad thing, and it sets things up nicely to have The New Day out of the picture for the WWE title match.
Alexa Bliss & Nikki Cross Vs. Fire & Desire
Okay, I’m just going to say it: as far as a wrestling tag team goes, “Fire & Desire” is incredibly stupid. I’m completely biased towards Alexa Bliss (i.e. I love her) but she has objectively become one of the best wrestlers in the Women’s Division. The booking decision to have R-Truth and the Jobber Crew come through the match, have Bliss almost take the title from him, and then not even missing a beat and getting a near fall was fantastic. Nikki getting the pin on Mandy Rose was the best finish, but Alexa was the MVP of this match.
Shinsuke Nakamura Vs. The Miz
Sami Zayn. Just incredible. At first I thought they were going to let him commentate the entire match, but even the little bit that he got in was entertaining. The match was good, too. There was a part of me that thought they might drop the belt to The Miz, only because they kept mentioned him approaching the record and maybe wanted to wipe Jericho form the record book. But having Shinsuke and Zayn continuing this run is perfect.
Becky Lynch Vs. Sasha Banks
A good match, with the violence spilling out into the crowd and into the back. I mentioned earlier how Becky’s The Rock, and this just re-affirmed it, with the way she rag-dolled Sasha was nuanced very similarly to how The Rock used to drag wrestlers through around. Becky went way over Sasha at the finish, though and it almost made Sasha look a little weak. I get that Becky needed to get some revenge on Sasha, but it would’ve been nice to see her get at least a little more of her own aggression in. Either way, good match. Hopefully this feud isn’t over.

Kofi Kingston Vs. Randy Orton
Really well paced match. Started off slower, with Orton heeling it up by wasting time on the outside, but it quickly flipped a switch; the pace picked up as soon as Orton started getting his licks in on Kofi on the outside, with the suplex off the guard rail and back-body-drops onto the announce table. There was some good wrestling was they got back into the ring, and the finish was interesting. Honestly, I have to stop picking against Kofi. It keeps feeling like the run is going to end, but they just keep the strap on Kofi. Surprised The Revival never got involved, too. The reaction from the crowd wasn’t ideal for a babyface champion, though. I’d say it’s pretty clear that they need something to shake up the program. Whether that means having Big E or Xavier Woods compete as the #1 contender and start some… trouble in paradise… with the New Day or something completely different, we’ll have to wait and see. But something’s gotta change.
Backstage Segment
Can’t wait for the Street Profits to be wrestling on the main roster. Montez Ford is the whole package, and I’m already looking forward to his singles run. Can’t go wrong with some King Bookah content either.
Roman Reigns Vs. Erick Rowan
Hard-hitting match. Erick Rowan was booked to look super strong and dominating.It was looking like Reigns was going to get the John Cena Finish, after getting pummelled through the first bit of the match, then coming suddenly back and hitting the Superman Punch after the steel steps, but it was refreshing to see Rowan kick-out. The pick-up power bomb through the announce table after getting caught trying the Leapin’ Superman Punch off the ring steps was awesome, and Reigns sold the near-fall so well. He also took some hard bumps in the crowd, which is pretty surprising to see Reigns get punished by, frankly, someone on Rowan’s level of the card.

Luke Harper! Didn’t even see where he came from, but the dominating ending from the former brothers of bludgeoning was an loss that Reigns’ has been needing to take for awhile.
Seth Rollins Vs. Braun Strowman
I keep forgetting to mention this, but the touch of having the house lights go dark and just having the spotlight on the ring during the wrestlers’ intros is a fantastic touch.
Fast start to the match, and it’s just incredible to me how agile Strowman is in the ring. Some incredible spots throughout the match, the highlight of course being Strowman nearly slipping backwards off the top rope, but recovering and hitting a pretty impressive splash. Even though he lost, and the crowd was not happy to see him lose, kicking out of that first Stomp after a one-count and then subsequently kicking out of two more made both wrestlers look incredibly strong.
Oh, “The Fiend.” They had us tricked pulling up the “All Rights Reserved” chyron first, but that’s the ending everyone wanted to see.