4:03 pm | September 15, 2019 | Go to Source | Author:
Clash of Champions is set up as a crossroads in the world of WWE. With 10 titles on the line and the upcoming SmackDown move to Fox airwaves, WWE has a chance to line everything up the way they like heading into a major new era.
The buildup to this show has felt purposeful and compelling, owing largely to the focus on two key women’s title matches between the Four Horsewomen and the ongoing King of the Ring tournament. While the finals of that event have been pushed off the card and onto Raw on Monday night, giving the week-to-week TV shows meaning, rather than feeling like a collection of unrelated matches and events, has been an effective move.
There’s also the matter of resolving whether or not Braun Strowman or Seth Rollins could walk out with two belts in hand, or none, as they serve as both tag team title defenders and Universal championship opponents in the same night. They’ll also have to worry about the specter of “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt looming in the distance, while Kofi Kingston tries to silence demons of a different kind in his WWE title defense against Randy Orton.
Marc Raimondi, Tim Fiorvanti and Matt Wilansky are breaking down all the action, and ESPN Stats & Information’s Sean Coyle rates each match on his customized scale.
This file was updated in real time.
SmackDown tag team championships: The Revival def. The New Day (c)
Recap to come.
SmackDown women’s championship: Bayley (c) def. Charlotte Flair
Somewhat ironically, the idea of Charlotte Flair going for her 10th women’s championship was relegated to a subplot in her championship match against Bayley.
While the logical opponent, Charlotte has been caught up in the Bayley heel turn, and at least on the surface appeared to be a stepping stone in Bayley’s progression.
But you wouldn’t have known that from the opening bell. With her hometown crowd behind her, Charlotte was dominant, kicking Bayley in the head, then throwing her in to the barricade in the outside of the ring. Her focus was the champion’s injured left leg.
Everything was going Charlotte’s way — until it wasn’t. With the referee’s back turned, supposedly giving Bayley a moment to see if she could continue due to the “injury,” Bayley surreptitiously took the bottom turnbuckle pad off and slammed Charlotte’s head into the metal with enough force that she couldn’t kick out of a three-count. Just like that the showdown between two of WWE’s best performers was over.
Bayley, playing the coward role perfectly, immediately made a beeline to the locker room, her title in toe.
What’s next: This rivalry will continue for weeks to come. Eventually Charlotte will snare a milestone championship, but at a more high-profile event.
Raw tag team championships: Robert Roode & Dolph Ziggler def. Seth Rollins & Braun Strowman (c)
This was a very solid match that did exactly what it needed to do: set up the Universal title match later.
The finish came when Strowman shoulder-blocked Roode into Rollins. Strowman was sent to the outside by Ziggler, and Roode capitalized by hitting Rollins with the Glorious DDT and pinning him. The tag-title reign of Rollins and Strowman is now over. It makes complete sense to do it that way to further build Rollins’ title defense against Strowman later tonight. Plus, Roode and Ziggler are a pretty good little team, though they were thrown together in makeshift fashion.
Rollins played the face in peril early on. He countered a Ziggler jumping DDT into a falcon arrow in a very cool spot that led to the hot tag to Strowman. Strowman tossed both Ziggler and Roode to the outside and hit them both with running shoulder blocks. Ziggler and Roode got the momentum back due to some shenanigans, Rollins was tagged in and the finishing sequence came into play.
While it would be great to have a tag title match that stands on its own in terms of importance, this was always going to be a teaser for the Universal title match. In that manner, it was certainly effective and entertaining to boot.
What’s next: Hopefully, Roode and Ziggler get some time with the titles and get pushed as a real team. There are plenty of interesting matchups for them on the roster, and with a draft coming next month that opens up the possibility even more.
United States championship: AJ Styles (c) def. Cedric Alexander
In an ideal scenario for most fans, the United States championship match between AJ Styles and Cedric Alexander would’ve gotten 15 minutes, or even more. It was also jarring to see the match shuffled off to the Kickoff Show.
But as far as the very limited parameters they were given, a six-minute match packed quite a bit of punch and made the best of the puzzling scenario.
Alexander blitzed through high-octane offense at a dizzying pace, nailing a Michinoku driver, a dive to the outside and a neuralizer kick. Styles then flipped the script, tripping Alexander and sent him head-first into the top turnbuckle. He followed that with a sickening-looking brainbuster on the apron, and a Styles Clash on the floor.
Styles then pulled Alexander’s shoulders up instead of taking the easy pin, briefly lost control, but ultimately whipped out some deep cuts in his moveset including a smooth transition into a reverse DDT. Alexander put up a little more resistance, including a springboard spinning flatliner from the apron, but a phenomenal forearm and a Styles Clash gave Styles the decisive win.
The O.C. came out to get a few more licks in, and that was that.
What’s next: The postmatch attack left the door open for a longer match, but with a draft and lots of big changes likely to come over the next few weeks as the WWE tries to make a big splash in SmackDown’s move to Fox, it’s anyone’s guess for either of these guys.
Cruiserweight championship: Drew Gulak (c) def. Humberto Carrillo and Lince Dorado
The WWE’s cruiserweight division is full of talent. Three of its top stars vied for the Cruiserweight title on the kickoff show as Drew Gulak defended his title against the up and coming Humbert Carrillo and Lince Dorado.
And defend he did.
The match got the night started off on the right foot as the action was fast, furious and generated “this is awesome” chants.
The closing sequence saw Carrillo connect with his patented Aztec Press onto Dorado but was tossed into the ring post and out of the ring by Gulak who bridged Dorado into a pin for the win.
Who’s next for Gulak? Was Kushida’s appearance on 205 Live this past Tuesday an effort to spice up the show in Madison Square Garden or will he be a part of 205 Live going forward (with a potential merge with NXT)? Will Gulak’s alliance with Tony Nese last or will he want another shot at the gold? Don’t count out Oney Lorcan either. The options are aplenty.
Still to come:
Universal championship: Seth Rollins (c) vs. Braun Strowman
WWE championship: Kofi Kingston (c) vs. Randy Orton
Raw women’s championship: Becky Lynch (c) vs. Sasha Banks
Intercontinental championship: Shinsuke Nakamura (c) vs. The Miz
Women’s tag team championships: Alexa Bliss & Nikki Cross (c) vs. Mandy Rose & Sonya Deville
Rowan vs. Roman Reigns
Powered by WPeMatico