Mishal digs into Clash Of Champions with his Top 5 Takeaways from this past Sunday’s PPV event on the WWE Network!

Let’s face it, we had no real anticipation for 2020’s Clash of Champions event.

A show that for the most part was built poorly (at least on the RAW side of things), was completely inconsistent in portraying most challengers as a credible threat to the current champions defending their respective titles & one that never felt important because WWE’s creative team choosing to focus on a plethora of irrelevant storylines that removed from the ones relevant to the show itself.

To say the enthusiasm heading into the show was anything more than mediocre would be a simple lie because fans had every right to be pessimistic about what to expect from a show the company seemed to throw together at the very last minute. Outside of the 2 main events & Intercontinental Championship program, everything surrounding them was either shoved together only days prior to the event or served as the continuation to rivalries that have either severely overstayed their welcome. No major show should have that feeling behind it, not a single one.

On top of the troubles heading into the event, the show was marred by last-minute changes that shifted the entire layout of the card. Talent such as Shayna Baszler, Nia Jax & Nikki Cross were all pulled from their scheduled matches for the evening (presumably as a result of COVID-19, according to reports) which sent an already messy card in an entirely new direction.

Clash of Champions continued the 2020 trend in WWE of poorly building up your big monthly events, only to have them more often than not exceed your middling expectations heading in.

That being said, here are the 5 biggest takeaways from a show with a tonne going on.

5. The Intercontinental Championship Ladder Match was WWE at its very best

Every professional company has its own specific vibe & product to deliver to their fanbase. AEW is for the wrestling purists with its plethora of styles, Impact Wrestling provides a more ‘interactive’ experience due to its smaller audience, NJPW is all about the sheer physicality, even the NWA is all about an old-school throwback in a modern time & WWE excels when it is the walking Friday morning cartoon that we all know it is at its core.

This is what made Sunday night’s opening ladder match between Sami Zayn, Jeff Hardy & AJ Styles so much more special than your average multi-man ladder match, it embraced its absurdity in ways few matches ever have. Beyond just being a wild ladder match, this delved into territory I can’t recall ever seeing before in a WWE ring, but it wasn’t without its substantive story & character work. The match itself worked into all 3 men’s capabilities perfectly, with Hardy almost killing himself on more than one occasion, Styles playing the wiser more calculated competitor & Zayn fully embracing his devilish heel persona resulting in some of the most absurd moments I’ve seen in all my years of watching professional wrestling.

What started off as your standard 3-way match morphed into one of the most creative, daring & unique contests anyone could witness. Featuring countless dives which had me jumping out of my chair, a Swanton Bomb off a ladder that you could practically feel & handcuffs being used in a WWE match in ways you’d only dream of. Call WWE predictable all you want, nobody ever called Jeff Hardy dragging a ladder that was handcuffed through his earlobe into the ring to try and climb another ladder with at any point prior to this show, not a single one of you.

Beyond being amongst the finest matches of the year, it was a prime example of just how insane WWE can be when they let their performers run absolutely wild for over 20 minutes.

4. Does WWE care about tag team wrestling?

Tag team wrestling has always been a mood for WWE, never a fixture of who they are. Primarily featured when a large, marketable team or stable such as The New Day, The Shield, The Wyatt Family or The Usos is available to garner a steady flow of income off of, tag team wrestling has just never been a consistent element of the company’s programming for as long as I can remember, with interest coming in waves rather than out of a sheer passion for the style it presents.

The 2010’s saw interest spike every now & then, however, it’s largely an accessory to shows that tend to lack depth in order to fill time for the rest of the card. With the exception of the utterly outstanding Usos vs New Day program in 2017, WWE’s tag team division (outside of NXT) has just lacked any kind of significant identity for them to work with or garner fan admiration. All of this is the result of booking or management decisions, not the talent itself which has always been there, just never used in a manner that displays what they can do.

Clash of Champions was a bit of a rude awakening to how far the division has fallen, particularly over the last 12 to 18 months. Teams such as The Street Profits have been getting their shine with a solid reign as RAW Tag Team Champions (despite facing Andrade & Garza a combined 12,000 times in the past week alone), but almost everything else currently going lacks that ‘it’ factor to make something matter. Cesaro & Nakamura are in their own right undeniably superb talents, just fail to gel properly due to being thrown in a feud with Lucha House Party that does neither team any favours. And outside the select teams mentioned, what else does WWE have to offer with its tag team division?

Nothing, absolutely nothing.

Other remaining teams such as The Usos are embroiled in a fascinating storyline with Roman Reigns, The New Day have gone their separate ways for the time being & The Hurt Business is too busy trying to make ‘RETRIBUTION’ relevant at the time of this writing.

As much as we may all whine about the state of tag team wrestling in WWE, I think we can all agree that some effort is better than the little effort they’ve been handed because everyone involved in this deserves so much better than what they’re forced to work with.

3. Sasha Banks & Bayley is the company’s best-built feud in years

It’s rare that a modern-day WWE feud makes me as excited as the deeply personal feud between Sasha Banks & Bayley.

SmackDown over the last four to six weeks has been a testament to the importance of long-form storytelling, something the main roster has been lacking for the longest time. Unlike their red branded counterparts, superstars on SmackDown seem to have some kind of direction, whether it be Bayley & Banks, Reigns & Jey Uso, Sami Zayn’s quest to recapture his gold, Alexa Bliss transforming into ‘The Fiends’ slave of sorts or Bray Wyatt’s teasing of his return to feud with Reigns, the product has a sense of longevity to it that I truly treasure. A good chunk of it feels planned out, building on new stars & furthering the brand in a way that keeps my interest.

That is exactly why Banks & Bayley lands as well as it does because there’s a history behind the tragedy of their on-screen relationship. On top of being a solid duo, the characters of both women have developed substantially, with Bayley going full-blown heel while Banks re-discovers herself as ”The Boss” she was so widely known as in her NXT glory days. It’s the age-old tale of selfish heel vs fiery babyface that has created some of professional wrestling’s finest feuds over the decades, and for all we know, this could rank up there with the best of them when all is said & done.

With Hell in a Cell approaching under a month from now, it’s such a relief to finally see the company build up feuds that are worthy of being held in such a brutal, sadistic structure, something that has certainly been missing from previous events over the years. Of everything going, seeing these two former best friends collide inside the steel structure will be nothing short of spectacular.

2. The Ambulance Match will never satisfy fans

Ambulances matches are an odd one to talk about. Gimmick matches in general either work or don’t base on how believable they are, just how absurd or not the gimmick is or more importantly if it makes sense to the audience watching at home or in the rafters. For myself personally, the Ambulance match is a colossal waste of time, it’s basically the Last Man Standing stipulation with extra steps.

To others, they may find some kind of redeeming quality to it with its absurdity or the brutality that could come with it in the past, the truth is under PG- era guidelines or without a certain degree of talent, I’m just not sure this stipulation works with most competitors. Both Shane McMahon & Kane pushed their bodies to the absolute limit at the 2003 Survivor Series to make this thing work under the circumstance, but there was a degree of tension that came with their story that made all the better as a result. This past Sunday, I’m not sure the result WWE wanted was achieved.

I’m overwhelmed that Drew McIntyre gets to continue establishing his legacy as WWE Champion, simply because his reign has been the most well booked of any champion in the last half-decade at least, but also due to the importance of making sure the future is at the forefront of what you sell. On the other hand, this stipulation may have hurt the ”Scottish Psychopaths” reputation to some extent, as the booking did him little favours in defining the rage this entire rivalry has built up since SummerSlam. What felt like a deeply personal feud turned into a story more about the legends than the champion himself, and while the action held my attention fairly well elements of the booking compromised what should have been an absolute massacre on both men’s parts.

In terms of establishing the motive for Randy Orton to demand a rematch down the line, this achieved that pretty well, in terms of making your champion look like the force of nature you’ve been selling him as since the start of 2020? This fell short in that regard & if anything made him look substantially weaker than he was prior to this booking. While not a bad match this is one of those contests that is dividing the fans who’ve seen it since it’s the kind of thing you either enjoy or not depending on how you like your wrestling delivered to you.

1. Roman Reigns: Professional wrestling’s hottest star

In the midst of the chaos that has been 2020, one of the brightest shining lights, at least within the realm of professional wrestling, has been the short but immensely satisfying redemption story of the Roman Reigns character since his return at SummerSlam a little over a month ago.

Since the infamous split of The Shield in mid-2014 fans have been clamouring for Roman Reigns to play the character he seems so destined to portray. While I never thought Reigns was the worst babyface by any stretch of the imagination, it was clear that his character needed more progression to get to the stage that WWE wanted him to be at. Everything from his look, in-ring style, verbal ability & presentation screamed a monstrous heel who could run through any and everyone. For a while, we got glimpses of this potential. His feuds with the likes of Undertaker, Braun Strowman, John Cena, Brock Lesnar & even Triple H displayed just what Roman Reigns should have been from the get-go.

Despite taking the company a little over six years to get to this point, I’d say it’s better late than never. Reigns is in the role we all knew he would excel at playing, with a manager that ascends most of his clients to the very top of the foodchain, along with additional added history to their dynamic that makes everything all the more fascinating.

Sunday night was solidifying proof of just what about every fan knew prior to this booking change, and it feels so, so good to take in.

Reigns’ match against real-life cousin Jey Uso wasn’t a 5-star mat classic, it wasn’t unpredictable or anything out of left field and it was never meant to be. But it might have been the best pure form of storytelling & character work WWE, maybe even any wrestling brand has put on display all year. It emodied everything Reigns needs to be & after what feels like years, a true force of nature exists in the company outside of Brock Lesnar. Everything from his ground & pound assault of his cousin, constant resistance on being acknowledge as ”The Tribal Chief”, Heymans ringside antics & even the simple removal of his vest during matches created something you just knew was special while witnessing it. Heck, even the simple notion of a tribal bouquet being place around his neck post-match was pure brilliance. Sunday nights main event demands a rewatch, maybe even more than one, because it was the star making performance we all knew Reigns had in him.

After that evening it wasn’t hard to see what so many have known in the man for so long, whether we reference Vince McMahon’s insistence on putting him at the top of the card, AEW making it vocal of the importance he would represent to their or any brand (as Chris Jericho stated publicly) or how to the current locker room the man is the unchallenged locker room leader & the standard-bearer for the current crop of talent. One thing has never been clearer after Clash of Champions, Roman Reigns is without a doubt wrestling’s hottest commodity.