Tuesday, March 19, 2024
EditorialWWE Clash Of Champions Analysis

WWE Clash Of Champions Analysis

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This is an analysis of Clash of the Champion’s main card. This will have match examinations star ratings, final thoughts for the entire show, and an overall grade. Ryan Clark has you covered for the play-by-play recap.

Believe it or not, Clash of the Champions is technically Raw’s first exclusive PPV since New Year’s Revolution 2007 – a show that featured the reigning WWE Champion John Cena taking on Umaga as well as D-Generation X vs. Rated RKO. Clash of the Champions’ card looks like a promising on PPV, even with the lackluster buildup. Also, let’s see who will win the first “PPV battle” between Smackdown and Raw in over 9 years.

CLASH OF THE CHAMPIONS ONGOING ANALYSIS

Opening Match WWE Tag Team Champions New Day (c) vs. The Club:

This match started on a different note. WWE matches usually start with a “feeling out process”. This match started with Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson showing off a new side of themselves: a vicious mean streak. New Day fought back, showing some viciousness and fire of their own. This established urgency, giving off the notion that it could end at any moment. All the competitors put an extra oomph on the moves they delivered. There were some nasty-looking, stiff moves in this one. This ended rather anti-climatically, as it felt as if the match had more juice in the tank.

Overall, though, this was a fast-paced, chaotic and energetic match. It also possessed the heat and energy this feud was lacking in for the past month. Good match for only 6 minutes. ** 1/2

Second Match Cruiserweight Champion TJ Perkins (c) vs. Brian Kendrick

The cruiserweight début on Raw was highly disappointing, to say in the least. Mick Foley cut a condescending and half-hearted introduction promo that was more counterproductive than anything else, and then a random Fatal Fourway determined who’d face TJ Perkins, who was not on Raw, at Clash of the Champions. It poorly introduced the cruiserweight wrestlers (especially to those who did not watch the Cruiserweight Classic). The crowd did not know much about each wrestler nor a backstory to sink their teeth into, so they were sitting on their hands waiting to pop for cool high-spots. Because of the wrestlers’ dexterity and exertion, they made the crowd become invested into the match.

This was a nice display of highly athletic and acrobatic spots and sequences, though it could have used a few more minutes as their chemistry becoming very impressive down the stretch. Still, this was a good first PPV match for the division. I also liked Kendrick turning heel since they now have a story to work with. ***

Third Match: Final Match of the Best of Seven Series between Cesaro and Sheamus

This was a very impressive display of unbridled heavyweight strength and power and awe-inspiring athleticism and agility. This reminded me a lot of Finlay and Regal’s late 90s matches, two uber-tough competitors beating the pulp out of each other, except this had excessively more athleticism. It is amazing what these two can do for their size, especially Cesaro who is a rare specimen with an amalgamation of otherworldly strength, athleticism, quickness and gracefulness. A terrible finish that made neither wrestler look good robbed this match from being a potential WWE MOTYC.

It would have been so much better if both wrestlers fought through their pain, showing off even more resiliency and perseverance. Vince McMahon needs to listen to Cesaro’s PPV matches. Granted, he doesn’t have a larger-than-life personality, but because of his excellent in-ring abilities and crowd psychology, the crowds are deeply into his matches all the time. *** 3/4

Fourth Match: Sami Zayn vs. Chris Jericho

This became better towards the end, but it could not get itself out of first gear for a while. The timing, at times, was off. Chris Jericho is great at portraying his character, though he should not be wrestling WWE’s style. He no longer can keep up with fast wrestlers like Zayn nor do state-of-the-art spots, bumps and sequences Zayn is known for. I would like to see him wrestle a different style, becoming more character-driven in his matches instead of attempting to go toe-to-toe with much faster wrestlers.

There were times where they were blatantly “trading moves” to fill time. They would have been better off conveying an in-ring story. The match still picked up nicely towards the end, though. Not a bad match by any means, but Sami Zayn is capable of so much more. Of course, this match was put in a tough spot following the ultra-brutal Sheamus and Cesaro match, especially considering it did not have a hot backstory coming in. ** 1/2

Fifth Match: WWE Women’s Champion Charlotte (c) vs. Bayley vs. Sasha Banks

This was a slight below average match. Because of its nonstop action, this had a breezy pace to it and did not have downtime, tedious or sluggish moments. But the execution in this was not very good, as there were clunky, sloppy and contrived spots. They wanted to have a chaotic triple-threat match with twists at every turn, but the sloppiness and shaky chemistry prevented them from creating a naturalistic flow. **


Sixth Match: US Championship Match Rusev (c) vs. Roman Reigns

This feud did nothing for Rusev nor Reigns, as both were playing counterproductive roles. Reigns, throughout this feud, was an immature bully, causing Rusev to become the de facto babyface and him to become the de facto heel. Rusev also looked inferior compared to Reigns at every turn in this feud. The action was good, though, and the bags-of-tricks, like teased DQs and Lana’s interference, augmented the drama. I do not know how anyone is supposed to cheer Roman Reigns now, though. He is neither a sympathetic protagonist nor a too-cool-to-boo tough, uncompromising, and intimidating character. ** 3/4

Main Event Kevin Owens (c) vs. Seth Rollins

I liked how Kevin Owens channeled his onscreen persona in the match by trash talking Seth Rollins as he unmercifully beat him up in the early going. This was also an okay way to establish Seth Rollins as a plucky, sympathetic babyface, fighting his hardest to overcome Chris Jericho and Kevin Owens and the unlikely circumstances of the referee being knocked out of the match. However, he has a long way to go to become a top-level babyface in the company. The fans are not fully behind him yet, and the match consequently suffered from it. Seth Rollins, since his return from injury, has been solid-yet-unspectacular in the ring. He is miles behind of what he once was in 2015. The finish sets up another overarching Authority storyline, as the main question headed into Raw being “did Stephanie McMahon mean to screw Seth Rollins or not?” Nothing helps a babyface get over quite like whining and complaining about being screwed over.

They wrestled an okay match, but all the shenanigans after the referee bump were heavy-handed, marring the flow and also making the finish anti-climatic. **

Overall: What happened to WWE? WWE was famous for disguising its roster’s shortcomings in the ring by giving them interesting gimmicks, providing them with an interesting backstory, and laying out an interesting story for them to convey in the ring. Now, they finally have a roster that is filled with great wrestlers from top to bottom, yet all its aforementioned strong suits have vanished. Years and years of even-steven booking has preconditioned fans to not care about wins and loses; years and years of WWE being tone-death has told the fans it does not matter who they cheer or boo the loudest; and years and years of treating championship title holders poorly has marred the credibility of each title in the company. Add in the fact that the stories and conflicts are also usually humdrum and heatless — and there is no wonder why its crowds are so lethargic.

The wrestlers no doubt worked hard and gave strong efforts tonight, but it almost felt like I watched the same seven matches over and over. Look, WWE’s formula of a match can be effective and entertaining. I like matches a high-tempo and back-and-forth pace with impressive moves and spots, but it is just overwhelming when it is essentially the only style WWE can do. While these matches are aesthetically pleasing, they lack interesting in-ring storytelling and have become too homogenized. WWE desperately needs to inject some storytelling, strategic wrestling and heat into its matches. It also needs to mix up its “plug anyone in” formula, since wrestlers should wrestle differently from each other, and structure matches differently from one-another.

This PPV had good wrestling, but it also made WWE’s major problems stick out like sore thumb.

Overall Grade: 5.5/10

Oh, and these PPVs are unreasonably too long these days.

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