With Clash of Champions 2019 coming up this Sunday night, the go-home shows of Monday Night Raw and SmackDown Live have given us an indication of what talent is booked for the pay-per-view and who is not currently scheduled. Of course, the card is always subject to change and WWE may end up making alterations to this lineup, but at the moment, the men and women in this breakdown are not currently advertised as being part of this event.
In some cases, this may be justified, or even a purposeful plan to set up a surprise. In other cases, it may be ridiculous. That is up to you to decide as we take a look at which superstars aren’t being promoted for this show.
From the Raw Men’s Division
— The Ascension (Konnor & Viktor): The last time they were on television was when they lost a Main Event match to Heavy Machinery on APRIL 8th. Yeesh! That’s terrible. They haven’t made an appearance on Raw since March 4th.
— The Authors of Pain (Akam & Rezar): For some reason, WWE is holding back on AOP. They weren’t even in the title hunt recently. That could be a good thing in that they’re being protected, or an awful thing in that WWE doesn’t even consider them worth investing in.
— Bobby Lashley: Supposedly, Lashley is out with an injury that he could return from in November.
— Bray Wyatt: The Fiend has set his sights on the Universal Championship for Hell in a Cell. It’s okay for him to sit out this pay-per-view. However, he might show up to do something in the main event and play some mind games.
— Brock Lesnar: We’ve seen more of Lesnar in the past few months than we sometimes see in an entire year. I wouldn’t expect him back until Survivor Series or later.
— Cesaro: Like many others, Cesaro came up short in the King of the Ring tournament, which explains his absence.
— Curt Hawkins and Zack Ryder: These two former tag team champions are used as enhancement talent recently more than anything worth being on a card.
— Drew McIntyre: Following the trend of his main roster run, McIntyre is perpetually presented as a big star “in the making” who fails to go anywhere. How WWE expects that to lead anywhere is beyond me. At least in this case, he’s supposed to be dealing with an injury that required surgery, so that might help explain part of it, but it doesn’t make up for the past year or so of his booking.
— EC3: When he’s not wrestling on Main Event, he’s basically not wrestling. Here’s hoping WWE moves him to NXT.
— Eric Young: Since SAnitY’s split, Eric Young has been a jobber or nothing at all.
— Heath Slater: Slater is enhancement talent. He wrestles on house shows and fills in other gaps when needed, but has nothing to sink his teeth onto.
— Lio Rush: Everyone is still hush about what Lio Rush’s situation is. More and more, it seems as though WWE has no intentions of bringing him back and this “no fire rule” is playing itself out with him being paid to sit home.
— Mojo Rawley: Copy and paste from the last year’s worth of Superstars Missing posts. He’s a jobber and seemingly doomed to be in that position forever.
— No Way Jose: Rinse and repeat, just the same as Mojo Rawley.
— The O.C. (Karl Anderson & Luke Gallows): These two dropped the Raw tag team titles in order for WWE to tell the story of Strowman and Rollins teaming with each other while feuding. That goes to show that decades can go by and WWE still doesn’t care about that division.
— Rey Mysterio: A few weeks ago, Mysterio almost “quit” and was convinced not to by his son, Dominick. Now, we’re in that stretch of time where they need to build that story up. Naturally, going straight into a title shot would skip weeks, if not months, so it makes no sense for him to be here.
— Ricochet: Losing in the semifinals of the King of the Ring tournament means Ricochet came so close to being on this card, but not close enough.
— Samoa Joe: Joe is in the same position as Ricochet, as both lost to Baron Corbin in the King of the Ring semifinals.
— Sami Zayn: While not technically advertised for the card, he should be making an appearance accompanying Shinsuke Nakamura to the ring for the Intercontinental Championship match.
— Titus O’Neil: O’Neil is more of an ambassador who pops up once in a while, rather than a true member of the roster.
— The Usos (Jey Uso & Jimmy Uso): After Jimmy Uso’s DUI situation, The Usos have had a break. It’s unclear when they’ll return, but it might be post-SmackDown’s debut in October.
— The Viking Raiders (Erik & Ivar): The Viking Experience is not going to be shown off at Clash of Champions. These guys are on the sidelines beating jobbers. However, they did just turn babyface and were positioned much more prominently this past week on Raw, so maybe things are turning around.
From the Raw Women’s Division
— Dana Brooke / Sarah Logan: These two keep having match after match on Main Event. That’s nowhere near the same as being considered for Clash of Champions, but at least it’s more than what some others are doing.
— Lacey Evans / Natalya: Evans scored a win over Natalya on the 9/2 episode of Raw. Natalya got a victory in return on 9/9. It’s something, but it’s not related to Clash of Champions whatsoever. Not everyone can fight for titles all the time and these two have had shots recently.
— Naomi: Naomi appears to be on the shelf along with The Usos, as she hasn’t been used in a few weeks.
— Nia Jax: Jax will remain out with her knee injuries for the coming months and isn’t expected to return to action until 2020.
— Ronda Rousey: Rousey is still inactive due to her broken hand and her wishes to start a family. It is unknown when or if she’ll be returning.
— Ruby Riott: Riott’s shoulder injury will keep her on the shelf for the next few months.
— Tamina Snuka: Injury reports still have no indication of her return.
From the SmackDown Men’s Division
— Aleister Black: A win over Shelton Benjamin on SmackDown is better than just waiting for people to pick a fight and doing nothing every week, but it’s not enough to get Aleister Black onto this card.
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