The first Raw-exclusive pay-per-view following the draft will be Clash of Champions, scheduled for September 25th on the WWE Network. So far, a few matches have been hinted at, but nothing has been confirmed. Nonetheless, what will the card likely consist of? That’s for us to try to predict.
Without further ado, here is what I’m assuming will be the card for Clash of Champions 2016:
CONFIRMED MATCHES
None at the moment
PRESUMABLE MATCHES
WWE Universal Championship: Kevin Owens (c) vs. Seth Rollins
Unless Triple H does something to interfere with this happening, this is the next logical step and the most interesting scenario that we’ve seen in a long while. Neither man has a backup feud going on right now, and while it’s definitely an option for Roman Reigns to get a shot against Owens, what would Rollins do? Reigns has something else that can keep him busy (see below) and I would expect Big Cass to be lined up with Chris Jericho more so than Rollins, so this is the natural progression of things.
If this goes down, I’ll be immensely looking forward to it, as this was the match that I was hoping to see happen at next year’s WrestleMania.
United States Championship: Rusev (c) vs. Roman Reigns
Their match at SummerSlam didn’t occur, and with Reigns not holding the Universal Championship, this opens him up to still being the challenger for the United States title.
Also, next week, we could see a typical WWE tag team match where Reigns and Rollins are forced to team up against Owens and Rusev in a test to see which team works the best (with the heels getting the win, naturally—the heels meaning Rusev and Owens).
It would be strange if Rusev and Reigns not only didn’t have any finality to their feud, but didn’t even have an official beginning. Obviously, the injury to Finn Balor has changed plans up, but with the Universal Championship option being what it is above, I expect the United States title feud to continue as it was planned before.
Raw Women’s Championship Match: Charlotte (c) vs. Bayley
It would not surprise me at all if WWE copped out of doing this by having some sort of tag team or handicap scenario just to put off having a true singles fight between the two, but there aren’t any other options on the roster.
If there’s going to be a women’s title match—which, there should be, as it’s “Clash of Champions”—Charlotte is definitely going to end up facing Bayley rather than Dana Brooke, Nia Jax or the women who haven’t been seen in a while like Summer Rae and Alicia Fox.
Best of Seven Series: Sheamus vs. Cesaro
This is essentially confirmed, but there’s no graphic for it and it isn’t listed on the website yet, so it can’t go in that spot.
Cesaro is down two, which means he’s likely to win this to start evening things up. It’s unlikely Sheamus will win three in a row just for Cesaro to win the next three to tie it all up. The downside to this feud is that we haven’t seen much difference between their matches, so this will likely be one of the biggest matches of the card, but utterly skippable.
Raw Tag Team Championship Match: The New Day (c) vs. The Club
This is a card that suffers from rematches and a thin roster. Right now, there are no legitimate tag teams other than Enzo and Cass who could be factored into the Raw championship scene, and thus, no effort to do anything other than another New Day vs. Club match has been put forth.
My guess is this is when Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows win the titles, as WWE might have wanted to keep the one-year mark going for The New Day, explaining how that match went down at SummerSlam.
Cruiserweight Championship Match
The Cruiserweight division is set to debut on September 19th, meaning it would be extremely awkward to bring that into the fold before an event just to ignore it a few days later.
Since we don’t know many details right now, including the results of the Cruiserweight Classic or the full roster minus a handful of names, it’s tough to call just what type of match this will end up being, but my first guess is that the champion will be crowned in the finals of the Cruiserweight Classic and he will face his runner-up in a rematch.
Alternatively, this could end up being a battle royal to determine the inaugural champion, featuring all of the people in the division such as Johnny Gargano, Tommaso Ciampa, Brian Kendrick, Cedric Alexander, T.J. Perkins and more.
All we can say with relative certainty is that somehow, in some fashion, the Cruiserweight Championship should definitely be involved.
POTENTIAL OTHER MATCHES
Big Cass vs. Chris Jericho
Spillover from the Fatal 4-Way results should be felt for sure, and out of all the possible options, the best way to capitalize on the fallout from SummerSlam on top of this is to have Chris Jericho lock up with Big Cass. Enzo Amore will just sit this one out, particularly as there aren’t any other tag teams on the roster to go up against.
Darren Young vs. Titus O’Neil
These two are still feuding with each other, and it doesn’t seem to be slowing down any time soon, so I would be surprised if a match between them wasn’t included at least in the pre-show, if not on the main card as a buffer.
A Nia Jax and/or Braun Strowman Squash Match
Already, if these matches above take place, there isn’t enough room for much else. However, Nia Jax and Braun Strowman make such quick work of the jobbers that they could easily shoehorn in a match for one or both of them in the pre-show.
Oddly enough, on a roster that seems so thin in some regards, there are still some people who would be left off the card with this lineup, such as Sami Zayn, Neville, but that’s just what I think we’ll be getting and of course, things could be different. What matches do you think we’ll be seeing and what would you like to happen at Clash of Champions? Leave your fantasy booking ideas in the comments below!
