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It is official now. Roman Reigns is the Chief and all is finally right in the WWE after WWE Clash of Champions.
WWE Clash of Champions 2020 was a truly emotional pay-per-view. We had the craziest and best ladder match in a long time, a well-deserved moment of revenge for Sasha Banks, Randy Orton getting a well deserved comeuppance and Roman finally embracing the dark side of pro wrestling. It was easily the WWE’s best storytelling of 2020. Fans will hope that this show leads to some better storytelling going into the fall for the WWE.
As we are still trying to figure out why Retribution still doesn’t bother attending pay-per-views, let's take a list at the top five most surprising moments of WWE Clash of Champions 2020:
#5 Great night for the reigning champions at WWE Clash of Champions
WWE Clash of Champions is, for some reason, a rare time each year where all the titles are actually defended. Despite “medical reasons” costing us a few title matches, the show ended up having eight major titles defended on the pay-per-view.
For a company that loved to hot shot the titles around a lot, they showed some surprising restraint on Sunday night.
Cesaro and Shinsuke Nakamura defended their tag team titles clean. Asuka beat Zelina Vega very quickly. Bobby Lashley seemed to end his feud with Apollo Crews. The Street Profits continued their long reign and picked up a controversial victory. Bayley cheated to defend her Smackdown Women’s Championship. Drew McIntyre ended his feud with Randy Orton. Roman Reigns picked up a TKO victory.
If it wasn’t for Sami Zayn picking up the Intercontinental Championship, no major title would have changed hands at WWE Clash of Champions. It is very surprising to see so little drama in all the title matches but it does build up some credible champions for the fall months.
#4 The insanity of the Intercontinental Championship match at WWE Clash of Champions
The WWE decided to start WWE Clash of Champions with its best match and one of the best of the entire year. An Intercontinental Championship match between Sami Zayn, Jeff Hardy and AJ Styles was always going to be good. But I doubt many expected the brutal spots of this amazing ladder match.
It is the dangerous spots that really stood out. The early falls onto the ladder for Sami Zayn and Jeff Hardy looked painful, and they had the bruises to prove it. It continued with the surprising small ladder toss that hit Sami Zayn’s hand.
It continue with the crazy fall off the ladder by Jeff Hardy as he attempted to ride the ladder outside the ring. It naturally continued with Jeff Hardy jumping off the top of a ladder onto Sami Zayn lying on another ladder. Hopefully all involved have come out of the match injury-free at WWE Clash of Champions.
It was the ending that raised the match to another level. Sami Zayn attached handcuffs to Jeff Hardy’s ear lobe and the small ladder. Zayn handcuffed himself to AJ Styles who was then forced to literally carry Zayn as he tried to climb the ladder all the while Jeff Hardy tried to enter the ring with the ladder still attached to his ear.
Zayn was able to use a handcuff key and reach the Intercontinental Championship first at WWE Clash of Champions and regain the title he never lost: Pro wrestling insanity at its finest.
#3 Sasha Banks get revenge at WWE Clash of Champions
Bayley didn’t get to have her scheduled match against Nikki Cross at WWE Clash of Champions. She decided to, for some strange reason, call for an open challenge for the Smackdown Women’s Championship instead. It was very surprisingly answered by Raw Women’s Champion, Asuka. Could Asuka finally become a double Women’s champion? Sadly it was not meant to be.
The match was naturally quite brief with Bayley cheating to retain her title at WWE Clash of Champions. Why don’t heels do that all the time to keep their championships?
It allowed for Sasha Banks to arrive and launch an attack on her former best friend. It was a pretty stiff attack on the Smackdown Women’s champion with some kendo sticks. It was well overdue for Sasha Banks to finally get some revenge in this very personal feud.
It seems it is only a matter of time before these two get a title match at WWE Hell in a Cell. We have been waiting for this feud on the main roster for years, and fans cannot wait to see it finally happen.
#2 The past finally catches up to Randy Orton and costs him the WWE Championship at WWE Clash of Champions
It seemed like it was finally the right time. Randy Orton has been having one of the best years of his entire career. If anyone was going to end Drew McIntyre’s impressive WWE Champion reign, it would be heel Orton at WWE Clash of Champions. Not many people would have expected Randy Orton’s past to literally catch up with him.
The Ambulance Match at WWE Clash of Champions was one of the most entertaining of the WWE year. Both Randy Orton and Drew McIntyre took some brutal spots during the long title match. But not many thought it would take four WWE wrestlers to defeat Randy Orton at WWE Clash of Champions.
The Big Show attacked Randy Orton outside the ring. Christian attacked him backstage near catering. As Randy Orton celebrated on the top of the Ambulance, he was super kicked off the roof by Shawn Michaels. The ghost of Randy Orton’s past came back to haunt him in a major way on Sunday night.
Despite all the interference, Randy Orton still had some real chances to win. It took some brutal Claymores to finally take down Orton. It seemed like a definitive victory for Drew McIntyre to end this feud. Where can the WWE Championship go next?
#1 Roman Reigns retains the Universal Championship by forfeit at WWE Clash of Champions
It was certainly a surprise to know that The Usos had the ability to make Roman Reigns a Chief. He is going to be insufferable now after WWE Clash of Champions.
This entire excellent WWE Universal Championship storyline was set up perfectly to get Roman Reigns over as a heel. It was Roman Reigns versus his own cousin, Jey Uso. It was an opportunity to turn on one of Reigns’ closest family members and allies.
It seems like it would be a good match with Reigns finding a cheap way to pull off the win. What actually happened on Sunday night was far more shocking and simply great WWE storytelling.
The Big Dog controlled the early parts of the match and was bragging the entire time. His cockiness got the better of him and Jey Uso got some good offense in the title match. Uso even got a few believable near falls. But Roman Reigns regained control and begun a brutal assault on Jey Uso.
He wouldn't pin him until Jey called Roman Reigns the “Chief”. It wasn’t until Jimmy Uso returned to throw in the towel that the brutal attack finally ended. Roman Reigns had won by forfeit at WWE Clash of Champions.
Reigns has finally turned full-fledged heel. He has been so good at playing the arrogant bad guy that you wonder why they didn’t do it sooner. It will be good to see where bad guy Roman Reigns goes from here. It will certainly be a fun ride.
