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WWE Clash of Champions is set to take place this Sunday, and WWE has announced nine championship matches for this year’s event.
Bayley will be the only Superstar who will be defending the same title that she defended at last year’s show. WWE are set to have a mix of some exciting first-time matches lined up for the event.
Zelina Vega will challenge Asuka for the WWE RAW Women’s Championship at the event, while Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler will defend the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships against The Riott Squad.
Jey Uso will get the opportunity to battle his cousin Roman Reigns for the WWE Universal Championship, while Randy Orton will look for his 14th world title reign in a face off with Drew McIntyre for the WWE Championship in an Ambulance match.
In this article, we will look at the five things that must happen at WWE Clash of Champions this year.
#5 Cesaro and Shinsuke Nakamura retain their titles at WWE Clash of Champions
Cesaro and Shinsuke Nakamura became an unlikely tag team a few months ago, but the two men have managed to work extremely well together and given their competition a tough time. The two men defeated The New Day a couple of months ago to become the new WWE SmackDown Tag Team Champions and they haven’t looked back ever since.
The main competition they have received for the titles has been from Lince Dorado and Gran Metalik of The Lucha House Party. However, with the return of Kalisto to the side, the faction appeared stronger until some differences between the side started tearing them apart.
The Lucha House Party will get a chance to compete for the SmackDown Tag Team titles at WWE Clash of Champions. While the trio is outstanding at what they do, WWE must allow The Swiss Cyborg and The Artist to defeat The Lucha House Party to retain their titles and carry on their reign.
After the match, WWE must also allow Kalisto to turn heel on his partners and vent out his frustration by attacking Dorado and Metalik, leaving them in a heap to start a new rivalry.
Kalisto has been the most successful singles wrestler out of the three men, and WWE could use him effectively by giving him another singles’ run.
#4 Apollo Crews and Ricochet join The Hurt Business against a common enemy at WWE Clash of Champions
The United States Championship will be on the line at WWE Clash of Champions as Bobby Lashley from The Hurt Business will defend his title against Apollo Crews.
Crews had a good run with the United States Championship until he lost it to Lashley, and the two men have been feuding for some time now.
MVP, Cedric Alexander, and Shelton Benjamin will be on The All Mighty’s side during the match while Crews will have Ricochet at his side of the ring. While the match will likely have some big moments, fans can expect Lashley to retain his title at the end of it.
One thing that The Hurt Business will have to look out for during the match will be the interference of RETRIBUTION. The two factions seem to have gotten into a rivalry, and we could see RETRIBUTION appear during or after the match to attack all the men involved in the match.
WWE should use this opportunity to pull more Superstars into The Hurt Business as Crews and Ricochet must help The Hurt Business fend off the attack and send the masked faction running back.
This could potentially result in an alliance between the six men, and give fans a chance to see an even bigger faction on WWE RAW.
MVP has repeatedly spoken about his desire to work with Ricochet and Crews along with the three men of his faction, and he could lead them in the right direction. While we’ve already seen five members of RETRIBUTION on RAW, several more masked attackers have arrived to help out the faction.
Increasing the number of Superstars in The Hurt Business will help WWE offer fans something new and fresh as we’ve recently seen WWE focus on three- and four-member factions.
#3 Sami Zayn becomes the rightful Intercontinental Champion at WWE Clash of Champions
Jeffy Hardy has had a good run since his return to WWE SmackDown and after his initial rivalry with Sheamus, he has become the Intercontinental Champion.
Hardy defeated AJ Styles to become the champion and has been in a rivalry with the former champion ever since. However, the return of the former Intercontinental Champion Sami Zayn, who had gone on a hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, made things even more interesting for the Intercontinental Championship scene.
At WWE Clash of Champions, Hardy, Styles, and Zayn will compete for a chance to become the Intercontinental Champion.
While Hardy won the title just over a month ago, and Styles is a great option to become the titleholder again, WWE must allow the loudmouth Zayn to take the title home.
Zayn’s reign was cut short due to the COVID pandemic. He is great in the ring and on the mic, and could give fans some memorable storylines and rivalries in the months to come, and a full-blown rivalry between Hardy and Zayn following the match would be good for WWE SmackDown.
#2 Keith Lee takes out Drew McIntyre and Randy Orton in the Ambulance Match at WWE Clash of Champions
Drew McIntyre and Randy Orton have been competing against each other for some time now. However, the emergence of Keith Lee on WWE RAW has made their rivalry a bit more interesting. Lee has already defeated Orton at WWE Payback and has had a couple of inconclusive matches against the WWE Champion.
At WWE Clash of Champions, Orton and McIntyre will compete for the title in an Ambulance Match. Both men have injured and sent each other to the hospital earlier, and this stipulation will make things very interesting for the fans.
Lee, however, has been unhappy with both his friend McIntyre, and Orton, who attacked him during the final RAW before Clash of Champions.
At the event, WWE must allow Lee to appear during the match between The Viper and The Scottish Psychopath, and deliver a brutal beating to both men.
He must be allowed to turn heel and attack them, and load both men into the back of the ambulance.
This will allow WWE to have an inconclusive finish to the match and give them a chance to build The Limitless One. RAW can then work on the rivalry and build a huge Triple Threat Match between the three men at Hell in a Cell next month.
#1 Roman Reigns beats Jey Uso to within an inch of his life at WWE Clash of Champions
Since his return to WWE SmackDown and his subsequent heel turn, Roman Reigns has been at his brutal best. At WWE Clash of Champions, Reigns will defend his Universal Championship against his cousin, Jey Uso.
Legendary WWE Superstar Mark Henry recently spoke about the match on the Busted Open podcast. He shared an interesting idea for the match between Reigns and Jey Uso at Clash of Champions:
''Roman beats his cousin within an inch of his life and all the family comes down and says 'what are you doing? You all were raised together. You slept under the same roof, ate under the same table. We raised you all the same. Why are you acting like this?' And then him denouncing himself from his family. The potential is there. Everything is right there.''
After reading the idea, one cannot help but think how good this ending could be for WWE and Reigns himself. He is being built as the next biggest force in WWE, and a squash victory followed by a brutal beatdown will help him look extremely dominant.
WWE must allow The Big Dog to go down this path, and not only defeat Jey, but also beat him to within an inch of his life to come across as the biggest heel in WWE today.
WWE can then work on building the perfect babyfaces to challenge Reigns in the months to come.
