Best and Worst of Clash of Champions 2019 - Poor match placement, Major WWE return

By Riju Dasgupta
Modified Sep 16, 2019 17:50 IST
Becky Lynch and Sasha Banks had quite an intense match
Becky Lynch and Sasha Banks had quite an intense match

I would say that WWE Clash of Champions was just about an okay show, and exactly what we would expect. It started off well, but it just tapered off downwards from the midway point.

As always, I will bring you my analysis of the show for your reading pleasure and invite you to post your own take as well in the section right below. I realize that it can certainly be different from mine and I'd like to hear what you have to say about the pay-per-view.

Let me say at the very outset that I'm glad that the show did not go very long as AEW Double or Nothing did, ruining what was a pretty good show. This show was the perfect length and did not tire me out.

So, now that we've established this, let's jump right into the analysis.

#1 Best: The match of the night

Becky Lynch was the hottest thing in WWE at WrestleMania 35. And then WrestleMania happened and the crowd just seemed to lose interest in her, as feuds with Lacey Evans and Natalya just failed to impress the WWE Universe. I would say that she regained her steam and all her momentum at Clash of Champions and it's all thanks to The Boss, Sasha Banks.

Banks is far more comfortable as a heel than she ever was as a babyface character. The two women wrestled all over the arena once the referee was knocked out and even though the match did not result in a title switch, I'm sure it signals the beginning of a long-term feud between the two women. I think Becky Lynch and Sasha Banks will next face one another at Hell in a Cell.

Would you like to see this? Voice your thoughts in the comments.

See WWE Clash Of Champions Results, Highlights of event, & more on WWE Clash Of Champions Results page

#1 Worst: AJ Styles in the Kickoff show

AJ Styles and the US Championship do not deserve to be on the Kickoff show at all. I'd have rather put one of the tag team matches, or even the SmackDown Women's Championship match there.

Styles and Alexander had a short match but in this duration, the two men showed impeccable chemistry and actually wrestled a really fine match that eclipsed most of the stuff in the main show by far. I'd really like to see the two of them mix it up again on pay-per-view, down the line.

I get the argument that the Kickoff Show should entice the audience to buy the main show but still Styles shouldn't be wrestling in a half-full arena. This is AJ Styles, the Shawn Michaels of our era, perhaps the best wrestler in the roster.

Cedric Alexander could have done with some additional eyeballs as well.

#2 Best: Luke Harper returns

I love the fact that The Bludgeon Brothers are reunited. With all due respect to Erick Rowan, him alone against Roman Reigns did feel a little underwhelming. But now with Luke Harper in town, the program feels important and interesting again.

There were many rumors circulating about Luke Harper but I'm glad that all of them have been put to rest and Luke Harper is back in the mix once again, as a prominently featured star. His return actually allows someone like Daniel Bryan to turn face and align himself with Roman Reigns to take on the Bludgeon Brothers.

I also love the fact that the Bludgeon Brothers are not going back to their awful outfits. I love their heavy metal t-shirt look and I think that they have a world of potential in the tag team division of whichever brand they end up on.

#2 Worst: Orton and Kingston pretty much kill the crowd

I wouldn't necessarily say that this was a bad match per se. But for what it was, it was a much slower match than usual. Neither Kofi Kingston nor Randy Orton is in his 20s and this showed during the course of the WWE Championship match at Clash of Champions 2019.

Randy Orton wrestles at a very slow and methodical pace and he controlled the proceedings for most of the contest. Kofi Kingston is a great worker but even he is not exactly Ricky Steamboat in the ring, and so the match was fine at best. Something was missing and the crowd pretty much felt it too.

This match killed the crowd and by the end of the night, they seemed a lot more exhausted than they should have been. It's just that this wasn't the best match that the two men have had.

#3 Best: The main event and The Fiend

I really, really liked the main event match between Seth Rollins and Braun Strowman from start to finish, because both men worked well with each other. I especially loved the top rope spot from Strowman because big men shouldn't be able to move as he can.

As good as the match was, the appearance of The Fiend at the end of the night made it even more special, I thought. Now we know that Seth Rollins will battle this devious creature at Hell in a Cell and we couldn't be any more pumped.

Even though the undercard seemed a bit uneventful to me and the matches were a little shorter than I would have liked, the main event more than made up for it. This was a great match and it proves how far Braun Strowman has come.

I hope he does become Universal Champion down the line.

#3 Worst: Roman vs. Rowan follows the WWE Championship match

SmackDown Live moves to FOX in October and I would have assumed that this would have meant that the WWE Championship would be featured in a bigger way at the show. Instead, it was relegated to a spot where the non-title Roman Reigns match followed it, quite stunningly.

Such has been the case for a long time, but it was understandable on the USA Network I guess, to a certain extent. The WWE Championship was being used to build Superstars like Jinder Mahal into main event players, in a sense.

But how does it make sense to not have it run as the co-main event of the night? Roman Reigns segments invariably end every episode of SmackDown Live, and these segments usually follow the WWE Championship segments and vignettes.

Maybe WWE needs to make Reigns Champion for the title to be relevant again.

#4 Best/Worst: Keeping the titles on Nikki and Alexa

I love the team of Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross. I quite enjoyed the match between them and Fire And Desire as well. Corey Graves did not know how to react when confronted by two beautiful blonde women live on pay-per-view and this added to the overall charm of the match.

So, I'm not particularly upset that Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross won and also that they wrestled as babyfaces for the duration of the match. However, I just think that WWE missed a trick with Mandy and Sonya at least in this particular case. They had a chance to build new stars and chose not to do it.

Rose and Deville are awesome and as compared to the other women in the roster, they haven't really been pushed like they should have been. Let's hope this changes in the days that follow.

For now, WWE is teasing Bliss and Cross vs. The IIconics.

What makes Sting special? His first AEW opponent opens up RIGHT HERE.