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Big events always call for grand bookings and WWE tries its best to give the fans as much as it can in order to keep its values and ratings high.
During the Clash of Champions pay-per-view, WWE had to think of ways to deliver ten top-quality championship matches at the event and they struggled to do so, for the most part.
Becky Lynch and Sasha Banks both put on a great performance during their match at Clash of Champions, however it all ended in a disqualification win for Banks. The Universal Championship match between Seth Rollins and Braun Strowman, however ended up being better than expected.
There were many bold decisions and bookings which the company made for the remaining matches of the night, some of which puzzled fans. In this article, we will look at four bold bookings WWE made at last night's Clash of Champions.
#1 Squashed the United States Championship challenger
Cedric Alexander punched his ticket to arguably the biggest match of his WWE career after pinning AJ Styles on RAW last week during a tag team match.
As Alexander prepared to take on one of WWE’s most experienced wrestlers for his United States Championship, fans were expecting a firecracker of a match to light up Clash of Champions.
Instead, WWE made a bold decision by having one of their top established Superstars and their fastest rising Superstar compete on the pre-show rather than the main card. What was even more interesting was the fact that the match ended in under five minutes and Alexander lost rather convincingly to Styles.
This was an interesting piece of booking as Alexander seemed to have momentum coming into the match. He defeated Drew McIntyre several weeks back and had also overcome Sami Zayn in the King of the Ring tournament. Many fans were expecting a much longer and more competitive match between the two talented superstars, rather than a one-sided squash.
#2 Sent the Women’s Tag Team Championship challengers packing
The Women’s Tag Team Championships have added an extra flair to the women’s division, and we are now seeing more female talent rise to the occasion to challenge for the championships on the main roster.
Reigning champions Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross faced their toughest challenge to date as they defended their Women's Tag Team Titles against the team of Sonya Deville and Mandy Rose.
While the match could have gone either way, and Fire and Desire did have some backing and momentum to win the match and the titles, WWE decided to let the current champions retain their titles.
This was an interesting bit of booking as Fire and Desire seemed to be the only worthy tag team at the moment who could have taken the titles away from the champions. Since The Kabuki Warriors aren’t well established and not featured on television frequently, it will be interesting to see how WWE takes the champions into another storyline in the coming weeks.
#3 Pushed two mid-carders to the moon
Erick Rowan and Luke Harper have relied on other Superstars to get a push throughout their WWE careers. They found initial fame and success with the Bray Wyatt led Wyatt Family. The team then subsequently paired up with other WWE Superstars throughout their respective careers. Last year, the two men joined forces to battle as the Bludgeon Brothers and won the SmackDown Tag Team Championships in the process.
However, once Rowan was revealed to be the mastermind behind the attacks on Roman Reigns, fans were a bit confused as to where the story could be heading. A man who lost to The Rock in record time at WrestleMania could not be taken seriously in a one-on-one feud with WWE’s most recognizable Superstar.
WWE made a bold booking decision at Clash of Champions by allowing Rowan to pick up the win over The Big Dog. Not only that, but they returned Harper to television, as he helped Rowan pick up the upset victory over Reigns. This will allow both men to receive a huge push and make headlines. This is big for both men as they have usually been under-card players and henchmen.
#4 Allowed the WWE Champion to retain his championship
Kofi Kingston has been having a dream run on SmackDown since his huge WWE Championship victory over Daniel Bryan at WrestleMania 35. Kofi won his first-ever WWE Championship at the event and has managed to successfully defend the title ever since.
In the past couple of months, Kofi met his biggest threat yet in the face of 'The Viper' Randy Orton. Not only had Orton attacked Kofi physically, but also wore him down mentally and emotionally.
This seemed to be the perfect time and the perfect opponent. Kingston seemed primed to lose the WWE Championship, but the company decided against letting Orton take the title away from Kofi Kingston.
This was a massive surprise, as Orton is by far the most villainous WWE Superstar on SmackDown. Unless WWE has an even better wrestler hiding somewhere, it was puzzling as to why the company would book Kofi to go over Orton once again.
