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What’s the story?
According to Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Radio, WWE might make a major change to the main event of next month’s Clash of The Champions pay-per-view.
In case you didn’t know…
Clash of The Champions is a WWE pay-per-view that was created in 2016, replacing the Night of Champions event. The current gimmick of the event is to make sure that all the active championships of a respected brand in the WWE are defended during the show.
The Clash of The Champions event was previously a WCW event which was created by WWE Hall of Famer and the late great Dusty Rhodes.
However, in 2016, the event made its WWE debut as a Raw-exclusive PPV in the city of Indianapolis and witnessed a gruesome main-event between the then Universal Champion Kevin Owens, who successfully defended his title against Seth Rollins.
The card also featured the likes of Roman Reigns winning the US Title off Rusev, Charlotte Flair retaining her Raw Women’s Title, and also featured TJ Perkins and The New Day defending their Cruiserweight Title and Tag Team Titles, respectively.
In 2017, it was announced that the Clash of the Champions PPV will be a Smackdown Live exclusive event where all of Smackdown’s current titles will be defended, including the WWE Championship.
The heart of the matter
According to Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer, the current main-event plans for the pay-per-view might be changed. It was reported that the previous plan was for current WWE Champion Jinder Mahal to defend his WWE Title against AJ Styles in Boston, at the TD Garden.
However, WWE has recently booked a title match between the two men for this week’s episode of Smackdown Live and it seems like the scheduled plan for Clash of The Champions will now be changed due to “The Phenomenal One” facing off against “The Maharaja” this coming Tuesday.
Meltzer also confirmed that the original plan was for Mahal to put his title on the line in Boston, come December 17th, but now it seems unlikely due to him already defending his belt this coming Tuesday in Manchester.
What’s next?
It will be interesting to note if Jinder Mahal manages to retain his championship in Manchester this week. The original plan was for Styles to face Rusev in a qualifying match for Survivor Series.
On the other hand, Mahal is still being advertised as Kevin Owens’ opponent for the India tour in December. “The Modern Day Maharaja” will defend his WWE Title against Owens when WWE comes to India later this year -- assuming if he manages to retain his championship against Styles on Smackdown this week.
Author’s Take
In my opinion, I believe that AJ Styles should win the WWE Title this Tuesday and end Mahal’s poor reign as a champion. Styles was one of the best WWE Champions in the modern era and surely the WWE Universe would love to see him holding the prestigious title for the second time.
