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WWE's Clash of Champions pay-per-view is due to take place this weekend, and this year's edition of the event is the fourth in the chronology of the pay-per-view. Clash of Champions 2020 is due to take place at the WWE Thunderdome located in the Amway Centre, Florida.
At Clash of Champions, all WWE titles will be defended. This could lead to multiple title changes in the space of one night. Some matches have been coming for a while, for instance, the triple threat ladder match between AJ Styles, Jeff Hardy, and Sami Zayn, has been built for some time, as the three performers have been in a dispute over who is the real Intercontinental Champion.
Some matches, however, have had only a short time to build towards them on WWE TV leading up this weekend. Here is the build-up towards every Clash of Champions match, ranked.
#9 Street Profits vs. Andrade and Angel Garza - WWE RAW Tag Team Championship
Instead of building a rivalry between the two teams, Andrade and Angel Garza won their shot at the RAW Tag Team Championship in a number one contender's match on this week's RAW. The duo defeated competition from the teams of Seth Rollins and Murphy, and Humberto Carillo and rising star Dominik Mysterio, to earn a place in the pay-per-view match.
The biggest story going into this matchup is how Zelina Vega abandoned the Andrade and Angel Garza due to their behaviour. Fed up with the two performers constantly at odds with each other, Vega left the two, to pursue something new. Andrade and Angel Garza can't even finish a backstage segment without attacking one another, so it will be interesting to see how they will fare working as a team once again this weekend.
Perhaps fans could see the implosion of the team of Andrade and Angel Garza when faced with a challenge in the form of the Street Profits.
#8 Asuka vs. Zelina Vega - WWE RAW Women's Championship
Zelina Vega's run as a singles star only started two weeks ago when she decided to stop acting as a manager for Andrade and Angel Garza. The build towards the match for the WWE RAW Women's Championship began when Vega approached Asuka following her bout with Mickie James. Vega stormed up to The Empress of Tomorrow and served her with a fierce slap across the face, signaling the start of their rivalry.
On this week's edition of RAW, the feud between the pair started to heat up. During Asuka's match against newly-established singles star Peyton Royce, Vega interrupted, causing the match to end controversially in a disqualification. Since reemerging as a singles performer, Vega has targetted RAW Women's Champion Asuka, and has her eyes on the title.
Even though the rivalry between Asuka and Zelina Vega already seems intense, there has only been a short time to build up this match. Both Asuka and Vega are top talents in WWE at the moment, but the direction for their fight over the RAW Women's Championship seems unclear currently.
#7 Cesaro and Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Lucha House Party - WWE SmackDown Tag Team Championship
Going into WWE Clash of Champions, the focus for this match feels to be more upon the impending break-up of The Lucha House Party, rather than a strong rivalry between the group and their pay-per-view foes.
Over recent weeks, there has been growing tension between Kalisto, Gran Metalik, and Lince Dorado, especially since the return of Kalisto. The pairing of Cesaro and Shinsuke Nakamura appears to be going into the match as dominant reigning champions.
On the go-home edition of SmackDown, Shinsuke Nakamura faced Gran Metalik and seemed to put the star away with ease. At the end of the match, Cesaro jumped into the ring and launched into an attack on Lince Dorado, asserting his dominance as a current champion.
This action led to further conflict between the Lucha House Party members, who seemed to be frustrated with one another. Judging by the events on WWE SmackDown, there is a chance that fans could finally witness the implosion of the Lucha House Party.
The three masked Superstars appear to be struggling to get along with one another lately, and it could be interesting to see how that dynamic will work against a team as self-assured as Cesaro and Shinsuke Nakamura.
#6 Bayley vs. Nikki Cross - WWE SmackDown Women's Championship
Like a few of the matches on this card, the build towards the WWE SmackDown Women's Championship match has been fairly short. Nikki Cross fended off competition from Alexa Bliss, Lacey Evans, and Tamina to win a number one contender's match.
On last week's edition of A Moment of Bliss, Cross appeared on the show, seemingly excited for her new challenge. Bliss, who claims to be Cross' best friend, seemed unsure during their interview, and Cross had lost to Bayley just a few short months ago.
However, circumstances are different presently, and Bayley will be riding solo following her attack on Sasha Banks. Since the vicious assault on her former best friend, Bayley's focus has been on Banks, even talking about The Boss during her promo for her match against Nikki Cross this weekend.
In some ways, the brief build to this match, and the focus upon a member of the roster who isn't booked to be a part of the title bout seems to be building up more towards the inevitable Sasha Banks versus Bayley blowout further down the line.
#5 Shayna Baszler and Nia Jax vs. Riott Squad - WWE Women's Tag Team Championship
Over the past few months in WWE, there has been much upheaval in the women's tag team division. Fans have seen the split of The Kabuki Warriors and The IIconics, and The Golden Role Models have well and truly imploded as weel.
The Riott Squad reunited a few weeks ago on RAW, during a segment on the Kevin Owens Show. Since the pair came back together, they have been getting in some great matches on the Red brand and managed to defeat The IIconics to become the number one contenders for the WWE Women's Tag Team Championships.
At the moment, The Riott Squad is one of the only established tag teams in the WWE women's division and has come face to face with Shayna Baszler and Nia Jax in recent weeks on RAW. Liv Morgan managed to pin Baszler in a handicap match and they followed this up with another match against Jax, which was interrupted by the antics of RETRIBUTION.
Shayna Baszler and Nia Jax haven't held the WWE Women's Tag Team Championships for very long, but the Riott Squad have been proving themselves as more than worthy challengers for the titles.
#4 Bobby Lashley vs. Apollo Crews - WWE United States Championship
The feud between Apollo Crews and Bobby Lashley in WWE has been going on since June when Lashley joined MVP and Shelton Benjamin in The Hurt Business. The group has been in hot pursuit of the United States Championship that Apollo Crews won from MVP earlier this year.
The rivalry between the stable and Apollo Crews has been lengthy and there have been a few twists and turns, most notably when Cedric Alexander changed his alliance to leave the side of Crews and become a member of The Hurt Business.
Bobby Lashley has been the United States Champion since Payback, after defeating Crews. The Hurt Business has been a huge part of RAW over the past few months, and have featured on the new RAW Underground segment of the show, asserting their dominance.
The group has also been a big part of the RETRIBUTION storyline in WWE. The Hurt Business appears to have begun to move on from Apollo Crews, and the match between Lashley and Crews at Clash of Champions could be the way to end their feud for good.
#3 Jeff Hardy vs. AJ Styles Vs. Sami Zayn - WWE Intercontinental Championship
Since the return of Sami Zayn, there has been much dispute over who is the true WWE Intercontinental Champion. Zayn was unable to defend the championship as he was away from WWE, which led to a tournament to determine a new champion, which was won by AJ Styles.
By the time Zayn made his return to WWE, Jeff Hardy had defeated AJ Styles to become the new Intercontinental Champion. Due to the intense rivalry between all three Superstars, a ladder match for Clash of Champions was booked to determine the undisputed champion.
On the go-home episode of SmackDown, the show opened with a championship ascension ceremony for Hardy and Zayn to hang their title belts above the ring in preparation for their match at Clash of Champions.
However, the segment ended in chaos when Sami Zayn pushed a ladder onto Styles and Hardy, and Adam Pearce appeared to call an immediate triple threat match between the trio.
Having the three stars face off in this manner mere days before their championship match could have been a strange call, but it only added more fuel to the rivalry. I
t gave a great preview of what is to come at Clash of Champions, and hinted towards even more conflict between the three, as Sami Zayn won, but AJ Styles climbed the ladder to reach the belts hanging above the ring, not giving a clear indicator of who could be the potential winner.
#2 Drew McIntyre vs. Randy Orton - WWE Championship
The rivalry between WWE Champion and his challenger Randy Orton, has been dominating WWE RAW over the past few months. Orton first challenged McIntyre for the title at this year's SummerSlam, was unsuccessful following a backslide from McIntyre that seized the win for the champion.
The feud between Drew McIntyre and Randy Orton only intensified after their SummerSlam bout. Fan-favourite Keith Lee has since joined RAW, and was immediately inserted into the rivalry. In recent weeks, the former NXT Champion has had matches against both McIntyre and Orton.
Lee has become frustrated with his placement in the feud, growing irate at Randy Orton for interfering in his most recent match with McIntyre, and scuppering his chances of contending for the WWE Championship.
A unique stipulation was set for the next championship match between the pair - an ambulance match. The pair have spent weeks tearing one another down, building up the anticipation for the WWE Championship match. Over recent weeks on RAW, both Orton and McIntyre have injured one another to the point that they have needed medical attention.
The storyline between the pair - and Keith Lee, has been growing with intensity over the past few weeks, and it is starting to feel impossible to predict what will go down at Clash of Champions.
#1 Roman Reigns vs. Jey Uso - WWE Universal Championship
The family history between current WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns and his cousin Jey Uso has been a huge talking point during the build to their match at Clash of Champions. In vignettes shown on SmackDown, members of the pair's family discussed how Reigns always seemed destined for greatness since childhood.
Since his return to WWE at SummerSlam, Reigns has displayed a new, tougher attitude and also has Paul Heyman at his side. Through the build-up, Reigns has appeared to be playing somewhat of a game with Jeyo Uso. The pair tagged together in a match on the September 19th edition SmackDown, and following kind words and a hug exchanged between the pair, Reigns stared down his cousin while he was leaving the ring.
On the go-home episode of SmackDown, more trouble seemed to brew as Reigns initially failed to turn up to the ring to address Uso. SmackDown ended with Jey Uso interrupting Reigns and Heyman in the ring, as Uso grew more and more frustrated over the behaviour of his family members towards him.
As Uso left the ring. Reigns attacked him from behind, knocking him to the floor and aggressively shoving the WWE Universal Championship belt in his face, declaring that Uso will never take his place.
Although there hasn't been a lot of time to build up this match, it has been pulled off well. The outcome of the match seems fairly predictable, but there is potential to take this feud further.
