Shane McMahon screws Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn! Daniel Bryan screws Randy Orton and
Shinsuke Nakamura! And we’re not closing out 2017 with Jinder Mahal as WWE Champion.
I am Luke Owen and this is WWE Clash of Champions 2017… in about 4 minutes.
Headline: Mojo Rawley defeated Zack Ryder
Mojo Rawley beat Zack Ryder on the kick off show in a pedestrian match. Rawley shouted
at Ryder throughout the match, and won with a forearm in the corner.
Headline: Dolph Ziggler defeats Baron Corbin and Bobby Roode
The actual show opened with a fun triple threat match with Baron Corbin defending his United
States Championship against Bobby Roode and “clearly taking the pinfall” Dolph Ziggler.
This got really good by the end with some great nearfalls and surprises, and Dolph won
by hitting the Zig Zag on Corbin for his second US Championship… wait, sorry, stop the clock.
My notes must be wrong, let me rewatch the match… oh, no I was right first time round.
Ziggler won. Huh. Backstage Corbin cut a promo about not squandering his chances, even though
he lost to John Cena at Summerslam, lost his Money in the Bank briefcase and has now lost
his United States Championship. It’s not been a great year for Corbin.
Headline: The Usos defeated Gable/Benjamin, The New Day and Rusev/English
The Usos retained their Smackdown Live tag team championships over The New Day, Chad
Gable and Shelton Benjamin, and Rusev Day in a fun and chaotic encounter. The action
started off hot and fast, but some chin locks from the heels slowed the pace down and killed
the crowd. Gable was the standout - apart from this hero with a cool sign - hitting
some awesome German Suplexs and Chaos Theory Suplexs on anyone that moved. Rusev was also
over, so that’s good. A good start and good end with a muddy middle.
Headline: Charlotte defeated Natalya
Although Charlotte and Natalya featured SEVEN SMACKDOWN WOMEN STANDING ‘ROUND THE RING,
the actual match appeared to be between Corey Graves and Byron Saxton - who argued throughout
the match about fairness and the rules. The actual match in the ring was a bit of a mess
due to the Lumberjack stipulation. At one point Charlotte did a moonsault onto eight
women and missed all of them. Charlotte eventually overcame the odds of constantly being thrown
outside to be beaten up by the heels, and won with the Figure Eight out of nowhere.
Carmella teased a cash in at one point which popped the crowd, but Ruby Riott put a stop
to that. This was all over the place, and not in a good way. After the match Natalya
cut a promo about turning her back on the fans, and it came off like a retirement angle
is coming soon.
Headline: Bludgeon Brothers defeated Breezango
The Bludgeon Brothers beat The Fashion Police in a very quick squash match. Harper and Rowan
looked cool, but a cut a promo after that match that got the WHAT treatment. I’m not
even sure this was a payoff to the Fashion Files storyline, as the commentators never
made mention of it. But if it was, it was a rubbish payoff.
Headline: Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn defeated Randy Orton and Shinsuke Nakamura
Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn taking on Randy Orton and Shinsuke Nakamura an hour and ¾
into the show, and should have been the main event - especially as it had all the drama
going into it with Shane McMahon and Daniel Bryan as special guest referees. It had the
most heat too, with the wrestlers being the background artists to the stars who are the
referees. Sadly this was mostly a standard tag match, with the heels working over Orton.
Owens hit the frog splash through the table towards the end, and Shane and Bryan argued
throughout about how to referee this match with 2 of them in the ring at the same time.
All the story came right at the end, first with Owens pushing Bryan onto Shane to break
up his count, and Shane then refusing to count for Sami when he had Orton pinned. It’s
Survivor Series 1998 all over again! WHERE’S THREE?! Owens and Zayn won when Bryan fast-counted
Sami pinning Randy. It wasn’t played off as a heel turn for Daniel Bryan, but Shane
is still being portrayed at the babyface in this storyline, even though he tried to screw
Kevin and Sami.
Headline: AJ Styles defeated Jinder Mahal
AJ Styles retained his WWE Championship against Jinder Mahal in an average match where Jinder
dominated for 90%. The crowd were burnt out from the previous match, and were very quiet
for Jinder’s offence and even his nearfalls. They didn’t even count for one of them,
and crowds love counting! The Singh Brothers tried to get involved, but AJ beat both of
them up delivering a Styles Clash to the outside. Ouch. After what felt like an hour, AJ locked
in the calf crusher for the submission victory. AJ got the best out of Jinder - because he’s
the best bell-to-Bell guy in WWE - but this wasn’t a good main event.
So that was Clash of Champions in around 4 minutes, here’s the usual Smackdown ratings
recap from top to bottom. SmackDamn, SmackTastic, Smack Bang in the Middle, Ellsworthy and Baron
Corbin’s 2017. I’ll reveal my result in a moment, but first vote in the poll above
my head to share your thoughts and we’ll read them out in tomorrow’s news.
Clash of Champions wasn’t a bad show, but it was a pretty boring one. Outside of the
tag match where Owens and Zayn’s jobs were on the line, nothing felt like it mattered.
There were very few steaks in the undercard, mostly due to the poor build going into this
show. Ziggler winning the United States Championship was a surprise, but it feels pointless and
redundant after the year he’s had. There was no build to him winning the title, which
makes the win meaningless. Thankfully AJ Styles is still your WWE Champion, and there are
questions to be answered come Smackdown Live for Daniel Bryan.
Clash of Champions 2017 is Smack Bang in the Middle.
Hear about my thoughts on Shane McMahon and Smackdown Live! And watch me go through my
hot sauce punishment! Click the videos to the left to find out more, press subscribe
and support WrestleTalk on Patreon. Order the magazine and download the WrestleRamble
podcast. I’ve been Luke Owen, and that was wrestling.