CLASH OF THE CHAMPIONS IS SET

By Tarron Coalson

Following an excellent BACKLASH PPV by the SMACKDOWN brand, MONDAY NIGHT RAW comes to us from Baltimore, Maryland tonight as the RAW brand gets set for their PPV, CLASH OF THE CHAMPIONS next Sunday on the WWE Network.

The show begins with the RAW General Manager Mick Foley in the ring congratulating SMACKDOWN on their PPV and congratulating his “good friend” Becky Lynch on her win but still proclaiming that RAW has the better Women’s wrestling. He then calls out WWE Women’s Champion Charlotte, who comes out with her protegé Dana Brooke.

Charlotte immediately demands an apology. Not from Mick Foley, but from Dana Brooke, who Charlotte says has been screwing up. She’s interrupted by Sasha Banks who comes out to plug the upcoming match at CLASH OF THE CHAMPIONS. She’s then joined by Bayley, who upset Charlotte last week, who thinks that she should get a title shot with her win.

Dana proceeds to start talking and Charlotte gets in her face, reminiscent of Charlotte slapping Dana last week. This time, Dana returns the favor and slaps Charlotte and Mick Foley announces that there will be a Triple Threat match for the Number 1 contender spot with Sasha, Bayley & Dana..and that match starts now!

It’s a pretty good match but Sasha is either not fully recovered or really selling the back injury, probably the latter of the two as I don’t think WWE would jeopardize her health by putting her in a match if she wasn’t ready.

It’s a back and forth match with Bayley hitting the Belly to Belly Suplex on Dana Brooke but as she’s pinning her Sasha gets Bayley in a floating roll up for the pin, so it’s Sasha verses Charlotte as CLASH OF THE CHAMPIONS. After the match, Charlotte and Dana are back together with Charlotte telling Dana to get her bags and Dana looking like a whipped puppy.

Promo’s galore follow. First, it’s the Shining Stars trying to sell R-Truth a Puerto Rican time share which is then interrupted by a challenge from Enzo & Big Cass. Then, it’s a promo with Kevin Owens talking about his match later with Roman Reigns and Chris Jericho says that Sami Zayn will be on the Highlight Reel.

The next match is the re-invented Bo Dallas verses Brandon Scott, who’s appeared on Tracy Myers AML Wrestling and will again in October, in a match and although they did get Scott a couple of spots and the crowd started chanting for him. Bo wins an inverted icebreaker, kind of similar to his brother’s Sister Abigail move, which could be an interesting twist should WWE ever go that route.

Next up is the Highlight Reel with Chris Jericho and Sami Zayn trading insults but it’s mostly about Kevin Owens. Zayn finally pops off and says it’s sad to see a six-time World Champ reduced to being Kevin Owens lackey (not the word he used but we’re keeping it clean!). Jericho proceeds to hit Zayn with his cell phone and the Code Breaker, leaving Zayn laying in the ring.

Following that is match five in the best of seven series between Sheamus & Cesaro, with Sheamus leading 3 to 1. Sheamus continues to work on Cesaro’s bad back but Cesaro rolls him up and uses the ropes to score a tainted victory, but a victory none the less to cut the lead to 3 to 2. I’ve never seen a best of seven series in wrestling that didn’t go seven matches and this one will as well. It will be curious to see how this one ends up as the rumors are that Cesaro is on the way out. WWE just can’t figure out how to use him.

Promo with Seth Rollins and Mick Foley follows and Foley warns Rollins not to get involved in the main event.

Next up is a Ladies match with Nia Jax taking on Alicia Fox after their altercation last week and Jax destroys Fox with a spear thru the ringside barricade. While it was a step up in talent for Jax, she looks like a lumbering bear in the ring. We’ll see how it works as she continues to face better talent.

Then, it’s the New Day in a long-winded promo and Kingston & Woods face off against Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson and Gallows and Anderson score a decisive victory, hitting the Magic Killer on Xavier Woods for the win to set up their match of CLASH OF THE CHAMPIONS.

The following match is Jinder Mahal, who’s found peace..seriously, that’s his promo now, a warrior with peace going against the long missing former World Champ Jack Swagger. Mahal scores a pretty easy pin, so it appears he’s getting a push and they attempt to interview Swagger backstage reminding him that his “contract is up” and he walks off.

Then, it’s Enzo going up against Epico from the Shining Stars. Enzo & Big Cass still get in their promo’s which the crowd still enjoys. It’s not a great match by any stretch and the end comes as Enzo attempted to suplex Epico back into the ring and Primo of the Shining Stars grab his foot and holds it down as Epico lands on Enzo to score the victory. That’s two weeks in a row that the Shining Stars have gotten over on Enzo and Big Cass.

Finally it’s Kevin Owens and Roman Reigns in a match where if Reigns wins, the main event at CLASH OF THE CHAMPIONS will be a Triple Threat match for the Universal title.

OK, I’ll admit it, I’m Old School and often critical of these matches where it takes twenty-five high spots and a machine gun to pin someone, and that’s exactly what this match was but this match was very good and was very good from a psychology standpoint as well.

The aforementioned Seth Rollins did come up and interfere, causing Reigns to be DQ’d as he attacked Owens, but that drew the ire of GM Mick Foley who came out and had Rollins escorted out and ordered the match to be restarted. Owens and Reigns hit each other with everything including Owens hitting Reigns with an inverted Superplex followed by a Frogsplash that would kill a normal human but can’t pin Reigns for a three count. That kind of stuff, while it looks great, suspends all belief.

Then, from the back, out runs Rusef and Reigns catches him with a Superman punch but it distracts Reigns enough for Owens to hit the Pop Up Power Bomb and score the victory. It will be Kevin Owens verses Seth Rollins at CLASH OF THE CHAMPIONS.

But the night was not over as Rusef brutally attacked Reigns after the match and locked him in the Accolade with Lana looking on, securing their match at CLASH OF THE CHAMPIONS as well.

Here’s the thing, except for the last segment, this was a RAW that stunk. If you believe in the premise that says, send the crowd home happy, then you overlooked the stink part and enjoyed the finale, which is how I think this one will be viewed.

We’ll see Tuesday how SMACKDOWN responds to their PPV as AJ STYLES is supposed to comment about his low blow that helped him to victory. Tune in!