WWE Clash of Champions airs this Sunday, September 25, live on WWE Network. The first Raw-exclusive pay-per-view of the New Era features every Raw championship up for grabs, including Kevin Owens’ Universal Championship in a match against Seth Rollins, and new Cruiserweight Champion and Cruiserweight Classic winner TJ Perkins making his WWE PPV debut against (The) Brian Kendrick.
Here’s the complete Clash of Champions card:
WWE Clash of Champions 2016 Card
1. WWE Universal Championship Match: Kevin Owens (c) vs. Seth Rollins
2. United States Championship Match: Rusev (c) vs. Roman Reigns
3. Triple Threat for the Raw Women’s Championship: Charlotte (c) vs. Sasha Banks vs. Bayley
4. Raw Tag Team Championship Match: New Day (c) vs. The Club
5. Match 7 of the Best of 7 Series: Cesaro (3) vs. Sheamus (3)
6. Sami Zayn vs. Chris Jericho
7. WWE Cruiserweight Championship Match: TJ Perkins (c) vs. The Brian Kendrick
– Kickoff Match: Nia Jax vs. Alicia Fox
As always, here are our predictions and our full analysis for the show. We’re usually (read: never) right, so make sure to drop down into our comments section and let us know what you think’s going down.
Kickoff Match: Nia Jax vs. Alicia Fox
What Should Happen: Alicia should start a Classic Divas Revolution, bringing in the Chikara King of Trios team — Victoria, Mickie James and Jazz — as backup against Nia Jax. Then we could do weeks of people trying to join the crew and doing so successfully (the Bella Twins, even if Nikki’s on the wrong show) or people trying to join and being rejected (CANDICE MICHELLE CAMEO ANYONE?). This is ridiculous fantasy booking because the actual “what should happen” is, “Nia should slam Foxy into the guardrail by her hair until she explodes into like 10 smaller Alicia Foxes.”
What Will Happen: Nia rolls. I’d expect this to be a little more competitive than their first match, or maybe built around Alicia being pre-injured and being a scrappy underdog, but there’s no way this doesn’t end with Nia throwing her at the damn ground.
Staff Picks
Bill Hanstock – Oh, poor, poor Foxy. Poor Foxy. She already got murdered on Raw, and now they have to Weekend at Bernie’s her corpse into the ring for a chance to get double-murdered. I guess it all goes to show you: never stand up for your friend’s honor.
Justin Donaldson – This could be a good match but I have my doubts that it will be. Nia Jax wins this one. Maybe Nia will beat Alicia so bad that she will start acting like a human again and not like the WWE version of how a crazy person acts.
Chris Trew – I secretly hope everyone Nia has squashed recently joins forces to tip the scales in Alicia Fox’s favor, but this is mainly a plea to get Delilah Doom back on WWE television. Nia crushes Alicia like Alicia used to crush your concessions.
Scott Heisel – RyJax destroys Foxy in brutally efficient fashion and the kickoff show panel is forced to shill Mountain Dew Kickstart for an extra 10 minutes to fill space.
Austin Heiberg – Listen, if Delilah “Rachel Levy” Doom couldn’t end Nia’s streak, no one can. I’ll take WWE’s reigning Snapchat Queen for the win. (Seriously, her Snapchat is the best.)
Joe Starr – Please just make this a street fight. Jax V Fox: Dawn of Not Like Most Girls is one of the most simple, basic, and fun angles in WWE right now. And I absolutely love it. This needs to end in Fox being stretchered out only to return in two months in a mask to haunt Nia.
WWE Cruiserweight Championship Match: TJ Perkins (c) vs. The Brian Kendrick
What Should Happen: It’s gonna be interesting to see how this one plays out. The Raw cruiserweight division match started off cold but got hot, thanks to there being so many wacky athletic dudes in the ring and everything being very fast-paced and kinda ADD. Not an insult. The best multi-man cruiserweight matches are just guys going bonkers until somebody bonks at the right time and wins. At Clash, though, we’ve got a one-on-one championship match featuring a guy who very clearly lucked into an opportunity vs. a guy who has already shot the moon and failed, and DESPERATELY needs another shot. That could be a great story, but it would’ve been tremendously benefitted by a few more weeks of onscreen storytelling, or ANY interaction between the characters, or TJ Perkins even appearing on the only Raw between the conclusion of the CWC and Clash.
Still, I’ve got confidence that if they get a good amount of time and perform in front of a crowd that either gets what they’re doing or is cool giving them the benefit of the doubt, they’ll do good work. Let’s PLEASE open the show with this, and not wait until everyone’s kinda bored to toss them in the deep water.
What Will Happen: In this week’s Raw column I wrote about how it made so much sense for a character built around growing desperation for a title shot to have to wait a while or work a little harder to get one — dude lost in the tournament but still got signed to Raw, slotted into the first cruiserweight division match and could win the title in the second — so the smart move is to have him come close a few times, but ultimately lose here. TJP shouldn’t lose in his first defense (and first-ever WWE appearance), and a loss can still push Kendrick’s grasping-at-straws desperation. Then we can spend a few months building to a rematch, or wait way too long and make it look like Kendrick’s never getting another shot. That’d be fun. Take your first post-CWC cruiserweight story and build it all the way to Mania, maybe?
Staff Picks
Bill Hanstock – I think Brandon totally nailed it in his Best and Worst of Raw: Kendrick needs to have a series of “last chance” failures so he can get more and more desperate and get completely broken inside. Also, the main WWE audience probably needs a chance to see TJ Perkins and what he can do before the guy drops the belt that they JUST made.
Justin Donaldson – Brian Kendrick wins the Cruiserweight Championship because he is the only one of the Cruiserweight Vince recognizes.
Chris Trew – Nobody is losing a belt at Clash of Champions, including TJ Perkins. If I’m wrong about the cruiserweight champ, you can screenshot this sentence and tweet it at me (@christrew) with your Venmo account which I will make $1 richer.
Scott Heisel – I once brought a sign to a WWE pay-per-view that said “THE BRIAN KENDRICK IS THE MY HERO.” That should tell you where my allegiances lie. Still, there’s no way they’re going to move the belt on its first defense, so TJP gets the win.
Austin Heiberg – While I love the idea of cagey veteran Kendrick stealing the title within two weeks of its inception, I think WWE has made it clear that Perkins is their carefully-deliberated first step back into cruiserweight waters. They’ll be running with him for a while. Who’s ready for PAY-PER-VIEW DABS?
Joe Starr – t would be hilarious if Perkins lost this. I’m actually so, so excited about this match. A massive showcase for the champ and an incredible showing from one of the best story tellers in the company right now. This will steal the show.
Sami Zayn vs. Chris Jericho
What Should Happen: Jericho should beat it out of Sami Zayn for not being able to let the Kevin Owens beef go, even when Owens has moved on and found great, not-Sami-Zayn-related success for himself.
What Will Happen: Those Shawn Michaels matches aside, Chris Jericho pay-per-view matches that seem like dream matches never really go as well as you want them to. Remember the CM Punk matches? They were good, but they weren’t unforgettable, even the WrestleMania version. The AJ Styles matches weren’t as good as the Roman Reigns-AJ Styles matches that followed them, believe it or not.
That said, I’m gonna stay optimistic here and say that 1998 Chris Jericho and 2016 Sami Zayn are going to put on something unexpectedly special. Zayn is a bit of a miracle worker when it comes to PPV appearances, and it doesn’t take much of a miracle to make Jericho entertaining. Let two people who are very good at what they do tell the right kind of pro wrestling story and, God willing, put Zayn over and let him learn something from it. The guy needs forward momentum STAT, even if it’s beating Kevin Owens’ friend to get another shot at Kevin Owens.
(Let it go, Sam.)
Staff Picks
Bill Hanstock – I think this feud could really have legs beyond this one match, provided they can tell a story beyond “Zayn is a petty jerk who likes to attack people from behind.” I think Jericho takes this one and continues to be the best thing about Raw. I mean, he’s going to be the best thing about Raw regardless, but you know what I mean. This has the potential to be the match of the night and I’m pretty excited to see these two mix it up.
Justin Donaldson – We have seen this match a few times this year and each time it’s felt like they were holding back. This should be the one we remember. Sami picks up the win in the feel good moment of the night.
Chris Trew – I was very proud of Sami Zayn for not silly dancing like New Day or insecure dancing like Enzo after their 19 man tag team victory on Raw. Advantage: Sami Zayn. Clean victory.
Scott Heisel – Jericho has to win this one, right? His character has been on fire lately, and if Zayn pins him, it only clutters up the main event scene even more. If Jericho vanquishes the arch nemesis of his Best Friend Kevin Owens™, it does even more to validate his connection with the Universal Champ — and eventually can and will be used as fodder for a match between the two during the inevitable betrayal.
Austin Heiberg – The true gift of Jericho, at least in my opinion, is his willingness to look like an utter fool in the name of putting other people over. I refuse to believe that Y2J can only help out one fellow Canadian per year. I’ve got Sami here, and I look forward to seeing how this one plays out.
Joe Starr – Sami Zayn wins the match, AND Chris Jericho’s respect. And in doing so…wins a new best friend?
Match 7 of the Best of 7 Series: Cesaro (3) vs. Sheamus (3)
What Should Happen: Sheamus started this off with a 3-0 advantage. Cesaro fought back to make it 3-3, forcing a “game 7” at the pay-per-view. Most of the matches have been built around Cesaro’s increasingly injured back. The most interesting story here, in my opinion, is Cesaro coming very very close to winning match 7, but his body giving out and Sheamus winning. That way, you’ve told the “comeback” story without making Sheamus look like a helpless idiot and lose four matches in a row. Cesaro gets some actual underdog motivation, which he surprisingly needs. Unless he gets some pathos, he’s gonna be Dolph Ziggler, constantly insisting that he’s the best wrestler who just needs opportunity, then losing all the opportunities.
What Will Happen: The obvious choice here is “Cesaro wins, because nobody cares about Sheamus,” but sh*t, I’ve gotta give it to Sheamus. Him losing here just makes him look TOO weak. Weaker than losing those 4-on-1 handicap matches in the League of Nations. But yeah, here’s hoping Cesaro actually wins, because LOL Sheamus.
I could also see them having it end in a draw or a double pin or something, just to see what the reaction would be. All I really care about here is match 7 being the longest and best match of the series, and these guys getting to go balls-to-the-wall and pull out all the stops to justify the NINE MATCHES IN A ROW we just watched.
Staff Picks
Bill Hanstock – I can really see this going either way, but if the United States title is staying with Rusev and the Universal title is staying with Owens, Cesaro is the guy who needs to win this. Sheamus is gonna be Sheamus no matter what, but another high-profile loss for Cesaro would do a lot of damage, especially since instead of getting in the Universal mix, these two got stuck doing … this. I still expect the match to be good, though!
Justin Donaldson – Cesaro takes it in what should be a hard fought match. What I can’t figure out is what you do with Sheamus after this.
Chris Trew – The series never ends because Cesaro and Sheamus realize that they are best friends and so the League of Nations is reborn as The National League, which is just a tag team of Cesara and Sheamus, but their intro is Cesaro ripping off his suit and Sheamus putting said suit on. Built-in Wrestlemania feud when The National League battles the American League (rebranded American Alpha).
Scott Heisel – Cesaro has to win because if he doesn’t, it means I’ve been forced to watch Sheamus every Monday night for a month-and-a-half as some sort of weird, A Clockwork Orange-esque brainwashing scenario, and I can’t go for that. No can do.
Austin Heiberg – Cesaro, finally within a hair of finishing this tedious series, gets a huge surge of energy 10 seconds into the match and hits Captain America’s hyper combo from Marvel vs. Capcom for the pinfall. We move on with our damn lives.
Joe Starr – Does anyone really win this match? It practically feels like they’re both signed with Impact and changed their last names to Rex.
Raw Tag Team Championship Match: New Day (c) vs. The Club
What Should Happen: The “WWE World Tag Team Championship” has become the “Raw Tag Team Championship,” meaning New Day can’t properly do their hip-swivel announcement without incorrectly identifying their belts. That seems like as good a reason as any to put the titles on someone else, and tell some tag title stories that aren’t “we like cereal, we’re aware of butts” with the belts in the background.
What Will Happen: I feel like we’ve predicted so many New Day title changes, and they never happen, even when they make sense. Don’t The Club kinda need those titles to justify them as “one of the best tag teams in the world,” especially after being separated from AJ Styles, losing a possible mate in Finn Bálor AND spending a month as Dana Brooke-accompanied testicle physicians? Gonna pick The Club again, and will absolutely not be surprised if New Day retains so they can do New Day vs. The Club at Hell in a Cell.
Staff Picks
Bill Hanstock – It’s finally time for the New Day to drop the belts and it’s finally time for the Club to be a real, legitimate, dangerous thing (besides shady balls doctors). I think the Club is finally going to win the big one and allow the New Day to show their first ounce of humility as they begin the chase again. This also frees up Enzo and Cass to fully pursue the titles, if that’s your thing.
Justin Donaldson – Every time I say The New Day are going to lose the belts and every time they win but I’m going to say it again anyway. New Day loses the belts clean, because something other than lame comedy has to happen in Raw’s tag team division.
Chris Trew – I would give up a lot in my life to see The New Day lose the WWE Tag Team Championship. But The Club is already stale to me so the straps stay on the New Day until The Revival show up and steamroll everyone. Bonus points if they actually show up in a steamroller.
Scott Heisel – This feud, man. It started off relatively hot, devolved into awful comedy pretty quickly and now has been rebooted into who’s tougher, even though New Day never, ever, ever tries to show their toughness (and they already lost to the Club on Raw like two weeks ago). While I did love Xavier Woods’ Worldstar video from Monday, I hope and pray New Day’s reign ends this Sunday if only so something with their characters change. Too much of a good thing can kill you.
Austin Heiberg – It just feels wrong to pick against the New Day at this point. They’ve beaten everybody (including The Club), they’re maybe the most consistently entertaining people on Raw, and they’ve held their championships for over a year. Usually invincibility implies stagnation (looking at you, Cena), but I just don’t see any great alternatives right now. Maybe Gallows and Anderson can eventually pull off the upset, because remember, they’re actually great wrestlers who have been unfortunately shackled into bad comedy bits. But right now, I think Kofi, Xavier, and Big E should still be the ones on top.
Joe Starr – The Club. PLEASE The Club because its time to shake it up with The New Day. They desperately need a status quo refresher. The word New is in their name and they should not feel old or stale. Ever.
Triple Threat for the Raw Women’s Championship: Charlotte (c) vs. Sasha Banks vs. Bayley
What Should Happen: Charlotte is apparently Forever Champion, beating the sh*t out of her one henchperson on the reg and manipulating her opponents into hating each other. Sasha Banks and Bayley are friends, but their history says that’s not going to last long, and Sasha’s already giving her the side-eye on Raw. If I’m booking this, I accept that even if people like her, Sasha Banks is only truly great as a heel, so we need to turn her on Bayley and reunite the BFFs. Summer Rae is on Raw for a reason, right? Then you could even have Dana get fed up with Charlotte and become Bayley’s new Odd Couple tag team partner. Yes, Dana would turn on her too. Then we build up Bayley for like two years. Or I dunno, at least until WrestleMania, where we do this match again and throw Becky Lynch into it.
What Will Happen: Charlotte definitely retains. They aren’t gonna hint so heavily at the Bayley/Sasha Banks Sudden But Inevitable Betrayal without having one of them cost the other, right? Sasha Banks vs. Bayley in Hell in a Cell, you guys. Charlotte can have her mini-program with Dana, if that’s what we’re doing. Or Nia Jax can show up and grind Dana’s bones to make her bread.
Staff Picks
Bill Hanstock – There’s a real chance that Charlotte could hook-or-crook her way into retaining, in part because it feels a little early to put the belt back on Sasha. I’m going to predict Charlotte retains and Sasha wins the belt next month, because the longview is still Sasha vs. Bayley at next year’s WrestleMania, which is farther away than you think. One thing is for sure: Bayley isn’t winning the title on Sunday!
Justin Donaldson – I fell like Charlotte takes this one. Would it be possible for Sasha and Bayley to pin each other at the same time causing Charlotte to win? If so I’m going with that happening.
Chris Trew – I’m very basic in that I want Charlotte to hold the championship 16 times just like daddy did, but I’m torn because I also want her to never lose it. Is there a way she can drop it and win it back several times in one night? Also while we’re fantasy booking here, can she take those diamonds off her face? I’m worried about that becoming another trend that I can’t pull off. Jealousy hurts.
Scott Heisel – Charlotte sneaks out a win here causing Bayley and Sasha to feud over who gets the next title shot. Yeah, that works.
Austin Heiberg – Weirdly enough, anyone but Sasha seems like the right call here. Charlotte is still defining what exactly she brings to the table as a heel champion, but oh man how pissed off would Charlotte and Sasha be if Bayley just waltzed in and charisma’d her way to a championship? I kind of want that, just to unhinge Sasha and submerge her right back in the summer of 2015. But instead, I’ll take Charlotte.
Joe Starr – Charlotte wins after a brief intermission mid match where the ladies all ask Sasha to please stop pinballing herself everywhere. Just do some chinlocks and sh*t-talk people, Boss. We’re with you.
United States Championship Match: Rusev (c) vs. Roman Reigns
What Should Happen: Like Sheamus/Cesaro, this could be great if the competitors are encouraged to go all-out. Reigns takes damage as well as anyone in the company — even if he’s not very good at maintaining it — and Rusev is an actual tank-driving tank. They’ve got good chemistry, so if this isn’t full of shenanigans and super-no-selling, it could be great.
As for what actually should happen, man, you know me. I’m not going to ever say Rusev should lose the United States Championship. I’m counting on his “seven years” promise to come true.
What Will Happen: Justin mentions it in his prediction, but I think he’s exactly right: Roman Reigns doesn’t need the United States Championship, but if he’s going to be a viable contender for the Universal Championship, he can’t go losing to Rusev again. So he wins, but by disqualification when … oh, let’s say Lana bashes him in the head with Interrogation, now available on blu-ray and DVD.
Staff Picks
Bill Hanstock – Reigns has been winning everything, but if he takes the U.S. title, who the hell is going to challenge him for it? Sheamus? Titus? Rusev finally Machkas the balls off the dude and Reigns shows a little more ass on PPV. That’s what’s in my heart, anyway. I could be completely wrong.
Justin Donaldson – This is a tricky one. Roman Reigns is now the number one and a half contender for the Universal Championship after getting out of the cage slightly faster on Monday, so he doesn’t need the U.S title but he still needs to win. I think Rusev gets disqualified due to Lana interference.
Chris Trew – The only thing I want more than Miz’s intercontinental title reign to be never-ending is for Rusev’s U.S. title reign to be forever. Rusev goes over clean and begins his “my title is the most important title” campaign. Also I’m sorry for mentioning Smackdown during this Raw ppv preview, am I in trouble now?
Scott Heisel – “ROMAN REIGNS IS MARKING HIS TERRITORY!” was an actual phrase yelled by Michael Cole on Monday Night Raw this week. Now we know The Big Dog© is into watersports, I guess? Rusev should win, Reigns will win, people will continue to boo.
Austin Heiberg – Reigns has been using his innate Rogue-like ability to drain life and interest out of feuds to expert effect here. I want Rusev to be as compelling with the US title as The Miz is with the Intercontinental, but he’s really in an uphill battle here. I’ll still take Rusev (by ignoble means), just because honeymoon-ruiners shouldn’t have nice things.
Joe Starr – Our poor Withspandex Hearts Champion Rusev has been through the character ringer since he drove a tank into Mania, but nothing can take away that image of him just beating the tar out of Roman to close a Raw. And yet, here we are in a place we should have been when the Shield was still together: Roman Reigns winning a midcard championship. Today’s the day. I’m sorry, RuRu.
WWE Universal Championship Match: Kevin Owens (c) vs. Seth Rollins
What Should Happen: Triple H interference here is so obvious they should just have him start the match in the ring. He showed up out of nowhere to help Owens win the Universal Championship by pinning Rollins on Raw, so he’s not gonna sit back and let them compete for it fair and square at Clash, is he? Of course not.
What Will Happen: I’m gonna be ambitious here and say that Triple H tries to interfere and Rollins fights him off. That’ll give Owens an opening to hit the pop-up powerbomb or his Fella Buster (note: not its actual name) to score a cheap victory. That lets you get the “Triple H screwed Rollins out of the title” finish without having H do all the work again. Owens looks like he has agency, you know?
Plus, that sets up an easy post-match thing where H and Owens are beating up Rollins, and Reigns runs out to return the favor from Raw. People aren’t gonna cheer Reigns, but they aren’t gonna boo SHIELD BROS, even if it’s Uneasy Shield Bros. Or, do the opposite and go Corporate Reigns finally. Embrace the hate. Either way works.
Staff Picks
Bill Hanstock – There is just no way that Kevin Owens loses his first Universal Championship match. He’s already the longest-reigning champ in history, you know. Triple H could show up and cost Rollins the title again, or Owens could just cheat to win, since he’s an asshole. But especially after losing the cage match to Reigns on Monday and not having won the belt legitimately in the eyes of the fans, he needs to retain here.
Justin Donaldson – HHH will show up just as Rollins has the match won. Reigns will come out to stop HHH and will end up accidentally costing Rollins the mach. Kevin Owens retains.
Chris Trew – Kevin Owens all day, Kevin Owens all night. We all deserve the chance to witness a title chasing non-authority Seth Rollins and we’ll get it as long as we’re all being nice people, doing our chores, and being good listeners to whoever in our life needs a friend. You hear that? Go and be a good friend to all of your friends so we can get a healthy title reign from Kevin Owens and a new side to Seth Rollins. Don’t screw this up! Be nice!
Scott Heisel – Maybe I’m alone in feeling this way, but this match lacks any drama whatsoever for me. It’s KO’s first title defense, so the odds of him dropping the belt seem infinitesimally small. If anything, I’m expecting another Triple H run-in to help light off his feud with Rollins. In short: The Kevin Owens Show is just getting started, folks. I’m predicting we ride this train at least through Royal Rumble.
Austin Heiberg – Anything that gets in the way of Owens/Zayn at Wrestlemania is strictly out of the question, at least as far as I’m concerned. Long may Owens reign, at least until Spring 2017.
Joe Starr – No matter what the storyline is here, or how they misfired Seth’s return, or how the title is more about Authority folks, or whatever, let’s remember one thing: This is Kevin Owens vs. Seth Rollins for the title. It’s going to be amazing and we’re lucky to have it. The frog splashes will be froggy and the phoenix splashes will be dark. Kevin Owens walks out retaining and we walk out going HOLY SH*T DID YOU SEE THAT PART WHEN HE DID THE THING like giddy 12 year olds.
