wrestling / TV Reports

Kevin’s WWE Clash of Champions 2020 Review

September 27, 2020 | Posted by Kevin Pantoja
Jey Uso Roman Reigns Clash of Champions Image Credit: WWE
7.5
The 411 Rating
Community Grade
12345678910
Your Grade
Loading...
Kevin’s WWE Clash of Champions 2020 Review  

WWE Clash of Champions
September, 27th 2020 | Amway Center in Orlando, Florida

Nikki Cross, Shayna Baszler, and Nia Jax weren’t medically cleared to compete so the card has changed.

WWE Smackdown Tag Team Championship: Cesaro and Shinsuke Nakamura [c] vs. The Lucha House Party
This was moved to the Kickoff Show. There’s a Lucha House Party story of them having issues and Kalisto being the leader but the team working better without him. Kalisto and Lince Dorado were the teammates here. Dorado got isolated and took a beating. The hot tag to Kalisto worked well because he got to go against Cesaro, who is a fantastic base for smaller lucha boys. He can make anything they do look awesome. I loved the finish here. Cesaro countered Salida del Sol as he tagged in Nakamura and then ran over Kalisto with an uppercut. Then, they did the Cesaro Swing into the Kinshasa, which is incredible, and that was it after 10:46. Good tag team wrestling that didn’t overstay its welcome and finished hot. [***¼]

Main card time, baby!

WWE Intercontinental Championship Ladder Match: Jeff Hardy [c] vs. Sami Zayn [c] vs. AJ Styles
Yes, I put Sami as champion too. They opened with highlights of each man in ladder matches in their careers. A lot of this match had the things you’ve come to expect from WWE ladder matches. Guys were slammed onto ladders in vicious ways to the point where their backs looked brutal. In particular, Sami’s body looked absolutely battered. Jeff took an absurdly rough bump onto an open ladder and I don’t know how he’s still taking those. Jeff hit his signature Swanton Bomb off the ladder and through a table, which makes no sense to be doing at his age. Sami Zayn then used handcuffs on Hardy’s earlobe to trap him on a ladder. That was awesome. Sami also handcuffed himself to AJ to prevent him from climbing. When AJ tried to do so, Jeff climbed in with the ladder still attached to him. While AJ battled him, Sami had the keys to uncuff himself and cuff AJ to the ladder before climbing himself to pull down the titles in 26:42. That was a bit long but it was a ton of fun, had some wild spots, and that finish was INCREDIBLE. It’s so refreshing to see creative and original ladder match spots after all this time. Sami is one of the best ever. [****¼]

Backstage, Drew Gulak won the 24/7 Title from R-Truth. It was great.

WWE Raw Women’s Championship: Asuka [c] vs. Zelina Vega
Nobody believes in a title change here but it’ll be interesting to see Zelina get a chance like this. Asuka underestimated Vega to start and toyed with her. That worked early but once she made a mistake and was thrown into the steel steps, Vega was able to take control. She managed to show off some pretty good offensive bits, including a sweet bridging suplex and some cool pinning combinations. Asuka kicked out of one and went right into the Asuka Lock to retain after 7:06. That was better than most people probably expected. Zelina did well to play her role and I dug it. [***]

Asuka offered a handshake after the match and Zelina wanted to bow instead. Asuka did and Zelina kicked her down.

WWE United States Championship: Bobby Lashley [c] vs. Apollo Crews
Apollo was out with Ricochet, while Lashley had MVP. This was similar to their Kickoff match at SummerSlam. It was solid and as much as I’ve been enjoying the Hurt Business, these two just haven’t wowed me together. Maybe I’m just over Apollo working them non-stop. Apollo came close once or twice but never really seemed to threaten. After a failed frog splash, Apollo fell to the Hurt Lock in 8:13. It was an inoffensive match. [**½]

WWE Raw Tag Team Championship: The Street Profits [c] vs. Andrade and Angel Garza
Speaking of matches we’ve seen non-stop. These have also been underwhelming as these two teams should be capable of much more together. I admittedly missed the beginning of this as I went downstairs to grab a snack. The pace was quick when I got back, including some big near falls for the challengers. Then, just as it was getting really good, it ended. Dawkins got a hot tag and immediately hit a spinebuster on Andrade. It looked like a kickout that commentary called but it was apparently a 1-2-3, ending this in 8:14. The replay shows that Andrade CLEARLY kicked out in time. It was going really well until that finish. [**¾]

The Draft returns on 10/9 and 10/12.

R-Truth won back the 24/7 Title after Gulak dedicated the win to Akira Tozawa, who was eaten by a shark on Raw.

Bayley came out and cut a promo about how dominant of a champion she is. Since she’s a role model, she issued an open challenge to anyone. She almost immediately closed the door on the challenge and wanted the referee to raise her arm for a forfeit win. Suddenly, Asuka’s music played and the match was on.

WWE Smackdown Women’s Championship: Bayley [c] vs. Asuka
I feel like you could’ve put Naomi or Dana here. It would’ve been different and as much as I love Asuka, we’ve seen this a ton lately. Asuka kicked her ass only for Bayley to use a steel chair and get herself disqualified in 3:38. It was enjoyable while it lasted but not much really happened. [**]

Bayley’s celebration was cut short by a chair shot from a returning Sasha Banks, even if she was in a neck brace. She fired off shots but Bayley turned it around. Sasha kicked her leg out (from under her leg) and then wailed on Bayley with kendo stick shots. Bayley escaped and I’m guessing we’re getting another Sasha vs. fellow Horsewomen in the cell.

WWE Championship Ambulance Match: Drew McIntyre [c] vs. Randy Orton
Their SummerSlam match as great though this stipulation doesn’t usually lend itself to success. I left the room for a minute to use the bathroom when the bell rang (I was pleased that they started with a fight and not a lockup or something) and returned to see beardless Big Show. He put Orton through a table but did nothing more. The two men brawled up to the ambulance and I dug them using the jaw as targets since it has been part of the build. The spot where Drew missed Claymore and instead broke the ambulance door was also really cool. They fought backstage and Christian showed up to get some revenge on Orton. They had some creative spots with the ambulance, including breaking the windshield. Orton was in control until Shawn Michaels showed up and hit him with Sweet Chin Music, knocking him off the ambulance. Orton still hit an RKO to nearly win but Drew escaped the ambulance. He hit the Claymore and added a Punt for good measure to retain after 21:34. That was very good. I liked a lot of the spots and storytelling elements. It was overbooked at times and Drew looked kind of weak because of it, though. [***½]

Ric Flair was revealed to be the ambulance driver.

WWE Universal Championship: Roman Reigns [c] vs. Jey Uso
The build for this has been spectacular. ROMAN GOT THE TITTIES OUT! TITTIES ROMAN > THIGH MEAT OKADA! Jey was a bit cocky, stopping to dance at the start. Once Roman started in on offense, he dominated and got irritated that his cousin was kicking out. Jey would get in a hope spot only for Roman to bring the ass kicking again. He’d also talk trash and question Jey for even trying this fight. The close calls for Jey were well done, like on a rollup and the splash. I loved how Reigns kicked out of the splash by low blowing Jey. Reigns hit the Spear and demanded that Jey call him the chief. When Jey declined, another Spear came. Jey refused again so Roman added more of a beating. Even when the referee tried to stop the match, Roman said he’s been doing this his whole life. Jimmy Uso came out to throw in the towel but Jey pleaded with him not to do it. Roman added more right hands until Jimmy did the deed, ending this in 22:57. Holy shit. That was spectacular from a storytelling perspective. The action itself was strong but that story put it over the top and I’m a big sucker for that kind of stuff. Hell yeah. Big Dog. [****¼]

Post-match, Reigns had Heyman put the red lei that Jey came out wearing over him.

7.5
The final score: review Good
The 411
That show was better than expected, especially when you consider the changes that had to be made. The event does hit a lull in the middle as the US/Tag/SD Women’s Title matches were all fine but unspectacular. However, Vega delivered, I enjoyed the Kickoff, and the Ambulance match was fun. Then, you get two tremendous bouts in the Ladder match and main event.
legend

article topics :

Clash of Champions, Kevin Pantoja