Supercard Review: WWE Clash of Champions 2016 - Seth Rollins v Kevin Owens

After Smackdown's first PPV, Backlash, had been a surprisingly good effort, RAW's Clash of Champions was going to be even better, right? After all it had a stronger card, headlined by Kevin Owens defending the Universal Championship and with Chris Jericho, Cesaro, Sami Zayn and Sasha Banks all in major spots on the card. This was gonna be a great show...wasn't it? 

The main event that saw Kevin Owens makes his first Universal Championship defense against Seth Rollins in a bout that showed the potential of the performers, but was ultimately held back by some questionable booking. The performances from both Champion and challenger were spot on throughout, with Owens upping his intensity levels when in control, loudly voicing his opinions of Rollins, as he focused in on his opponents hamstring to control the bout, on the other hand Rollins sublte babyface performance was a great watch as he sold the injured leg well and made each near fall count selling just how desperate he was with the look on his face. The Architect didn't quite go full babyface here, which perhaps held the match back a little (especially in the opening), but there were certainly signs that a rematch would see the culmination of the turn. 

The action wasn't always as crisp as it could have been, yet there was still some sequences that betrayed the quality of the wrestlers, especially in the moments before Chris Jericho came to ringside. The section where Owens escaped the Pedigree, flowing nicely into a cannonball near fall, as well as a strike sequence coming moments after Rollins had escaped a Package Piledriver attempt were both done with at a strong pace, whilst the challenger continue to do an explemary sell-job. The build towards Owens putting himself through the announce table was handled well, with Rollins introducing the table earlier in the match, making it a Chekov's Gun. Rollins following this up with a Frog Splash also mirrored a spot moments earlier where Owens would deliver a gutbuster off the top before hitting the same move. 

Despite some problems with the booking not helping the pair, it was the conclusion that would stand out as the most frustrating of these. Having Jericho involved, made perfect sense, he's been associated with Owens for month and arguably has more heat than the champion at the moment, but his involvement made what could have been a simple finish into a big of a mess. There were some nice moments, like Rollins turning a Pop-Up Powerbomb into a Pedigree with the referee down and then hitting a pair of suicide dives on Jeri-KO, but there was also the overly contrived ref bump that left little reason for the ref to be down for so long and a messy finish that saw Stephanie McMahon sound a second referee down to the ring, long after the referee had initially been knocked down. Individually, I don't have any problem with a lot of the elements used in the finish, Jericho's interference, the ref bump, McMahon sending out a second ref, the near falls, but when put together it didn't quite work. You can have the best ingredients in the world, but that doesn't mean they'll all taste well together. 

The semi-main was a straight-forward United States Championship match where Roman Reigns took the belt from "The Bulgarian Brute" Rusev, which didn't have a lot to get excited about. Apart from the Indiannapolis crowd chanting for "CM Punk", there really wasn't anything wrong with this match, both men did everything they did well, it's just for almost 20 minutes of wrestling, there wasn't much that made sit up and take notice. You probably could have shaved ten minutes of this and got a better match out of it, because it felt like about that much action was having to be stretched across that longer time span. This was especially notably in the finish, where the pair seemed to be going over the same kind of ground, repeating a handful of spots and mainly sticking to having Reigns hitting the Superman Punch or Spear in a couple of different situations.

Both men had their moments of effectiveness, where I felt like the match could be going in a different direction, with Reigns selling his injuries well, whilst Rusev got over his frustration at being able to put away The Big Dog nicely. However, these were also two areas that I don't think were explored to their full potentianal, Reigns' rib injuries got slightly lost in the conclusion that seemed to want to do too much, and Rusev's frustration could have been to build to better ending. I think, what truly held this match back was the fact that Rusev and Reigns have had a shit load of matches on television over the last two years and this match didn't feel any different from any of their previous encounters. Yes, a lot of those had DQ finishes, but they've also had bouts with better conclusions that have gone longer and been more intense than this on Monday Night RAW.  

Arguably, the best match on the show was Match 7 of Sheamus and Cesaro's Best of Seven Series, which has been a sleeper hit on RAW over the previous five weeks. This encounter continued the theme, as Cesaro and Sheamus reached into the depth of storytelling opportunities that they'd left for each other over the previous five weeks. There were call-backs to previous finishes, use of the on-going narrative of Cesaro's injured back, as well as the pair pulling out new tricks, which the commentary team put over very well as the the duo attempting to surprise an opponent that perhaps knee them better than anyone else (at least, right now anyway). One of my favourite moments in this was Sheamus hitting a backbreaker version of his Pale Justice Crucifix Powerbomb, that despite not looking as polished as it could, pulled in a number of the match stories and looked fucking brutal in the process. 

I can see the finish splitting the wrestling audience, because having the match end in a No Contest after six previous bouts over five weeks, was a brave decision. However, I thought the pair worked the moment well, brawling around ringside and then into the crowd as Cesaro hit a clothesline over the barricade that kept them both down, as officals came to check on them and the match was called off. It was perhaps not what people were expecting and initially I'll admit that I wasn't sold on them leaving the series at 3-3, but once I saw Cesaro and Sheamus selling the match, selling how much effort they'd put into trying to beat the other and selling the desperation to continue the fight. The fact that the audience began to chant "Let them fight" after initially showing what at best could be described as indifference towards them, showed that the work had been done right. A rematch between the pair is now a bigger match, whilst there's also a couple of different aveneues to go down to prolonge the wait for a rematch, which would certainly beneficial to the guys who have fought 8 TV matches in 9 weeks! 

Charlotte retaining the Women's Championship over Sasha Banks and Bayley was an interesting one, because it was cleverly put together for the majority of the match but concluded with a contrived finish, that left a bad taste in the mouth. Let's tallk about that finish first, because it's bugs me more than a little. Charlotte hits a Big Boot on Bayley that knocked Banks off the apron and then another big boot on Bayley to pick up the win. Firstly, a big boot is a lame finisher, especially when your big boot doesn't look particularly impressive in the first place. The commentary appeared to allude to the fact that Charlotte's manager Dana Brooke was in the wrong place for the finish, which would have made slightly more sense had she been holding onto Banks' ankle. 

Outside of the finish, this was a cleverly booked and well performed encounter, that told a simple story. The idea that permeated the contest throughout was that Charlotte and Brooke were able to work together, whilst Banks and Bayley mostly decided to work as individuals and even when briefly on the same page their union wasn't strong enough to control the Women's Champion. Charlotte is capable of commanding the stage when in control and this allowed the sections were she worked over Banks to be good viewing, as Brooke kept Bayley down on the outside. Mostly the match flowed well, in terms of both storytelling and the action, with only the build towards a moonsault from Charlotte being anything but neat. It perhaps lacked the "Wow" factor off the WrestleMania 32 Three Way where Becky Lynch replaced Bayley, but still had enough dramatic near fall to keep the audience involved til the very end. 

Chris Jericho and Sami Zayn had a solid bout, that featured some strong sequences and near falls, which was held back by a couple of sloppy spot. The opening of the bout may have been my favourite part about it as the two appeared to slot together perfectly, as Zayn produced a fun face shine sequence that included a moonsault off the barricade, whilst Jericho used his crafty ways to take control, using the referee as a shield to hit a triangle dropkick. The characters provided a fine foundation to build upon and whilst there was some great reversal and near fall sequences, it was this foundation that made the contest such an enjoyable watch, as Jericho would always have something up his sleeve to keep control. The bout was only let down by a couple of sloppy DDT spots, that seemed to show Jericho struggling to hold Zayn up to complete the moves. 

Jericho getting the win with a Codebreaker was perhaps another point of contention here as out of all the matches on the card, a clean finish win for the heel made the least sense. A cheap win for Jericho would have worked wondefully, having him play possum before hitting a codebreaker perhaps, it was Jericho's devious ways that the match was built around so why not? Jericho didn't really stand to gain anything from pinning Zayn clean, and it could have potentially have harmed the man who's still developing a relationship with the WWE audience. Outside of his feud with Kevin Owens, Zayn has not just struggled for victories, but also to find an identifiable persona, that more casual fans could latch onto. Whilst Zayn proved once again that he's a reliable hand, the booking didn't help to cement him as top level performer, or even build towards that time. 

Perhaps one of the more dissapointing contests of the night was TJ Perkins first defense of the Cruiserweight Championship against Brian Kendrick, because despite a bright closing sequence, the pair struggled to connect with the crowd and lacked chemistry. I'm not sure that Kendrick was the best person to include in the first Cruiserweight bout on PPV, because despite being a more familiar face, he isn't someone who will "Wow" a casual audience like these intial Cruiserweight matches should. His new character is brilliant, his gritty work and Captain's Hook finish is great, but that only works if a crowd is either invested in the babyface or familiar with that character. As of this match they were neither. The rana spot to the outside woke the crowd up and lead into a good final stretch, where Perkins won with a Knee Bar, but if you missed the Cruiserweight Classic, I think you'd have been wondering what all the hype was about. 

The New Day's Tag Team title match with Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson was another contest that seemed to have to work against the booking to produce anything entertaining. Xavier Woods using the trombone to get the win for his team, only works for the babyfaces, if we've seen a lot of shenanigans from Gallows & Anderson, but we hadn't. Yes the duo had used their power to their advantage and had dominated throughout, but they hadn't really used anything underhanded to take or remain in control. The brevity of the bout also meant that their wasn't much of a build towards any hot tag and no lengthy face in peril section where these kind of antics could have taken place. I'm hoping we get to see a rematch because these two teams have come nowhere close to reaching their potential together, but if they're going to have to work against the creative team again, then I'd rather they not bother. 

Finally... 

ATPW Scale Rating - 6.32/10 

This was a good show, but it could have been a great show. There was a hell of a lot of talent on display here and a card that had something to be interested in from top to bottom, but when the PPV ended it felt like we didn't quite get to see the best out of the performers. I feel that this was at know fault of their own, as there was some great displays from the likes of Seth Rollins, Kevin Owens, Charlotte and Chris Jericho, but each and every one of them was held back by the creative of the show. As a "B" show, you kind of expect these shows to be used to build the bigger events, but a lot of these booking decisions seemed to even work against doing that! 

Show in a Sentence - Good wrestling, bad booking.

TV Review: WWE Monday Night RAW #1216 - Roman Reigns v Kevin Owens 2

Aired - 12th September 2016

In the penultimate episode before Clash of Champions, Monday Night RAW featured a marquee bout between Roman Reigns and Universal Champion Kevin Owens, in which Reigns could earn a title match at the supercard, as well as Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods of Tag Team Champions The New Day having a SummerSlam rematch with Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson as the two teams looked to put last week's "Old Day" segment behind them. Would RAW continue to build momentum with just two weeks until their first PPV in ten years?

The main event was a lengthy second encounter between Universal Champion Kevin Owens and Roman Reigns, as they had a rematch from an October 2015 episode of Thursday Night Smackdown, but this time with a little more on the line. Reigns had an opportunity to slot into the Universal title bout at Clash of Champions alongside Seth Rollins, if he could get a win over the champ. With so much on the line and a handful of different storylines involved, it was inevitable that the match would have a few shenanigans, as the company continued to build a card for a show that is now only 13 days away. The first twist in the tale would see Seth Rollins charge down the entrance ramp to attack an Owens who had only moments earlier thrown Reigns into the steel steps. The run in got a nice pop and Rollins got a good beatdown in on The Prizefighter. It would have been a disappointing conclusion to the battle, so luckily General Manager Mick Foley was out to restart the bout. That wasn't before Foley had verbally assaulted Rollins for the attack and after the pair had been involved in a handful of backstage segments earlier on, it will be intriguing to see exactly where they'll go with that. 

Outside of the storyline development, Owens and Reigns had a damn good match, combining their bruising styles to create a diverse and stimulating encounter. Watching K.O. control a match is usually good fun and this was no different, as he was constantly chatting away either to himself, Reigns or the audience, whilst his application of simple moves like chinlocks are kept entertaining by his verbals and superior utilsation of said moves. It felt like there was a purpose behind every motion, whether that was inflict damage on Reigns or just annoy the crowd a little bit and that makes all the difference when you're going over twenty minutes on live TV. There were a few similarities to the match that AJ Styles and Dean Ambrose had the night before, mostly in how the bouts were structured, as Owens dominated the contest and got a high number of near falls, but seemed unable to put his opponent away on his own. 

The finish would see the return of United States Champion "The Bulgarian Brute" Rusev to our screens after a few weeks off, as he appeared at ringside to cause a distraction that would result in Owens getting the win with a Pop-Up Powerbomb. A cute bit of booking as Rusev had been away just long enough that it felt like a bit of a surprise and got a decent pop, whilst not having the US Champ get physically involved meant that Owens got at least some of the rub that a victory over Reigns presents. Owens will also have a chance to brag about the victory on next week's go home episode. The show would conclude with Rusev decimating Reigns with the Accolade and having to prized away by a couple of referees. Of course, there's plenty of unfinished business between Reigns and Rusev, after their scheduled SummerSlam contest never began and whilst their feud hasn't quite reached the levels it could have, it probably still deserves a PPV match. With an extra bit of build next week, Reigns and Rusev should be able to have a strong semi-main or upper midcard battle on 25th September.

Tag Team Champions The New Day managed to bury last week's terrible Old Day segment, with some humorous banter, leading into a SummerSlam rematch with Xavier Woods and Kofi Kingston facing Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows. Woods, Kingston and Big E didn't mess around as they ripped into the horrible piece of television from last week, talking about what the audience could have done instead during it's time on screen. Comparing Gallows and Anderson's skit to having put the audiences time "into a dumpster fire" was pretty accurate. It was really the only way that RAW could have got past the shambles of last week, because continuing in the same direction clearly wasn't going to do anyone any favours. Gallows and Anderson brought a much more serious edge to their reply and it suited their demeanours a hell of a lot better. Let's hope that we never see anything from the pair even resembling what we saw last week ever again. 

Slotting into the semi-main event, the match was a much better version of the contest that they had at SummerSlam, as it didn't include Jon Stewart and featured a much more satisfying conclusion. Kingston and Woods obviously bring a different dynamic to what we see regularly from Big E and Kingston and this was played upon well, with an early face shine from the highflyers, before Anderson and Gallows would dominate Kingston. It was some of the strongest in-ring work that Gallows and Anderson have done since jumping ship from New Japan Pro Wrestling, as they worked a style that suits them, cutting off the ring and just beating the shit into Kingston for a bit. They're two tough mean dudes and it was nice to see them presented like that! Woods hot tag sequence was another highlight as he continued to show why he's one of the more underrated in-ring talents that the company has right now, with a flurry of action that included near falls off the Honor Roll and a tightrope elbow drop. Anderson and Gallows picked up the win with The Magic Killer, to set them up for their Clash of Champions title bout, putting to rest the disappointing SummerSlam match and the hammy skits that we've seen over the last few months.

The evening began with an exciting in-ring segment that would see General Manager Mick Foley eventually book Bayley, Sasha Banks and Dana Brooke in a Triple Threat match, where the winner would get a shot at Charlotte's Women's Championship on 25th September. There was a lot going on here, with a number of moving parts and different character relationships, that managed to give the division some real depth, whilst Foley was able to keep a nice thread through the middle of things in his GM role. Whilst Banks and Bayley were putting their cases forward for getting a title shot, Charlotte was given the best material here as she got to look like a real dick with some brutal words for protege Brooke, whilst also getting the opportunity to not just insult Bayley and Banks but also try to drive a wedge between the pair. Whilst The Nature Girl's delivery wasn't always as good as it could have been and she stumbled on some odd dialogue about "WWE Camp", when given the chance she hit the right notes and hit them well. Without Charlotte upping the energy, the eventual booking of the triple threat and Brooke returning a slap to her (potentially former) mentor, wouldn't have had half the impact they did and would have got nowhere as strong a reaction from the crowd. 

The fifth match of Cesaro and "The Celtic Warrior" Sheamus' Best of Seven Series may have been the best match of the series so far, thanks to the depth of story that the pair had to dip into. With the benefit of four previous matches, that have been heavily based on psychology anyway, the European grapplers added in call-backs to the finishes of most of those matches, building some quality near falls that had the crowd more involved than we've seen before. With the story continuing to revolve around Cesaro's injured back (that occurred in Match 2 during SummerSlam), we got to see a real selling master class from the Swiss Superman as he grabbed hold of the injury at every opportunity, including when hitting a diving crossbody! The bout would conclude with a series of near falls for Sheamus, after Cesaro had been unable to perform the giant swing correctly, only for King of Swing to take the series to 3-2 as he pinned Sheamus with his feet on the ropes. It was a divergent ending, that showed just how desperate Cesaro was to keep himself in the running. Judging on what we've seen from the pair so far, I'd expect this finish to play a big part in the final two matches.  

Sasha Banks earned herself a shot at Charlotte's Women's Championship at Clash of Champions, as she defeated Bayley and Dana Brooke in the first match on the show. With Bayley and Banks being booked to stay apart from each other, this meant that Brooke had a real chance to elevate herself with a strong performance. She handled herself well throughout, involved mostly with Bayley, but also showing some nice aggression during the ad break as she tripped Banks on the apron and threw her into the barricade. The final stretch that involved all three women was well done, with a series of strong spots, like Banks going for the double knees on both opponents and well-worked near falls including Bayley kicking Banks in the head moments before Brooke was about to tap to the Bridging Crossface and The Boss' last second save after Brooke had been nailed with a Bayley to Belly suplex. The conclusion appeared to be setting up a Triple Threat match for 25th September, as it looked like the former NXT Women's Champions had each other's shoulder pinned to the mat, although it was strangely ignored by the commentary.

"Y2J" Chris Jericho and Sami Zayn somehow managed to build a fierce feud, in around ten minutes as The Underdog From The Underground guested on an edition of The Highlight Reel. Jericho's character development has been a real joy to watch over the last six months or so and he continued to do great work here, easily manipulating the crowd into chanting "Ole" for Zayn and also seeming to get heat for just being around a microphone. Whilst the argument between the two had a lot to do with Universal Champion Kevin Owens (which can only uplift Owens and his title run), as the pair went back and forth about their opinions of the Prizefighter, it was when Zayn began to discuss how Y2J had inspired him when coming into the business that the fledgling rivalry began to take on a life of it's own. Zayn calling Jericho nothing more than "Kevin Owens' bitch" edged the segment nearer to it's crescendo, as The Man of 1004 Holds suckered Zayn in with the pretense of showing him a text from Owens, only to twat him in the face with his mobile phone and pull out a cheeky Codebreaker. We've seen Jericho and Zayn tangle on TV in April and July this year, but a rematch at Clash of Champions with more bite behind it should be their best effort yet. 

The Shining Stars seemed to have finally found their niche in a feud with Big Cass and Enzo Amore and whilst Amore's schtick continues to become even more poop based, the short bout between he and Epico was a decent watch. I've become a real mark for Epico's Trileda sequence, just because it's a damn cool twist on the three amigos, that probably doesn't belong in a mid-card tag feud in WWE! It was only a brief match, but the two lads in the ring and the two lads on the outside packed a lot into it, with both Amore and Epico hitting dives to the outside and Cass nailing a big boot on Primo in a fun section. The finish continued what's been an lightly entertaining feud so far, as Primo would aid Epico in victory by pulling Amore's legs from underneath him on a suplex attempt and holding them down from the outside to give his cousin his first television singles win since beating Evan Bourne on a December 2011 episode of Superstars. (Obviously not including his run as the surprisingly more successful Fernando).

Jinder Mahal debuted a new gimmick as he is now apparently "The Man Who Comes in Peace". To be honest, I'm not quite sure what that actually means, as his promo didn't really explain it all that well. He said "Namaste" and talked about his time off from WWE as the crowd lulled into a light sleep. Things weren't helped by Jack Swagger coming out as Mahal's opponent. I've got nothing against either guy in particular, it's just that neither excites me, especially at this point in their careers. I wanted to stay focused on the action, but there really wasn't that much to stay focused on. It was Jinder Mahal v Jack Swagger. Some moves happened. The crowd chanted USA. Some more moves happened. The crowd stopped chanting and went for a piss and probably missed Mahal picking up his first victory since beating Heath Slater for his RAW contract.

Nia Jax would get her biggest showcase since moving to RAW, as she decimated former Divas Champion Alicia Fox. The annihilation didn't result in a victory though, as this was all about showcasing the power of Jax, as destroyed Fox on the outside of the ring, in a revenge attack for a backstage outburst last week, throwing her opponent in the ring post and the barricade. The match evolved into more of an angle as Jax drove Fox through the barricade and into the timekeepers area, in one of the most impressive moments that the Women's division has produced in a long time. This is a spot that's usually reserved for big PPV matches and almost exclusively used by the male competitors, so it was a truly shocking moment to see Jax pull it out here. It made the Hawaii born performer look like a beast and built on the foundation that has been created with the various squash bouts that she's had since debuting. 

Best of the Rest 

• Moments prior to the main event, Kevin Owens gave Seth Rollins a verbal dressing down, whilst bragging about his new buddy Triple H, leading to Mick Foley warning Rollins to not get involved in Owens bout with Roman Reigns.

Finally...

ATPW Scale Rating - 6.08/10

This was the strongest Monday Night RAW episode since the post Battleground show, that saw Finn Balor earn a shot at the Universal title. The main event was a more than solid encounter, that easily could have headlined a PPV, had there not been all the shenanigans that you'd expect from a television main event! There were a couple of good matches elsewhere on the show as well with The Club v The New Day, the Women's Championship #1 Contenders Triple Threat and Cesaro v Sheamus all having their merits. Perhaps one of the biggest positives was that the Titus O'Neil and Darren Young feud was kept off the show!

Outside of the matches, Sami Zayn's appearance on The Highlight Reel was probably the best thing on the show, with Chris Jericho continuing his rich vein of form. The opening segment with Mick Foley, Charlotte, Dana Brooke, Sasha Banks and Bayley was also a decent watch.

Whilst there remains a couple of nagging issues, the only major segment that I actively disliked this week was the Jinder Mahal and Jack Swagger match, mainly because I don't think Mahal's gimmick is very well defined or different enough from what he was doing previously to warrant the switch, and also because it was a Jinder Mahal vs Jack Swagger match! 

With one episode left before Clash of Champions, and just four matches currently announced for the show, I'd expect next week's episode to struggle to match the quality on display here as we may see a bit of a scramble to get the rest of the line up in place.

All Content - James Marston

Banner Credit - Kai Stellar