Here’s my final thoughts on WWE SmackDown Live’s Clash of Champions 2017!
Zack Ryder vs. Mojo Rawley
Reactions: First off, how atrocious is Mojo Rawley’s new theme? From a score of one to 10, I’d give it about a 100 on the “Ugh…” scale. Anyways, onto the match itself! It was what it needed to be – a showcase of a newly heel-turned Mojo. He rose to the occasion here by displaying the killer instinct he lamented about while he beat down on Ryder. Ryder had a few bright spots here and there, but this match was really all about Mojo proving himself as a force to reckoned with. I was mildly entertained by this former tag team partners grudge match.
Rating: 2 out of 5 Stars
Breezango (Fandango and Tyler Breeze) vs. The Bludgeon Brothers (Harper and Rowan)
Reactions: I figured this one wasn’t going to go too long. But I also wasn’t expecting it to be a total squash, either. Welp! The Bludgeon Brothers trail of destruction continues…
Rating: SQUASH!
Randy Orton and Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn (Tag Team Match with Shane McMahon and Daniel Bryan as Special Guest Referees; If Owens and Zayn Lose, They’ll be Fired from WWE)
Reactions: I kind of figured the inclusion of two special guest referees would take away from this match. And I was right, sadly. It was so hard to get into this due to all the confusion derived from Shane and Daniel constantly butting heads. We had four of the top wrestlers on SD Live embroiled in a tag team match, but they were unable to go as hard as they wanted to due to the silly stipulation placed upon it. And listening to Owens and Zayn make their feelings felt via constant yelling got on my nerves (which is rare cause I usually love it when it they talk…loudly!). The action on display here was decent at best. The story of the match and whatever it’s building up to in 2018 was the main focus here. So Shane’s gone fully heel and Daniel’s still kind of on the side of good? It’s all very confusing and just a mess, honestly…
Rating: 2 out of 5 Stars
The Usos (Jey Uso and Jimmy Uso) (c) vs. The New Day (Big E, Kofi Kingston, and/or Xavier Woods) vs. Chad Gable and Shelton Benjamin vs. Rusev and Aiden English (Fatal 4-Way Tag Team Match for the WWE SmackDown Tag Team Championship)
Reactions: My gut told me that this match was going to be a barnburner. I should listen to my gut more! I enjoyed the pure chaos that this bout delivered. The rules (four men would battle it out in the ring at all times) made sure that this match never entered a down period. The middle portion, which saw Gable/Benjamin and English/Rusev in control of their foes slowed the action down a little bit, but not enough to take me out of the bout. The MVP’s of this bout had to be Gable (the miniature version of Suplex City) and English/Rusev (Rusev had the crowd in the palm of his hand!). WWE has been relying on multi-man matches a bit too much this year, but matches like this one provide a shining gem of that well-worn formula. The closing moments of this bout were pure insanity and I appreciated every part of it. The Usos retained after an intense championship defense.
Rating: 3 & a Half out of 5 Stars