Here are my final thoughts on Raw and SmackDown Live’s WWE Clash of Champions 2019!
Drew Gulak (c) vs. Humberto Carrillo vs. Lince Dorado (Triple Threat Match for the WWE Cruiserweight Championship)
Reactions: The Cruiserweights are in the business of owning WWE’s PPV Kickoff shows. Every month, they pull out a crowd-pleasing pre-show match that brings the crowd to life. Drew Gulak, Humberto Carrillo and Lince Dorado delivered a satisfying triple threat contest that was full of unique three-man exchanges and high-flying antics. Gulak provided an interesting part to the Lucha libre equation with his stiff strikes and suplexes. And Carrillo and Dorado brought the crowd to life with their usual array of crowd-popping maneuvers, which was expected. The decent runtime for this title bout was welcome, which did a lot to help this bout reach its full potential.
Rating: 3 & a Half out of 5 Stars
AJ Styles (c) vs. Cedric Alexander (WWE United States Championship)
Reactions: AJ STYLES IS ON THE KICKOFF SHOW? Yep…and I didn’t even mind it. Simply because he and Cedric Alexander started their match off at superspeed and maintained a balls-to-the-wall pace throughout. Both men packed in a ton of action into a relatively short encounter that truly deserved more time instead of being stuffed into the last 15-minutes of the Kickoff Show. Props have to go out to Cedric for his spirited effort. And of course, two thumbs up for AJ’s mean streak making this match even more entertaining. This really belonged on the main show with even more time tacked onto it. All in all, I still enjoyed every bit of this high-octane clash.
Rating: 3 & a Half out of 5 Stars
Seth Rollins and Braun Strowman (c) vs. Robert Roode and Dolph Ziggler (WWE Raw Tag Team Championship)
Reactions: AND SETH ROLLINS AND BRAUN STROWMAN ARE IN THE OPENING MATCH OF THE SHOW? Yeah…and I definitely enjoyed it, too. This was a classic example of a traditional tag team match. Rollins and Strowman owned the opening portion of this bout, which then transitioned into an action-packed control period by Robert Roode and Dolph Ziggler. The punishment put on Rollins lasted long enough to throw the crowd into a frenzy when Strowman got the hot tag. Strowman went on his usual Powerman run and tore into the challengers, which was equally entertaining. The final minutes of this match kept the crowd alive with hot near-falls and a well-done ending that set up the evening’s Universal Championship match. This was a very good opener.
Rating: 3 & a Half out of 5 Stars
Bayley (c) vs Charlotte Flair (WWE SmackDown Women’s Championship)
Reactions: What’s with everyone going full-speed ahead once the bell rings tonight? I don’t hate it, but it can only be done so many times before it gets a bit repetitive. Anyways, this match was on the verge of reaching into the territory of decent before the lame ending killed it. Charlotte was just kicking into second gear with her offense and then…Bayley “gently” slammed her head into an exposed turnbuckle. This one should’ve been given the time it needed to evolve into something worthwhile instead of being relegated to nothing more than a PPV angle.
Rating: 1 & a Half out of 5 Stars
The New Day (Big E and Xavier Woods) (c) vs. The Revival (Scott Dawson and Dash Wilder) (WWE SmackDown Tag Team Championship)
Reactions: WHOA! The result for this match completely came of left field for me. I figured The New Day would go into the FOX era of SmackDown as the reigning and defending brand tag champs. But to my surprise, The Revival tore into Xavier Woods’ leg and captured the Blue Brand’s tag belts. Couple that shocking finish with your usual very good-rated match between The New Day & The Revival and you have another standout tag team bout on this show. Big E shined once again like he usually does during these tag team bouts, which is something that always gives life to any match The New Day’s involved in. Woods put in that work as well! The Revival was a bit more savage than usual, which made this clash that much more interesting.
Rating: 3 & a Half out of 5 Stars
Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross (c) vs. Fire & Desire (Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville) (WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship)
Reactions: This was pretty solid. I wasn’t looking forward to it very much, so maybe I found it good because my expectations for it were so low. Both teams put together a respectable matchup here. The only negative I can lob at this match was the completely unneeded appearance of R-Truth and his usual brigade of 24/7 Championship chasers. Other than that mess, the rest of the match proved to be a worthwhile affair. The hot near-fall at the ending portion of this bout got me out of my seat, which generally shocked me. I enjoyed this way more than I thought I would.
Rating: 2 & a Half out of 5 Stars
Shinsuke Nakamura (c) vs. The Miz (WWE Intercontinental Championship)
Reactions: Sami Zayn’s live mic berating of Shinsuke Nakamura’s opponents is so good, bruh. Anyways, this was another good title match. The crowd was super into it, which proves that The Miz as a babyface is a lot better than fans give him credit for. He played the perfect hot babyface comeback and good guy in peril roles due to the combined heel efforts of Zayn and Nakamura. The match followed a simple formula that worked to its benefit. I didn’t even mind all the repeated distractions by Zayn since he wasn’t all that overbearing with them. I’m down to watch this again with an added stipulation that finds a way to take Zayn out the equation (not because I dislike him, but because it makes storyline sense for him to get kicked out of the rematch).
Rating: 3 out of 5 Stars
Becky Lynch (c) vs. Sasha Banks (WWE Raw Women’s Championship)
Reactions: I LOVED THIS! My gut told me that Sasha Banks would be the one who’d give Becky Lynch her best rivalry and matchup in 2019. And thankfully, I was proven correct! This encounter increased in intensity and brutality the longer it went on. Banks was super motivated here to prove her worth and Lynch definitely kicked it up a notch. too. The super effort put on by both women here resulted in hot back and forth exchanges, nail-biting submission portions and a great brawl that took place all around the arena.
The steel chair played a big part in how this bout broke down and proved to be an entertaining element of everything Lynch and Banks did. I didn’t mind the No Contest finish (I think Steve Austin vs. Kurt Angle from SummerSlam 2001 is incredible, so I obviously think a match can still be great without a clear victor). It’s pretty clear that this match is taking place at next month’s Hell in a Cell event within the structure itself. After watching this unfold, I’m perfectly fine with that.
Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars
Kofi Kingston (c) vs. Randy Orton (WWE Championship)
Reactions: This was cool and all, but a bit too plodding and slow-paced for it to be a level above that. And considering the challenger who was included in this match, that sentiment shouldn’t come as a surprise. While I didn’t hate it, Orton’s usual “start out things super slow, then pick it up a notch” match style made me a bit disinterested the longer this went on.
Kofi Kingston was his usual spry and spirited self, which helped give some much-needed speed to this encounter. The RKO near-fall was cool and the last few minutes were somewhat decent. This was good but could have been even better with a stipulation that allowed for more weaponry and table spots. You would think this rematch would have gotten such a match stipulation boost considering what happened at SummerSlam. What we got here wasn’t terrible, but not as great as it should’ve been considering how hot this feud was.
Rating: 3 out of 5 Stars
Roman Reigns vs. Erick Rowan (No Disqualification Match)
Reactions: Sigh…that’s the best theme song they could give Erick Rowan? Poor guy. Ok, so here’s the thing – I was mostly bored during this tame No DQ brawl. Rowan’s pretty dry when it comes to his offensive control of any match he’s a part of, plus the weapon spots were nothing special. This fight moved at a snail’s pace and didn’t really pick up in quality once it was taken outside the ring. But what saved this co-main event from being a complete dud was the surprise appearance of Rowan’s former Bludgeon Brothers ally, Luke Harper! His return got a huge pop from me and the crowd, which played into the final minutes of the match is better than the uninteresting portion that took place before it. So I’m guessing this feud will continue, sadly. But at least we’ll get some good Reigns vs. Harper matches out of it now.
Rating: 2 out of 5 Stars
Seth Rollins (c) vs Braun Strowman (WWE Universal Championship)
Reactions: We got another hot start to a match on this show here. For some reason, I wasn’t that annoyed with it this time since this bout actually warranted it. This was a pretty fun main event. It started out with an intense pace and kept its fire all the way up until its satisfying finish. Strowman did enough to look like a conquering beast, while Rollins stuck it out as the resilient babyface champion. Watching Strowman take flight and practically squash Rollins was quite the sight to see, too! Watching Rollins pull out all the stops with repeated Curb Stomps and the return of his patented Pedigree was the perfect way to put away Strowman. The cherry on top that came during the post-match period was equally exciting. This segment as a whole closed the show on a high note.
Rating: 3 & a Half out of 5 Stars
Match of the Night
Becky Lynch vs. Sasha Banks!
Final Verdict
This year’s Clash of Champions could have been one of the year’s best WWE events. The Kickoff Show bouts kicked (pun intended) the show off quite nicely. And once the main show began, we were treated to a pretty good Raw tag team championship match. But every time we were treated to a good to great matchup, we were also given bouts with lame finishes and lackluster action.
This show was equal parts entertaining and sadly disappointing. Clash of Champions 2019 was thankfully saved from being a total wash due to an amazing Raw Women’s title match between Becky Lynch and Sasha Banks, plus a few other notable bouts. The low points of this show were pretty deflating for me and the live crowd, though. This was good but could have been so much better. Oh and a final note here – I got a kick out of the special lighting given to the championship match intros. Keep doing that, WWE.
Final Score: 3 out of 5 Stars
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