Clash of Champions 2016

Credit: dailyddt.com

Match #1 - Tag Team Championship: New Day vs Gallows and Anderson

Credit: WWE.com

(J): I thought for sure that we were about to see the a squashing of the New Day the way that Gallows and Anderson started this match. The match itself was pretty good, even though it was a bit one sided. I think I liked it just because we finally got to see Gallows and Anderson really be dominate the way they should be. The finish to the match, though, was a bit of a let down. It's not that I wanted to see New Day lose the titles. I'm really not sure how I wanted this one to go, as I love New Day as champs, but I also think that Gallows and Anderson need something to help establish them as legit in WWE. But having New Day pick up the win via a trombone shot from Woods... Stew has said this before, but New Day a face team with numbers advantage just plays weird, and face team with numbers advantage and foreign object hit for the win is even weirder. Considering this ending, I guarantee that this is not the end of this rivalry. Match Rating: 3/5.
(S): I just don't know. I was looking for the club to pick it up here. They need the titles to stay relavent after being booked less than even 50/50. You want mean tough beleivable heels, but don't want them to dominate your merch selling “faces”? I mean Numbers plus cheating? Who the hell are even the heels these days? First half is a 3.5, while last is 2. Total 3/5 and I'm being generous.

Match #2 - Cruiserweight Championship: The Brian Kendrick vs TJ Perkins

(J): First of all, Perkins entrance is awesome! Second, this match was a lot more technical than I expected. There were a few awesome high risk spots, but for the most part, this was a very technician based match up. I really enjoyed it, and I liked seeing all the little touches they added to the different holds and reversals. This was not the match that I was expecting for the cruiserweights pay-per-view debut. Glad to see Perkins retain the belt here, as a loss would have made the whole tournament seem pointless. Didn't see that headbutt from Kendrick coming. Nice touch to wrap up the match. A really solid performance from these two, and I really enjoyed the match, but I think this one could have been much better than it was. Match Rating: 4/5.
(S): Match went as expected. Great start for the cruiserweights, but you can tell everyone excpeted flippy stuff and instead we got a wrestling clinic. Was a great match and the post match Heel Kendrick was good for the division, as he is somewhat established with the crowd and while he is fighting the champ, the other cruiserweights can let the crowd get to know them before chasing. 4/5

Backstage Interview: Cesaro

(J): What does Cesaro need to do to prove that he can work the mic? Every once in a while he stumbles, but for crying out loud, he's not the only one and at least his delivery has some depth to it!
(S): Cesaro on the mic isn't perfect but he is getting better.

Credit: WWE.com

Credit: WWE.com

Match #3 - Best of Seven Series, Match Seven: Cesaro vs Sheamus

(J): These two have done a fantastic job of building this series up to this point. Everyone always talks about how Cesaro is under utilized and held back, but even though Sheamus has had the top spot on more than one occasion, I don't think the fans give him enough credit for being able to deliver great matches. These guys have been telling some great stories throughout these bouts and this match has been a great culmination of those previous fights. We[ve seen them come back to some of the same spots that ended previous fights, but it not be enough this time around. I can really appreciate the way this match has been constructed. That dive out of the ring from Cesaro got me really worried. I was glad to see him continue on. I hated the ending. These matches have been great, but I wanted to see an ending to this story they've been telling. Whatever it was that happened there at the end, it was major cop-out. The only way they make this right for me, Iron Man match at the next PPV. This match would have score much higher, but that ending just really brought me down. Match Rating: 3.5/5.
(S): Brutal, that's what this was. That suicide dive needs to go, he looked like he broke his neck. They definitely made this match more interesting than I thought it'd be prior to the ppv. That ending though. So far for dusty finishes we are 2/3. That isn't a good rate. Hopefully this isn't a theme. 3/5

Backstage segment: Bailey and Charlotte

(J): Just what I want to see on a PPV, more back stage segments of stuff they already did on Raw.
(S): Less of this please. I like Bayley, just let her be Bayley.

Credit: WWE.com

Credit: WWE.com

Match #4 - Sami Zayne vs Chris Jericho

(J): This was a great match, but I'm really surprised that Jericho picked up the win here, especially so cleanly. Both of these guys have a similar style and I think they worked really well together. They had some great spots, and Jericho didn't come across as the whiny Jericho that we've seen lately. I know Sami is supposed to be the "underdog from the underground", but if he doesn't pick up a substantial win soon, he might as well be six feet underground. Match Rating: 3.5/5
(S): Great Match, and I love current Jericho, but he didn't need the win. Wtf are they even doing with Zayne? 3/5

Interlude

(J): Please stop showing that gods awful KFC commercial!
(S):I agree

Backstage Segment: KO with the Comish and GM

(J): This was entertaining, but unnecessary. This is a PPV, let's just get to the matches. I don't want a backstage story segnent unless it's something incredibly entertaining or vital to the story. This was neither.
(S): I'm actually getting tired of these. I hope they do some shake ups with Foley and Steph and maybe make Steph go away and save her for special occasions like here. I thought that was the point of the double authority figures was the Mcmahons would be off doing corporate and special appearances while Foley and Bryan were the weekly guys. The authority figure overload is boring.

Match #5 - WWE Women's Championship: Bayley vs Sasha Banks vs Dana Brooke and Charlotte

Credit: WWE.com

(J): This match had some really great high points, but I feel like putting an extra competitor was a hindrance here more so than adding anything worthwhile. Especially given the ending. I really think that the only reason that Bayley should have been in this match was if they decided to put the belt on her. The Moon Sault from Charlotte though was incredible. She gets some major height on those things. Match Rating: 3/5.
(S); TOO MUCH INTERFERENCE. Seriously, Out of 5 matches we have had shifty and interference endings in 3 of them now. Also if triple threats are no dq to the point Dana can just get involved whenever, why did she not just get in and beat someone down a bunch? How does any heel ever lose a triple threat? I mean I would come in with 3 dudes and ball bats and never lose one of these. It's a mar on what was otherwise a good match. 2.5/5

Credit: WWE.com

Credit: WWE.com

Match #6 - United States Championship: Roman Reigns vs Rusev

(J): This was a really good match. I enjoyed the story they told here and I was glad to see Reigns win and win in a legit way. No interferrence, nothing shady, just Roman exploding with that Spear for a 3 count. I agree with what Stew has said about his moves: he needs a new finisher, or at least the Superman punch needs to become an out of nowhere type of move as a set up rather than set up the Superman punch to set up the Spear. Rusev is a beast, and I hope we get to see him involved in another good storyline coming up. Match Rating: 3.5/5
(S): Decent match, but their raw match prior to Summerslam was maybe better. Surprised Reigns took this, but they did the classic manager gets ejected. Oddly enough she should have forced the DQ rather than getting ejected, but as always in wwe rules are fluid. I presume rematch at Hell in a Cell. Also, even though she got thrown out there was still shenanigans here so out of 6 matches we have 4 shifty/dusty finishes. Not good. 3.5/5

Credit: WWE.com

Credit: WWE.com

Match #7 - WWE Universal Championship: Seth Rollins vs Kevin Owens

(J): Finally we get to the main event (it felt like it took forever to get here), and this truly is the main event. This is probably one of the two or three matchs I was most looking forward to tonight, and these two delivered. I was surprised to see Owens so dominate in the early going of this match. I loved the Foleyesque elbow drop from Owens off the ring apron. Then the ref bites it and all the hard work these two put in to making this a classic match up goes right down the crapper. These two put themselves through this much for the sake of putting on a helluva show, and you end it like this? Shame... Match rating: 3/5 (probably wold have been a 4.5 or even a 5 if it weren't for that ending).
(S): Great match for the first bit, then as this PPV has shown, in no surprise interference AND a ref bump leads to Owens going over. So for intereference/dusty finishes we are at a total of 5/7. That's terrible. 3/5
FINAL THOUGHTS:
(J): First of all, I like that they went back to Claschof Champions rather than Night of Champions. I like this little nod back to the hay day of WCW. However, perhaps this was a bad thing, because I felt like I was watching an episode of Nitro. Do Pay-per-views mean anything any more? I feel like nothing really happens other than one or two segments that actually carry some weight over to the next show. Too much was left unanswered. They had a whole month to develop this one, and I konw the loss of Balor set them back a bit, but seriously, why did we leave so many loose ends? The matches promised great things, but the execution left this Payperview being less than the sum of it's parts. Overall Ratiing: 3/5,
(S): Oddly Backlash was much more PPV than this was. Outside of a few talents Smackdown has been the better show week after week and was definitely the better PPV. I find that amusing seeing as everyone was saying the opposite would be true and that Raw got all the star power. This show proves that it wasn't the case as none of these men wowed me tonight, and the writing was atrocious. These guys have the ability to outwrestle some of the greats and this is what they are given to work with? Too much dusty finishes and no resolutions to any storyline except MAYBE Zayne/Jericho. I am not excited for Raw to be honest and that is what this show should make me. 2.5/5 overall as the grade of the matches put at a 3 but the overrall phoned in nature and dusty finishes downgrades it.