WWE Clash of Champions (December 2017)

Original Airdate: December 17, 2017

From Boston, Massachusetts; Your Hosts are Tom Phillips, Byron Saxton, and Corey Graves

Opening WWE United States Title Triple Threat Match: Baron Corbin v Dolph Ziggler v Bobby Roode: First fall wins. Man, Mike Chioda got old. Of course, it probably doesn't help his cause that I was just doing a bunch of shows from 1995. Both challengers stomp down Corbin at the bell, and take him outside to dump into the crowd. Back in, Ziggler blocks the Glorious DDT with a backdrop, but runs into an inverted atomic drop, and Roode Russian legsweeps him for two. Corbin pops back up to take both guys out, and he works Roode over in his usual plodding fashion. Sidewalk slam gets two when Ziggler shows up to save, and Roode whacks Corbin with a clothesline, then dives off the middle rope with a somersault neckbreaker for two. Baron bails, so Dolph sneaks up on Bobby with the Zig Zag, but Roode blocks. He tries something off the middle rope again, but Dolph dodges, and hits the rocker dropper for two - Corbin breaking the pin. Baron rips off his shirt at this point, meaning we're treated to the SMILING BELLY BUTTON for the rest of the match. It's a Christmas miracle! He parlays his new strength into Deep Sixing Bobby for two, and we get a tower of doom spot in the corner, with Corbin powerbombing them both off the top for a two count on each. That's the kind of spot that's really neat the first time you see it, but it's appeared in literally every triple threat over the last twenty years, and it's tired. Ziggler tries a superkick on Roode, but gets countered with a rotating spinebuster. Bobby ain't got nothing on Arn Anderson, I'll tell you that. Glorious DDT, but Ziggler reverses for two, so Roode catapults him into the corner, then manages to hit it - only for Corbin to pull him off at two! Baron creams Bobby with a uranage backbreaker out there, but Ziggler stop the End of Days by hitting Baron with the Zig Zag as he's doing his finish, and that's enough to crown a new champion at 12:05. Corbin was dragging this down a lot in the early part of the match, but it got good, and I liked the finish. ** ¾

WWE Smackdown Tag Team Title Fatal Four-Way Match: The Usos v The New Day v Chad Gable and Shelton Benjamin v Rusev and Aiden English: What a weird collection of teams. First fall wins, but unlike the usual rules, each team is allowed a guy in at once. That quickly turns into a big brawl between all eight men, with is an excuse to set up a bunch of dives to the outside. Shelton nails Jimmy Uso with a nice overhead superplex, but Big E breaks up the cover, and New Day gang up on Benjamin. A man from every other team conveniently ends up down in three corners, so the New Day start doing a merry-go-round of abuse, but Rusev gets tired of that, and takes Kingston's head off with a kick. Shelton grabs Kofi for a side suplex/flying elbowdrop combo with Gable for two, as the referee restores order with only four men in again. And despite having four bodies in the ring, what do they do? Chinlocks! English looks really weird for a WWE guy, between his thinning hair, pale skin, and scrawny frame. Basically, he looks like a normal human. I mean, Gable looks like a superstar next to him, to put things into perspective. The match kind of chugs along without any real direction, until Shelton starts killing everyone with powerbombs to give Gable a chance to put Jey Uso away with a Texas cloverleaf. Unfortunately for them, Aiden sweeps Benjamin to the outside for a DDT on the floor, and Rusev breaks the hold. He slaps the Accolade on Chad, but Big E saves. Midnight Hour for Rusev, but English prevents it from happening, and Rusev boots Big E for two. Accolade for Big E, but Chad breaks it up with a German suplex on Rusev, then one for an incoming English. Big E takes a ridiculously cool rollup into a German suplex, but Jey saves Jimmy from taking the same, and a pair of superkicks put Gable down for a flying splash from Jimmy to retain at 12:53. I liked the unique twist on the rules, but the match felt like just a collection of spots, and was hard to follow or get lost in. * ¾

WWE Smackdown Women's Title Lumberjill Match: Charlotte Flair v Natalya: I like how they're running literally the same angle on both Smackdown and RAW with the Riot Squad and Absolution. They even all look alike! There's also so much damn filler on these shows. Like, we've only seen thirty minutes of wrestling so far, but we're over an hour into the show by the time this starts. Natalya keeps dumping Charlotte to the outside for the lumberjills to abuse, and she gets her back inside for a chinlock. Natalya works her over in very dull fashion, but misses a baseball slide, and ends up on the outside. She's calmly helped back in by Carmella, and Charlotte greets her with chops, but Natalya pulls her off the ropes as Flair climbs for a moonsault. Sharpshooter, but Flair blocks, and hooks a schoolgirl for two. Big boot leads to the Figure Four, but Natalya shoves her to the outside to block, and the lumberjills go nuts again. Only Naomi isn't gunning for the champ, and saves her with a springboard bodypress onto everyone. Still, the damage is done, and Natalya gets the Sharpshooter on as they head in, but Flair makes the ropes. The lumberjills pull her out to beat down again, and Carmella teases cashing in her Money in the Bank briefcase, which leads to a brawl between all the women. Charlotte dives onto everyone with a flying moonsault press, and even though there are literally eight targets, she still barely grazes them. They're kind enough to all topple over like bowling pins anyway, bless their hearts. Inside, Natalya goes for the Sharpshooter again, but Flair counters to the Figure Eight, and we're done at 10:31. Seriously? It was, like, seven on one, and Natalya couldn't put her away? These two are capable of having a great match together, but this again failed to live up to their potential. ½*

Breezango v The Bludgeon Brothers: Harper starts with Tyler Breeze, and immediately destroys him, while Rowan stalks Fandango on the outside. The Brothers block everything thrown at them during a brawl on the outside, and a tandem slam finishes Fandango at a brisk 1:56. This was like some old school TV squash match from twenty five years ago. DUD

Randy Orton and Shinsuke Nakamura v Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn: Both Shane McMahon and Daniel Bryan both act as special guest referees, and if Owens and Zayn lose, they are fired. That seems like a wrongful termination suit just waiting to happen. Orton and Zayn start, with Randy dominating the early exchanges. Over to Nakamura to trade armbars with Sami, until Kevin tags in, and goes to town in Nakamura in the corner. Nakamura manages a snapmare to set up a kneedrop for two, and he passes back to Orton to unload some uppercuts. He hits a really sloppy matslam (his hand slipped, resulting in Owens basically slamming himself without Randy even touching him - sometimes HD isn't a good thing), but Sami fires off a cheap shot to help his partner. Man, they're really keeping it in low gear so far, aren't they? They cut the ring in half on Orton, and if this were the 90s, there would be a loud 'boring' chant right about now. Luckily today’s fans have smart phones to keep them occupied. Randy gets away from Sami long enough to tag, and Nakamura comes in hot on Owens. Well, in the general sense. The crowd isn't responding in any way that would make you use the word 'hot.' Am I the only one who finds it weird that the main color scheme for everyone in this match is red and black, despite being the Smackdown brand? Do we need to send you clowns to a corporate synergy seminar? Nakamura gets hit with the Blue Thunder Bomb for two, and Sami uses a drop-toehold to set up a senton from Owens, but Orton runs in to break the resulting cover. Owens tries another senton, but Nakamura lifts his knees to block, and both guys make tags. Randy exploder suplexes Sami, and vertical superplexes him, so Owens tries running in, but Nakamura cuts him off. What's up with that weird tripod thing at ringside all night? Things spill to the outside, where Owens frogsplashes Nakamura through an announce table, but Zayn walks into a rope-hung DDT from Orton on the way back in. RKO hits, but Owens shoves Bryan over into Shane to prevent the three count from happening. That leads to a big argument, with Owens trying to sneak attack Orton, but also eating an RKO. However, Zayn has recovered enough to try a small package, and they do a nice sequence where they each reverse the cradle for nearfalls. Sami with a schoolboy, but Shane refuses to count three, leading to an argument with Bryan. That gets the biggest reaction from the crowd thus far. Randy recovers and tries another RKO, but Sami counters with a schoolboy, and Bryan gives him his three count at 21:34. It's almost impressive to be able to book four wrestlers of this caliber, and get such a boring match. *

Main Event: WWE Title Match: AJ Styles v Jinder Mahal: Dark and desperate times are these, when I'm investing hope that a Jinder Mahal match is going to save a show. AJ goes after the knee early on to take control, but gets thrown around when they spill to the outside, and takes a bump into the barricade to hurt his abdomen. Inside, Jinder capitalizes with a bodyscissors, followed by an abdominal stretch. Looks like we're settling in for another boring twenty minute match tonight. AJ fights back with the Phenomenal Forearm, but Mahal manages to shake the ropes to block, and Styles falls across the top, abdomen first. Mahal with a gutbuster for two, but AJ counters a superplex with an electric chair, and pounds him with a seated forearm smash. Styles with a stinger splash, and he fights through his pain to execute a fireman's neckbreaker for two. Styles Clash, but Jinder railroads him into the corner to block, and pop-up flapjacks the champion for two. Suplex, but Styles counters with a bridging northern lights version for two, only to have another seated forearm smash blocked. Mahal drops him like a Samoan for two, but the cobra clutch is countered with the pele kick. AJ follows up with a tornado DDT, but Jinder tosses him front-first onto the mat to block, and blasts him with a big boot for two. He slaps on a cobra clutch in the corner, but AJ again uses a pele kick to save himself, and he manages the springboard 450 splash, but the Singh Brothers stop him from covering. AJ dives out after them with a plancha, and then dives back in at Jinder with the Phenomenal Forearm, but he misses. That allows Mahal a high knee, and the cobra slam looks to finish, but Styles gets a shoulder up at two. I've never thought so before, but Mahal's increasingly frizzy hair is making him look like a dead wringer for Sayid on Lost tonight. He tries to powerbomb Styles, but AJ counters into the Calf Crusher, and it's enough to retain at 22:56. Psychologically sound, but like watching paint dry for the most part. * ¼

BUExperience: I guess we were all on the naughty list this year.


DUD