WWE Clash of Champions (September 2020)

  

Original Airdate: September 27, 2020

From Orlando, Florida; Your Hosts are Tom Phillips, Byron Saxton, and Samoa Joe (RAW); Michael Cole and Corey Graves (Smackdown)

Opening WWE Intercontinental Title Ladder Match: Jeff Hardy v Sami Zayn v AJ Styles: Hey, if you're going to copy an angle, why not one of the best, that also led to one of the all-time great matches? Hardy gets control of the match first, but AJ nails him with a baseball slide while he's trying to bring a ladder in, and Styles adds a plancha on the floor. He goes for the ladder, but Zayn dives at him with a slingshot moonsault press out there, and he chucks a ladder at them both. Jeff gets control as they head into the ring, but a dive off the middle misses, and the champion crashes into a ladder. AJ grabs Zayn for a whip into a corner leaning ladder, and he climbs, but Zayn pulls him down. AJ responds with a pele kick, and he climbs again, but this time Jeff meets him at the top to slug it out. AJ wins the exchange, but Jeff still manages to pull him off, and deliver an inverted atomic drop, followed by a seated dropkick. Zayn rushes in to dump Hardy to the outside before he can climb, and he suplexes AJ into a ladder for good measure. Zayn climbs, but Hardy is back to pull him off, and he dumps him to the outside - only for Sami to hold on to the ankle, and drag Jeff right out with him. Hardy takes a trip into the barricade, and AJ tries springboarding off of the steps at him, but misses. That allows Jeff to hit a springboard leg lariat, but Sami is ready with the Helluva Kick the moment Hardy turns around. Man, he just brutalized him with that one. Zayn heads in to climb, but takes forever, and AJ knocks him off by chucking a mini ladder like a spear. That was pretty cool. Or, at least it looked like it was before they ruined it with a replay from another angle that totally exposes that the ladder missed. Why do that? AJ climbs, but Jeff comes up the other side for another slugfest - ending in the ladder tipping, and both guys going down. That allows Zayn to climb, so AJ tries diving with the Phenomenal Forearm, but Sami shoves the ladder at him to block. Zayn tries again, but this time Jeff pulls him off for the twist of fate. Jeff climbs, but Sami tips the ladder, and despite Hardy's best efforts, he ends up taking a spill to the outside. Did Jeff every have a ladder match with Kofi Kingston? I feel like that might be a real show. AJ hits Sami with a sliced bread on the floor, and he tries building a ladder plank between the apron and the announce table, but it keeps collapsing. He finally gets it to work, but Hardy attacks before he can put Zayn through it. Hardy climbs a ladder to dive at planked Sami himself, and he actually puts him through it with the Swanton Bomb. I'm honestly surprised, I thought for sure Zayn would dodge. I mean, it only took, like, forty minutes to set up. AJ climbs, but Jeff tips the ladder over, and now Sami is back with handcuffs. Well, finally. So he decides to cuff Jeff to a ladder by the ear, then tries cuffing AJ to the ropes, but Styles manages to block. AJ with a vertical suplex, but he's somehow ended up cuffed to Zayn in the process. He tries climbing, but he's anchored to Sami, and it goes nowhere. He decides to fireman carry him up the ladder, but Jeff returns, ladder cuffed to the side of his head like a really crazy accessory. He uses that ladder to stop AJ's climb, but Sami is able to slip past, and grabs the belts at 26:44. This was fine, and had a few unique spots, but overall went on too long, and didn't really tell a story beyond 'you climb, I climb, you climb, I climb.' **

 

WWE RAW Women's Title Match: Asuka v Zelina Vega: Asuka toys with her to start, and she manages to get her in the cross-armbreaker, but Vega makes the ropes. Asuka responds by throwing kicks in the corner, and she takes Vega up for a superplex, but gets blocked. Vega goes after the arm, but she can't get any traction with that, and Asuka knocks her to the outside with a hip attack. Asuka follows to drag her back in, but Vega sends her arm-first into the steps, and that's enough to turn the tide for the challenger. Inside, Vega works the part, so Asuka tries the Asuka-Lock, but Vega counters to a cross-armbreaker. Asuka counters back to the Lock, but Vega shakes her off, so Asuka throws a kick to the belly. Hip attack, but Vega dodges her this time, and hooks a crucifix hold on the ropes. Vega with a headscissors takedown to set up a running kneesmash in the corner for two, but Asuka holds the ropes to block a lungblower. Reversal sequence ends in Vega hitting a kick for two, but another sequence ends in Asuka applying the Lock for the submission at 7:06. This didn't do much for me. ¾*

 

WWE United States Title Match: Bobby Lashley v Apollo Crews: At least it's a different referee this time. But now Ricochet is out there, adding to the bald confusion. They just won't let me have a day, will they? Lashley works the arm, but Crews dumps him to the outside, and dives with a moonsault press on the floor. Apollo uses a turnbuckle smash on the way back in, and he dives with a flying bodypress for two. Cross corner whip, but Lashley reverses, and drops the challenger with a reverse STO for two. Bobby ropechokes him for a while from there, and a vertical suplex gets him two. I've just realized how much Lashley's gear resembles Triple H's from 1995. Apollo bails, so Lashley follows, but gets reversed into the post. That allows Crews a corner splash, so now Lashley bails, but Apollo is on him with a bodypress from the apron. Enzuigiri on the way back in sets up a press-drop, and Crews adds a standing moonsault for two. To the top, but Lashley brings him off with a vertical superplex for two, but Apollo escapes the Dominator, and hits a standing shooting star press. Back to the top for a flying frogsplash, but it only gets two. Criss cross ends in Lashley coming back with a chokeslam, however, and the full-nelson retains at 8:15. ¾*

 

WWE RAW Tag Team Title Match: The Street Profits v Andrade and Angel Garza: The challengers dominate Angelo Dawkins in the early going, but Andrade eats a dropkick, and Montez Ford gets the tag. He comes in with some dropkicks of his own, but ends up missing one, and Garza takes him down for an armbar. The challengers go to work on Ford, until he manages to slip away for the tag, and Roseanne Barr the door. Dawkins runs into a dropkick from Andrade, but Andrade misses the knees in the corner, and Angelo spinebusters him. Andrade's no longer legal though, and Garza uses a Spanish fly off the top on Ford for two. Schoolboy gets two, and it's back to Andrade to finish with the running kneesmash in the corner, but it only gets two. Dawkins with a spinebuster on Andrade for two, but the referee decides it was three, even though it was very, very clearly two. So the champs retain at 8:12. Uh, okay. ¾*

 

WWE Smackdown Women's Title Match: Bayley v Asuka: This is scheduled as Bayley defending against Nikki Cross, but Nikki is not medically cleared to compete (rumored to be due to COVID-19), so Bayley makes an open challenge. Only Bayley's title is on the line here. Asuka blitzes her, and Bayley bails following a German suplex. Asuka drags her back in for a shining wizard, and a hip attack gets the challenger two. Cross-armbreaker, but Bayley shifts to a cradle for two, so Asuka goes to the Asuka-Lock, but Bayley is in the ropes before she can get it applied. Bayley snaps her throat across the middle rope to buy time, and she tackles Asuka for mounted punches. Suplex gets the champion two, and a running kneesmash is worth two. Bayley with a single-arm DDT to set up a dive off the middle, but Asuka uses knees to block, and Bayley ends up on the outside again. Asuka comes at her with a boot, but Bayley dodges, and Asuka wipes out on the apron. Bayley tries capitalizing with a baseball slide, but Asuka sidesteps, and German suplexes her on the floor. Bayley responds by grabbing a chair, and there's the DQ to save the title at 3:39. This felt more like a storyline than a proper match. ¾*

 

WWE Title Ambulance Match: Drew McIntyre v Randy Orton: Drew hammers him with rights hands at the bell, just relentlessly wrecking him. Orton tries to fight him off with the RKO, but McIntyre blocks, so Randy goes down low, and that works a little better. Orton capitalizes with the rope-hung DDT, and then just stands around for an extended period of time afterwards. Not sure what he's thinking there, but it's stupid. So he tries for the punt, but suddenly Big Show is here, and he holds Orton's ankle to prevent it. He pulls Randy to the outside, and chokeslams him through an announce table, then disappears into the night. I see they're wasting no time getting into the overbooking tonight. McIntyre goes to the outside to scoop Orton out of the rubble, and he drops him across the barricade, then starts slowly pounding him around ringside. Slowly being the key word here. They eventually end up at the ambulance, where McIntyre finds a chair to attack Orton with, and apparently it's a special chair because it's got a cross on it. It's a medical chair, folks. So McIntyre unloads, but Orton finds a crutch (a medical crutch) and knocks the weapon away from the champion. Randy chokes him down with the (medical) chair, and he tries getting Drew into the ambulance, but McIntyre reverses. Drew goes for the doors, but Orton kicks him away, and they slug it out - allowing Randy to escape. Orton tries smashing McIntyre's head into the driver's side door, but Drew fights him off, and tries the Claymore Kick, but ends up hitting the door. Smashed that puppy right off, too. Would have never happened if it was a Toyota. They brawl backstage next, where we get another cameo, this time from Christian. He chucks Randy into a catering table, and then disappears into the night. Why don't they stick around? Clearly they have a goal. See it through. McIntyre drags him back out to the arena, and they end up on the hood of the ambulance, where Randy manages to matslam the champ through the windshield. He tries to cover, but of course, there are no counts. Come on, Randy, you should know better than to think you're in a wrestling match. Silly fool. They end up on top of the ambulance, where Orton continues beating the hell out of him, until McIntyre falls off of the vehicle altogether. He's poised to make the kill, but now Shawn Michaels shows up, shoving Orton off of the ambulance and (say it with me) disappearing into the night. McIntyre carries Orton's carcass to the ambulance, but Randy fights him off, and hits a sloppy RKO on the floor. That allows Orton to get him into the ambulance, but he takes his sweet time shutting the doors, and McIntyre recovers. Randy is clearly not a horror movie fan. Drew hits the Claymore, and in Orton goes, but suddenly McIntyre has a change of heart. He decides to deliver his own punt, and that's good enough for him at 21:35. * ½

 

Main Event: WWE Universal Title Match: Roman Reigns v Jey Uso: Finally, a match where I can tell the Usos apart. Reigns toys with him to start, but Uso keeps fighting back, making Roman angrier and angrier. Reigns clotheslines him down for two, and Jey is begging off, but Roman ropechokes him until Uso falls out of the ring. Reigns follows to beat his cousin around ringside, and a smash into the announce table gets him two on the way back in. Reigns grabs a headlock, but Jey fights to a vertical base, and hits a Samoan drop for two. One of the most literal uses of that move, ever. Jey with a charge, but Reigns blocks with the Superman Punch, and Uso wisely rolls to the outside. Reigns follows for a slugfest, which he wins, and he takes Jey in to cover for two. Roman continues to pound him while also verbally abusing his cousin, but Jey stays in the game. He manages to shove Roman into the turnbuckles to get some traction, and a clothesline knocks Reigns over the top. Uso dives with a tope, and he hustles Reigns back in to hit with an enzuigiri - knocking Roman right back to the outside for another tope! Uso with a flying bodypress for two on the way back in, and a superkick is worth two. Uso goes back upstairs, but Reigns dodges a dive, and hits an inverted rocker dropper for two. Spear, but Uso counters with a cradle for two, and hits another superkick to set up a flying splash for two. Reigns still recovers first, and hits the spear on this go-around, clobbering his cousin. No cover, however, since he wants Jey to give him respect before he'll allow it to end. Jey doesn't play ball, so Reigns spears him again, and then talks some serious trash, but still no cover. Instead, he mounts Uso with punches, until even the referee just wants him to end it, but that just pisses Roman off more. He starts beating Jey with headbutts next, like Daniel Day-Lewis in Gangs of New York, but still no cover. Uso's selling here needs work. He's not getting the facial expressions over correctly. So Roman keeps hammering until Jimmy Uso shows up to throw in the towel for his brother, but Jey won't allow it. More mounted punches from Roman finally prompt Jimmy to throw in the towel, ending it at 22:57. I enjoyed parts of this tremendously, and they clearly have great chemistry, but this felt about ten minutes longer than it needed to be. This was basically a twenty three minute squash. ** ½

 

BUExperience: My patience with WWE has worn so thin at this point that I'm not sure there's even any left.

DUD