Results, Recap, Review of WWE Clash of Champions 2019

Tonight was the annual Clash of Champions Pay-Per-View and finally the show returns to form with EVERY SINGLE TITLE on the line. Going into tonight I was genuinely excited because the possibility for some new champions and new stories were upon us. Before I begin my thoughts on tonight’s show here are the results of Clash of Champions:

-Kickoff Show: Drew Gulak defeated Humberto Carrillo and Lince Dorado to retain the WWE Cruiserweight Championship
-Kickoff Show: AJ Styles defeated Cedric Alexander to retain the WWE United States Championship
-Robert Roode and Dolph Ziggler defeated Seth Rollins and Braun Strowman to become the new WWE Raw Tag Team Champions
-Bayley defeated Charlotte Flair to retain the WWE Smackdown Women’s Championship
-The Revival defeated The New Day to become the new WWE Smackdown Tag Team Champions
-Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross defeated Fire and Desire to retain the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships
-Shinsuke Nakamura defeated The Miz to retain the WWE Intercontinental Championship
-Sasha Banks defeated Becky Lynch by DQ. (Lynch Retains)
-Kofi Kingston defeated Randy Orton to retain the WWE Championship
-Erick Rowan defeated Roman Reigns
-Seth Rollins defeated Braun Strowman to retain the WWE Universal Championship

The Kickoff Show had two incredible match that were definitely worthy of being on the main show. Drew Gulak, Humberto Carrillo and Lince Dorado showed why 205 Live and the Cruiserweights don’t get the credit and recognition they deserve. It’s being heavily reported that the Cruiserweight Championship will be moving 205 Live by the end of the year, which I am all four. It will give the title the prestige it deserves. Speaking of the cruiserweights, former Cruiserweight Champion Cedric Alexander challenged AJ Styles for the WWE United States Champion. Guys like Alexander, Ali and Buddy Murphy have proven how great the talent is in the Cruiserweight Division. Even though Cedric lost in his hometown, I expect some big things from him going forward.

The opening match was for the Raw Tag Team Championships where Universal Champion Seth Rollins teamed with his challenger later in the night Braun Strowman and took on Robert Roode and Dolph Ziggler. There was a lot of tension in the match due to Rollins and Strowman having a match against each later on. Roode and Ziggler took advantage of the tension to capture the Raw Tag Team Championships. Cedric Alexander wasn’t the only hometown hero in action. Charlotte Flair challenged Bayley for the Smackdown Women’s Championship. Bayley has had an attitude change since Sasha Banks has come back. That attitude lead her to a victory where she successfully retained her title. The mean girls version of Sasha and Bayley has been quite interesting and I can’t wait to see where it goes.

The tag team division on both shows is so different. Raw always seems to have makeshift tag teams in the spotlight where as Smackdown has solid teams who have been together for years. The New Day and The Revival have shown one again that tag team wrestling should be showcased more. With The Revival winning the Smackdown Tag Titles, they become the first team to win the NXT, Raw, and Smackdown Tag Titles. The tag team action continued with Fire and Desire challenging Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross for the Women’s Tag Team Championships. Both of these teams have been a lot of fun to watch and I am happy that they are doing more with the titles. I am hoping they continue to throw teams at Bliss and Cross and that their challengers are taken seriously.

One person that I am glad that’s being taken seriously again is Shinsuke Nakamura. There was a time period that Nakamura wasn’t been used correctly or sometimes not at all. He’s being guided by Sami Zayn, which is one of the wildest and most creative pairings I’ve seen in quite sometime. I am glad Nakamura is running with the Intercontinental Championship, but he needs more challengers to step up to him. I’d love to see Aleister Black, Buddy Murphy, Cesaro and others be contenders to the legendary championship. One championship that has been more than elevated since Wrestlemania is the Raw Women’s Title. Becky Lynch has taken all challengers and has delivered every step of the way. Now that Sasha Banks is back, Becky and her had an incredible match. I absolutely love how their match went down because it setup for the story to continue. My prediction is it will continue inside Hell in a Cell.

Arguably, the best story of the year has been Kofi Kingston’s WWE Championship win at Wrestlemania. The one thing that’s made the story even better is putting Orton in the path of Kingston. The history these two have had goes back way ten years and they reopened that history, which had made for awesome television. Their story translated into the ring tonight and it was honestly one of the best matches that both men have had in their careers. With Kofi Kingston winning, it makes me wonder who Kofi’s next challenger will be. There is a whole locker room full of people who would love a WWE Championship match. Another intriguing story over the summer has been the attacker of Roman Reign, who turned out to be Erick Rowan. I was very confused by all of it, but tonight was literally the best match of Rowan’s WWE career to this point. Not only was it the best match of his career, he also won with the help of a returning Luke Harper. It appears the former Wyatt Family members and Bludgeon Brothers are back together again.

The Main Event of Clash of Champions was for the WWE Universal Championship as champion Seth Rollins defended against Braun Strowman. Earlier in the night, Rollins and Strowman lost the tag team championships which led to a lot of tension before their singles match. This was an incredible match that Seth Rollins ultimately won and held on to the WWE Universal Championship in the process. Before Seth could get into his celebration, he was attacked by “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt which is setting up the rumored Hell in a Cell match. At the end of the night, I have to give Clash of Champions a 7 out of 10. The matches were solid, but nothing out of the ordinary happened except for the return of Luke Harper. I really feel like WWE dropped the ball with Braun Strowman once again. He’s been in six WWE Universal Championship matches in the last two years and has lost every single one of them. It’s hard for a superstar to move up, build momentum and be taken seriously if you don’t pull the trigger and let them loose.

Going into Hell in a Cell in three weeks, there a lot of guys who have nothing on right now. You have talent like Ali, Aleister Black, Buddy Murphy, Ricochet, Cesaro, Samoa Joe and others that should be featured on a consistent basis. I hope going forward they start using these guys better as well the guys they are holding back like Braun Strowman. Tonight, Championships were defended but momentum was killed for several superstars.