Welp, another WWE PPV is oncoming… that means a recap from me and a preview before that, so let’s get to it! Sadly the King of the Ring finals, long advertised to be part of this event, have been pulled as of this past week, and will instead be taking place on Raw the night after. Still, we have a multitude of title matches going on so let’s not waste anymore time!
Triple Threat For The WWE Cruiserweight Championship: Drew Gulak (c) vs. Humberto Carrillo vs. Lince Dorado
This will of course be an exciting, fun match that the Charlotte, North Carolina crowd almost certainly will not care about. But hey, I’m always down for the cruiserweights getting to do their thing. This will be cool, but with Triple H outright stating that the cruiserweight division will soon be ingratiated into NXT, perhaps as soon as a few weeks from now after they’ve settled in on USA, I suspect not much will be going down before then. Gulak will almost certainly still be holding the title heading into this new horizon; the next time a new champ will be crowned, it’ll happen with the black-and-gold brand, I’m almost positive of that. Until then, Gulak retains.
WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships: Alexa Bliss & Nikki Cross (c) vs. Fire & Desire
I’ve paid more attention to the weekly Raws and SmackDowns in recent weeks. Whilst I was always a fan of Sonia, I’ve come to see that Mandy Rose has improved a lot as a performer. Or atleast she’s looked pretty good the last few times I’ve seen her. So this is a nice opportunity, and Sonia and Mandy are likely to be tag champs in the future. But I don’t think this is the right time for them to win or for Nikki and Alexa to lose. This is WWE so that doesn’t mean anything, but I’m calling Alexa and Nikki to win.
WWE Intercontinental Championship: Shinsuke Nakamura (c) vs. The Miz
The Miz really shocked me earlier this year when he somehow got over as a babyface. I just never woulda seen that coming. Sadly they have capitalized on that as pathetically as possible, with his stock lowering by the month as he was used to get more and more heat on Shane McMahon. He was involved in some nice promo segments with Ziggler but he was an ancillary guy in that whole situation and now he’s here. Shinsuke is now partnered up with Sami Zayn and that being a new alliance, they need to be cemented with a win. Nakamura to win, likely with Sami’s help. Miz will continue to float lower and lower down the totem pole until he inevitably turns heel again, making this whole year feel like a bit of a waste of time for him.
WWE United States Championship: AJ Styles (c) vs. Cedric Alexander
This should be an awesome match, no reason it can’t be. Cedric’s gotten a slow burn push throughout the summer, steadily rising without any huge jumps. But this seems like a fine time to me to go ahead and take that next step. Plus, I’ve only predicted retaining champs thus far, and when you build a show around a ton of titles being defended, some of them have to change! Could be wrong, they may intend to make a longer chase out of this, but I’m gonna say Cedric Alexander over. Provided he stays on the track he’s on, he’ll hold the US title before the end of the year regardless.
WWE SmackDown Tag Team Championships: The New Day (c) vs. The Revival
It’s actually been a couple weeks since we’ve seen Big E and Xavier Woods. The Revival and Randy Orton took them out one by one recently, leaving Kofi all by his lonesome. But they’ve never stopped advertising this match so they’re sure to show up, in some form of health. This one is a bit of a crapshoot, could see it going either way. But I think when you look at the tag roster on SmackDown, it’s blatantly obvious that Heavy Machinery should be vying for these titles, they probably should’ve already won them by now. So getting it on a heel team sooner than later makes a lot of sense, I can see that being a feud that closes out the year. And losing these belts won’t hurt New Day’s stock one iota. Revival to win.
WWE SmackDown Women’s Championship: Bayley (c) vs. Charlotte
When Bayley turned heel, to the biggest babyface pop she’s received since her call up to the main roster, it was quite the bit of deja vu to Becky Lynch’s turn on Charlotte last year. The thought that they would then run with a heel Bayley against a babyface Charlotte seemed laughable. But they did atleast have the good sense to put this match on in the Carolinas, in the city Charlotte took her name from no less. So maybe she’ll have their support. As for who wins… hrm. It’s tricky because the women’s title feuds have become intrinsically linked, so who wins almost depends on the other. Do both sides continue having the same titles, do they swap, or do both titles end up on one or the other? They could go in any of these directions on the night and it’d make sense. But Bayley did just turn… so with that in mind I’ll say Bayley retains.
No Disqualification: Erick Rowan vs. Roman Reigns
This angle was weird. There’s no getting around that. They have no idea what the motivations are for why Rowan repeatedly tried to kill Roman Reigns and as such they’re staying as vague about it as they possibly can. So that was silly and this match will probably be distinctly average, though I could see Rowan surprising people. But odds are it’ll just be okay. As for who wins, well… they really wanna elevate Rowan right now, that’s clear. For once they don’t seem to have a lot planned for Roman Reigns. And I’m not sure anybody really buys that Daniel Bryan has been on the up-and-up this whole angle, there’s reason to think their split was a bit of a hoax. This being No DQ, it’d be easy to see Bryan coming into play and costing Roman… and I think that pretty much is what I see. So, amazingly, Erick Rowan over. This will easily be the prediction that looks the silliest if it’s wrong, but I hope you can see where I’m coming from.
WWE Championship: Kofi Kingston (c) vs. Randy Orton
Through the summer, the angle between these two was maybe slogging along. But I gotta say, this feud has been pretty good over the last month or so. Some hot moments, nice twists… and that go-home SmackDown with Kofi recreating the MSG Boom Drop was pretty lovely. So it’s got the chance to go out on a high note here, and I really think it should, it’s definitely time to get the blowoff to this, one way or the other. As for who wins… well, Randy Orton has actually still not re-signed with WWE, even though they’ve been trying to get him to since February according to some reports. That’s pretty mental. His contract is thought to expire in January of 2020.
They’ve given him a significant push again by having him chase this WWE title for so long, which one would think is atleast somewhat motivated by trying to get him to sign again. But while they’ve given the Revival a few tag title runs to try and goad them to re-sign, I’m not sure I can see it happening with the WWE title. I just don’t think you give a world title to someone who might not be here in like four months. So, yeah. Kofi Kingston to win and prove once and for all that he is not stupid.
WWE Raw Women’s Championship: Becky Lynch (c) vs. Sasha Banks
All things considered, this has a chance to headline. Sasha Banks has been a pretty hot property since coming back, helping give Becky some of her steam back in the process. And mind you, Becky did main event WrestleMania this year. You could definitely make the argument that this should main event over either of the world title programs. That said, and in going with a bit of a theme here, Sasha had the big return that could use some solidification and I think if Bayley retains earlier in the night, odds are good they’ll have both her and Sasha hoisting the gold aloft together. So I’m predicting a Sasha Banks title win.
WWE Raw Tag Team Championship: Seth Rollins & Braun Strowman (c) vs. Bobby Roode & Dolph Ziggler
I’m not sure there’s a soul alive that expects Rollins and Braun to retain their titles heading into their Universal title match. In fact, it’s to the point where if they actually stay on the same page and defeat Roode and Ziggler, I’d be tempted to call it a swerve. Ultimately, there’s just no particular reason they even needed to have those titles to begin with, and there will be even less reason for them to hold them after this show. Roode and Ziggler to win, by hook or by crook. I also suspect that regardless of where it ends up on the card, this match will immediately precipitate said Universal title match.
WWE Universal Championship: Seth Rollins (c) vs. Braun Strowman
How we get here, who turns on who, I don’t entirely know though Braun seems a much more likely candidate. I doubt he’d get booed too much doing it anyway though, this is the guy who literally became a star babyface due to destroying Roman Reigns. Anyway, it’s sort of interesting to look at this, because I’ve always wanted Braun to hold a world title for atleast a brief period, but never totally expected it. And I wasn’t reeeaaally thinking it’d happen when this was first announced either. But looking ahead… we already know the Fiend will be challenging the winner at Hell In A Cell.
I expect the Fiend to win that match, wholeheartedly. And one would think Rollins would be a guy who would challenge the Fiend later, moreso than be the guy who drops the title to him in the first place. Just judging by how Seth’s been used this year, that makes more sense to me. Plus it’s an easy thing to sell, the spectacle of seeing Braun Strowman and The Fiend inside Hell In A Cell. Now of course this is WWE where all plans can change at the drop of a hat, so however neatly things seem to be falling into place, they can always get bungled on the way down. Still… everything’s falling into place for a Braun Strowman victory. So that’s, amazingly, what I find myself predicting here.
You could say I’m being a bit bold with some of these predictions but I’m not afraid to do that. I also realize that I’m technically only claiming two clear-cut babyface victories here, but I think people will be pleased to see Braun and Sasha become champions, so it wouldn’t really feel as heel-heavy as it might be on paper. That’s my theory anyway.
Clash of Champions’ pre-show airs 5PM CT, with the main show beginning at 6 PM CT. It of course broadcasts live on the WWE Network.
