Sports
WWE Clash of Champions 2020 Results: Reviewing Top Highlights and Low Points
0 of 7Credit: WWE.comNo night in the WWE year features more gold on the line than Clash of Champions, where every title on the main roster is up for grabs.By featuring the Superstars who are supposed to be the best of the best, it’s a show that should easily be among the greatest of the…
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- Cesaro and Shinsuke Nakamura defeated Lucha House Party by pinfall to retain the SmackDown Tag Team Championship.
- Triple Threat Ladder Match: Sami Zayn defeated AJ Styles and Jeff Hardy to win the Intercontinental Championship.
- Drew Gulak pinned R-Truth to win the 24/7 Championship.
- Asuka defeated Zelina Vega by submission to retain the Raw Women's Championship.
- Bobby Lashley defeated Apollo Crews by submission to retain the United States Championship.
- The Street Profits defeated Andrade and Angel Garza by pinfall to retain the Raw Tag Team Championship.
- R-Truth pinned Drew Gulak to win the 24/7 Championship.
- Asuka defeated Bayley by disqualification.
- Ambulance Match: Drew McIntyre defeated Randy Orton to retain the WWE Championship.
- Roman Reigns defeated Jey Uso via Jimmy Uso throwing in the towel to retain the Universal Championship.
Credit: WWE.com
No night in the WWE year features more gold on the line than Clash of Champions, where every title on the main roster is up for grabs.
By featuring the Superstars who are supposed to be the best of the best, it's a show that should easily be among the greatest of the year. However, all the potential in the world doesn't necessarily mean it's a guaranteed success. It's all in the execution.
Now that the event has ended, how did things play out? What were the standout moments of the night, for better or worse?
Presented in order of appearance, here is a breakdown of some of the highlights and low points of Clash of Champions 2020.
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Credit: WWE.com
WWE Clash of Champions 2020 Results
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Credit: WWE.com
Clash of Champions should be the night where every title is on the line and that was the original plan, but two matches had to be cut from the show.
WWE pivoted as best it could by changing the narrative of the night to “every match is a title match”—the best possible way to reframe things. But its still a shame no better replacement ideas were put in place.
Technically, Bayley did defend the SmackDown Women's Championship with an open challenge answered by Asuka, but it was short and ended in a disqualification. That was somewhat of a waste, but probably all WWE could scrounge together.
Nothing happened to compensate for the lack of the Women's Tag Team Championship match. Then again, depending on which of those Superstars were out of commission, we don't know what options were available.
In any case, the card being forced to change like this was nothing but a downer.
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Credit: WWE.com
When you take three Superstars as talented as Jeff Hardy, AJ Styles and Sami Zayn and put them in a ladder match, you can't go wrong. This was an obvious show-stealer that kicked things off in a fantastic way.
Minus the ruckus crowd, this had all the necessary ingredients for a great ladder match. All three men walked in with credibility and the likelihood to win. At various times, any of them seemed like they had it in the bag, too.
But the most important element is always the spots. Thankfully, this had many instances of Zayn bouncing around like he was made of rubber, Hardy proving he's perpetually a daredevil and Styles holding down the fort.
The icing on the cake was Zayn handcuffing Hardy's ear to a ladder. Innovative moments like that stand out and make matches like this feel much more special.
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Credit: WWE.com
With the way Zelina Vega's been booked so far in her WWE career, her shot at the Raw Women's Championship could have easily been a squash.
WWE didn't do much to build her credibility as No. 1 contender, so it was clear she was going to lose. However, she put up more of a fight than expected, which made for a much more interesting match.
At a few points, it almost seemed like she could steal a victory. Those moments of doubt surely got the WWE Universe thinking twice about counting her out as a given to lose.
Of course, she ultimately did come up short. But when two Superstars like Asuka and Vega can get as good of a match as they did out of such little effort from the writing team to set it up, it's a win.
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Credit: WWE.com
Cesaro and Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Lucha House Party has happened more times in the past few months than worth keeping track of. Without the undeniable, true split of Kalisto and Lince Dorado, there wasn't anything to that segment worth getting invested in.
Bobby Lashley and Apollo Crews fight each other in some fashion at least every episode of Raw and have been feuding for months. They did nothing we haven't already seen, so if you skipped it, you didn't miss anything.
When it comes to the Raw Tag Team Championship match, it's even worse. The Street Profits have been feuding with Andrade and Angel Garza since WrestleMania. Literally any other makeup of Superstars would have been more interesting than the exact same match for the fifth time in two months.
On top of that, it seems Garza may have been injured, resulting in a botched finish due to miscommunication of the referee ending things while Andrade thought he should still kick out. Either that, or this is WWE's means of prolonging this feud even longer by saying The Street Profits didn't truly win. Both outcomes are terrible.
Pay-per-views used to feel special with matches that don't happen all the time. That was the incentive to spend money on the big events. But when WWE's philosophy these days is to just copy and paste everything for months on end, there's no incentive to keep tuning in to the reruns.
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Credit: WWE.com
There was a lot of animosity heading into the Ambulance Match for the WWE Championship and some of it wasn't even just between Drew McIntyre and Randy Orton.
One of the most fun aspects of this match was seeing Big Show, Christian, Shawn Michaels and Ric Flair return to get some revenge on The Legend Killer for his attacks in recent months. That helped bring closure to multiple storylines and even gives Orton an out to say McIntyre didn't win fair and square.
The King of Claymore Country kicking off the ambulance's door and the windshield spot were two other standout moments in what was a rock solid title match worth going back and checking out if you missed it.
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Credit: WWE.com
Despite Jey Uso always being a tag team specialist, he poured his heart out in this singles match. Fighting above his normal weight class was a tall task that he ultimately failed at, but he did succeed in passing expectations.
This was a fantastic balance of a squash, mixed with a legitimate contest. At no point did Roman Reigns look weak, but he did manage to let Uso get in some good hits to make things interesting.
But the real treat was all the verbal shots The Big Dog took throughout the match. With the match won, he was more interested in getting validation that he's The Tribal Chief than just putting his cousin out of his misery.
Like a true babyface, Uso refused to give up and continued to take a beating until his brother, Jimmy, threw in the towel. He kept his dignity, even in defeat, while Reigns came out of this looking like a true monster.
Reigns is doing arguably the most interesting character work he's ever done and this story with Uso was a phenomenal ride.
Anthony Mango is the owner of the wrestling website Smark Out Moment and the host of the podcast show Smack Talk on YouTube, iTunes and Stitcher. You can follow him on Facebook and elsewhere for more.
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