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Twenty-Five Things I Learned From WWE Clash of Champions 2017 by Brandon Lasher

By Brandon Lasher • Published 18th December 2017
TJR Wrestling

Welcome to my very sarcastic analysis of another WWE Smackdown PPV, Clash of Champions. It has been a while since I learned things from WWE pay-per-views, but I figured it was time to do it again. After all, I have to be around to bid a fond farewell to the Jinder Mahal main event push right? It won’t be missed.

It was an average pay-per-view in Boston on Sunday night. I didn’t really hate it or love it. What did I learn from the proceedings in the last WWE pay per view of 2017? It was some interesting things I guess.

Twenty-Five Things I Learned From WWE Clash of Champions 2017

1.) Did anyone really miss David Otunga on these pre-shows? Does he really add anything to the product?

2.) I learned that Sam Roberts compared the break-up of Mojo Rawley and Zack Ryder to Shawn Michaels breaking up with Marty Jannety. That is a weird thing to say on many levels. Neither Superstar is worthy of comparison to Shawn Michaels in any reasonable way. And it is truly an insult to compare either to Marty Jannety. Ugh.

3.) Mojo’s new theme song is terrible. I wasn’t a fan of the old, annoying music but his new song screams “generic bad guy theme”. Yawn.

4.) It seems the Triple Threat US Title Match was better when Baron Corbin is not in the match.

5.) The WWE sure loves that top rope Tower of Doom spot don’t they? Is it a requirement of multi-person matches?

6.) I’ll admit Baron Corbin was part of an amazing finishing spot. It can happen.

7.) I learned title matches could still surprise me after years of being a fan. Seeing Dolph Ziggler win a title in 2017 was a surprising and enjoyable shock. He deserves something like this after a tough 2017.

8.) Daniel Bryan asked Shane to talk about their tag match where it was “more private”. Is Bryan one of the few guys in WWE history to actually notice the cameras are in front of him?

9.) This “Rusev Day” gimmick is gold. The crowds have loved it more and more with each passing week. They should turn the team face really soon.

10.) I can rest easy that I now have heard the entire “12 Days of Rusev” song. Thank you Aiden English.

11.) I don’t think The Usos have put as much thought into their “Lock Down” song.

12.) The crowd really wanted Rusev and English to win the tag titles. I hope the WWE was paying attention to the Boston crowd on Sunday night during those great false finishes.

13.) I am starting to think Chad Gable is really good at this wrestling thing. How did he do some of those suplexes?

14.) I learned that the Smackdown has a really solid tag division. It is light years better than what Raw has going on at the moment.

15.) Is this the first time they have called a match with just female wrestlers a “Lumberjack Match”?

16.) Why is it all Lumberjack matches turn into big, chaotic brawls?

17.) Natalya does the whiny heel promo quite well. I am interested to see where it leads her after another title match loss.

18.) I think squash matches are really boring on WWE pay-per-views. Did we really need to see Tyler Breeze and Fandango lose in two minutes?

19.) I think Rowan and Harper gave the most random promo I have heard in a while. But we might get to see matches with The Usos soon. That has always worked out well in the past.

20.) If looks could kill, Dasha would be dead. Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn can say so much with just their expressions.

21.) I learned that Jinder Mahal would be in another pay-per-view main event. It made me sad.

22.) I am not really sure what Orton and Shinsuke have to gain by winning this match. What do they really care if they get Owens and Zayn fired?

23.) Shane McMahon and Daniel Bryan do not know how to count to three properly. However, the finish does a good job of making both leaders of Smackdown in the wrong at the same time.

24.) I learned that I could only take so much of Jinder’s slow submission based wrestling. It never seemed to end.

25.) I am sure that none of us will shed any tears for the end of Jinder Mahal’s main event push. I might have shed tears of joy with the possibilities of future AJ Styles’ title feud going forward.

Final Thoughts

It was an average way to end the WWE pay-per-view year. It seemed to have some decent matches in the beginning but it slowly fell apart near the end. However, we seem to have some solid matches and title divisions going forward. I think Smackdown is well set-up for 2018.

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Feel free to contact me at lasher@pacificu.edu. Additionally, I have my Twitter account, WWEBNRL as well. I would love to hear your thoughts on Clash of Champions.