TJR: WWE Clash In Italy Preview – 4 Title Matches!
It’s WWE Clash in Italy, featuring Roman Reigns battling Jacob Fatu in Tribal Combat, Cody Rhodes facing Gunther, a Rhea Ripley-Jade Cargill rematch, Oba Femi-Brock Lesnar II, and more.
The first-ever WWE PLE in Italy will take place this Sunday, May 31st, when Clash in Italy happens in front of what should be a raucous crowd in Turin. I think the talent in WWE knows how great the Italian fans are, and clearly, management knows, which is why they put a PLE in Italy for the first time. The crowd energy should help the show, as we have seen from other European crowds and the great Puerto Rican crowd at Backlash a few years ago.
Clash in Italy is a strong card with four title matches (including three “World” titles), and a big WrestleMania rematch with Oba Femi trying to beat Brock Lesnar again. As usual, I wish there were more than five matches on the card, but we know Triple H loves the five-match cards. I think they could easily add a sixth or seventh match, but I don’t think it’s going to happen. WWE likes doing five matches over 3 hours (sometimes a bit more than 3 hours), and obviously, they have commercials, which fans hate, but ESPN/Netflix has to try to make money off the billions they spent to show this stuff. It’s how the world works, kids.
You can watch WWE Clash in Italy on Sunday, May 31, at 2 p.m. ET/11 a.m. PT on the ESPN App with an ESPN Unlimited plan in the United States and Netflix internationally. The first hour of the show will air on ESPN in the US.
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Undisputed WWE Championship: Cody Rhodes (c) vs. GUNTHER
WWE announced it is kicking off the show, so I’m putting it first. I thought Randy Orton was going to take the WWE Title from Cody Rhodes at WrestleMania 42, but that didn’t happen, and Orton has been off TV ever since. Could this be the perfect spot to bring Orton back and have him screw Cody out of the WWE Title so that Gunther could win it? Maybe. I can see that happening. Orton does have back issues, though, so maybe he’s on a break for a few months.
When WWE decided to move Gunther to SmackDown, I think it was done with the idea that he was going to get the WWE Championship. That’s what I’m going to predict, but the thing that makes me hesitate a bit is that WWE clearly teased a Cody Rhodes-CM Punk after WrestleMania 42, and I thought SummerSlam would be the perfect place for that with Cody defending the WWE Title against Punk. However, they could be thinking long-term and saving it for WrestleMania 43, which means Cody could certainly lose the title here. If Cody wins here then I think we’ll see Cody against Punk at SummerSlam.
I think it should be an outstanding match as they’ve had before. With only five matches on the card, they are going to get 20+ minutes most likely, and they are two of the best wrestlers in the world, so it should be a lot of fun to watch. I think I’m going to Gunther to win here, but if he fails to win, then it might be a controversial finish that leads to a rematch next month at Night of Champions, and maybe Gunther wins there. As I said, Gunther going to SmackDown makes me think he’s getting the title. I’ll go with Gunther winning the WWE Title, but I don’t think it will be clean.
Winner AND NEW Undisputed WWE Champion: GUNTHER
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Oba Femi vs. Brock Lesnar
This is one of the two WrestleMania rematches on this show. At WrestleMania 42, Oba Femi defeated Brock Lesnar in a match that was just under 5 minutes long. In my review, here’s part of what I wrote: “I loved that! This is one of those matches where the star rating doesn’t matter that much. It’s about the story, and the story was that Femi dominated Lesnar enough to win the match in a decisive way. It’s exactly what it should have been, with Femi dominating Lesnar in a passing of the torch moment, with Femi taking over for Lesnar as the next powerhouse that WWE can build around for decades to come.”
After the match, it appeared as if the 49-year-old Lesnar retired from pro wrestling. That retirement ended up lasting one month since Lesnar attacked Femi on Raw a few weeks ago, which led to this rematch. I’m not upset about Lesnar faking his retirement. He’s a heel. You’re supposed to be mad about his actions as a character. I could see Lesnar legit retiring at SummerSlam this year, though. It makes sense to do it there in Minnesota, where he gained fame as a college wrestler over 26 years ago.
I’m torn on my prediction for this one because I like Oba Femi as an undefeated superstar on the Raw brand, but I think having Lesnar win makes sense to set up a third match. Like the Gunther-Rhodes match, I think if Lesnar wins, then it won’t be clean. They’ll probably have Lesnar deliver a low-blow kick to Femi, which can lead to a few F5’s by Lesnar for the win. Lesnar’s win could lead to a third match, either at Night of Champions next month in Saudi Arabia or at SummerSlam on August 1-2 in Minneapolis. If it were up to me, I’d do it at SummerSlam, but that sweet Saudi money may be tough for WWE to resist. They could also have the third Lesnar-Femi match at Night of Champions, and then Gunther retires Lesnar at SummerSlam since Gunther retired Goldberg, John Cena, and AJ Styles over the last year. Anyway, I’m going with Lesnar here, but it’s not a lock by any means.
Winner: Brock Lesnar
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Women’s Intercontinental Championship: Becky Lynch (c) vs. Sol Ruca
Becky Lynch is having fun on social media as usual by saying that Sol Ruca is not medically cleared due to Lynch’s attack on her last week on Raw. A lot of wrestling websites don’t cover Lynch properly because she’s portraying this over-the-top heel character on television, and then on social media, she’s even more over the top. That’s my way of saying Lynch is being a bullshitter, so that when Ruca does show up at Clash in Italy, Lynch can have this shocked reaction as if she had no idea Ruca would be there.
Since joining Raw, Sol Ruca hasn’t even had a pinfall or submission, but she got this title shot by beating Lynch by disqualification. I think she’ll get that first pinfall in this match when she beats Lynch for the Women’s IC Title. We’ve seen Lynch have rivalries with Lyra Valkyria, Maxxine Dupri, and AJ Lee over this title. The story has been similar to Lynch losing and winning matches. I think in this case, they should just have Ruca get the Women’s IC Title, and Lynch can move on by going after the Women’s World Title or something like that. It just feels like if you want to “make” Ruca on Raw, then having her take the Women’s IC Title from an all-time great like Lynch is a clever way to do that. I’ll go with Ruca winning with the Sol Snatcher.
Winner AND NEW Women’s Intercontinental Champion: Sol Ruca
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WWE Women’s Championship: Rhea Ripley (c) vs. Jade Cargill
This is another WrestleMania rematch where a title change seems very unlikely. I think their WrestleMania 42 match was one of Jade’s best singles matches in WWE so far, so kudos to her for improving. The good thing about announcing a big match so far in advance (they had nearly two months going into WrestleMania) is that you can prepare and practice things, so by the time they have the match, the wrestlers are going to be able to perform at a high level. I also think Jade is in a comfort zone after turning heel late last year. Sometimes it takes a bit of time to get comfortable in a new role after being a babyface. Jade could succeed as a face in the future, but I think at this point in her WWE career, being “that bi**h” works for her and she’s doing a good job.
I don’t see Rhea Ripley losing the WWE Women’s Title any time soon. Ripley is one of the biggest women superstars in WWE, and they just moved her to SmackDown, so I see her continuing to be one of the main focal points on the blue brand. They have some new opponents for her lined up with the likes of Jacy Jayne and Blake Monroe, while women like Charlotte Flair, Alexa Bliss, or Tiffany Stratton could turn heel down the road to feud with Ripley as well. There are a lot of good options with Ripley as the champion.
It should be a pretty good match with Cargill getting plenty of offense, but I don’t see her getting the win. There could be a spot where Michin & B-Fab try to help Cargill, but that’s when Flair & Bliss can show up to help Ripley, which would then lead to Ripley getting the win soon after.
Winner: Rhea Ripley
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Tribal Combat Match for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship: Roman Reigns (c) vs. Jacob Fatu
There was a story that went out in recent days about how Jacob Fatu is dealing with a legit back injury after hurting it during a live event. However, there is optimism that Fatu will be okay. I’ll continue under the assumption that Fatu will be fine for this match.
This is a rematch of their Backlash match from earlier this month, when Reigns used an exposed steel turnbuckle to send Fatu crashing into it, and then Reigns hit a Spear to win. It was a way of showing that Reigns needed to cheat (sort of) to beat Fatu, who is a tough guy to beat. Since then, the intensity has picked up, and they’ve built to this rematch as Tribal Combat, an Anything Goes Match, so they’ll be able to use weapons and fight all over the arena. That will make it feel different than the other matches on this show.
We also know the story that if Fatu wins, then he is the Tribal Chief instead of Reigns. However, if Reigns wins, then Fatu has to acknowledge Reigns as his Tribal Chief and take orders from him. That stipulation meant a lot more when Reigns was a heel who was a jerk to his family, rather than his current role as a babyface. I don’t think Reigns is going to start being a jerk to the likes of Fatu and The Usos any time soon, so it doesn’t have the same feel as The Bloodline from 2020 to 2024. With that said, I do like Reigns being on the same page with The Usos, and if Fatu were to join them as allies, then that’s not a bad thing.
I would be very surprised if there was a title change here. Reigns just won the title about six weeks ago at WrestleMania, so I think that title reign is going to continue until at least SummerSlam, but likely longer than that. Could it last a year? Perhaps. Reigns will miss some PLEs, but I think WWE is okay with that considering how deep the roster is right now. Hopefully, Fatu is able to put on another great match, even with the back injury, because these guys are going to deliver a terrific main event.
Winner: Roman Reigns
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BONUS TOPICS FOR WWE CLASH IN ITALY!
The Match I’m Looking Forward To The Most
Cody Rhodes vs. Gunther because I’m interested to see the match quality, and also if there’s a title change.
The Match I Think Will Be The Best
I think Cody-Gunther and Reigns-Fatu will both be around the four-star level and potentially higher, so it’s either of those.
Longest Match
I would have said Reigns-Fatu, but with Fatu’s back injury, they might shave off a few minutes, so I’ll go with Cody-Gunther around 23 minutes.
Shortest Match
Oba Femi vs. Brock Lesnar going about 7 minutes.
Excitement Level on a Scale of 1-10 (1 being low, 10 being high)
I’m at 7.75 out of 10 for this show. I think it’s a stronger card than Backlash and Saturday Night’s Main Event, but I enjoyed both of those shows, so it taught me to raise my expectations a bit. These PLE shows usually deliver great matches because of how talented the wrestlers are, and with just five matches over three hours (or more), they are going to get time. I’m predicting two title changes in the four title matches, which may seem like a lot, but I just feel like wrestlers like Rhodes and Lynch can lose their titles to elevate the likes of Gunther and Ruca. I hope Jacob Fatu is healthy after his back injury, because if he is, he’ll deliver a great main event with Roman Reigns. I expect a hot crowd in Italy, and that’s always a big help too.
I’ll be back with a review of Clash in Italy on TJRWrestling.net on Sunday. You can also tweet me on X/Twitter at @johnreport as well.
If you want to send an email, send it to me at [email protected]. Thanks for reading.