12 Ups And 7 Downs From WWE Clash Of Champions 2019
2. Hometown Beatdown
What in the blue hell was the point of that?
AJ Styles retaining his United States Championship against hometown grappler Cedric Alexander is not in and of itself a “down,” but everything seemed to be pointing to Alexander taking a step to the next level, possibly even unseating the champ.
Instead, Styles not only won cleanly, he obliterated Cedric at the end, hitting a Phenomenal Forearm and Styles Clash on the challenger for the emphatic victory. Then, the OC issued a triple beatdown on Alexander, just in case the Charlotte crowd was still in any way feeling good.
There’s always a fear that WWE starts to elevate a wrestler, only to pump the breaks and send them shuttling back down the card. So when you see Alexander defeat Drew McIntyre, advance in the King of the Ring Tournament and pin AJ Styles cleanly in Madison Square Garden, you start to think that maybe the company is getting behind him.
And then Cedric loses decisive like this, and you worry that he’s going to lose his next 10 televised matches for God knows what reason.