12 WWE Clash Of Champions 2019 Impulse Reactions

12. Drew Gulak (c) Vs. Humberto Carrillo Vs. Lince Dorado

From his position on the Kickoff panel, Jonathan Coachman threw to this match with the sort of enthusiasm that betrayed how blindingly f*cking obvious it was that it would be the evening's opening match.

Fans didn't miss another mini-banger this time. Before the bell even rang, the company played a few production tricks to try and fill or mask many of the empty seats, but the wrestlers themselves seemed to slow their roles in a flabby midsection as commentators couldn't avoid mentioning the "WWE Universe still filing in".

Escaping the arm-bar portion of the match, Drew Gulak's divide and conquer strategy worked to a point until the three set about killing each other with the typical festival of high spots. Results there were mixed - a few slightly clumsy botches robbed a wild ending sequence of big pops as much as the half-empty arena, but Gulak's german suplex cover on Dorado after booting Humberto Carrillo to the floor at least played to how focussed he was on retaining the gold above all else.

A showpiece for a division that could be on its last legs, this was not.