5 Biggest Winners & Losers From WWE Clash Of Champions 2016
Raw's first Brand Split PPV stumbles over the finish line.
If you want to understand WWE's post-Draft landscape, you need only look at the New Era's first two brand-exclusive pay-per-views.
SmackDown's Backlash was a highly-entertaining night of action highlighted by a set of excellent singles titles matches. There wasn't a bad match on the card, and while Bray Wyatt's impromptu match with Kane was an odd booking choice, the blue brand's debut PPV defied expectations to produce one of the year's most enjoyable shows
Clash of Champions? Not so much.
On paper, last night's show had a vastly superior card to Backlash, but Raw couldn't match SmackDown's standards. There was some exciting in-ring action to be found, but Clash was plagued by a series of confusing creative decisions that greatly diminished the PPV's flow. The result was a stop-start night of action for an audience with a decibel level closer to a church congregation than a wrestling crowd, further cementing Raw's status as second-best in the pecking order.
While SmackDown moves forward with smart, logical booking, Raw's wheels are spinning. Matches like Kevin Owens vs. Seth Rollins and the Women's Title Triple Threat should've guaranteed an excellent night, but it was undone by the writers, and Clash of Champions came-out mediocre. It wasn't bad, but Clash should've been so much more.
Though a number of Raw superstars left Clash as they'd arrived last night, plenty of wrestlers found forward motion, while others fell further behind. Here are the 5 biggest winners and losers from WWE Clash of Champions 2016.