5 Ups & 5 Downs For WWE Raw (11 Aug - Results & Review)
3. Signposting An Unimaginative Title Match
There’s no doubt that Clash in Paris qualifies as a B-show for WWE, a second-tier PLE that will play out in front of a hot international crowd but most likely will not be a hugely consequential show. And there really is no better indicator of a B-show than a hastily thrown-together four-way World Heavyweight Championship match, and that’s exactly what Raw delivered Monday night.
From the show-opening promo between CM Punk and LA Knight, it became apparent that WWE would go one of two ways: a six-man tag match pitting them and Roman Reigns against The Vision, or a multi-man world title match. When Jey Uso showed up later in the program to announce his desire for a World Heavyweight Championship rematch (with Knight cutting him off), the die was cast.
Lo and behold, after a main event shmoz to close the show, Raw GM Adam Pearce announced that Punk, Knight, and Uso would challenge Rollins for the world title. Done and done. No imagination, no build, just a couple of DQ finishes and some arguments, and an authority figure makes the match on the same night that they start squabbling.
But the Paris crowd will undoubtedly be hot for this, so WWE will declare it a huge success.