8 HUGE WWE Clash Of Champions 2017 Predictions You Need To Know
Golden Opportunities
Following Kurt Angle's unexpected wrestling return in October and an entire November to remember with the Survivor Series build, WWE has unfortunately reverted to type with a December to forget.
Intriguing things are afoot on the blue brand, with a continuation of Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn's irritation of Shane McMahon carrying enough clout to justify a tag team main event for the last supercard of 2017. Yes, the highest stakes on a card called 'Clash Of Champions' relate to how two referees will behave in a match with no titles on the line. But whilst this would ordinarily be an indictment of the treatment of the straps, it instead merely reflects the overall malaise currently permeating through the blue brand.
The Champions in question are largely in rude health, with AJ Styles, Charlotte, Baron Corbin and The Usos inarguably the rightful stewards of their respective divisions. However, the company have played fast and loose with all the belts in recent times, and it seems highly unlikely that at least one won't change possession as the company looks to end the year on some sort of artificial high.
The company as a whole looks a little in need of a holiday rest, but there's none forthcoming. The Tuesday gang won't be required to work Christmas Night like their Raw counterparts, but they'll lose half the occasion travelling to the Boxing Day SmackDown. Gifts all round for fans then, but can any B-grade pay-per-view really be just what you always wanted?
8. Stay Hyped?
Perhaps the only folk with less investment in the Zack Ryder/Mojo Rawley storyline than the audience are the WWE writers themselves.
An extremely protracted split ostensibly in order to afford it the focus it deserved (?), the eventual severance between the pair passed with barely a whisper. That's particularly good going for two of the loudest and most obnoxious performers in company history.
The win here, as if it even matters, goes to Mojo Rawley, but it's hard to see where either goes from here. Rawley's push already looks D.O.A if there's somehow not time on a WWE Network-era pay-per-view for the first contest between a separated tag team, whilst Ryder should probably start perhaps channel some of his salary into a high-interest ISA rather than the latest rare Brutus Beefcake action figure to land on eBay.
There's been less of the annual company talent purges in recent years, but the axe nonetheless still swings, and if either man wants to be a winner in 2018, an almost-impossibly huge performance is required in this empty-arena (or arena-emptying) scuffle.