10 WWE Clash Of Champions 2017 Impulse Reactions

1. Not A Rib

Daniel Bryan Shane McMahon
WWE.com

AJ Styles is an incredible professional wrestler.

Jinder Mahal's WWE Title reign was rotten for a myriad of reasons, but none worse than how deathly dull his supercard clashes with Randy Orton and Shinsuke Nakamura were. Though he looks like he's bursting out of his own skin half physically, a personality has never once followed. Literally the l biggest ever case of a title being required to make the man, there wasn't a shred of evidence to suggest he had worked up to his elevated status even in comparison to John 'Bradshaw' Layfield's efforts in 2004.

As Mahal's polar opposite, Styles was the most cathartic choice to end his reign of error in a famous Manchester moment, and followed up his victory with another one-man show in what will hopefully prove to be a main event swan-song for the 'Modern Day Maharaja'.

Sacred in some religious and societal quarters, cows cannot be slaughtered by law in most Indian states. If the match-winning Calf Crusher was Jinder's sendoff, it was reflective of the company's brusk farewell to a mishandled grasp for rupees that blighted much of 2017.

Jinder was willing luggage for the majestic Champion, working the ribs and doing little else as Styles deservedly coasted to victory. Mahal followed a simple instruction affably, and 'The Phenomenal One' worked a match around it for 25 minutes like few else in the world can do as well. In paying tribute to the bizarre Jinder Mahal experiment, it's probably easiest to echo another current industry icon - "Goodbye, and goodnight".

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation over 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. Within the podcasting space, he also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House! and Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, Fightful, POST Wrestling, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett