10 WWE Clash Of Champions 2017 Impulse Reactions
6. Mixed Doubles
The lack of confidence in WWE to see through a megapush for a talent such as Rusev comes from their inherent inability to manage something good as it's actually happening. For all its faults, SmackDown Live! has a fiercely credible tag team division (notwithstanding the squash elsewhere on this card), and as the four teams entered for this unique contest it was hard to see how it could fail.
Turns out, it was just hard literally watching it fail.
For reasons unknown, WWE elected to divert completely from their traditional fatal four way formula in favour of a bizarre new twist on the multi-man match. Well, 'new' like New Coke, or The New Rockers.
It confusingly housed two singles matches taking place simultaneously once, first fall wins. It was a total mess, because of course it was.
There was at one point a particularly pathetic moment in which a bemused referee stood between two resthold spots, all five in the ring perhaps wondering where the f*ck the suspense was supposed to be coming from.
In March, a similar moment occurred in another multi-team encounter as The Revival, The Authors Of Pain and #DIY assembled easily one of the greatest tag matches in company history at NXT TakeOver: Orlando. Fans came unglued for the tension and drama of the stereo submission attempts. Frozen in disbelief was perhaps a better description of the reaction to this variant.
A sprint finish betrayed an otherwise woefully executed encounter with eight gifted stars robbed blind of an opportunity to steal the show. How, and why was this even permitted?