10 WWE PPVs That Were Doomed From The Start
2. Clash Of Champions 2017
After a strong start to life as a proper brand again in 2016, SmackDown went off the rails a bit in 2016 thanks largely to a horribly misguided Jinder Mahal WWE Championship run and the persistent need to ensure Shane McMahon had a big programme over the summer.
AJ Styles Vs Kevin Owens was sacrificed for the good of Shane McMahon Vs Kevin Owens, which itself was sacrificed for the good of Shane McMahon Vs Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn, which was finally put to the sword to build up...something involving Shane McMahon and a then-still-retired Daniel Bryan.
This whole mess culminated in one of the worst WWE matches of the year. Randy Orton and Shinsuke Nakamura were sucked into the grim vortex, losing a tag team match against the Zayn/Owens combo when warring refs McMahon and Bryan couldn't pool their supposedly high IQs to garner result they ostensibly both wanted.
And what of AJ Styles, the man at the start of that chump chain?
'The Phenomenal One's phenomenal recent run came to a crushing halt. After dethroning Mahal in the best match of the 'Modern Day Maharaja's reign in order to facilitate one of the company's best contests of the year with Brock Lesnar, Styles couldn't make magic twice with not-so-big Jinder on pay-per-view.
Nobody could. But at least - unlike Mahal himself - 2017 was finally over.