11 Match Star Ratings For WWE Clash Of Champions 2019

1. Seth Rollins Vs. Braun Strowman - Universal Title Match

Randy Orton Kofi Kingston
WWE.com

Wow.

Not the match, but the crowd reaction. Wow.

By modern standards, Clash Of Champions wasn't a marathon of a show, and if anything, the action was so perfunctory that you'd have expected the audience to come unglued in the face of something they were genuinely invested in.

This wasn't it.

This suffered, presumably, from the derivative, lukewarm storyline and the subdued "miscommunication" in the opener. That non-angle and the wider events defined what was so underwhelming about the show itself: WWE leant hard on the 'protect everybody' edict, and barely anybody got over. This match, which was worked with a more-than-decent effort and pace, played out to library silence. It felt less like exhaustion and more like complete disinterest: it's not as if it followed a blow-away match there was no coming back from.

The story of the match was very politicised: Rollins' Curb Stomp was weakened in order to protect the Monster in what felt like a disheartening Paul Heyman shock tactic. Tones of Suplex City and echoes of those weird mid-2000s CM Punk pitches marred this match, which felt like a carefully orchestrated plan to advance nothing. The real story is that Braun Strowman could have eaten 100 Stomps, and it wouldn't have mattered.

He just got officially Samoa Joe'd as a main event proposition.

Star Rating: **3/4

Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!