11 Match Star Ratings For WWE Clash Of Champions 2019
5. Shinsuke Nakamura Vs. The Miz - Intercontinental Title Match
A fine match that in contrast to the rest of the card actually benefitted from WWE's brand of sports entertainment, here, the role of Sami Zayn: Irritating Piss Boiler seemed to click.
He is aggressively annoying; burying The Miz at ringside like he was on a Tuesday night edition of Wrestling Observer Radio, his constant and genuinely funny negging ("a half-decent arm drag there") complemented the match more than it detracted from it, and it ultimately led to a quality spot in which Miz, having had quite enough of the bullsh*t, launched the microphone into the rafters by the stage.
As for the actual in-ring work, this was one of the Miz's better babyface performances. His face-wash kick still look very revealing, but he showed a decent and popular brand of fire. A series of knees to the corner looked abject, mind. The connection was barely there, which was hardly ideal, given that it lived down to the taunts Zayn had levelled at him throughout the build.
He's over, and his limb work was creative and just credible enough to buy into, and of course, indebted as it was to the home town hero, the crowd very much bought into it - as they did Nakamura's clever mat counter game, which didn't require the explosive viciousness that has long eluded him.
Star Rating: ***