4 Ups And 6 Downs From WWE Clash Of Champions 2017

3. A Hot Mess

hot mess
WWE.com

Lumberjack matches are definitely a mixed bag when it comes to match quality. And it’s even more of a tossup whether the presence of other wrestlers advances the storyline or is just a convenient distraction.

Unfortunately, it was the worst of all worlds Sunday night during the SmackDown Women’s Championship match between Charlotte Flair and Natalya. The women’s roster (sans Becky Lynch) surrounded the ring, which meant six heels (including the Riott Squad) and one face (Naomi). That by itself presented a bit of a problem.

And while Nattie had a sound strategy of tossing Charlotte out to the heels multiple times, it just looked awkward, with the Riott Squad alternately brawling with and then helping Lana, Tamina and Carmella beat up Flair.

Then the lumberjacks entered the ring, exited it, got moonsaulted and were taken out en masse and were never heard from again. Just a really clunky way to get all the women involved.

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Contributor

Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fondly remembers watching WrestleMania III, IV, V and VI and Saturday Night's Main Event, came back to wrestling during the Attitude Era, and has been a consumer of sports entertainment since then. He's written for WhatCulture for more than a decade, establishing the Ups and Downs articles for WWE Raw and WWE PPVs/PLEs and composing pieces on a variety of topics.