4 Ups And 6 Downs From WWE Clash Of Champions 2017
1. Stipulation Drags Down Action
On paper, several of the matches looked like they would be tremendous contests. But when you start adding stipulations to most of those bouts, you’re bound to lose something.
By all accounts, Randy Orton, Shinsuke Nakamura, Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens should have been able to put together a hell of a tag team match. But the dual referee showdown became the entire focus of the match, and it served to completely detract from the contest itself.
It got to the point where fans sounded deathly quiet for most of the offense, because they were waiting for one of the refs to screw a team over. And then when that started to happen, the crowd came alive for the “real action.” Everything else to that point was just a prelude.
And look, the actual shenanigans were done decently enough, but when the focus of the match – for the wrestlers and the fans – is on drama between two special referees, you have to wonder what’s going on around here.
The only saving grace was the fact that Bryan quick-counting the fall for Zayn got a huge face reaction. Otherwise, this was awful.