8 Things WWE Got Wrong At Clash Of Champions 2016

by John Bills

1. Our Main Event Performers Aren't Important, The Authority Are

Triple H Stephanie McMahon Clash Of Champions
WWE.com

The recurring theme in the RAW main event needs to stop. Prior to the brand split four of the previous 10 WWE World Champions would be considered hand-picked by The Authority (Randy Orton, Seth Rollins, Triple H and Sheamus), with Kevin Owens adding his name to that list in his current run as WWE Universal Champion.

Owens and Rollins went at it in the main event of the show, and the shadow of Triple H and Stephanie McMahon loomed large over the bout. There was interference a-plenty, and the only real surprise is that The Game didn't make an appearance himself.

Even so, at times the match felt like a schoolyard battle for the affections of the Cerebral Assassin. The crowd could sense this and as a result weren't too interested, only really popping big for crotch chops. Owens picked up the win after Stephanie sent a second referee down to ringside with the match moving in his favour, and a WWE.com exclusive showed Hunter and Steph leaving the arena together, seemingly happy with their nights work.

The match was good, not great but good. Unfortunately it was over-shadowed by the spectre of the McMahon Family, almost 20 years after the Evil Authority story began. It is tiring, to say the least. SmackDown Live is thriving for a lot of reasons, and having a World Championship scene based on ability is one of those reasons.

The Universal Championship's short history already has McMahon fingerprints all over it, and those are notoriously difficult to wash off.

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Contributor

Born in the middle of Wales in the middle of the 1980's, John can't quite remember when he started watching wrestling but he has a terrible feeling that Dino Bravo was involved. Now living in Prague, John spends most of his time trying to work out how Tomohiro Ishii still stands upright. His favourite wrestler of all time is Dean Malenko, but really it is Repo Man. He is the author of 'An Illustrated History of Slavic Misery', the best book about the Slavic people that you haven't yet read. You can get that and others from www.poshlostbooks.com.