WWE Clash of Champions 2016 is first Raw-exclusive PPV in years and will feature every title on that show being defended.
The WWE Draft is in full swing and now that the double-branded (and excessively long) SummerSlamis done with and SmackDownserved us with Backlash, that means up next is the Raw-exclusive PPV WWE Clash of Champions 2016. Just the fact that we’re getting a WWE show with that name in 2016 blows my mind.
Clash of the Champions was originally a TV event put together by Jim Crockett Promotions in 1988. It evolved into being a WCW fixture for nine years, acting similar to WWF’s Saturday Night’s Main Event. In other words, it was a free PPV-level show in the days when there weren’t as many PPVs and the usual televised shows didn’t have too many high-profile bouts. With the rise of Nitroand monthly PPVs, it became unnecessary and was dropped. Its final and thirty-fifth edition came on August 21, 1997.
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As a WWE property, it’s more of a renaming of PPV mainstay Night of Champions. Same idea in that all of the Rawchampionships will be on the line: the WWE Universal Championship, the WWE Women’s Championship, the United States Championship, and the WWE Tag Team Championship.
WWE Clash of Champions 2016 Date
WWE Clash of Champions takes place on Sunday, September 25 at the Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana.
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WWE Clash of Champions 2016 Matches
KEVIN OWENS (C) VS. SETH ROLLINS (VS. ROMAN REIGNS?)
WWE Universal Championship
At SummerSlam, Finn Balor defeated Seth Rollins to become the first ever WWE Universal Champion. Unfortunately, he badly injured his shoulder and will be out for presumably half a year. The following night, Stephanie McMahon and Mick Foley put together another mini-tournament to crown a new champion. This time, it would be four singles matches where the winners would take part in a four-way elimination match the following week.
The match ended up being between Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, Kevin Owens, and Big Cass. Cass was eliminated first and the other three took each other to the limit. Then, out of nowhere, Triple H – who hadn’t been seen since WrestleMania– appeared and dropped Reigns with a Pedigree. He had Rollins pin the unconscious Reigns. Then Triple H grabbed Rollins and delivered another Pedigree, allowing Owens to get the win.
While Owens was smug about his assisted win, Rollins was furious and attacked him. Stephanie McMahon, lashing out due to feeling humiliated and unrightfully vilified, threatened to suspend Rollins. Mick Foley stepped in and insisted that Rollins challenge for the WWE Universal Championship due to being screwed over.
Reigns confronted Owens and was given an opportunity to be added into the PPV match via Commissioner Foley. Reigns took on Owens and ultimately lost due to the interference of Rusev. Earlier in the match, Rollins attacked Owens, which initially caused a DQ (which Foley overturned) and supposedly got Rollins in hot water.
NEW DAY (C) VS. THE CLUB
WWE Tag Team Championship (Raw)
New Day and the Club have been feuding for the last couple months, mainly centered around Gallows and Anderson smashing Big E’s crotch into a steel post and then doing weeks of skits making light of it. At SummerSlam, Big E returned and attacked the challengers, causing New Day to lose via disqualification, even if they stood tall in the end.
Since then, after beating up a retiring Dudley Boyz, the Club have gone from fake doctors to "retirement specialists." To illustrate that, they brought out three guys dressed up to be elderly versions of the New Day. It was...a thing.
The week after, New Day made fun of it and the Club swept the segment under the rug, going back to being angry ass-kickers. They challenged Kofi and Xavier to a non-title match on the spot and defeated them.
CHARLOTTE (C) VS. SASHA BANKS
WWE Women's Championship (Raw)
On a random Raw, Sasha defeated Charlotte for the Women's Championship. She defended it at SummerSlamand not only lost, but was put on the shelf due to some neck problems that the match aggravated. After Charlotte had a mini-feud with newcomer Bayley, Sasha came back weeks later to do a fake retirement speech with a bait-and-switch where she revealed she was back and ready to regain her title.
All the while, Charlotte's had issues with her protege Dana Brooke, who has been a constant failure. Despite all the crap she's been put through, Dana refuses to fully turn on Charlotte. For instance, when Foley decided to have Sasha vs. Bayley for the #1 contender spot, he threw Dana into the match on the spot for slapping Charlotte. Sasha ended up winning the triple threat, earning her the return match, while Dana insisted to Charlotte that she was planning to use that potential title shot to let Charlotte win.
SAMI ZAYN VS. CHRIS JERICHO
For many, many years, Sami Zayn was close friends with Kevin Owens. They traveled the world as El Generico and Kevin Steen, fought together, fought against each other, and so on. That continued into WWE, where they had a very lengthy feud. Zayn won that feud, but Owens went on to become Universal Champion while Zayn's just kind of there.
Chris Jericho became Owens' new buddy lately and it's been one of the most entertaining parts of Rawin general. New Owens BFF Jericho had Old Owens BFF Zayn as his guest on the Highlight Reel and refused to heed the warnings that Owens was bad news. Jericho instead beat down Zayn and laid him out with a Codebreaker.
WWE Clash of Champions 2016 Rumors and Unconfirmed Matches
As mentioned, Rusev vs. Roman Reigns is all-but-guaranteed. They didn't even have their US Championship match at SummerSlam due to an excessive brawl. Rusev remained off TV for several weeks due to his honeymoon and returned to cost Reigns his shot at the Universal Championship. Rusev has to defend his title during the PPV as is, so this is in the bag.
Speaking of championships, TJ Perkins recently won the Cruiserweight Classic and became the Cruiserweight Champion. Except a title defense, though it's hard to say against who.
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Titus O’Neil vs. Darren Young has been going on for forever and didn’t even make it onto SummerSlam. After so many matches against each other, expect them to have some kind of gimmick match so they can finally move on. Hopefully. Though, WWE might just be ignoring that feud completely.
The Best of Seven Series for Cesaro vs. Sheamus is in full swing...no pun intended. Although Cesaro won two matches prior to the series (meaning they don't count), Sheamus has beaten Cesaro three matches in a row while increasingly injuring him. As of this writing, Cesaro’s been able to squeak out a couple of wins at a house show and an episode of Raw, making it 3-2 in Sheamus’ favor. It’s very likely that the final match will be at this PPV.
Check back for more information on WWE Clash of Champions 2016.
Gavin Jasper’s plan to make Darren Young great again is to not having him wrestle Titus O’Neil for at least a year. Follow Gavin on Twitter!