Segunda Caida

Phil Schneider, Eric Ritz, Matt D, Sebastian, and other friends write about pro wrestling. Follow us @segundacaida

Sunday, December 17, 2017

WWE Clash of the Champions 2017 Live Blog

1. Mojo Rawley vs. Zack Ryder

ER: I liked these two together, more than I'll ever like Ryder on his own, and I guess I'll never really understand their need to break teams up before they really do much with them. If we strung together all the PPV pre-show matches from 2017, you'd wind up with a pretty great 2 hour special. This is another nice showing, with Ryder taking a couple big bumps, getting a nice comeback, and then getting obliterated on the finish. Ryder gets shoved from the top rope to the apron to the floor, taking a mean tumble, then Mojo runs around the ring to awesomely check him into the barricade. Back in and the camera nicely picks up a Mojo big boot with his boot staying on Ryder's face all the way down to the mat. Ryder's comeback is at minimum explosive, even if the cameras zoomed in too hard on his thigh slaps, the impression of impact was at least there. But Mojo's 1-2 finish was really cool, taking out Ryder's knee with a diving block, and then blasting him with that running forearm in the corner. Fun opener, hopefully Mojo doesn't get totally lost.

2. Bobby Roode vs. Dolph Ziggler vs. Baron Corbin

ER: Just FYI, it still sounds incredibly stupid when someone bumps over the barricade and someone shouts that they just got knocked "into the WWE Universe!" They got clotheslined over a short wall. Does the WWE Universe only start once we've passed the plane of the barricade? Does nothing happening inside a WWE ring count as part of the WWE Universe? Are the concession stands part of the WWE Universe, since they're beyond the barricade? Is someone urinating in the arena bathroom urinating into the WWE Universe? Does it apply to both people AND places? Is someone buying a WWE t-shirt an example of "The WWE Universe purchasing the WWE Universe within the WWE Universe'? It's beyond the worst. Roode and Ziggler don't match up well, Ziggler leans out of simple things like stomach kicks and then just doesn't connect on his own. But someone (Graves?) just said Ziggler may be the greatest performer in WWE history, so what do I know? I have no clue what actual performance metrics you would have to fudge to even squint and believe that statement. Roode has taken big moves nicely in this, splatting face first on the famouser and getting big height on a spinning slam from Corbin, takes Ziggler's big DDT really nicely. I really liked Corbin trying to vulture Roode's win, only for Roode to throw him to the floor and Corbin breaking up the pin anyway. If I didn't care for him the rest of the match, Ziggler at least made the finish work: Corbin was about to hit End of Days on Roode and Ziggler jumped in at the perfect moment with the Zig Zag, the momentum also slamming Roode tailbone first into the mat to presumably keep him from breaking up the pin. This was fine, crowd was really into it though and that counts for something.

3. Aiden English/Rusev vs. Shelton Benjamin/Chad Gable vs. Big E/Kofi Kingston vs. The Usos

ER: Fans are really stoked for Rusev Day, so we got a nice hot crowd tonight, good to hear, and it warms my heart to hear English getting a great reaction. This starts with a pretty great car crash as Kofi gets tossed into a plancha, an Uso hits his big no hands plancha to the other half of the match, and Benjamin launches an Uso with a belly to belly off the top. Kofi eats a great boot and ring post shot courtesy of Rusev after goofing around. Rusev doesn't have time for that nonsense on Rusev Day. I like how English is doing a bunch of solid little things in what most want to be a spotfest: doing nice grounded punches off in the corner of the camera, locking in and wrenching a nice headlock. Don't let the match style conform you. The Texas Tornado style of the match feels a bit to crowded, and it's making half the guys wait to do their spots while the other half does their spots. It's messing up flow. Why is this the match without extra refs? This is kind of a mess even though everyone is working hard. I think Big E might have arguably the best standing splash in wrestling history. It's got the incontestable best height and the impact is great. Kofi springboards into the ring and gets stuck with a great Benjmain powerbomb, and they are freaking killing me with these Rusev/English nearfalls. There were three pins all in a row that looked like they could plausibly win the belts. Come onnnnn. The finishing stretch is flat out GREAT. Rusev and Big E have a great battle over the Accolade, with E almost powering out before Rusev bends him back violently. Gable comes in and hits a tremendous deadlift German on Rusev, just dumping him on his shoulders, then hits a rolling chaos theory on English that dumps him even more violently. We get a sneaky Uso tag as Gable tries for another chaos theory, couple superkicks and a big splash finishes him, straight up fire finish. Awesome stuff.

4. Natalya vs. Charlotte

ER: Alright, and now for nobody's favorite gimmick match! Natalya is a far better heel when she doesn't actually realize she's being a heel. Her acting like a heel is just hammy. She's a much better A-Rod style "heel who doesn't know that she's disliked" heel. Who in wardrobe allowed Carmella and Lana to both wear red swimsuits? Also, Carmella's suit looks like a placeholder for her actual, real gear...except she's been wearing it for months. Tamina continues having the worst gear, it's like they tailored Viscera's old gear and gave it some darting. Charlotte takes a nice awkward bump to the floor, and I liked the bridge up to dodge a baseball slide. Charlotte is good at coming up with cool ways to engage the lumberjacks, really liked Natalya pushing off the figure 4, sending Charlotte flying into a dive on Ruby Riott. Tamina runs point on catching a Charlotte moonsault to the floor, which predictably means that she bumps out of the way before the moonsault hits and 6 women take bumps anyway. Tamina is so bad you guys. She did absorb all of the Naomi springboard, so I guess I shouldn't be so harsh. Thankfully we don't have to endure a Natalya win, and Charlotte worked hard in a difficult gimmick match.

Natalya threatening to leave WWE is like a parent threatening to take their kids broccoli away. "That's it, you keep mouthing off, now I'm giving you another spoonful of mac and cheese and YOU don't get any more broccoli! Actually, why don't you go to your room and play video games and then see how you feel!"

5. Breezango vs. Bludgeon Brothers

ER: I know I just said a few minutes ago that Tamina has the worst gear possible...but my god the Bludgeon Brothers. They look like a Hot Topic was destroyed in a hurricane, and a seamstress assembled their outfits out of found scraps. I have no idea what vibe they're going for. So many studs and zippers and hanging bits and that riveted cummerbund corset awkard tight bits side by side awkward loose bits. And the match is over. A straight match between these two would have been really fun. But, I guess we were running long (no we weren't)?

6. Shinsuke Nakamura/Randy Orton vs. Sami Zayn/Kevin Owens

ER: I'm not totally sure who this match concept is supposed to appeal to. This tag match with a normal referee already had a chance to be pretty uninteresting, but jamming two authority figures into it as mildly disagreeing distractions should practically guarantee it's no good. The fans, to their ever loving credit tonight, are into it. Still! They're still excitedly chanting for this show. The great finish to that tag match feels like an hour ago and we haven't accomplished much since then, and they're still chanting for their guys. I like it. Props to Orton for hitting a chinlock literally 10 seconds into the match. Zayn and Owens are also working their share, but they at least are making them look good, with Zayn going after the eyes and nose bridge and Owens making his snug. I'm kind of okay with them cutting the ring off with chinlocks for as long as the crowd can take it. All of Nakamura's kicks to Owens look really good, loved the falling enziguiri as Owens caught a kick to the chest. Bryan and Shane haven't even been very involved in the match itself but man they are so distracting, with the camera purposely keeping them both in frame most of the time. "Triangle!" "Shoulders were down!" means that someone decided to get a Dental Plan/Lisa Needs Braces joke into things, which we were probably all hoping for. My god Shane's facials and movements might officially make him a worst guest ref than Shawn Michaels. I think he's been worse than current Red Shoes in this...but may even be Michaels bad. That's really bad. Boy that finish was really bad. Who could have wanted any of this? I know Orton has been snail slow in his PPV matches the last two years, and this whole match he seemed even slower as everyone had to let this guest ref angle breathe a bit. Woof.

7. Jinder Mahal vs. AJ Styles

ER: I really liked this, and while a lot of it was because of another excellent Styles performance, I thought Mahal worked smart and didn't overreach, thought both worked together to craft an interesting match around each man's strengths. There was also that real fear from a lot of people that Mahal was going to win the title again (while I don't hate Jinder, I also wanted to see AJ hold the belt longer), so the fear and tension on some of the nearfalls was there. Jinder worked over AJ's ribs in simple and effective ways, and AJ made a point of landing in all sorts of nasty ways on his ribs. Styles bumped huge into the timekeeper's area, just about the most painful way you can get into that area. Jinder just worked simple knees and kicks and holds targeting AJ's ribs. The springboard block was great, with Jinder hitting the ropes to knock AJ off, and AJ naturally landing ribs first again. Mahal keeps up the targeted attacks with a big gutbuster and awesome flapjack (Styles takes a flapjack better than maybe anyone), and I liked Styles' comeback Pele kick (with Mahal going for the kill with his cobra clutch slam only off the middle rope). I didn't love the finish with Styles just kicking out of the slam to eventually roll Mahal into the Calf Crusher, but the whole thing built really solidly and I love how serious they're treating the Calf Crusher. I loved when the top guys all had submission finishers in 2003, so I would not mind going back to that. Styles can basically do no wrong at this point.

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4 Comments:

Blogger Yerfuneral said...

The line-up looks like lackluster but so much potential for fun and surprises when you have Fashion Police and Rusev/English actually on the card. This is one of those throw away shows too that the WWE bookers/writers will likely be throwing in stuff out of left field to show the internet hacks they don't have everything figured out. I like the potential.

1) The hype video left me wondering how these two were a team in the first place. Sure being from Long Island doesn't mean you have to be into the local teams (lived in California all my life and been almost for life fan of Jets/Vikings) but you got a friend of 'The Gronk'; how can any New Yorker get along with a friend of such a high profile Patriot?
Another preshow match that just features solid action. Always good to see and always pretty dependable. Does the work of getting me 'hyped' for the rest of the show.

2) Wow, this match surprisingly worked for me. Corbin probably the only thing I can think of the top of my head was the ppv match with Cena, Ziggler has been the jobber to the NXT stars, and Roode as a face has just not been working for me.
So rare for a none elimination match multi-man match seem silly with one guy missing from the action for periods at the time. Can think of only one instance felt like I guy was laying wherever for to long but Ziggler and Roode was having a nice exchange so I didn't care.
Ziggler winning was the icing on the cake felt like every Instagram/You Tube prediction had Ziggler for sure being the one to take the pin. Him pinning the champ too.
Pleasantly surprised on all levels I hope the rest of the night continues this way.

3) Is WWE trying to give me a xmas present. I loved this. Was so scared of another switch to New Day based on the preshow lounge interview thing.
They gave a good shine to the two teams that haven't really been in the belt scene. This has turned into a build up for the throw away teams and giving them some respect. The Rusev segment followed by the Gable segment was so great. Bravo to the booking of this match and performance of the performers.

4) Okay starting to understand why this ppv seems to have less matches then recent. It is a lumberjack match why all the separate entrances for the lumberjacks?
Kind of liking the sign guy on the entrance. He has 'Rockin Robin is still champ'. Had 'Atari Jaguar of the WWE' when Corbin came out. Then had to ruin it with a not so imaginative 'Now You're Playing with Power' when Charlotte comes out.
I get the numbers situation but it was utterly silly that almost every time Charlotte is sent out of the ring you get a dog pile on her while Naomi is just off hanging by herself until late in the match. The bad thing is they only have one more face and she is off making a movie. Riott Squad is kind of a shade of grey since both faces and heels don't like them but this match just shows the mess the woman's division sort of is in. Got the factions but still feels heel heavy. So funny that all the Riott Squad were faces in NXT.
They threw in some highspots, teased a MITB cash in, a temper tantrum post interview, and not much else. I wasn't expecting much and got what I expected.

9:31 PM  
Blogger Yerfuneral said...

5) My big questions going in to this was; how much of the fun side we would get to see of Fashion Police against a super serious destroyer of a team in the Bludgeon Brothers? This going to be done super quick, overly silly, or a Goldilocks just right?
We got the expected pretty quick match but I had hopes. So sad they have moved Fashion Files to internet. It is so outside the usual formula of Smackdown it always brings a bit of fresh air to the show.
I am losing the early energy with these almost by the notes expected matches of these last two contests. Looking how much time the show has run thus far is AJ Styles vs Jinder going to be a 60 minute match?

6) Special refs each get an entrance. Starting to think the length of entrances measures in more minutes than actual matches. Speaking of entrances did the Titantron operator get fired after letting Ziggler's fully play this last week on Smackdown?
The two special refs in the ring makes the ring feel claustrophobiac, refs making different calls/counts, and bickering with each other/wrestlers just slows everything down. Lumberjacks were slowing stuff but we still had action.
Shinsuke strong style I am liking since it works for close quarter fighting there all forced into because they can't throw each other around as easy. His style is impactful for a match that feels like a battle royal style to avoid all the extra people in the ring until it finally gets to some outside ring action to let everyone loose a bit. Kind of surprised one of the refs didn't start a countout count would be a thing to do to upset the other ref. I guess it wouldn't have been a good way to build the refs finally getting tired of each other though.
In the end got the match I expected but forgot how the extra ref with each having their own wants would slow things so much. Liked the ref bump of the other ref to stop the count but that was the only likable ref moment.

7) Wasn't expecting a Flair vs Steamboat classic like Clash of the Champions past but wasn't expected something solidly wrestled either. Jinder Mahal controlled much of the match and made sense with his size. Teased Singh brothers interference when Styles when be thrown out in the area they were stalking. Styles wasn't style and flash but the match told a story you expect from such a size difference. I liked it though definitely not what you expect from a main event WWE match.

I wasn't expecting much. Had low expectations and was plenty surprised the ppv was starting in the vein I was hoping for with the first two proper ppv billed matches. Unfortunately fell flat and pretty much fell into place like any week of tv. It wasn't a roller coaster ride like a ppv is it was like something running hard and suddenly finding they had run off a cliff.

11:03 PM  
Blogger EricR said...

Check out the Corbin/Kalisto chairs match from TLC 2016. Easily best Corbin singles match I've seen. The Fashion Files treatment is a bummer, but I'm glad you also dug the nuttiness of the tag scramble finish. I think you and I are the only two watching the pre-show matches, but we also both consistently dig them.

12:25 AM  
Blogger Yerfuneral said...

Corbin is so frustrating to me. He has the look of someone I should feel a connection with but his promo's come off to whiny and has a lot of the problems of big guys but being ex-football expect more athleticism.
I was hooping and hollering during that scramble. I liked seeing some positive light on these b team tag teams. It is the only way to get them to be viewed as a-teams and move on from Uso and New Day. They drop the ball so much on weekly tv. Let these guys even face some local talent or something like they done with Asuka and Bludgeon Brothers. Why just have pointless single matches between all these tag team members?
The pre show matches have been consistent good showcases which is all I want. Like the tag team 4 way did tonight it showcases guys that don't get a chance on the weekly show and no one ever really half asses it because they know it is an opportunity. Until they start really sucking I will take the time to watch the preshow even though learned long ago they pretty much always play the same hype packages before the actual matches.

2:31 AM  

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