2020 Edition Of WWE Clash Of Champions Gold Rush

2020 Edition Of 

WWE Clash Of Champions Gold Rush

Several wrestlers are pulled from Clash of Champions last minute because of… reasons. An injury forces a match to be cut short. And Roman Reigns debuts his new look - his sexy, sexy torso. All hail the Tribal Chief’s pecs. With some last minute changes having to be made because of… reasons, Asuka vs Zelina Vega was bumped off the pre-show and onto the main card. Which is the opposite of what usually happens to women’s matches. Nikki Cross wasn’t medically cleared for her SmackDown title match against Bayley, and the women’s tag championship match with Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler defending against the Riott Squad was dropped completely. Fightful Select is reporting these changes were related to last week’s COVID-19 outbreak in WWE, and the company have known that Cross wouldn’t be able to wrestle for almost a week. So Nia did, explaining: “My tag partner is expecting Pregnant woman EMOJI” Which might be a jab aimed at Becky Lynch. I don’t know. It’s hard to keep track of who Jax does and does not have worked shoot shoot heat with.

SmackDown Tag Team Championship (Kickoff Match) (Cesaro & Shinsuke Nakamura (c) Defeats Lucha House Party)

With the card change up, the pre-show had Lucha House Party took on Cesaro and Shinsuke Nakamura for the SmackDown tag team championships where, after Cesaro and Nakamura have beaten Lucha House Party on an almost weekly basis, and then took about 90% of the match here, they beat them again. This feud will probably continue.

The main card opened with a video package narrated by 16 time world champion John Cena. Because it was just a voiceover, you literally couldn’t see him.

Intercontinental Championship (Ladder Match) (Jeff Hardy (c) Defeats AJ Styles & Sami Zayn)

The in-ring opener, however, was an absolutely terrific ladder match between AJ Styles, Sami Zayn and Jeffy Hardy for both the current Intercontinental championship, and the one Sami had to relinquish because of… reasons. It was a great way to kick off the main card, with a lot of star power, crazy ladder spots and Hardy ladder spots - which are several rungs above normal crazy ladder spots. The match was so good, the crowd started chanting This Is Awesome at the 20 minute mark! Well, actually, some guy in the production truck pressed a button that started a ‘This Is Awesome’ chant. But it was actually appropriate. And it was capped off with a really inventive finish. Playing 50 Shades of Grey Steel, Sami gave Jeff Hardy a new earring in the form of a massive ladder, handcuffing his piercing to one. He tried to chain AJ up too, but Styles fought back - leading Sami to handcuff his wrist to AJ’s. Which was a fantastic character beat. If he can’t win it, nobody can. But then outsmarting them all, particularly Jeff Hardy who, lest we forget, was stumbling around with a ladder handcuffed to his ear, Sami produced the key from his mouth, locked AJ to another ladder, climbed up and won. This would’ve been match of the night if it wasn’t for the fantastic main event.

Unfortunately, in between those two matches, Raw happened. R-Truth lost his 24/7 title to a lunging Drew Gulak, and won it back about an hour later.

Raw Women's Championship (Asuka (c) Defeats Zelina Vega)

Now on the main card, Asuka retained against Zelina Vega very decisively in just over 5 minutes - making her tap in the Asuka Lock. It was far from the performance Vega needed to reset her character from manager to singles wrestler fighting for a title. Vega then attacked Asuka after the bell, implying this feud will go on for at least 7 more months.

United States Championship (Bobby Lashley (c) Defeats Apollo Crews)

Speaking of Raw feuds still going on! Apollo Crews took on Bobby Lashley for the United States title in a decent match - which included Apollo doing an impressive overhead press, moonsault combo - but one I’m pretty bored of seeing. Apollo and his not so super friends vs the Hurt Business has been going on since lockdown began. Hopefully this is now the end, as Crews decisively tapped out.

Raw Tag Team Championships (The Street Profits (c) Defeats Andrade & Angel Garza)

But don’t get your hopes up, because speaking again of Raw feuds still going on... The Street Profits took on Andrade and Angel Garza for the 19th month in a row. They’re great wrestlers. All four of them. In-ring and charisma-wise. But I’ve seen them wrestle so many times before. They had the same basic template again. Montez Ford was worked over. He built to a fiery Angelo Dawkins hot tag, and the match breaks down. Unfortunately the only one new spot, an incredible top rope Spanish Fly, saw Garza get injured either there or quickly after. He rolled out the ring immediately, and the referee seemingly called an audible, counting three despite Andrade kicking out. The third instance of a Raw pin being botched because of an injury in as many weeks. Which actually fits with their booking style: doing the same thing over and over again yet never learning from it. Wrestling News is reporting Garza injured his hip, but it’s hoped to not be as serious as first feared. WWE is teasing we’ll get a rematch to settle the finish. Please, just let this feud end. Thankfully, that was the end of Raw’s midcard purgatory for the show.

Heel Roman Reigns, who would brutally assault his cousin in just over an hour, gave a speech about kids being leaders, sponsored by Hyunadai. The WWE Draft was announced for two weeks’ time.

SmackDown Women's Championship (Bayley (c) vs.Nikki Cross)  / (Asuka Defeats Bayley (c))

Bayley walked down to issue an open challenge in lieu of Nikki Cross not being able to compete because of … reasons. Which was answered by Asuka, in the show’s only literally Clash of Champions. Although ironically, it wasn’t literal Clash of Champions. Bayley took the DQ loss after a fiery few minutes by using a steel chair - to then be attacked by a returning Sasha Banks! Sasha got some babyface revenge attacking Bayley with a chair and kendo stick.

Women's Tag Team Championship (Cancelled) (Shayna Baszler & Nia Jax (c) Defeats vs. The Riott Squad)

The women’s tag championship match with Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler defending against the Riott Squad was dropped completely. Fightful Select is reporting these changes were related to last week’s COVID-19 outbreak in WWE. So Nia did, explaining: “My tag partner is expecting Pregnant woman EMOJI” Which might be a jab aimed at Becky Lynch. I don’t know. It’s hard to keep track of who Jax does and does not have worked shoot shoot heat with. WWE announced that three competitors won't be there that being nikki cross as we reported earlier nia jax and shayna baszler which meant that the women's tag team match never happened.

WWE Championship (Ambulance Match) (Drew McIntyre (c) Defeats Randy Orton)

Then with Christmas but 88 days away, we got an early edition of the Ghosts of Orton Past. Drew McIntyre defended his WWE Championship against Randy Orton in an ambulance match in a feud I thought was built around who could hit their finisher in the actual ring. With them not hitting either the Claymore or RKO at SummerSlam, but being tied three apiece in attacks backstage at Raw. Instead, WWE went a different, much less subtle route, where Orton was foiled every few minutes by a different person he’d taken out with the Punt since lockdown began. Big Show, Christian, Shawn Michaels and even Ric Flair driving the ambulance at the end all made assists. And they were narratively very satisfying, with Randy finally getting his receipts. But the competitiveness of the match was lost, with Orton still getting most of the offence despite having three different guys attack him. I was much more into the story of Randy vs Drew for their rematch, as opposed to Randy vs Randy’s actions from the past - which would’ve worked better further down the line. Drew won after punting Randy’s head dangling out the ambulance.

Universal Championship Match (Roman Reigns (c) Defeats Jey Uso)

The main event slot was instead taken by arguably the most predictable match on the entire card. Universal Champion and mega heel Tribal Chief Roman Reigns taking on that guy from the tag division Jey Uso. But it was totally the right decision, because they had one of the most emotional matches of the year. They had a terrific 20 minute plus match, with Reigns bullying Jey for the first half, for the Flying Uso to power back with dives and superkicks. It was an excellent, believable comeback, which made Roman’s low blow, geniusly disguised in a kickout, all the more dastardly. Ironically, Jey had made us believe. And that’s kind of Roman’s thing. So he made him pay. A lot. Reigns speared Jey. He could’ve won, but it wasn’t about getting the pin. This was about Jey admitting Roman was now the head of the family. So Reigns kept laying in forearms. Punching him in the head. Spearing him to the ground. And it was all done differently from the usual WWE heel. Roman wasn’t yelling. He was almost calm. But Jey wouldn’t give up, forcing Jimmy to throw in the towel. This was excellent storytelling.

What did you think of the 2020 Edition Of WWE Clash Of Champions Gold Rush show? Let us know in the comments down below about 2020 Edition Of WWE Clash Of Champions Gold Rush show. This was an absolutely brilliant SmackDown brand pay-per-view… with a boring episode of Sunday Night Raw in the middle. Another pay-per-view which Retribution left alone. Unless Big Show wearing a balaclava was actually a member! B-Swag confirmed.