WWE Clash of Champions 2016: Preview and predictions

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

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Preview, predictions, and more for WWE Clash of Champions 2016 on Sunday, September 25 from Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, IN

Just a couple of weeks removed from SmackDown LIVE’s brand-specific pay-per-view debut in Backlash, WWE Clash of Champions will be WWE RAW’s attempt to outdo their “competition.” Given the card for the show, they have a very good chance of doing just that.

The main event for Clash of Champions looks to be a show-stealer with Seth Rollins challenging Kevin Owens for the WWE Universal Championship. However, there’s also a highly anticipated match between three of the best women’s wrestlers in the company. Charlotte will defend her title in a triple threat match against Sasha Banks and Bayley.

On top of that, this show will also feature the first defense of the new Cruiserweight Championship. TJ Perkins will put his purple belt on the line against a returning Brian Kendrick. With all this and more, you can’t miss this show. But that doesn’t answer the question of what we should make of the upcoming event. That’s what we’ll try to figure out.

Here are your preview and predictions for WWE Clash of the Champions, starting with the Kickoff Match.

Credit: WWE.com

Kickoff Match: Alicia Fox vs Nia Jax

There’s truly not a great deal that needs to be said about this match. After all, WWE hasn’t spent a great deal of time building to this match, so why would we?

Whatever is going on between these two began when Nia continued her reign of terror backstage, attacking Foxy. Since then, they’ve had a few confrontations. However, they’ve all ended with Jax essentially squashing Alicia Fox. I’d expect that here, but perhaps with a twist. We could see another woman come out on the Kickoff Show and confront Jax during a post-match beatdown.

Prediction: Nia Jax wins

Credit: WWE.com

Cruiserweight Championship Match: TJ Perkins (c) vs Brian Kendrick

Coming off of his win in the Cruiserweight Classic, TJ Perkins is now the champ of the newly minted division on RAW. If you don’t know about him by now, he’s one of the best stories in wrestling. He was once homeless, but pro wrestling essentially saved his life. Oh yeah; he’s also incredibly freaking talented in the ring and oozing personality. Then, longtime WWE fans will remember (The) Brian Kendrick from his previous run, but he has returned.

There’s no feud between these two outside of Kendrick vying for the belt. Perkins won the title and the Classic just two weeks ago while Kendrick won a Fatal 4-Way on the go-home RAW to earn this shot at the title. However, when you consider the fact that the entire Cruiserweight Classic went over like gangbusters with hardly any traditional storytelling at all, that truly shouldn’t be an issue in this match.

Now down to what should happen in this match, I really couldn’t tell you. It would appear that they’ll push TJP as a face, which would lead me to believe that Kendrick should pick up the win. However, I’m not sure that WWE has given the Cruiserweights enough time on TV to establish that type of dynamic. As such, I think TJP retains.

Prediction: TJP wins, retains

Credit: WWE.com

Sami Zayn vs Chris Jericho

This was such a smart, quality feud for WWE to put forth. Everyone knows by now about the Sami Zayn-Kevin Owens forever ongoing feud. However, Owens is obviously occupied elsewhere on the card. Thus, putting Zayn in a match with KO’s “best friend” is the perfect way to go. Moreover, it gets Zayn on TV and on the card in a match where he can look like the squeaky-clean face that he currently is.

Both of these men have taken shots at the other in recent weeks and have gotten physical on a number of occasions. Y2J is still doing some of his best work in quite a while and that only helps out a younger, newer talent like Zayn to get more over on the RAW brand. Then you have the fact that these two should be able to put on one hell of a match when they enter the squared circle and it’s even better for everyone involved.

Getting down to what should happen, there’s no way that Zayn shouldn’t come out victorious in this match. I don’t particularly see this as a feud worth continuing beyond Sunday’s show, even if it’s serving its purpose well for now. Thus, having Zayn overcome the dastardly Jericho seems like the only logical way to go about it.

Prediction: Sami Zayn wins

Credit: WWE.com

Best of Seven Series, Match 7 (Tied 3-3): Cesaro vs Sheamus

Thankfully, WWE wised up and actually gave this Best of Seven Series between Cesaro and Sheamus some actual, tangible stakes. The winner of this rubber match and final installment in the series will get a shot at the Universal title, no matter who wins on Sunday night at WWE Clash of Champions. However solid of a decision it is to have those stakes on the line, though, that doesn’t make it any more exciting or hard to predict in Indianapolis.

Sheamus went up 3-0 on Cesaro in the series, injuring the Swiss Superman’s back in the process. Like a true underdog in pro wrestling, though, Cesaro has overcome the odds to tie up the series to set up this match at WWE Clash of Champions. Considering the story that’s being told, it really doesn’t feel like there’s any other possible outcome than for Cesaro to complete his comeback against his Irish foe.

Maybe there’s a feasible scenario where having Sheamus cheat to win this final match would get him more heat while getting Cesaro more sympathy. To me, though, that seems like the far too risky option in this case. When it comes down to it, Cesaro should pick up the win at WWE Clash of Champions with the company playing it safe.

Prediction: Cesaro wins Match 7, Best of Seven Series

Credit: WWE.com

Tag Team Championship Match: New Day (c) vs Gallows and Anderson

I love the New Day. I love what Gallows and Anderson are capable of being. What I am not a fan of is this feud. It’s perpetual and never seems to end. It’s so bad that, on the go-home show, the current tag champs legitimately made fun of how bad the former Club’s segment was the week before. Needless to say, we all should hope it comes to a merciful end on Sunday at WWE Clash of Champions.

Quite frankly, these sophomoric barbs that the two teams are exchanging between one another just fall flat. Considering how funny both groups can be, it’s honestly just wholly disappointing. So when you sacrifice the comedy, you’re left with the hope that something interesting physically or in story is happening. But that’s not the case here, either. It’s as simple as one group likes to have fun and the other is a duo of bullies. The end.

So yes, this is like a show of mercy that this feud should end on Sunday night. As for who should win at Clash of Champions, it probably needs to be Gallows and Anderson. They need a platform so they can drop stupid routines and be themselves. Meanwhile, New Day needs to be able to move onto something new. Thus, the former Club picks up the big victory and becomes the new champs.

Prediction: Gallows and Anderson win, become new Tag Team Champions

Credit: WWE.com

United States Championship Match: Rusev (c) vs Roman Reigns

Roman Reigns looked like he might be inserted into the main event to square off with Seth Rollins and Kevin Owens, Instead, Rusev returned and is out seeking vengeance against the man who put him out several weeks ago with a kayfabe injury. Now their rivalry is renewed and with the US title on the line. This should be a quality match, but that’s assuming that it actually happens.

We’ll all remember that Rusev and Reigns’ last scheduled match ended before it ever began when the challenger attacked champion prior to the match. It was one of the more disappointing segments of SummerSlam (and there were many of those, to be fair). What was the biggest letdown of it all, though, was the fact that these two should actually be able to have a quality match against one another. Both are capable of being quality brawlers. The hope is just that they can do it with one another.

In terms of how this match goes, I have a bad feeling that WWE is going to do something misguided. Despite the fact that you could argue Rusev is more over right now, it’s not hard to imagine a world where they give Reigns the win over the returning “bad guy.” In fact, that’s what I think they’ll do. It’ll be a mistake and he’s going to get booed—but here we are.

Prediction: Roman Reigns wins, becomes new US Champion

Credit: WWE.com

Women’s Championship Match: Charlotte (c) vs Sasha Banks vs Bayley

There’s definitely a reason to be excited about the main event. However, I would argue that people and fans should be more excited about the Women’s title match. These three women may well be the most talented trio in the entire company. And now they are all going to be in the ring together facing off for the biggest prize they can grab in WWE. If that’s not enough to get you watching and anticipating this, I don’t know what is.

What’s more is that they’ve actually done a fantastic job of building up this feud between these three women. Since Bayley’s debut, they’ve established her friendly rivalry with Sasha, but also that she’s after the belt and Charlotte. Then Charlotte and Sasha have simply carried over their previous feud and it’s still working.

Again, this match could legitimately be the very best on Sunday at WWE Clash of Champions. Even if it’s not, it’s going to be up there as one of the best. Considering all of the options of what could happen, though, I’m going to say that Sasha gets the belt back as I’m not sure it was ever in the plans for her to lose it to Charlotte until she had to take some time off.

Prediction: Sasha Banks wins, becomes new champion

Credit: WWE.com

WWE Universal Championship Match: Kevin Owens (c) vs Seth Rollins

As if the fact that I’m predicting three other title changes at WWE Clash of Champions isn’t enough indication, I don’t think there’s any doubt about what I see happening in the main event. Kevin Owens is going to retain the championship. It would be incredibly stupid and short-sighted to take it off of him right after he wins it—especially when he’s so dam good at his job. However, the real intrigue is over how it happens.

Looking back at how Owens won the title and how Rollins has been becoming an increasingly obvious face in recent weeks, it seems like they’re building to some shenanigans on Sunday. You’ll recall that it was Triple H that cost Seth Rollins the title in the Fatal 4-Way, ultimately gifting the belt to Owens. And we haven’t seen the company’s COO since then. So the notion of seeing him get involved once again on Sunday night shouldn’t be out of the question.

Sure, there are other ways that they could go with this to have Owens retain and still make Rollins a sympathetic, believable challenger. However, Triple H resurfacing is the most obvious and logical way to go about that. So via some sort of interference from Hunter, I see Owens keeping the strap and staying champion.

Prediction: Kevin Owens wins, retains via Triple H interference