Clash of Champions (2017): Difference between revisions

Clash of Champions (2017)
Clash of Champions (2017)
	Promotional poster featuring Charlotte Flair with the SmackDown Women's Championship and AJ Styles with the WWE Championship
Promotion	WWE
Brand(s)	SmackDown
Date	December 17, 2017
City	Boston, Massachusetts
Venue	TD Garden
Attendance	14,318
WWE Network event chronology
← Previous; Survivor Series (2017)	Next →; NXT TakeOver: Philadelphia
Clash of Champions chronology
← Previous; Clash of Champions (2016)	Next →; Clash of Champions (2018)

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Revision as of 18:26, 18 December 2017

Clash of Champions (2017) was a professional wrestling pay-per-view event and WWE Network event produced by WWE for the SmackDown brand. It took place on December 17, 2017, at TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts.^[1] It was the second event under the Clash of Champions chronology.

Seven matches were contested at the event, including one on the pre-show. In the main event, AJ Styles defeated Jinder Mahal to retain the WWE Championship. Of the four SmackDown-exclusive championships, only the United States Championship changed hands, with Dolph Ziggler defeating defending champion Baron Corbin and Bobby Roode in a triple threat match. In another marquee match, Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn defeated Randy Orton and Shinsuke Nakamura with Shane McMahon and Daniel Bryan as special guest referees to keep their jobs.

Background

The card featured seven matches that resulted from scripted storylines and had results predetermined by WWE on the SmackDown brand.^[2]^[3] Storylines were produced on WWE's weekly television show SmackDown Live.^[4] As per the theme of the event, every championship exclusive to SmackDown – the WWE Championship, the SmackDown Women's Championship, the United States Championship, and the SmackDown Tag Team Championship – was defended.

On the November 7 episode of SmackDown, AJ Styles defeated Jinder Mahal to win the WWE Championship for the second time.^[5] This resulted in Styles taking Mahal's place in the Universal Champion versus WWE Champion match at Survivor Series against Raw's Brock Lesnar, which Styles lost. Mahal cut a promo during Survivor Series stating that he hoped that Styles would win for SmackDown, but he wanted Lesnar to weaken Styles so that he could easily win back the WWE Championship.^[6] The following SmackDown, Styles came out and addressed the WWE fans. Mahal appeared on the TitanTron and challenged Styles to a rematch for the championship at Clash of Champions. The Singh Brothers (Samir and Sunil Singh) attacked Styles, but Styles fought them off and performed a Styles Clash on Samir. Styles then accepted Mahal's challenge and a handicap match between Styles and The Singh Brothers was scheduled for the following week.^[7] Before the handicap match could officially begin, Mahal and The Singh Brothers attacked Styles during his entrance. However, Styles defeated The Singh Brothers. Afterwards, Mahal attempted to attack Styles, who retreated. A frustrated Mahal then proceeded to attack The Singh Brothers, performing a Khallas on both brothers.^[8] A promotional video aired the following week hyping the match.^[9] On the final SmackDown before Clash of Champions, Styles said that he was a fighting champion, unlike Mahal during his reign. The Singh Brothers interrupted and said that they wanted to be in Styles' corner due to Mahal attacking them. Styles, however, did not believe them, as The Singh Brothers had accompanied Mahal just a few days prior during WWE's India tour. Mahal came out and Styles attacked The Singh Brothers. Later backstage as Styles was being interviewed by Renee Young, he was attacked by Mahal and The Singh Brothers.^[10]

On the November 14 episode of SmackDown, Charlotte Flair defeated Natalya to win the SmackDown Women's Championship.^[11] This resulted in Flair taking Natalya's place in the Raw Women's Champion versus SmackDown Women's Champion match at Survivor Series against Raw's Alexa Bliss, which Flair won.^[6] Two days later on SmackDown, a rematch for the SmackDown Women's Championship was scheduled, but the match ended in a no contest after Flair and Natalya were attacked by the main roster debuts of NXT's Ruby Riott, Liv Morgan, and Sarah Logan, calling themselves The Riott Squad.^[7] On December 1 on WWE.com, in honoring the theme of the event, Byron Saxton announced that Flair and Natalya would have a SmackDown Women's Championship rematch at Clash of Champions.^[12] On the December 5 episode of SmackDown, Ms. Money in the Bank Carmella and Lana, on behalf of Tamina, confronted General Manager Daniel Bryan and complained about Natalya getting a rematch for the title. They were then interrupted by The Riott Squad where Riott also complained. Due to their arguments, Bryan then decided to make the championship rematch between Flair and Natalya a Lumberjack match with the six women serving as the lumberjacks. Later that night, Flair faced Tamina with Lana, Natalya, and Carmella in her corner. Despite this, Flair won. After the match, The Riott Squad made their way to the ring and a brawl broke out between everyone except Flair.^[9] The following week, Flair faced Riott with Natalya on commentary, which Flair won by disqualification after Natalya attacked her. After the match, The Riott Squad attacked Flair. Naomi came out for the save, who was added as a lumberjack, followed by the other three lumberjacks, Carmella, Lana, and Tamina, who attacked The Riott Squad.^[10]

On the November 21 episode of SmackDown, during the Lumberjack match between The New Day's Big E and Kofi Kingston and Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn, United States Champion Baron Corbin accidentally hit Bobby Roode, which caused a brawl between all of the lumberjacks.^[7] The following week, while Roode was being interviewed by Charly Caruso, Corbin interrupted. Roode then issued a challenge to Corbin for the United States Championship, but Corbin denied his request.^[8] However, on December 1, in honoring the theme of the event, it was announced that Corbin would defend the title in a triple threat match against Roode and Dolph Ziggler at Clash of Champions.^[12] The three confronted each other backstage the following week where Ziggler claimed he was added because he was a two-time world champion, a five-time Intercontinental Champion, a former United States Champion, and successfully cashed in his Money in the Bank briefcase, unlike Corbin, who failed to do so a few months prior. Later, Roode faced Corbin, but the match ended in a no contest after Ziggler attacked both with a Zig Zag.^[9] The following week, Corbin faced Ziggler with Roode on commentary. Ziggler won by disqualification after Roode performed a Glorious DDT on him, followed by one on Corbin.^[10]

On the October 10 episode of SmackDown, Chad Gable and Shelton Benjamin defeated The Hype Bros (Mojo Rawley and Zack Ryder), Breezango (Fandango and Tyler Breeze), and The Ascension (Konnor and Viktor) in a number one contender's fatal four-way tag team match.^[13] Gable and Benjamin received their SmackDown Tag Team Championship match on the November 7 episode of SmackDown and defeated champions The Usos (Jey and Jimmy Uso), but by count-out, and as a result, The Usos retained the titles.^[5] Over the next couple of weeks, the teams traded wins in singles matches where Jimmy defeated Gable,^[11] and Benjamin defeated Jey.^[7] On the November 28 episode, The New Day's Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods defeated Gable and Benjamin.^[8] The following week, in honoring the theme of the event, it was announced that The Usos would defend the SmackDown Tag Team Championship against The New Day and Gable and Benjamin in a triple threat tag team match at Clash of Champions.^[12] On the December 5 episode, Rusev and Aiden English were added to the match after defeating The New Day's Big E and Kingston, making it a fatal four-way tag team match.^[9] Rusev and English then defeated The Usos in a non-title match the following week, where The New Day were on commentary and Gable and Benjamin watched from the entrance ramp.^[10]

Throughout the summer of 2017, Kevin Owens had issues with Commissioner Shane McMahon, which lead to a Hell in a Cell match at Hell in a Cell where Sami Zayn appeared and helped Owens defeat Shane.^[14] On the following episode of SmackDown, Zayn explained that during the Superstar Shake-up, he was glad that he was brought to SmackDown, which had been called the "land of opportunity", but he never got an opportunity, and after Shane ignored his warning about facing Owens, he realized that Shane did not actually care about him and Shane only cared about himself and that was why he saved Owens. He said that despite their rough history, going from being best friends to bitter rivals, Owens was still his brother and he realized that Owens was right all along in his actions and thanked Owens.^[13] Shane appeared the following week and was confronted by Zayn, who said that he would take him out "in one second" if Shane wanted to compete again. Shane said they would eventually settle their score, but his focus then was on Survivor Series.^[15] Both Owens and Zayn had the opportunity to be on Team SmackDown at Survivor Series, but lost their qualification matches.^[15]^[16] At Survivor Series, Owens and Zayn attacked Shane during the 5-on-5 Survivor Series interbrand elimination match against Team Raw, which SmackDown ultimately lost.^[6] On the following episode of SmackDown, Shane invited Owens and Zayn to the ring. As Shane was about to fire both of them, they were interrupted by General Manager Daniel Bryan, who said that Shane had every right to fire them, but he had a better solution. Bryan then scheduled Owens and Zayn to face The New Day in a lumberjack match with the rest of the SmackDown roster surrounding the ring. After a brawl broke out ringside, Zayn capitalized on the distraction and he and Owens defeated The New Day. Backstage, Owens begged for Bryan not to fire them. Bryan said he was not going to, but scheduled Owens to face Randy Orton the following week.^[7] Shane decided to ban Zayn from ringside and make the match no disqualification. Despite this, Zayn aided Owens in defeating Orton.^[8] The following week, Shane decided that at Clash of Champions, Owens and Zayn would face Orton and a partner of his choosing, while also scheduling Zayn to face Orton that night with Owens handcuffed to the ring ropes. During the match, Owens managed to escape the handcuffs, but Orton still defeated Zayn. After the match, Owens and Zayn attacked Orton, who was saved by Shinsuke Nakamura, who was revealed to be Orton's tag team partner for Clash of Champions. Afterwards, Shane announced himself as the special guest referee while also putting an additional stipulation that if Owens and Zayn were to lose at Clash of Champions, they would be fired from WWE.^[9] On the final SmackDown before Clash of Champions, Owens and Zayn said that Shane was corrupt and abusing his power. They were interrupted by Bryan. After Zayn had mentioned all of their hard work during their time in the independent circuit, Bryan decided to add himself as a second special guest referee. Later, Owens faced Nakamura with Bryan on commentary. Bryan said that he would not be biased and said he added himself as he was unaware of Shane's decision last week, and wanted to ensure that Owens and Zayn were in a fair situation. After Owens accidentally knocked out the referee, Bryan took over as the ref and Owens defeated Nakamura.^[10]

For months on Breezango's "Fashion Files" segment, Fandango and Tyler Breeze were being tormented by two unknown assailants. They thought it may have been The Ascension (Konnor and Viktor), but The Ascension joined with Breezango and after finding a clue with "2B" on it, they deduced that the two unknown people were The Bludgeon Brothers, who were being promoted as "coming soon" to SmackDown. The Bludgeon Brothers, the new team of former Wyatt Family members Luke Harper and Erick Rowan, now going by the shortened ringnames of Harper and Rowan, debuted on the November 21 episode of SmackDown,^[7] and after The Ascension "sacrificed" themselves, they convinced Breezango to face The Bludgeon Brothers at Clash of Champions.^[10]

On the November 21 episode of SmackDown, The Hype Bros (Mojo Rawley and Zack Ryder) were defeated by The Bludgeon Brothers (Harper and Rowan).^[7] They had a rematch the following week, but were again defeated. After the match, a frustrated Rawley attacked Ryder.^[8] The following week, Rawley explained that he was doing good as a singles competitor, citing that he had won the André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal at WrestleMania 33 without Ryder, but after Ryder came back from his injury in June, he got dragged back into being a tag team with him again.^[9] The two went back and forth on social media and on December 12, Ryder challenged Rawley to a match at Clash of Champions, which was accepted by Rawley through his Twitter and the match was scheduled for the pre-show.^[17]

Event

**Other on-screen personnel**
Role:	Name:
English commentators	Tom Phillips
	Corey Graves
	Byron Saxton
Spanish commentators	Carlos Cabrera
Spanish commentators	Marcelo Rodríguez
German commentators	Tim Haber
German commentators	Calvin Knie
Ring announcer	Greg Hamilton
Referees	Jason Ayers
	Daniel Bryan
	Mike Chioda
	Dan Engler
	Shane McMahon
	Charles Robinson
Interviewers	Dasha Fuentes
Interviewers	Kayla Braxton
Pre-show panel	Renee Young
	Sam Roberts
	David Otunga

Pre-show

On the pre-show, Mojo Rawley took on Zack Ryder. In the end, Zack Ryder performed two Broski Boots, but Rawley placed his foot on the bottom rope. Rawley executed a running forearm smash on Ryder for the victory.^[18]

Preliminary matches

The opening match was Baron Corbin defending the United States Championship in a triple threat match against Bobby Roode and Dolph Ziggler. As Corbin executed the End of Days on Roode, Ziggler simultaneously performed a Zig Zag on Corbin to win his second U.S. Championship.^[19]

Next, The Usos defended the SmackDown Tag Team Championship against Big E and Kofi Kingston of The New Day, Rusev and Aiden English, and Shelton Benjamin and Chad Gable in a fatal four-way tag team match. Unlike traditional tag team fatal four-way matches, one member from each team remained in the ring throughout the match. The match ended when Gable tried to German Suplex Jimmy, but he was saved by his brother Jey and then Jimmy performed 2 superkicks before Jey won the match following the splash from the top rope to retain the titles.^[19]

After that, Charlotte Flair defended the SmackDown Women's Championship against Natalya in a Lumberjack match with The Riott Squad (Ruby Riott, Liv Morgan, and Sarah Logan), Naomi, Carmella, Tamina, and Lana serving as the lumberjacks. Mid-match, Carmella attempted to cash-in her Money in the Bank briefcase, but then Riott stopped her and the lumberjacks brawled into the back. Natalya then went for the Sharpshooter, but Flair countered with the Figure 8-Leg Lock for the submission victory. After the match, an upset Natalya said she was turning her back on everyone.^[19]

The next match was The Bludgeon Brothers (Harper and Rowan) squashing Breezango (Fandango and Tyler Breeze) in a couple of minutes. Afterwards, they cut a promo saying it was the end of the beginning and the beginning of the end.^[19]

In the penultimate match, Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn defended their jobs against Randy Orton and Shinsuke Nakamura with Commissioner Shane McMahon and General Manager Daniel Bryan as the special guest referees. Throughout the match, there was confusion between Shane and Bryan on who should call the pinfalls until they came to an agreement. The match reached its climax when Zayn pinned Orton and Shane intentionally stopped the count at two. Bryan and Shane then argued, during which Bryan shoved Shane. Orton went for an RKO on Zayn, who avoided it, then rolled up Orton and Bryan made a fast three count to give Owens and Zayn the win, thus keeping their jobs.^[19]

Main event

In the main event, AJ Styles defended the WWE Championship against Jinder Mahal. Mahal dominated throughout the match. In the climax, as Styles went for a pin, The Singh Brothers broke up the pin. Styles then performed a Phenomenal Forearm on one Singh, followed by a Styles Clash on the other outside the ring. Back in the ring, Styles kicked out of a Khallas from Mahal and then got Mahal to submit to the Calf Crusher to retain the WWE Championship.^[19]

Results

No.

Results

Stipulations

Times^[27]^[18]^[19]

1

Mojo Rawley defeated Zack Ryder

Singles match^[20]