The full results and grades from WWE Clash of Champions 2020.
Right when the kick-off show started, we were informed that two matches at WWE Clash of Champions 2020 were scrapped. The Women’s Tag Title match and the SmackDown Women’s Tag Title match, as Nia Jax, Shayna Baszler, and Nikki Cross were not cleared to compete.
Check below for the full results, grades, and analysis from the Clash of Champions Pay Per View.
WWE Clash of Champions 2020: Cesaro and Shinsuke Nakamura (c) vs. The Lucha House Party for the SmackDown Tag Team Titles
Result: Cesaro and Shinsuke Nakamura win via Swing/Kinsasha
Grade: B+, An excellent kick-off show match that any fan of tag team wrestling will enjoy. Wonderful in-ring action and storytelling.
The kick-off show didn’t feature Asuka vs. Zelina Vega, which, thankfully, moved up to the main show. But we did get to see a fast-paced, riveting tag team title match between Cesaro and Shinsuke Nakamura and the Lucha House Party (Kalisto and Lince Dorado).
These two tag teams have been feuding for weeks on SmackDown, and they saved their best battle for the Pay Per View. The athleticism was on full display from everyone, and Cesaro and Nakamura showed off their typically crisp tag team wrestling as the best heel tag team in the world right now.
Before the match, the story was all about Kalisto and Dorado having trouble working together. They were on the same page after Kalisto’s hot tag, as Dorado helped his tag partner deal with Nakamura and Cesaro on the outside.
Moonsaults and roll-ups followed from Kalisto, but nothing could put away Cesaro. As he desperately tried to tag Dorado in, Dorado was thrown over the barricade by the brilliant Nakamura. And in the end, Cesaro and Nakamura hit a WONDERFUL tag team finisher…the Cesaro Swing into the Kinsasha!
WWE Clash of Champions 2020: Sami Zayn (c) vs. AJ Styles (scab) vs. Jeff Hardy (fraud) for the Intercontinental Title in a Ladder Match
Result: Sami Zayn handcuffs AJ to the ladder, Jeff Hardy’s earlobe to a mini-ladder (yes, that happened), and won the IC Titles
Grade: A+, very sports entertained
In this house, we recognize the only true Intercontinental Championship in WWE and do not recognize fraudulent champions or tournaments. Sami Zayn never lost the title and was never supposed to relinquish the title or suffer repercussions for putting his safety first during a deadly pandemic.
Jeff Hardy, as he always does, took some wild bumps pretty early in the match. Ladder matches are kind of his thing, and he took one bump off the top of the ladder onto the mat and then another sickening one in between two ladders!
Throughout it all, Hardy was doing the work and taking the punishment from AJ Styles, while Sami Zayn would try to find openings for an easy victory after the two rivals were beating each other. To his credit, though, Zayn did hit some big moves, such as suplexing the Phenomenal One straight into the ladder.
At one point, AJ Styles threw a mini ladder at Sami Zayn, who was climbing up the ladder for the umpteenth time. (This one was after he hit Hardy with a Helluva Kick that sent him over the barricade…he learned from Nakamura, I see!)
This match was brutal, there’s no two ways around it. Hardy took one especially scary bump to the outside falling from the top of the ladder after he climbed head-first down the other side of the latter. Yeah…you should watch it. Or don’t. It was a scary moment…
And for old time’s sake, he hit a Swanton Bomb off the top of the ladder onto Zayn through another ladder…on the outside. Jeff Hardy was really putting it ALL on the line.
Sami Zayn then brought out handcuffs, handcuffed Hardy using the earlobe (shoutout to Randy Orton), and then tried to do the same to AJ on the second rope. But as Styles fought back, he realized Zayn handcuffed himself to AJ!
Hardy still came into the ring with the mini ladder handcuffed to his ear! Zayn handcuffed Styles to the ladder after unlocking his own attachment to Styles. Unable to climb the ladder, Styles watched as Zayn won both IC Title belts!
WWE Clash of Champions 2020: Asuka (c) vs. Zelina Vega for the Raw Women’s Championship
Result: Asuka defeats Zelina Vega by submission
Grade: A-, Short match but great. Asuka always delivers, and Zelina Vega shined. Big match by her.
It took seconds for Zelina Vega to get her “welcome to the big leagues” moment against the Raw Women’s Champion. She slapped the taste out of Zelina’s mouth and then started toying with her being unable to grapple with her. That was Asuka underestimating Zelina due to her opponent’s inexperience, though.
The overconfidence of Asuka was a big talking point for the announcers in the match, as Zelina started gaining an advantage and seriously impressing with her grappling ability against the Empress of Tomorrow. She even countered the Asuka Lock into her own submission targeting Asuka’s injured left arm!
Both women traded some awesome rolling pins, which led to the conclusion of the match in the form of the Asuka Lock. Zelina quickly tapped out of one of WWE’s most powerful finishers.
This was a seriously impressive performance from Vega, who showed that she can hang in the Raw Women’s Title picture for the remainder of 2020 and build on that.
And expect her to build on this performance by continuing this feud, as she took a cheap shot at Asuka after feigning respect.
WWE Clash of Champions 2020: Bobby Lashley (c) vs. Apollo Crews for the United States Championship
Result: Bobby Lashley submits Apollo Crews with the Hurt Lock
Grade: B, Another strong match between Apollo Crews and Bobby Lashley. They pulled off some incredible moves, but Lashley unsurprisingly came away with the win.
Bobby Lashley and Apollo Crews didn’t take long to put their match into the next gear, which isn’t a surprise considering they are familiar opponents at this point. Crews is the heavy underdog here, as the Hurt Business are dominating Raw and need their CEO to be champion.
Apollo’s ability is off the charts. He hit a shoulder press on Lashley and followed it up with a moonsault. We’ve seen Crews do that time and time again, but it was especially impressive seeing Crews shoulder press someone of Lashley’s size.
Not to be outdone, Lashley hit a BRUTAL superplex onto Apollo. And then Apollo followed that up with a standing shooting star press and a frog splash for an awesome nearfall!
But in the end, Crews could not avoid the “Hurt Lock”, which is the name of Lashley’s devastating submission finisher that he’s used to dominate on Monday nights. Lashley put Crews in the Hurt Lock, and Apollo had nowhere to go, tapping out almost immediately.
WWE Clash of Champions 2020: The Street Profits (c) vs. Andrade and Angel Garza for the Raw Tag Team Championships
Result: Street Profits win after a controversial finish
Grade: B-, The match itself was very good, but the finish shrouds it.
On the kick-off show, Andrade and Angel Garza threw Zelina Vega under the bus. Their response to questions about their fractured relationship as tag teammates – with all the turns teased or walk-aways during matches – was to say that Zelina was dragging them down. Bold choice of words, Garza.
But Andrade and Garza were indeed working together excellently early in the match, dominating Montez Ford with some brutal tag team offense. For the first time in months, they seemed to be truly in sync.
Angelo Dawkins came in to save the day with another tremendous hot tag, cleaning up house. That was until he missed Garza tagging in for Andrade, who sent Dawkins packing outside the ring. And then he hit Montez Ford with a Spanish Fly! (Always pop for that move!)
So we have to talk about the finish. It looked like Andrade had kicked out, and even Tom Phillips was confused. Angelo Dawkins made a confused face as well, and the replay showed that Andrade clearly did kick out.
But it appears Garza may be legitimately injured. That would explain the controversial finish He was clearly communicating something with the ref before rolling out the ring, and the camera caught him lying outside talking to staff. Let’s hope he is OK because before the finish, he and Andrade were putting on a show.
WWE Clash of Champions 2020: Bayley (c) vs. Asuka for the SmackDown Women’s Championship
Result: Asuka wins by disqualification
Grade: A-, no grade for the match, just for the brawl. Wonderful stuff from Sasha and Bayley. Banks is a bad-ass babyface.
Since Nikki Cross was unable to compete at WWE Clash of Champions 2020, wrestling fans were waiting to see how WWE would address this and who Bayley would face instead.
Many of us were expecting an up-and-coming babyface on SmackDown or Raw even, but, instead, we got another match between Bayley and Asuka.
But I wasn’t complaining. I mean, Asuka and Bayley always put on classics in the ring. Few can top the magic they produce inside the ring, even if WWE has worn out that matchup a lot on Raw this past summer. Their matches never felt boring no matter how often they faced each other, and the former NXT foes didn’t disappoint at Clash of Champions either.
At less than 100 percent, Asuka, the Raw Women’s Champion, had already retained the title by defeating Zelina Vega, who worked that injured left arm. Plus, since this was also a SmackDown Women’s Title match, you knew 100 percent that Bayley would retain.
However, WWE didn’t have Bayley defeat Asuka for the first time. Instead, WWE worked their way out of a corner by having Bayley disqualify herself.
But it was all worth it when we got Sasha Banks hitting Bayley with a steel chair upon her return! The two started brawling, and just when it seemed like Bayley had her cornered with a steel chair, Sasha fought her way out of the predicament and grabbed a kendo stick! It felt good watching Sasha get her revenge on Bayley, I have to say!
Sasha is one bad-ass babyface!
WWE Clash of Champions 2020: Drew McIntyre (c) vs. Randy Orton for the WWE Championship in an Ambulance Match
Result: Drew McIntyre closes the door on Randy Orton after a Punt Kick
Grade: A, Excellent match. Loved the story of the legends getting revenge on Randy Orton, as his past actions came back to haunt him.
Coming into this match, it felt like anybody’s game, and most fans were just wondering what an Ambulance Match would entail. But it also felt like it was high time for Randy Orton to take control of Monday nights as WWE Champion.
This match was a brawl, with McIntyre wasting no time getting after Orton. He punched and chopped the Viper frequently, giving his challenger no room to breathe. And that’s exactly the fiery start this WWE Title match needed.
The wildest part of the match was when we saw a hand grab Orton’s boot. Slowly, the camera moved to reveal a man wearing a mask…and as he drew down the mask, we saw it a was a clean-shaven Big Show! He got his revenge on Orton for the torment Orton caused him earlier this summer, chokeslamming him onto the announce table!
The call of the night went to Samoa Joe for yelling, “What kind of ambulance is this?” as McIntyre grabbed a red steel chair from the ambulance.
We saw crutches used (shoutout to Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa), and we also saw Orton take advantage of McIntyre’s throat injury .
The two men got into the ambulance at one point, and it seemed like McIntyre was on the cusp of a victory. But Orton fought out of it as both ambulance doors remained ajar.
McIntyre and Orton moved to the front of the ambulance, with Orton trying to use the door to slam it on McIntyre. And then when Drew went to Claymore Orton through the door, Orton dove into the ambulance, so McIntyre Claymored the door clean off!
The match moved to the back in catering, and Christian came out of the blue to get some of his own revenge on the Viper for what he did to him earlier this year!
But the best interference goes to Shawn Michaels! He hit Orton with a superkick on top of the ambulance, and then nonchalantly pushed him off as he stumbled. And of course, we got the classic DX “Suck It” celebration from HBK!
Even so, Orton withstood it all. He hit McIntyre with an RKO on the hard floor, and McIntyre immediately went to his jaw. It seemed like Orton had it won, but McIntyre barely held off the last door from being closed and hit Orton with an eye rake of his own!
McIntyre then hit the Claymore, but instead of winning the match then and there, he pulled Orton out to get revenge with a Punt Kick…
And then won the match!
Final pop to Ric Flair for driving the ambulance!
WWE Clash of Champions 2020: Roman Reigns (c) vs. Jey Uso for the Universal Championship
Result: Roman Reigns wins when Jimmy Uso throws the towel
Grade A+++, One of the best stories ever told. I mean it.
This match was the most highly-anticipated of the night, thanks to the incredible storytelling from Roman Reigns and Jey Uso. They made this rivalry the most must-see matchup on the Clash of Champions card and arguably told the best story leading up to a Universal Title match. A huge match in Jey Uso’s career, the cousin of Roman Reigns has made it clear he is capable of being in a main event match on Pay Per View.
The first noteworthy highlight of the match? Roman Reigns making his entrance without a shirt.
Jey had a point to prove in this match emotionally due to feeling underestimating and needing to show he could win a world title after being a tag team champion for so long. But Roman was cool and collected, uncompromisingly useless with his offense. At one point, he laid out Jey and start trash-talking him again, basically saying that all Jey had to do was stay in line and he wouldn’t have been subjected to this punishment.
After taking his “ass whooping”, Jey started to make a comeback, hitting a couple of big dives to the outside to finally get Reigns to the ground. He even had a couple of nearfalls.
Jey had an awesome counter of the Spear into a roll-up, hit a superkick, and got a nearfall with an Uso Splash! But as Reigns was kicking out, he seemed to catch Jey with a low blow. Genius move right there. And then he hit his Spear.
Instead of pinning Jey, Roman sat there and said, “No”. Roman wanted Jey to acknowledge him as the “Tribal Chief” in order to end the match. Jey refused, taking one more spear as punishment.
Incensed that Jey would not acknowledge him as the “Tribal Chief”, Reigns kept on bringing the physical punishment on his cousin.
Jimmy Uso then made his return, telling Jey he would throw in the towel. But Jey refused. Roman then asked Jimmy to acknowledge Roman as the head of the family, as Jey demanded him not to. Jimmy waved the towel, ready to throw it, as Jey begged him not to.
As more fists rained down, Jimmy threw in the towel, but Roman wouldn’t stop punching until Jimmy stepped into the ring.
What. A. Match. Now that is storytelling. Heel Roman Reigns is awesome, and Jey Uso is damn amazing himself.