Posted in: Sports, TV, WWE | Tagged: clash of champions, jey uso, recaps, Roman Reigns, wrestling, wwe

WWE Clash of Champions – Roman Reigns Does It For His Family

Published Sun, 27 Sep 2020 21:20:52 -0500

WWE Clash of Champions limps to a conclusion with Roman Reigns vs. Jey Uso. The show has been hampered by featuring a few matches that we've seen too many times recently, as well as a few unexplained absences, with Nikki Cross, Shayna Baszler, and Nia Jax out for unspecified reasons and unable to compete in planned matches. Cedric Alexander was also absent, though he was only meant to be at ringside with Hurt Business for Bobby Lashley's match.

That said, the show had bright spots where it really counted, in particular the ladder match between Jeff Hardy, AJ Styles, and Sami Zayn and the ambulance match between Drew McIntyre and Randy Orton, which featured all the legends Randy Orton took out over the Summer appearing in spots to get their revenge on Orton. We also saw Sasha Banks get some post-match revenge on Bayley after Asuka took Nikki Cross's place in that match.

And now, the main event of Clash of Champions sees heel Roman Reigns vs. Jey Uso with some family drama and Reigns dickishness attempt to close out the PPV and leave fans with a net positive feeling about the night as a whole. Will they succeed?

Jey Uso comes out first, wearing his Ula Fala (traditional Samoan flower necklace). Reigns comes out next, wearing a stone cold glare, with Paul Heyman.

WWE Clash of the Champions key art (Image: WWE)

WWE Clash of Champions Results – Roman Reigns vs. Jey Uso – Universal Championship Match

The story here is that newly heel WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns worked his influence to get his cousin, Jey Uso a shot at the title. But as Uso slowly came to realize over the last month, Reigns didn't do that out of respect for family, but because he doesn't see Jey as a real challenge. Jey wants to prove himself after years of living in Roman's shadow.
As promised, Reigns wrestles with his shirt off.
There's some excellent trash talking in the beginning of the match when Roman tells Uso to "take the payday" and stop putting in effort. Uso isn't having it, of course. This sort of thing continues throughout the match.
Reigns slowly and methodically punishes Uso for most of the match. Uso gets spurts of offense here and there, but it's clear who's leaving Clash of Champions with the Universal Championship.
Uso gets his best comeback at the end, hitting a frogsplash on Reigns. Michael Cole actually shouted "do you believe in miracles" while he was in mid-air. But Reigns, while kicking out, low blows Uso. And in case you thought it was an accident, he smiles afterward.
Reigns hits the spear, but hesitates instead of pinning Uso. He talks some more trash and says he isn't ready yet. He wants Uso to acknowledge him as the tribal chief. He beats the crap out of him for a really long time.
Jimmy Uso eventually runs out with a towel and threatens to throw it in, but Jey begs him not to. Reigns literally rips Jey out of Jimmy's arms and starts punching him in the head. Jimmy throws in the towel.

Jimmy tells off Roman after the match. "You the chief, Uce. Just chill." Heyman puts Jey's necklace on Roman after the match. And that's it for Clash of Champions.

This was the first real outing for Roman Reigns in heel form, and we saw a very different Reigns in the ring. Slow, calculating, and most of all arrogant, Reigns' new wrestling style suits his character perfectly. And in this form, Roman feels like he truly belongs in his spot at the top of the card. As far as WWE PPVs go, I think Clash of Champions was a good one. As with all things WWE, there was a lot of filler, but the big matches delivered.

Thanks for reading Bleeding Cool's Clash of Champions coverage. If you enjoyed it, you should know that we publish reports each morning during the week covering wrestling from the night before, including Raw, Impact, Dynamite, NXT, and Smackdown.

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