WWE Clash of Champions Report: McIntyre vs. Orton, Reigns vs. Uso

John Pollock's coverage of WWE Clash of Champions featuring an Ambulance Match between Drew McIntyre and Randy Orton, and Roman Reigns vs. Jey Uso.

Photo courtesy: WWE

Welcome to POST Wrestling’s coverage of WWE Clash of Champions featuring the Ambulance Match between Drew McIntyre and Randy Orton for the WWE Championship, and Roman Reigns defending the Universal title against Jey Uso.

Wai Ting and John Pollock will be LIVE immediately after the pay-per-view with our Clash of Champions POST Show available for Double Double, Iced Capp & Espresso members of the POST Wrestling Café.

Our coverage will begin at 6 pm Eastern with the Kickoff program.

WWE Universal Championship: Roman Reigns (champion) def. Jey Uso in 22:58
WWE Championship Ambulance Match: Drew McIntyre (champion) def. Randy Orton in 21:44
SmackDown Women’s Championship: Asuka def. Bayley (champion) by DQ at 3:38
Raw Tag Team Championship: The Street Profits (champions) def. Andrade & Angel Garza in 8:14
United States Championship: Bobby Lashley (champion) def. Apollo Crews in 8:15
Raw Women’s Championship: Asuka (champion) def. Zelina Vega in 7:06
Intercontinental Title Ladder Match: Sami Zayn def. Jeff Hardy (champion) & AJ Styles in 26:42 to win the title
SmackDown Tag Team Championship: Shinsuke Nakamura & Cesaro (champions) def. Lucha House Party in 10:45 [Kickoff show]

The kickoff show was hosted by Charly Caruso with panelists Booker T., JBL, and Peter Rosenberg.

Caruso noted that Nia Jax, Shayna Baszler, and Nikki Cross were not medically cleared for tonight’s show and their matches were off the show. Caruso added that the women’s tag match would be addressed on Raw, and Bayley is in the building and would appear later tonight.

Kayla Braxton spoke with Shinsuke Nakamura & Cesaro as they drank champagne. They called victory tonight “guaranteed” against The Lucha House Party. They compared themselves to Jordan & Pippen, Hobbs & Shaw, and Simon & Garfunkel. They got upset with Braxton and took her drink away.

The panel spoke with MVP and he the idea of Apollo Crews beating Bobby Lashley “insanity”. They are not concerned with Retribution tonight and they have a plan.

R-Truth was dressed up with the 24/7 championship in a bowl.

Alyse Ashton spoke with Andrade & Angel Garza and they said Zelina Vega was in the past and now they each have the other’s back, and no one can measure up to them.

Sami Zayn confronted the panel on not being recognized as the Intercontinental champion. He said it’s a sham of a championship and blamed Booker T. for throwing him off his game and will blame him if he loses tonight.

CESARO & SHINSUKE NAKAMURA VS KALISTO & LINCE DORADO FOR THE SMACKDOWN TAG TITLES

Nakamura and Cesaro got the advantage of Dorado in their corner while Kalisto was frustrated in the corner. Dorado hit a sunset bomb and then, was leveled with a boot from Cesaro. They double-teamed Dorado until he snuck until Cesaro’s legs and tagged Kalisto.

Dorado dove to the floor assisting in Kalisto finishing a DDT to Cesaro. Nakamura dumped Dorado over the barricade.

Nakamura made the blind tag, there was a Cesaro swing on Kalisto into a running knee by Nakamura for the victory.

WINNERS: Cesaro & Shinsuke Nakamura in 10:45 to retain the SmackDown tag titles

Well, the story was that Lucha House Party didn’t have a prayer against the champions after back-to-back losses by Gran Metalik to Cesaro and Nakamura. The story of the match was that they didn’t have a chance and were dominated for most of it, got a glimmer of hope from Kalisto, and then took the fall.

The opening video for the pay-per-view was narrated by John Cena.

JEFF HARDY VS AJ STYLES VS SAMI ZAYN IN A LADDER MATCH FOR THE INTERCONTINENTAL TITLE

They aired past ladder match highlights from the three men as they made their entrances.

The ladder was used as a weapon early as they went to the floor. Zayn dropped the ladder onto both. In the ring, Zayn took a back body drop on the ladder by Hardy.

Zayn is tossed into the ladders and his back is marked up. Zayn came back and hit an exploder to Styles onto a ladder in the corner.

Hardy hit the Poetry in Motion off the steel steps into Styles against the barricade followed by Zayn hitting Hardy with a Helluva kick.

Zayn climbed the ladder and Styles tossed a miniature ladder from the floor that nailed Zayn.

Zayn tried to tip the large ladder with Hardy attempting to slide down one side and crashed & burned to fall to the floor while tied up in the ladder, this looked terribly uncomfortable.

Zayn was set up on a ladder on the floor, Hardy climbed another ladder and came off with a Swanton that broke the ladder with Zayn absorbing it. This was insane.

Zayn recovered and revealed handcuffs and proceeded to put the handcuff through Hardy’s earlobe and tied him to the ladder.

In the ring, Styles gave a scoop slam to Zayn and in the process, was handcuffed to Zayn. Therefore, Styles can’t climb while Hardy tried to carry the ladder attached to his earlobe. Hardy attacked Styles as Zayn got the key and unlocked the handcuffs allowing Zayn to grab both belts.

WINNER: Sami Zayn at 26:42 to win the Intercontinental title

It was going to be interesting to see how these three, all talented wrestlers, structured this match where they are all that much older and having to live up to the standards of a ladder match. There was enough physicality especially from Hardy that was, frankly, astounding he did as much as he did. The end of the match relied on the visual of a man being handcuffed to a ladder by his earlobe and trying to come up with the most creative ending to a ladder match ever. All three put in a ton of work and punishment and they were given an enormous length of time.

R-Truth was in disguise backstage and ran into the referee’s lounge, he argued with Drake Wuertz as Drew Gulak snuck up and pinned him as Wuertz counted.

The Raw commentary team was reunited with Samoa Joe returning with Tom Phillips and Byron Saxton.

ASUKA VS ZELINA VEGA FOR THE RAW WOMEN’S TITLE

Vega snapped Asuka’s left arm and Asuka responded by going after Vega’s arm and attempting an armbar. Vega lured Asuka on the floor and drove her into the steps by the arm.

Vega countered the Asuka Lock kicking out of the corner and going back to the armbar. Later, Vega rolled into a kick on Asuka generating a two-count.

Vega went for a cradle that was instantly countered with the Asuka Lock and Vega tapped.

WINNER: Asuka at 7:06 to retain the Raw women’s title

This was probably the best performance Vega has put forth. This was way better than expectations with Vega focusing on the arm and her offense worked for the story of the match. A good job from both.

Charly interviewed Asuka and called Vega a “firecracker” because she is small and dangerous but was not ready for Asuka. She offered her hand and Vega didn’t shake it but bowed to Asuka before attacking Asuka with a cheap shot.

BOBBY LASHLEY VS APOLLO CREWS FOR THE UNITED STATES TITLE

Crews cut a promo earlier in the day vowing to become a two-time champion. He had Ricochet in his corner.

Lashley was accompanied by MVP.

Crews had the advantage early until Lashley took over and MVP got into Crews’ face from the floor.

Crews hit an enzuigiri, military press, and a standing moonsault for a two-count. Crews landed on his feet off the shoulders of Lashley and hit a splash from the top for two.

Lashley came back with a slam and applied The Hurt Lock for the submission.

WINNER: Bobby Lashley at 8:15 to retain the United States title

This was average at best and just felt like a “keep busy” match for Lashley to fulfill the requirement of having the United States title defended on the show. They have done a strong job re-building Lashley but have completely dropped it with Crews.

THE STREET PROFITS VS ANDRADE & ANGEL GARZA FOR THE RAW TAG TITLES

Garza and Andrade got the heat on Montez Ford and double-teamed him in their corner. The hot tag was made to Dawkins and he attacked both.

Andrade missed the double knees into the corner. Garza tagged himself in hitting a One-Man Spanish Fly on Ford from the top turnbuckle.

Andrade yanked Dawkins off the turnbuckle to prevent the tag by Ford. Dawkins finally got the tag and hit The Anointment (a spine buster) and the referee counted three, even though Andrade kicked out and this caused confusion with the announcers who called it like he kicked out.

WINNERS: The Street Profits at 8:14 to retain the Raw tag titles

After the match, Garza was down on the floor and the trainers were checking on him. Garza had thrown a knee strike at Ford and instantly started favoring his left knee causing him to tag out of the match and the referee gave the “X” sign, Garza never returned to the match.

The finish was a mess and it appeared Andrade kicked out. The Street Profits had to quickly shift to selling the victory, but Dawkins looked annoyed.

They officially announced the WWE Draft over two nights on Friday, October 9th on SmackDown and Raw on Monday, October 11th.

Kayla Braxton interviewed new 24/7 champion Drew Gulak and he was doing his lunges because he always needs to be alert and seized his moment. He dedicated his title win to Akira Tozawa, who was eaten by a shark. R-Truth attacked him from behind and pinned him to win back the title.

Bayley came out with the chair and laughed about Nikki Cross being forced to forfeit the match. She called herself the most dominant champion in WWE. She is going to give an opportunity to any superstar but quickly cut the challenge off and wanted the referee to declare her the winner as she celebrated.

Asuka came out and they had an impromptu match for Bayley’s title.

BAYLEY VS ASUKA FOR THE SMACKDOWN WOMEN’S TITLE

Bayley stopped Asuka’s momentum attacking the arm that Vega had weakened earlier.

Asuka got yanked to the floor and recovered hitting Bayley with a German suplex. Bayley grabbed a chair and attacked Asuka with it for the cheap disqualification.

WINNER: Bayley at 3:38 by DQ

They were trying to give her the nickname “The Chair-Woman of SmackDown”.

As Bayley celebrated, Sasha Banks appeared and attacked Bayley with a chair while wearing a neck brace. Bayley kicked her to the ground.

Banks stopped the attack and hit Bayley with repeated kendo stick shots. Banks took the chair and Bayley retreated to the floor.

DREW McINTYRE VS RANDY ORTON IN AN AMBULANCE MATCH FOR THE WWE TITLE

The only way to win in placing your opponent into the ambulance and shutting the doors.

Right away, Orton hits the draping DDT and sets up for the punt kick. A hand grabs his leg and it’s the Big Show, who takes Orton to the floor and chokeslams him through a table.

McIntyre takes Orton towards the ambulance and runs him into it. McIntyre attacked Orton with a chair from the ambulance, Orton stopped him with a crutch and used the chair on the injured jaw of McIntyre. They fought into the ambulance, but Orton kicked him away.

McIntyre missed Orton and took the ambulance door off with a Claymore. They fought backstage and Christian showed up attacking Orton in the catering area.

They returned to the ambulance where Orton took McIntyre on the hood and smashed him into the windshield. They got onto the roof and Orton sent him off leading to Shawn Michaels appearing on top of the ambulance and hit a superkick and shoved him off the ambulance to the floor.

McIntyre carried him toward the back of the ambulance when Orton nailed him with the RKO. Orton placed him into the ambulance, he shut one door and went for the second door, but McIntyre stopped it from shutting and gouges Orton in the eye.

McIntyre was out of the ambulance and hit the Claymore. Orton was hung out of the ambulance and hit with a punt kick as McIntyre shut the doors.

WINNER: Drew McIntyre in 21:44 to retain the WWE title

They had a very good match utilizing the lack of rules, weapons, and several cameos that led everyone in the direction of thinking Edge would appear, which was a nice tease without needing to deliver it. It was a definitive victory for McIntyre that should end the feud.

Ric Flair was in the driver`s seat and drove the ambulance out of the arena.

There was a promo for the Hell in a Cell card on Sunday, October 25th.

ROMAN REIGNS VS JEY USO FOR THE WWE UNIVERSAL TITLE

Roman Reigns is wrestling without the vest.

Reigns was beating Jey down and talking trash. The announcers are telling the story that it appeared Jey was in over his head and the match is playing out that way.

Jey got some offense going, called for a hip attack and was met with a Superman Punch and Jey rolled to the floor. They traded strikes on the floor.

Reigns assaulted Jey inside the ring and told him “there are levels to this”. Jey got a reprieve shoving Reigns’ shoulder into the corner and landed a series of suicide dives. Jey fired up and got several near falls after superkicks.

Reigns hit Zack Ryder’s Ruff Ryder out of the corner. Jey fired back with another superkick and splash off the top for a big near fall. Jey was in pain after the kickout and they showed a replay where he hit Jey low with his arm.

Reigns went to the corner and hit the spear but didn’t cover him and said he wasn’t ready yet. He told Jey, “Acknowledge me, call me chief” and hit a second spear. “Look at my camera”.

Reigns attacked with ground & pound with Charles Robinson trying to stop him and Reigns threatened to have Robinson fired.

Jimmy Uso limps down to the ring and says he’s throwing the towel in. Jey protested as Reigns attacked with more big strikes and Jimmy threw in the towel.

WINNER: Roman Reigns at 22:58 to retain the Universal title

Jimmy dove in to protect Jey and asked what was wrong with Reigns?

This was an incredibly well-done match and one of the best stories the WWE has told in years. Outstanding.

About John Pollock 5837 Articles
Born on a Friday, John Pollock is a reporter, editor & podcaster at POST Wrestling. He runs and owns POST Wrestling alongside Wai Ting.