Clash in Paris was a WWE PLE that took place at the Paris La Defense Arena in Nanterre, France this past weekend, more specifically August 31st. It was honestly a hell of a card with a lot of big names and future legends taking a part in the event, but did it live up to its potential? The show was led off by the colossal battle between Roman Reigns and the monster of ‘The Vision’, the ‘Tribal Thief’ if you will, Bronson Reed. Reed was good at keeping Reigns grounded throughout the contest, fighting off an early onslaught by the OTC. Every time Roman would start to build momentum, the larger Reed would stomp it back out and slow the pace back down. After a pretty awesome opener and a hard-fought match between the 2, Reigns was able to deliver a Samoan Drop to Reed from the middle rope and follow it up with a Spear for the win. After the match, Reigns choked out his former wiseman turned enemy, Paul Heyman, and retrieved Reed’s ‘Shoe-la-fala’ from around his neck. As he was standing on the announce table and tossing his shoes to the crowd in celebration, Bron Breakker appeared out of nowhere and speared Reigns through the table. As they were attempting to get Reed and Breakker away from ringside and help Reigns to the back, Bron ran down the ramp and delivered another spear and Bronson pulled him back into the ring and hit him with a devastating tsunami. As officials filled the ring and attempted to put Reigns on a backboard, Jey Uso came down to his aid and attempted to fight off B&B before being laid out courtesy of a spear from Breakker as well. Bronson then delivered a 2nd Tsunami onto Reigns as he was strapped to the backboard before they left. This all but confirms that Roman will be wrote off TV for the foreseeable future until he pops back in in shocking fashion to get his revenge on The Vision.
Next up The Wyatt Sicks defended their Tag Team Championships against the Street Profits. This was a well done, back and forth tag team match that had time to build and trade momentum up until the finish. Later in the match, Dexter Lumis took out Angelo Dawkins in the ringside area, but Montez Ford followed up moments later with a diving senton that took out Lumis and Gacy. As Ford tossed Gacy back into the ring and looked to head towards the finish, Nikki Cross popped out from under the ring apron and grabbed him by the leg, distracting him just long enough for Uncle Howdy to connect with a ‘Sister Abigail’ on the outside while the ref was distracted. Ford was then hit with ‘The Plague’ (the suplex/powerbomb combo move that Lumis and Gacy do) and pinned as the Wyatt Sicks retained the belts. I love the Wyatt Sicks and I hope thy hold onto the belts for a while, but please WWE DO NOT kill their whole aura and the mystique around them by overexposing them either. Next up, Becky Lynch defended her Intercontinental Championship against the returning to form, Nikki Bella. This came to fruition after weeks of back-and-forth verbal lashings on the mic and a couple cheap shots from both women to the other. Becky took control early and set the pace of the match, being the much more prepared and comfortable in the ring out of the 2 at this point seeing as Nikki hasn’t done it regularly in years, and even then, she didn’t go as hard as Becky does now. Nikki had some fight in her though and fought back, taking Becky to the outside and throwing her off the barricade and bouncing her head off the announce tables. Later in the match, after a back-and-forth contest for the most part, Nikki slammed Becky’s head into the steel steps before hitting a Bella Buster onto them. As Nikki was looking to close in on the win though, Becky used her ring smarts to her advantage and recovered, put her in position, and got Nikki with her awesome backslide pinning combination (that Wade referred to as the ‘Lynch pin’ on commentary) for the 3 count and the win to retain the championship. Nikki had a couple of botches and things looked a bit sloppy here and there, but I like Nikki, and I want to give her a little grace and the benefit of the doubt. She hasn’t been doing this again for very long and this was a huge spot to put her in when you consider that. Was I personally hoping for more out of this match? Yes, but I think WWE could’ve adjusted her back into the ring a little bit more before putting her in a 1 on 1 title match as well. It is what it is though, and the match was what it was. Not that it was even near horrible or anything, just some noticeably sloppy moments and I was hoping for more for Nikki personally since she was being put in this position anyways.
After that, the bitter rivals of Sheamus and Rusev squared off in a hard-hitting Donnybrook match! Rusev gained the upper hand after a back-and-forth slug fest to start the match, leaving welts across Sheamus’s body in the process. Sheamus ended up taking Rusev to the outside and abusing his chest and midsection with Beats of the Bodhran, with the assist of a shillelagh at one point. This was a hard-hitting matchup through and through between 2 big bull powerhouses and that was a lot of fun to watch. Rusev put Sheamus through the front of a wooden bar at one point, and Sheamus delivered ‘White Noise’ to Rusev off the top of a stack of wooden barrels and through 4 tables set up at the ringside area. Back inside the ring, Sheamus hit the ‘Brogue Kick’ but just couldn’t keep this crazed Rusev down. Rusev ended up hitting Sheamus across the back and spine with the shillelagh before applying ‘The Accolade’ with the weapon across Sheamus’s face and throat, causing him to eventually tap out and giving Rusev the win. After that, things stayed heated up as The Greatest of all Time, John Cena battled The Maverick, Logan Paul. Paul took control early and basked in the boos from the rowdy and raucous French crowd. Cena started to fight back in it though and was walking Paul through the 5 Moves of Doom when he wiggled out of the ‘Attitude Adjustment’ and hit Cena with a ‘Zig Zag’. Cena pulled out a lot of new moves from the bag in this match though, a few odes to previous opponents of his even, like an ‘End of Days’, ‘Angels Wing’, and most notably a ‘Styles Clash’ from the arsenal of longtime rival, AJ Styles. Logan Paul hit 2 big Frog Splashes on Cena, but the GOAT was able to kick out at 2. Paul tried for a flying cross-body, but Cena caught him and rolled through it, throwing Paul on his shoulders and hitting an ‘Attitude Adjustment’. Cena picked him up for a 2nd AA, but Paul wiggled off his shoulders and connected with a big right hand, sending Cena bouncing off the ropes and then flying back, this time throwing Paul up and successfully connecting with the 2nd AA for the pin and win. Great match from both parties. After the match, Cena celebrated with the little kid he yelled at in Brussels, before kissing his wife, and dabbing up Jelly Roll and Post Malone who were posted up at ringside (pun intended).
Then came the main event, as Seth Rollins defended his World Heavyweight Championship in a Fatal 4 Way match against LA Knight, Jey Uso, and CM Punk. Rollins, who is usually followed by Heyman and a pair of wrecking machines nowadays, had to go at it alone as Heyman was in the hospital and Bron and Bronson were banned from the arena following what happened during the opening of the show. Rollins felt the numbers game early as all 3 men gained up on him and took him out of the action early. That wouldn’t last though as all 3 of them had their own goals coming into the night and some recent friction and building rivalries between them was going to cause a breakdown eventually. Knight sent Punk through a table set up at ringside at one point, paying him back for what happened on Raw a couple weeks back, and followed it up with a ‘BFT’ to Rollins but the pin was broken up by Uso. Knight set Rollins up on the announce table and went for a big elbow drop, but Seth moved and sent Knight crashing through the table himself. Inside the ring, Punk delivered a ‘Go to Sleep’ to Jey, but Rollins broke up the pin with a Stomp to Punk. Rollins proceeded to then Stomp Jey and Knight at ringside again for good measure, before grabbing a chair and wrapping Punk’s head in it, going for the Stomp on him again. Punk reversed it and hit Rollins with a GTS, sending him into the ropes and setting him up for a 2nd GTS, before a hooded figure entered the ring and smashed Punk with a low blow. They revealed themselves to be Seth’s wife, Becky Lynch, and Seth delivered another Stomp to Punk onto the chair for the pin and win. After the match Seth and Becky celebrated in the ring with the title over Punk’s fallen body and Jey and Knight laid to waste at ringside. Becky will now hopefully be added into ‘The Vision’, I’ve honestly wanted her to be a part of this group for a while, and it may be cool to even add another younger woman in to be her apprentice, but we shall see how the story plays out from here.
Match ratings: 1-10 scale (.25 applicable)
Roman Reigns vs Bronson Reed w/ Paul Heyman- 7/10
WWE Tag Team Championship match: The Wyatt Sicks (c) vs The Street Profits- 6.5/10
Women’s Intercontinental Championship match: Becky Lynch (c) vs Nikki Bella- 6.25/10
Good Ole Fashioned Donnybrook match: Sheamus vs Rusev- 8.25/10
John Cena vs Logan Paul- 8.5/10
Fatal 4 Way match for World Heavyweight Championship: Seth Rollins (c) vs LA Knight vs Jey Uso vs CM Punk- 8/10
That’s all for this one though folks! Make sure you like the page and stay up to date with the blog to see all the latest discussions over WWE, NFL, new movies, and horror films! Have a good week and be good to each other!
