Match Ratings For WWE Clash Of Champions 2019 From Sean Ross Sapp

WWE Cruiserweight Champion
Drew Gulak (c) defeated Lince Dorado and Humberto Carillo
3.75/10

• Humberto Carillo looks like he hits the ropes at half speed, but Lince isn’t doing anything at half speed.
• It looks like Gulak bit his tongue.
• Carillo just isn’t connecting in this match to me early on. There’s an awful lot of unnecessary flips involved.
• There is a spot that wins me over, when Carillo dives onto an Electric Chair over the top rope, taking everyone out. Then he misses a missile dropkick that he was supposed to hit. That was on Lince, though.
• There’s a double submission spot that leads to a series of pin attempts.
• Dorado slipped on a huracanrana attempt. This has been a rough one. They scored the second time.
• The slopfest continues when Carillo doesn’t get out of the way of a shooting star press.
• Carillo hits his finish — TECHNICALLY, he missed it by a mile– but Gulak steals the pin. Dorado has to force his own shoulder down.
• This was not good. I don’t have a problem with blown spots, because fights are sloppy. But that was a lot of sold spots that were completely missed.

WWE United States Championship
AJ Styles (c) defeated Cedric Alexander
5.75/10

• Cedric Alexander hits a nice Michinoku Driver, tope con hilo and handspring kick immediately.
• Styles comes back and hits a Styles Clash outside, but pulls up Cedric’s shoulder.
• Styles hits a Phenomenal Forearm and a Styles Clash for the win.
• After the match, the attack continues, with the help of the OC.
• Had this lasted longer, it would have hit rec’d viewing, but it was perfectly fine for what it was.
• Why didn’t anyone help Cedric?

WWE Raw Tag Team Championships
Roode & Ziggler defeated Seth Rollins & Braun Strowman (c)
5.75/10

• Shout outs to Corey Graves establishing on air that the reason Braun and Seth want to be champions are because it means more money and exposure, and a better quality of life.
• Rollins and Strowman have some nice double team offense, but Ziggler DDTs Seth on the floor.
• Rollins turns a second attempt into a great Falcon Arrow.
• There’s some great tag team action here. Bobby Roode is so good as a tag team wrestler.
• He’s not good, however, at killing time waiting on Strowman to try to tackle him. Braun gets Rollins instead.
• Glorious DDT on Rollins, and Roode gets the pin.
• Imagine if WWE had some other really well protected tag teams that beat other actual tag teams.

WWE Smackdown Women’s Championship
Bayley (c) defeated Charlotte Flair
5.25/10 (Short)
Angle 6/10

• Charlotte Flair nails a boot right away and works over Bayley. She also chucks Bayley into the barricade over and over.
• Bayley undoes the turnbuckle and runs Charlotte’s face into it and wins.
• Bayley immediately DARTS FROM THE RING. She was NOT waiting around for a replay. Outstanding,
• She got the hell out of there, and this was great all around.

WWE Smackdown Tag Team Championships
The Revival defeated New Day (c)
6.25/10

• Dash and Dawson are just amazing in the ring.
• I love that we haven’t seen Xavier and Big E since they got hurt. It added a lot to this.
• Big E is worked over big time in the ring. This is exceptional mat work and tag team strategy.
• Xavier Woods getting the hot tag is a welcome change.
• Big E misses a YOLO Dive, and Dash Wilder gets caught on a SUICIDE DIVE. What!? Revival hits Shatter Machine outside on E.
• Back inside, Revival hit a Shatter Machine. For some reason they’re more worried about the knee than finishing the match.
• Corey Graves isn’t happy.
• Dawson wins with an inverted Figure Four anyway.
• Dawson cuts a promo after the match and says the wrestling world is Revived. Dash is right there with him. They put over Randy Orton.

Cross & Bliss (c) defeated Fire & Desire
6/10

• R-Truth drops a boom mic into Alexa’s interview spot, and Alexa announces to everyone it’s him and to come find him.
• These mashup themes are garbage. Somebody get Jimmy Hart on the horn
• Nikki Cross taunts Mandy Rose by mocking her. Lol.
• Bliss and Nikki are dominant.
• Alexa Bliss tries to pin R-Truth who has ran in from everyone. This gets a big pop, but she doesn’t do it.
• I love that Alexa Bliss tried to win the title during her other match.
• This leads to Sonya and Mandy taking over. Mandy does a delayed vertical suplex.
• Really seems like they’re calling this in the ring, and there’s a great double knockout spot.
• Nikki tags in and there’s a rough back suplex and body press.
• Alexa gets yanked down HARD.
• The High Low connects, but Nikki stops the pin!
• Nikki wins with the Au Revoir version of the Purrge
• That was a damn good tag team match. A lot of fun.

WWE Intercontinental Championship
Shinsuke Nakamura (c) (w/ Sami Zayn) defeated The Miz
5.75/10

• Sami Zayn is out here complaining that Undertaker gave him a neck injury.
• Zayn gets a great reaction for going at UNC.
• Zayn is on live mic commentary during the match. He calls Miz “King of Soft Style.” Someone cuts his mic.
• Nakamura drops a knee across the back of Miz’s head, then lands It Kicks.
• This is a “playing the hits” match.
• The crowd is into this big time, especially when Miz applies the Figure Four.
• Zayn distracts the ref when Miz hits his finisher.
• Dumb babyface Miz gets caught chasing Zayn and kicked.
• Kinshasa wins it for Nakamura. The crowd was the highlight of this match.

WWE Raw Women’s Championship
Sasha Banks defeated Becky Lynch (c) via DQ
7.25/10

• This is a much safer one, but I still feel weird about dropkicks the the upper back and neck.
• Becky catches Sasha coming off the top rope with a big drop kick.
• Out of nowhere, Sasha catches Becky in a Banks Statement, but it’s turned into Bexploder.
• I love one of those deep Meteoras where Sasha can just grab the heels of her opponent for the pin like that.
• Disarmher is applied, but Sasha makes it to the ropes.
• Backstabber and Banks Statement applied in the middle of the ring. A pin is attempted, but no dice.
• Sasha banks uses a chair to set up a Shining Wizard.
• It doesn’t make ANY sense for Sasha to try to use the chair and piss away a title shot. Big plot hole.
• Becky accidentally hits the ref with a chair.
• They fight into the crowd, and Becky applies a Disarmher in a railing.
• They brawl all the way up into the concourse and through the crowd.
• We’re told this is a DQ, then Becky wears out Sasha with a chair. Disarmher in the chair and Sasha taps out.

WWE Championship
Kofi Kingston (c) defeated Randy Orton
5/10

• If you missed the first five minutes of this match, you didn’t really miss anything but a good Kofi Kingston forearm in the corner.
• Randy Orton hits a front suplex into the barricade and Singh Bombs Kofi multiple times.
• This match has no heat. They killed it.
• Orton stops a Trouble in Paradise with his backbreaker.
• The pace should have been here a lot earlier, but then it slowed down a lot.
• Whoever timed and set up this match, not great.
• RKO hits, but Kofi’s foot is on the ropes.
• Orton teases and goes for a punt, but eats Trouble in Paradise.
• Kofi wins.
• A boring, plodding match with a great finish.

NO DQ
Rowan defeated Roman Reigns
5/10

• Rowan loves his stairs, doesn’t he?
• A nice slam face first on the announce table from Rowan.
• Rowan has a nice sitout uranage, and back elbow off the second rope.
• Reigns gets a Samoan drop and a Superman punch into some stairs. This pace isn’t it either, but at least there are neat spots.
• Rowan catches Reigns and powerbombs him into the announcer’s table.
• Superman punches on the ramp.
• Luke Harper is back!! He helps Rowan attack Reigns.
• Rowan wins with a Claw slam.

WWE Universal Championship
Seth Rollins (c) defeated Braun Strowman
6.5/10

• Seth Rollins hits two big superkicks and a frog splash for a 0 count. No pop for that immediate kickout. Shame.
• Stowman catches Seth with a chokeslam and mows him down repeatedly.
• A table just evaporates under Braun.
• Back inside the ring, Strowman lands a FLYING SPLASH. 
• Rollins applies a sleeper and hits a Curb Stomp, and Braun is out at one!
• Another hits, and Strowman is up at two! A third hits, and he’s up at 2.5!
• Rollins hits a Pedigree and Stomp for the win. 
• THE FIEND shows up and Sister Abigail’s Rollins on the stage. Mandible Claw is next. A great lasting image.

Rating guide

10- Perfect, 9- MOTY Territory, 8- Excellent, 7- Great, 6- Good, 5- Average to above average, 4- Slightly below average, 3 or below: Poor

Each match starts at a 5 and slides up and down based on entertainment, execution, time, environment, reaction and stakes. The ratings are in no way an indication of a “star rating,” which is a completely different system. A standard, non-offensive “TV match” lands at a 5. The gap between 5.75-6 is generally the largest, with anything reaching 6 being recommended viewing.
These are opinions, and incredibly inconsistent ones. Don’t take them too seriously, and have (and share) your own!