The final WWE PPV of 2017 is over with and below are the results from the show:
– Kickoff Show Match: Mojo Rawley def. Zack Ryder
– United States Championship Match: Dolph Ziggler def. Baron Corbin (c) & Bobby Roode to win the Title.
– SmackDown Tag Team Championship Match: The Usos (c) def. Shelton Benjamin & Chad Gable, Rusev & Aiden English and The New Day to retain the Titles.
– Lumberjack Match For The SmackDown Women’s Championship: Charlotte Flair (c) def. Natalya to retain the Title.
– The Bludgeon Brothers def. Breezango
– Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn def. Randy Orton & Shinsuke Nakamura with Shane McMahon & Daniel Bryan as Special Guest Referees.
– WWE Championship Match: AJ Styles (c) def. Jinder Mahal to retain the Title.
Let us now take a look at 5 noteworthy things that happened at Clash of Champions 2017:
5. The Bludgeon Brothers Destroy Breezango In Under 2 Minutes
Harper & Rowan, The Bludgeon Brothers, made yet another statement when they dispatched Breezango (Fandango & Tyler Breeze) in just 1 minutes & 55 seconds.
With WrestleMania 34 being over 3 months away, The Bludgeon Brothers have plenty of time to elevate themselves to the SmackDown Tag Team Title scene by the time the biggest show of the year arrives.
4. Possible Reason Behind Dolph Ziggler’s Shocking US Title Win
In the opening match of the main card of Clash of Champions 2017, Dolph Ziggler shocked the fans by pinning Baron Corbin and winning the United States Championship.
Ziggler’s Title win could have something to do with him recently stating on Edge & Christian’s podcast that he’s thinking of leaving WWE soon. Below is what he said:
“I have a very short amount of time left to figure out if I want to do that again or if there’s something to reach for. All I could reach for is fun-a$$ matches and tearing it down on the weekends because it doesn’t seem to be a specific great prize to be reaching for here that I can attain, so I can be patted on the back and told, ‘you’re our guy – you’re our Shawn Michaels.
You’re so good at this – we can’t do this without you!’ and then kind of see a bunch of guys not in that position coast right by. So there are no feelings hurt. It’s a show business thing where I love it and in a very short time, I will have to decide if I need to go away and do my own thing or if I need to find a different role here.
Gatekeeper is a great spot for someone who hasn’t been world champion, who doesn’t excel at the seven out of the possible eight things you can do here as a sports entertainer and it’s really weird that I can’t get more, but trust me when I say I’m knocking on the door every other day and almost demanding it, so we will see what happens in a very short while, but I would love to keep doing this, just at a different level and I need to know that the company is on my side with taking it to another level, so I can give back and help at another level.”
So this might be WWE’s way of keeping Ziggler interested in his WWE run. You can watch Ziggler’s Title win below:
Dolph Ziggler wins the United States Championship at Clash of Champions 2017. pic.twitter.com/YZWC7HAQJM
— World Wrestling News (@WWENewsMafia) December 18, 2017
3. Shane McMahon vs. Daniel Bryan??
In the co-main event of Clash of Champions 2017, the team of Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn defeated Randy Orton & Shinsuke Nakamura in controversial fashion. Orton nailed an RKO on Zayn and Shane O’Mac went for the pin, but Owens pushed Daniel Bryan and he fell on Shane’s back and the count was stopped.
Zayn later tried to pin Orton, but Shane refused to count to 3. In another pinfall attempt by Zayn on Orton, Bryan counted to 3 quickly and awarded the match to Zayn & Owens and helped them to save their WWE careers.
It looks like WWE is moving forwards with a Shane McMahon – Daniel Bryan feud, but will this feud lead to an in-ring return for the currently retired Daniel Bryan? We’ll find out sometime in 2018.
Below is a video of Owens & Zayn celebrating their big win backstage at Clash of Champions 2017:
Did @FightOwensFight & @SamiZayn just pull off the BIGGEST victory in the HISTORY of @WWE?! #TalkingSmack #WWEClash pic.twitter.com/n6yva5oVZH
— WWE (@WWE) December 18, 2017
2. Mojo Rawley Kicks Off His Singles Career Again With A Bang
Earlier this year, Mojo Rawley won the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal on the WrestleMania 33 Kickoff show. He then went on to defeat Jinder Mahal on SmackDown Live and became one of the very few men on the SmackDown Live roster to defeat Jinder this year.
However, his singles run came to an abrupt halt with the return of his tag team partner, Zack Ryder. However, he’s back on track with his singles career after picking up a win over Ryder on the Clash of Champions 2017 Kickoff show.
1. Jinder Mahal Experiment Over
WWE officials put the WWE Championship on “The Modern Day Maharaja” Jinder Mahal earlier this year at Backlash 2017 to promote its business in India. Mahal held the WWE Title for 170 days, but he failed to make a positive impact in the business in India.
The WWE officials were looking to increase the WWE Network subscriptions in India, but that didn’t happen. WWE officials were looking to do something similar to what they did with The Great Khali about a decade back (which increased WWE’s business in India to a big extent), but that was different day and age.
It’s safe to say that the Jinder Mahal experiment is over now (after he lost his WWE Title rematch to AJ Styles at Clash of Champions 2017) and he most likely won’t be involved in the WWE Title picture at WrestleMania 34 (which previously was the plan).
The hint towards the Jinder Mahal experiment ending was given at WWE Live India when Old School WWF Legend Triple H defeated him, but now it looks like Jinder’s main event push is over.
