It seems that there’s barely a moment to catch your breath if you’re a WWE fan these days. Thankfully, we were given more than a week between PPVs this time, but there’s still been a lot going on in the meantime. We’ve finally learnt more about the mysterious faction known only as RETRIBUTION. We’ve learnt more about the new business relationship between Roman Reigns and Paul Heyman. Plus, we’ve seen more of Shane McMahon and RAW Underground.

We rapidly approach the final quarter of the calendar year, which means that Hell in a Cell and Survivor Series PPVs aren’t far away. But first, there’s Clash of Champions to deal with. Slightly using the name of the old WCW staple, Clash of the Champions, and retaining the theme of Night of Champions, this is supposedly the only show where every WWE Championship has to be defended. At the time of writing, every major roster is scheduled to be defended, with the exception of the 24/7 title. Although, last year that was defended on the show via backstage hijinks, so we can probably expect the same this time around, due to the unique quirk of that Championship.

While this show looks set to be a little longer than most WWE shows in the pandemic era, this still looks set to be a loaded and highly enjoyable show and should definitely be worth a watch. As we count down to the big show, hopefully, our match-by-match predictions can suitably whet your appetite for the night ahead.

Note: Predictions are purely that, predictions. None of us has heard of anything before, we promise.

Pre-Show: RAW Women’s Championship Match
Asuka (c) vs Zelina Vega

You may be forgiven for forgetting that Zelina Vega is a wrestler in her own right. Apart from portraying Nikki Bella in Fighting With My Family, Zelina has spent most of her tenure in WWE as a valet (business associate) to Andrade. But Vega has finally broken away and is ready to put her own career first, for a change. And what a way to make a new impression but to come out swinging and immediately target the Women’s Champion. It’s a tall order to tackle, but Zelina would insist that she is ready for Asuka.

Danny Cause’s Prediction: Asuka – positioning can be everything in WWE PPVs. While it does seem like a slap in the face for Asuka to be on the pre-show, it’s also very rare for a villain to win on the pre-show. So that should make it a safe bet in predicting an Asuka victory here.

Steph Franchomme’s Prediction: Asuka. I honestly see her going until Mania as Champ.

RAW Tag Team Championship Match
The Street Profits (c) vs Andrade & Angel Garza

It would seem that the Smoke has been billowing around RAW for quite some time. With a reign of over 200 days (and counting), the Street Profits are one of only two active Champions on the main roster who won their titles in front of a live audience. We’ve been living with this new normal for so long that wrestling in front of live crowds seems like an alien concept – but it did use to happen. Since then, Ford and Garza have seen off the entire RAW tag team division. Many fans may not look back on this reign favourably, mostly due to a lengthy comedy feud with the Viking Raiders. It also seems like the team of Andrade and Angel Garza have been chasing Profits for some time, yet they never get close enough. Although, it is a new start for this unlikely duo, as they are now without the services of Zelina Vega. So will it turn out that Zelina was holding them back or do they need her more than they thought?

Danny Cause’s Prediction: Andrade & Angel Garza – it really is now or never for this duo and I can see them taking the gold (silver) here. There are no other teams left for the Street Profits to take on right now (although there have been rumours of a draft coming) so a title change here could provide a much-needed shakeup on RAW.

Steph Franchomme’s Prediction: The Street Profits. I am absolutely fed up of seeing these two teams competing again, and again. It seems like, without Zelina’s guidance, Andrade and Garza seem more focused, as we saw on Monday, but I don’t see them win, at least this time.

SmackDown Tag Team Championship Match
Cesaro & Shinsuke Nakamura (c) vs The Lucha House Party

Lucha House Party has been trying to crash “The Champions Lounge” for some time, but Shinsuke Nakamura and Cesaro have continued to crush their title dreams. Now Lucha House Party will hope to finally grasp the SmackDown Tag Team Titles that have evaded them.

The return of Kalisto has caused friction within Lucha House Party as all three members have tried to carve out their new roles. Gran Metalik and Kalisto delivered the biggest win in the ongoing back-and-forth by defeating the champions with an assist from The Street Profits. After Kalisto and Lince Dorado were ejected from ringside, Cesaro capitalized with an emphatic victory over Gran Metalik in the most recent chapter of the rivalry. Lucha House Party will have to stay on the same page and dial up the volume if they want to win the belts.

Danny Cause’s Prediction: Cesaro & Shinsuke Nakamura – The Swiss Superman has a knack for finding quality tag-team partners. He and Nakamura have great chemistry together, so I don’t think anybody is ready for this partnership to end. However. The Lucha House Party don’t seem to be on the best of terms right now and maybe that will play into the favour of the current Tag champs.

Steph Franchomme’s Prediction: Cesaro & Nakamura. As long as the New Day are not reunited, there’s no one else…

Triple Threat Ladder Match for the WWE Intercontinental Championship – Winner will have to retrieve both Zayn and Hardy’s titles to be declared the Undisputed Intercontinental Champion
Jeff Hardy (c) vs Sami Zayn vs AJ Styles

The time for talk is over. Jeff Hardy, AJ Styles and Sami Zayn will all meet in the ring in an Intercontinental Championship Triple Threat Ladder Match to end the debate over who is the rightful titleholder. The Charismatic Enigma authored an important chapter in his comeback journey when he defeated The Phenomenal One for the Intercontinental Title.

Shortly after, Zayn made his return to the Blue brand and told anyone who would listen that he was the true champion. In the ensuing weeks, matchups featuring all three competitors would lead to chaos as each Superstar tried to leave their mark on the gold. Finally, Hardy laid down the challenge on the Blue brand and the showdown was confirmed on the following episode of Talking Smack.

Danny Cause’s Prediction: Jeff Hardy – This has all the potential to be the match of the night – maybe even a match of the year candidate, too. Three of the best artists in professional wrestling today with a ladder match as part of their canvas. In all honesty, it really doesn’t matter who wins. AJ lost the title pretty recently, so I can’t imagine him winning it back so soon. A Jeff Hardy win can continue this storyline and even add more fuel to the fire. Sami Zayn is really at home in this annoying complainer role and he can complain even more that he was never pinned or submitted so he still, “technically”, never lost the title.

Steph Franchomme’s Prediction: Sami Zayn, not because I’m a huge Zayn fan. AJ Styles is meant to come back to the Red brand as soon as they do a draft, thank you, Paul Heyman… Hardy chose a stipulation that fits him but, at the same time, he caught himself in his own trap. Making Zayn win would shut him up when it comes to the chapter of “fraud Champs” and “I have never lost the belt.”

United States Championship Match
Bobby Lashley (c) vs Apollo Crews

While this is a straight rematch from Payback, the United States Championship feels like the least important thing in this match. It has been completely overshadowed by the fact that Cedric Alexander turned his back on Ricochet and Apollo Crews to align with the Hurt Business. On top of that, the Hurt Business have enlisted, by Adam Pearce, to deal with the ongoing problem of RETRIBUTION. With their frequent visits to RAW Underground as well, Bobby Lashley needs to be careful not to spread himself too thin and remember that he has a championship to defend.

Danny Cause’s Prediction: Bobby Lashley – The Hurt Business has really put a spring in the step of big bad Bobby Lashley, and when he focuses, he can be in absolute beast mode. We saw this in the initial title match last month and I think we should see a repeat of that here. Plus, the Hurt Business are even stronger in terms of the numbers advantage now.

Steph Franchomme’s Prediction: Match, Apollo. Belt, Lashley.

SmackDown Women’s Championship Match
Bayley (c) vs Nikki Cross

Bayley is down one title and one best friend, as the SmackDown Women’s Champion welcomes the latest challenge from Nikki Cross at Clash of Champions. Thus far, Bayley has batted back every one of Cross’ championship challenges, but now she’ll have to do it without Sasha Banks in her corner. After a loss to another frustrating loss to Shayna Baszler & Nia Jax, Bayley unleashed a heinous attack on The Boss that left Banks with a severe bone bruise in her knee and a compressed nerve in her neck.

In the past, it was an assist from Banks that helped Bayley overcome Cross’ manic offensive at The Horror Show at Extreme Rules, but now the champion will go it alone. Cross punched her ticket for the Clash of Champions showdown by outlasting Alexa Bliss, Lacey Evans and Tamina in a Fatal 4-Way Match on SmackDown. Bliss shocked her teammate with a Sister Abigail early in the match, but Cross rallied back for a crafty pin of Tamina.

Danny Cause’s Prediction: Bayley – The split has finally happened and it seems like Sasha is destined to be the one to dethrone Bayley from this historic title reign – probably at Hell in a Cell – and I also wouldn’t be surprised to see Alexa Bliss (under the influence of the Fiend) cost Nikki here and kickstart another feud.

Steph Franchomme’s Prediction: Winner of the match, Nikki. Still Champion, Bayley. We go straight to a Bayley vs Sasha in the Cell next month. Expect also a Nikki-Alexa feud coming.

WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship Match
Nia Jax & Shayna Baszler (c) vs Liv Morgan & Ruby Riott

Ruby Riott and Liv Morgan risked their partnership to earn the championship opportunity, defeating The IIconics in a match where winners earned a crack at the champions, and the losing team had to split up. The Riott Squad pulled off the win, setting the stage for their showdown with the champions.

Jax and Baszler’s seeming inability to get on the same page may be The Riott Squad’s key to victory at Clash of Champions. The titleholders’ bickering already cost Baszler a 2-on-1 Handicap Match against Riott and Morgan. Will they be able to get it together when the titles are on the line?

Danny Cause’s Prediction: Nia Jax & Shayna Baszler – The women’s tag team division is in a little bit of a state right now. Breaking up the established teams of Banks & Bayley and Bliss & Cross was arguably necessary to facilitate bigger storylines while losing Kairi Sane was unfortunate, but it seems like a mistake to break up the IIconics. While Jax & Baszler aren’t a long-term solution, the Creative team need to rebuild this division. Softly, softly, catchy monkey.

Steph Franchomme’s Prediction: Baszler & Jax – enemies seem to be the best tag-team partners.

WWE Championship – Ambulance Match
Drew McIntyre (c) vs Randy Orton

Randy Orton is intent on demolishing his way to a 14th World Champion reign, but Drew McIntyre keeps stepping right back into his path. The fighting champion vanquished The Viper at SummerSlam with an impressive tactical display against the self-anointed “Greatest Wrestler of All Time.” The loss didn’t sit well with The Legend Killer, who followed up with three sadistic kicks to the skull of McIntyre on the following Monday Night RAW. Despite suffering a hairline jaw fracture, McIntyre remains as motivated as ever to put an end to Orton’s reign of terror.

The 13-time World Champion earned the rematch at Clash of Champions by emerging victorious from a Triple Threat Match against Keith Lee and Seth Rollins on RAW. Orton advanced through qualifying after Aleister Black took out his opponent Kevin Owens with an attack. The Viper then struck when an opportunity opened in the Red brand main event by stealing a pin of Rollins from the fingertips of Lee.

However, the match has been called into question after McIntyre gave Orton a taste of his own medicine, dropping The Apex Predator with three Claymores. Given the situation, McIntyre added a stipulation to this battle, turning it into an Ambulance Match, a battle where the only way to win is to incapacitate your opponent and load him into an ambulance.

Danny Cause’s Prediction: Drew McIntyre – there’s a lot of factors in play here. The Ambulance stipulation means that either man can lose this match without looking weak – as there are no pinfalls or submissions. The feud between Orton and McIntyre has become very personal, with them each inflicting serious injuries to each other via backstage attacks. When there’s also the potential for outside interference from the likes of RETRIBUTION and Keith Lee. I see McIntyre surviving this match – rather than outright winning – but I think he’ll escape with his Championship intact. Then I can see this feud stretching one more month and culminating inside the Cell.

Steph Franchomme’s Prediction: Randy Orton – I have no doubt this will continue at Hell in a Cell but with a new Champion. Potential outside interference from RETRIBUTION and Keith Lee are more than possible but that doesn’t change my idea of Orton becoming a 14-time World Champion.

WWE Universal Championship Match 
Roman Reigns w/ Paul Heyman vs Jey Uso

It seems that SmackDown has hit a reset button of sorts. Braun Strowman was the Monster who walked out of WrestleMania with the Universal Championship, then had a slow-burn feud with Bray Wyatt over the following four months. Yet, neither Wyatt nor Strowman have any place on this PPV card at all. Instead, Roman Reigns showed up and won at Payback. He wrecked everyone and left as the NEW Universal Champion, but that’s not all, he now as Paul Heyman by his side.

It’s taken years for somebody in WWE Creative to finally see the light, but it would seem that Roman Reigns is finally a bad guy, and it’s a role that seems to suit him so well. Jey Uso didn’t initially seem like a marquee name for the first World title defence of this reign, but WWE have done a good job of fleshing out this storyline. We’ve learnt how Jey is sick of not having his own identity because he’s been a twin his entire life. Jey wants a chance to prove that he can be a major player too, but the Tribal Chief has warned his younger cousin to know his place.

Danny Cause’s Prediction: Roman Reigns – and this one may not be a prediction, it may be a spoiler.

Steph Franchomme’s Prediction: Roman Reigns. Who else?

All pics and videos courtesy of WWE