Posts
Hey everyone! Ever since Night Of Champions 2015, through multiple accounts, every month before major WWE pay-per-views, I’ve come on here and booked the cards to make them as exciting, intriguing, and best possible scenarios for the future. I do both NXT and main-roster pay-per-views, as well as the occasional big milestone RAW or Smackdown weekly show. Without further ado, here is how Clash Of Champions: Gold Rush 2020 should be booked
MY
NIGHT/CLASH OF CHAMPIONS PPV POSTS OF PREVIOUS YEARS:
·
2015 (My first booking post ever): https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/3lpfiw/how_i_would_book_noc_2015/
·
2019: https://old.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/d4p2ax/how_wwe_should_book_clash_of_champions/
KICKOFF-SHOW:
·
We get the usual kickoff panel of some combination of Charly
Caruso, JBL, Peter Rosenberg, Booker T and Jerry Lawler. Throughout the hour,
the panel runs down the match card giving their predictions, hyping up the
matches and showing us video packages. About 25 minutes into the hour, we get
our first kickoff match. Yes, there’s two, because there was one match on the
main card that SCREAMED kickoff so strongly to me that I just had to move it.
You’ll see which one as you read on.
1ST
KICKOFF MATCH: Asuka (c) vs. Zelina Vega (Singles match for the WWE RAW Women’s
Championship)
·
Zelina Vega is out first followed by the RAW Women’s Champion,
Asuka. We get formal ring introductions and the match gets 5 minutes,
because let’s be honest, there is nobody in the world that buys Zelina as a
credible threat. She’s a manager and literally got this match by telling Asuka
she wanted to face her. 5 minutes will allow a nice little match where Zelina
can showcase some of her abilities, but not too long to where it’s completely
unbelievable that she can hang with Asuka. The two trade strikes and
submissions and it’s very mat-wrestling heavy, but the finish comes
when Zelina knocks Asuka down with a dropkick and goes up to the top rope, she
tries for her diving hurricanrana but Asuka reverses the momentum and rolls
out, locking Zelina in the Asuka Lock for the quick submission. Don’t get
me wrong, I think Zelina in the right role is an absolutely tremendous person
to have on TV, but if she is getting title matches on PPV, that has to be a
telltale sign that we need either a draft or to merge the women’s divisions on
RAW and SmackDown DESPERATELY. As far as what’s next for Asuka, maybe Mandy
Rose, since at least that’s a match we haven’t seen 73 times. That could be a
fun mini-feud on TV maybe culminating in a title match on the go-home RAW to
HIAC.
WINNER
by SUBMISSION and STILL WWE RAW Women’s Champion: Asuka
·
The panel discusses the match we’ve just seen, and as they’re
commending Zelina on her efforts, Andrade and Garza just so happen to crash the
party and they cut a promo explaining how that is a prime example of why they
don’t need Vega anymore. They knew she was the weak link and they knew she was
driving the wedge between them. They vow to win the RAW Tag Titles tonight and
walk off. We get some more video packages and at about the 40 minute point in
the hour, we get our second and final kickoff match of the night.
2ND
KICKOFF MATCH: Cesaro and Shinsuke Nakamura (c) vs. Lucha House Party (Kalisto
and Lince Dorado) (w/ Gran Metalik) (Tag Team match for the WWE SmackDown Tag
Team Championships)
·
Lucha House Party are out first, and it’s evident that Kalisto
and Lince will be the ones participating in this match as Metalik is not in
gear. During their entrance, we throw to a video highlighting the rising
tensions between Dorado and Kalisto in the past number of weeks. The champs are
out second. We get formal ring introductions and the match gets 12
minutes. Yeah… so I just didn’t see this match anywhere but the kickoff.
This feud is more ice cold than an esikmo’s ass. Plus, it will make the main
card just that little bit shorter, which is always a nice thing. Cesaro and
Dorado start things off, with lots of uppercuts and lucha things. The
match ends as Cesaro and Kalisto are the legal men, and Kalisto goes for a
Salida Del Sol, but Cesaro pushes him away and Kalisto lands on his feet,
straight up into the pop-up European uppercut. Cesaro quickly tags Nakamura who
sinks a Kinshasa into Kalisto’s skull for the win. The heels stand tall and
retreat to the back and we linger in the ring as LHP congregates and Metalik
helps the others to their feet. Dorado shoves Kalisto for being the one pinned,
Kalisto shoves back, the two get into a huge fist fight now but Metalik breaks
it up. Metalik is outraged and starts to leave the ring after it seems things
have settled but METALIK, THE PEACEMAKER, is the one that attacks both men now.
Metalik hits his finisher on both men and then walks to the back. Metalik has
finally snapped and is tired of the arguing. In my mind, what does this
lead to? There is one more match between these two teams on SmackDown
in the next few weeks. LHP win the belts there, but don’t you worry, they are
just transitional champions, because at Hell In A Cell, which you can see my
card for at the end of this post, it will be Lucha House Party vs. Street
Profits in a match to unify the RAW and SmackDown tag titles, because THAT IS
DESPERATELY FUCKING NEEDED. Nakasaro retaining tonight would give them one more
retain under their belt making their reign look at least a little more credible
than it would’ve otherwise, and I would hate to have them in that spot being
the ones that fail to unify the titles. LHP/Profits is also something we’ve
never seen, since Profits/Shinsaro happened on RAW a few weeks ago for.. no
reason. That’s my thinking. Cesaro will still have a role at HIAC though… keep
reading on to see what that is.
WINNERS
and STILL WWE SmackDown Tag Team Champions: Cesaro and Shinsuke Nakamura
·
The panel gives their final predictions for the world title
matches of the night, and we pan to a shot of the ring crew bringing out
ladders, so we already know what’s going on first. Now, let’s clash some
champions.
MAIN SHOW:
·
Making his near 962nd return to attempt a regular schedule of
these posts, it’s Reddit user u/HardestPartOfTheRing! I’ve
been inconsistent, I know. I went on a 4 year stretch where I never missed
doing one of these for a PPV, but in the past year, life got busy. This is my
first booking post since Takeover: IYH and my first one for a main-roster PPV
since Money In The Bank. A lot has happened since then. I didn’t even do one
for either night of WrestleMania because the no-crowds has somewhat squandered
my passion for the product and motivation to do these posts. But this is a
restart. A new beginning. Clash Of Champions: GOLD RUSH! Live in the
Thunderdome! As always, this isn’t what I think WILL happen, this is what I
think SHOULD happen. Now, let’s distract ourselves from the real world with
some pro wrestling.
1ST
MATCH: Jeff Hardy (c) vs. Sami Zayn (c) vs. AJ Styles (Triple Threat Ladder
match for the Undisputed WWE Intercontinental Championship)
·
Oh boy, this is gonna be a goodin'. We get a shot of both titles
hanging above the ring, and AJ Styles is out first, followed by Sami Zayn, who
as per usual is enraged when his graphic reads as a former IC Champ, and out
last is Jeff Hardy. The match gets 23 minutes. The match begins as
Sami Zayn tries the same stunt he pulled on SmackDown as Jeff and AJ are in the
ring and Zayn, on the apron, pushes a ladder in the ring down towards them, but
this time they both sidestep it, and run and knock Sami off the apron to the
outside. The bell rings and Styles and Hardy go at it for a bit. Some key spots
in the match are as follows:
-Hardy and Zayn are on either side of the
ladder, fighting to unhook the title, but Styles springs off the top rope and
knocks Zayn off with a Phenomenal Forearm. Jeff and AJ fight on the ladder now
and Jeff nails a Twist of Fate to Styles off the top.
-There is a ladder bridge set up between the
announce table and the apron, and Styles hits a Styles Clash to Zayn through
it.
-A ladder is set upright in front of a
ringpost, and Zayn does his torpedo DDT through the post THROUGH THE LADDER
onto Styles on the outside.
-And of course…. Jeff hits a Swanton Bomb off
the top of a ladder. Somehow, some way.
The
match ends with all 3 men on a single ladder, and they begin dropping like
flies one by one. Zayn swings the titles into Styles, who falls to the mat.
It’s now a tug of war between Zayn and Jeff. Jeff powerbombs Zayn off the
ladder into the arms of AJ Styles, and Jeff unhooks the belts.
Styles shouldn’t win this with the rumors of him going back to RAW due to his
real-life issues with Heyman and because he wants to spend Fridays with his
son, and the parallel between Sami and Jeff should continue one-on-one, and I
don’t feel like that can happen unless Jeff wins, and Zayn just won’t have it.
This would lead to Jeff vs. Sami Zayn in a ⅔ falls match at Hell In A Cell. And as for what AJ does next…
keep reading on.
WINNER
and STILL WWE Intercontinental Champion: Jeff Hardy
·
We get an ad for WWE on Peacock.
2ND
MATCH: Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler (c) vs. The Riott Squad (Ruby Riott and Liv
Morgan) (Tag Team match for the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships)
·
The Riott Squad are out first, followed by the champions. We get
formal ring introductions and the match gets 11 minutes. Liv starts
off in the ring for her team, but there is some dissension at the beginning
between Shayna and Nia about who will begin, as they forcefully tag themselves
in. Nia and Shayna largely dominate the match with big power moves, but
occasionally The R.S. will get some big offence in. The match ends when
Shayna and Nia have just had enough of each other and Shayna locks Jax in the
Kirafuda Clutch, and Nia passes out. Shayna has already said once that she
doesn’t care about the titles, so she walks off and Ruby scrambles to pin Nia
but SHE KICKS OUT. We get a double team now and they nail a Double Riott Kick
on Jax to score the victory. Liv and Ruby are the new Women’s Tag Team
Champions… and that’s the way it needs to be. Jax and Baszler are the most
thrown together, throw something at the wall and see if it sticks team ever
assembled. I know taking the titles off them now would make it such a short and
pointless reign but hey, I wouldn’t have ever put it on them in the first
place. There are just so many more intriguing possibilities of matches and
feuds that the Riott Squad could have than Nia and Shayna together. Let’s just
get the feud between them out of the way and move Shayna back into the Women’s
Title picture. Riott Squad finally get their due after all these years, and
they deserve it.
WINNERS
by PINFALL and NEW WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions: The Riott Squad
·
We get an ad for all the independent promotions that have been
added to the Network.
3RD
MATCH: Bobby Lashley (c) (w/ The Hurt Business) vs. Apollo Crews (w/ Ricochet)
(Singles match for the WWE United States Championship)
·
Apollo is out first with Ricochet, followed by Robert Lashley
with The Pain Corporation. They’re announced on their way to the ring in this
one and the match gets 10 minutes. This card is just FULL of
rematches and it’s so painful to think about. I know i’ve said it a million
times in this post but we need that shakeup so badly. Let’s make this the last
Crews vs. Lashley match for at least 18 million years, yeah? It follows the
same formula as their match from Payback, two big buff bald headed black
bruisers beating the brakes off each other, brother! I’m not gonna lie to you,
this match isn’t gonna have a finish, because it’s all too obvious what’s
happening here. After the two men sit cross-legged in the middle of the ring and
have an intelligent and respectful political debate, all of a sudden T-BAR,
SLAPJACK AND MACE and the other unnamed members of Retribution swarm the ring
and get their… well, retribution on The Hurt Business for their ambushes the
past few weeks. The match is thrown out and Dijak/Dio/Thorne put MVP through
the announce table at ringside. Mass destruction is caused and we just move on
from this disaster of an angle for the night.
Bobby
Lashley (c) (w/ The Hurt Business) vs. Apollo Crews ended in a No Contest after
Retribution interfered and wreaked havoc
·
We get an ad for WWE Battlegrounds, and a video package for our
next match.
4TH
MATCH: Bayley (c) vs. Nikki Cross (Singles match for the WWE SmackDown Women’s
Championship)
·
Cross is out first, followed by Bayley. We get formal ring
introductions and the match gets 12 minutes, same as it did when
they fought at Extreme Rules… THE HORROR SHOW, because why not. Remember in the
very last match when I said this card is full of rematches? Well FUCK here we
are again. I firmly believe that the only reason Nikki got this title shot
again is because she is legitimately the only one left on SmackDown right now
that’s not Sasha who has even the tiniest shred of credibility to be able to
hang with Bayley. Again, let’s get that draft soon, please. You know the deal
here. The match ends after Cross is setting up for her rope-assisted
swinging neckbreaker, but Bayley gets out and lands on the apron and jumps
down, choking Nikki on the rope. Bayley rolls back inside and hits a Bayley to
Belly, but that’s not enough. She wants to send a real message to Sasha not to
fuck with her. She winds Cross up, backstabber into the Bank Statement, and
Nikki taps out to a move of Bayley’s that isn’t even hers. We’re setting up
Bayley vs. Sasha on a big stage, it would be utter stupidity to have Nikki win
the title here. Even just as a swerve to ruin everyone’s predictions for the
night, what’s the point in interrupting the flow of this Sasha/Bayley
storyline, one of the best things that WWE has to offer as a storyline right
now? Honestly, I would do Bayley vs. Sasha in HIAC next month. What other time
are they gonna do that type of match? The feud definitely calls for it. I’d
have Bayley retain, and the only other way Sasha can get to Bayley again is by
winning the Women’s Rumble, which she does, setting up Bayley/Sasha for
WrestleMania FINALLY, and Sasha wins the big one on the grandest stage.
WINNER
by SUBMISSION and STILL WWE SmackDown Women’s Champion: Bayley
·
We get an ad for the WWE Network.
5TH
MATCH: The Street Profits (Angelo Dawkins and Montez Ford) (c) vs. Andrade and
Angel Garza (Tag Team match for the WWE RAW Tag Team Championships)
·
AHHHHHHHHHH. REMATCHES REMATCHES REMATCHES. END THE MISERY GOD
DAMNIT. Now that I’ve taken a minute to compose myself, Andrade and Garza are
out first followed by The Profits. the match gets 9 minutes, and the
Profits win after Montez hits a Frogsplash on Andrade. Plain and simple.
Let’s end this damn feud. Let’s unify those titles at HIAC. Let’s make WWE Tag
Team wrestling great again. Moving on.
WINNERS
by PINFALL and STILL WWE RAW Tag Team Champions: The Street Profits
·
We get an ad for Hell In A Cell next month, and a video package
for our next match.
6TH
MATCH: Roman Reigns (c) (w/ Paul Heyman) vs. Jey Uso (Singles match for the WWE
Universal Championship)
·
Jey Uso is out first, followed by Paul Heyman, with his newest
client.. The REIGNSing, DEFENDING, UNDISPUTED, BIG DOG OF THE WORLD WRESTLING
FEDERATION… Roman Leakee. We get formal ring introductions, with Heyman taking
the mic and doing his own for Roman, and the match gets 8 minutes.
This is gonna be a Goldberg/Lesnar at Wrestlemania 33 level of epic sprint.
There is gonna be so much packed into this 8 minutes that you’re gonna swear it
was 888 minutes. Just you wait. The bell sounds and immediately Roman charges
for a spear, but Jey sidesteps and sends Roman headfirst into the ringpost. Reigns
turns around into a superkick, Reigns falls to one knee. Another superkick,
Reigns is on his back. Jey goes up top for an Uso splash, Roman kicks out. Jey
goes up top, second Uso splash, Heyman going wild on the outside, Roman kicks
out again. Jey is running wild on Reigns out of the gate. Roman gets thing back
in control with a Samoan Drop, and that one-arm lifting powerbomb off the mat.
Jey kicks out. About halfway through, in a key moment in the match,
Roman is setting up for a Superman Punch but Jey ducks. Jey rebounds with a
Superman Punch of his own, followed by a Samoan Driver, in an ode to daddy
Rikishi, maggle. Jey gets the cover on Reigns but and just as it looks like Jey
is about to pull off the impossible, PAUL HEYMAN GRABS THE REFEREE’S LEG AND
PULLS HIM OUT OF THE RING. The ref drops hard on the outside and it looks like
Reigns is in here to play dirty. Heyman won’t be gloating for long though AS
THE USOS MUSIC HITS AND OUT COMES JIMMY USO TO MAKE HIS RETURN. Jimmy sprints
and jumps off the steps, taking Heyman down with a flying clothesline. No ref
still, Jimmy slides into the ring and they hit a double superkick on Roman.
They go to either corner, DOUBLE USO SPLASH. Surely this combo will get it
done, a new ref runs out from the back. 1… 2… NOOOO. Jimmy looks petrified on
the outside. What more can Jey possibly do? Jimmy has an idea and grabs the
Universal Title belt from the timekeepers area, and slides it in the ring.
Jimmy slides back into the ring and The Usos hit a double superkick on the new
ref. Jey picks up the championship, Reigns stumbles to his feet, and Jey goes
to swing it at Reigns head but Reigns ducks, shoots off the ropes and hits a
Spear. By now the original ref has recovered, and counts the 3. Whew, that
was alot. Just imagine all that going down in your head, commentators and the
piped-in crowd noise going crazy. Slightly overbooked? Maybe, but it would make
for an extremely high drama match that you couldn’t look away from for one
second, and one that had several hope spots for Jey Uso where it looked like he
could actually pull it off. For now, at least, Roman Reigns remains at the head
of the table as the tribal chief of SmackDown.
WINNER
by PINFALL and STILL WWE Universal Champion: Roman Reigns
·
We get an ad for WWEShop, followed by a video package for our
main event.
7TH
MATCH: Drew McIntyre (c) vs. Randy Orton (Ambulance match for the WWE
Championship)
·
Randy Orton is out first, followed by McIntyre, who makes his
entrance out of the back of the ambulance as it drives into place on the stage.
We get formal ring introductions and the match gets 20 minutes.
When trying to decide between this and Jey/Roman on what should main event this
show, all it really came down to for me was the fact that McIntyre still has
not main evented a PPV as WWE Champion yet, so let’s give that to him here.
Also because there’s actually a title switch here, but hey, you’re not supposed
to know that yet! The match is an all out brawl similar to their excellent
match at Summerslam, now with 90% more fighting by a local medical facility
vehicle! The match ends when the two men are fighting by the Ambulance,
Drew opens the doors, and charges Orton for a Claymore Kick but Drew’s momentum
sends him flying into the Ambulance and Orton capitalizes and closes the door.
The second this was made an Ambulance match we pretty much knew this was a safe
way to take the title off Drew without having him get pinned, which is entirely
sensible. It’s odd to have a world title change in a stipulation like this, but
so be it if it advances a story. Post-match, Orton poses in the ring as a
13-time World champion, but all of a sudden we see a man come up behind him.
Orton turns around and is suddenly face to face with EDGE. And with just a
simple stare, and a raise of the championship belt by Orton, we know what we’re
in for. Orton vs. Edge III for the WWE Championship, next month, inside Hell In
A Cell. What’s next for McIntyre? Since this Orton/Edge feud is going to
dominate RAW for the next little while again, I'd promptly move Drew over to
SmackDown in the draft and waste no time in getting him right back into a World
Title program, this time for the Universal. Hopefully, this time we can hold
out on him winning it until fans come back, so he can finally get that title
win pop that he was robbed of at Wrestlemania. As sort of a first proving
ground for Drew on SmackDown, I think him vs. Cesaro at HIAC could be a
phenomenal match, where Drew would obviously get the win. But for now, The
Viper is once again the man. Keep reading to see my HIAC card.
WINNER
and NEW WWE Champion: Randy Orton
FINAL
RESULTS:
|
No. |
Results |
Stipulations |
Times |
|
Pre-show |
Asuka
(c) defeated Zelina Vega by Submission |
Singles
match for the WWE RAW Women’s Championship |
5
minutes |
|
Pre-show |
Cesaro
and Shinsuke Nakamura (c) defeated Lucha House Party (Kalisto and Lince
Dorado) (w/ Gran Metalik) by Pinfall |
Tag
Team match for the WWE SmackDown Tag Team Championships |
12
minutes |
|
1 |
Jeff
Hardy (c) defeated AJ Styles and Sami Zayn |
Triple
Threat Ladder match for the Undisputed WWE Intercontinental Championship |
23
minutes |
|
2 |
The
Riott Squad (Ruby Riott and Liv Morgan) defeated Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler
(c) by Pinfall |
Tag
Team match for the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships |
11
minutes |
|
3 |
Bobby
Lashley (c) (w/ The Hurt Business) vs. Apollo Crews (w/ Ricochet) ended in a
No Contest after Retribution interfered and wreaked havoc |
Singles
match for the WWE United States Championship |
10
minutes |
|
4 |
Bayley
(c) defeated Nikki Cross by Submission |
Singles
match for the WWE SmackDown Women’s Championship |
12
minutes |
|
5 |
The
Street Profits (Angelo Dawkins and Montez Ford) (c) defeated Andrade and
Angel Garza by Pinfall |
Tag
Team match for the WWE RAW Tag Team Championships |
9
minutes |
|
6 |
Roman
Reigns (c) (w/ Paul Heyman) defeated Jey Uso (w/ Jimmy Uso) by Pinfall |
Singles
match for the WWE Universal Championship |
8
minutes |
|
7 |
Randy
Orton defeated Drew McIntyre (c) |
Ambulance
match for the WWE Championship |
20
minutes |
MY CARD
FOR HELL IN A CELL 2020 (October 25th, 2020, Orlando, FL, Amway Center)
|
No. |
Matches |
Stipulations |
|
1 |
Randy
Orton (c) vs. Edge |
Hell
In A Cell match for the WWE Championship |
|
2 |
Bayley
(c) vs. Sasha Banks |
Hell
In A Cell match for the WWE SmackDown Women’s Championship |
|
3 |
Roman
Reigns (c) (w/ Paul Heyman) vs. AJ Styles |
Singles
match for the WWE Universal Championship |
|
4 |
Jeff
Hardy (c) vs. Sami Zayn |
2-out-of-3
Falls match for the WWE Intercontinental Championship |
|
5 |
The
Street Profits (Angelo Dawkins and Montez Ford) (c; RAW) vs. Lucha House
Party (Gran Metalik and Lince Dorado) (w/ Kalisto) (c; SmackDown) |
Tag
Team match to unify the WWE RAW and SmackDown Tag Team Championships |
|
6 |
The
Hurt Business (MVP, Bobby Lashley, Shelton Benjamin and Cedric Alexander) vs.
Apollo Crews, Keith Lee, Mustafa Ali and Ricochet |
8-man
Tag Team match |
|
7 |
Cesaro
(w/ Shinsuke Nakamura) vs. Drew McIntyre |
Singles
match |
|
8 |
Alexa
Bliss and “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt vs. Braun Strowman and Nikki Cross |
Mixed
Tag Team match |
Well,
that was the post. Thanks for reading! As always, let me know what you liked
and/or what you didn’t like from the post, and what from the post you’d like to
see actually happen on the show tomorrow night! Be sure to look out for
my next post for the upcoming PPV, **”How WWE Should Book Hell In A Cell 2020.
Enjoy the show tomorrow night, everyone.
