WWE Clash of Champions 2019: Universal Championship match preview

Universal Champion Seth Rollins defends his title against the Monster Among Men, Braun Strowman. It will be the first time two opponents also team up to defend a tag-team title in the same night.

This Sunday at Clash of Champions, Universal Champion Seth Rollins will defend his title against Braun Strowman. Rollins and Strowman are also the Raw Tag Team Champions, so earlier in the night they will face Dolph Ziggler and Robert Roode to defend those belts. It will be the first time in WWE history that this has happened.

Rollins lost the Universal Championship to Brock Lesnar at Extreme Rules after Lesnar cashed in his Money in the Bank contract following Rollins and Becky Lynch’s mixed tag victory over Baron Corbin and Lacey Evans. It was a quick beat down as Rollins was already tired and hurting from the match. Rollins regained the title at SummerSlam.

Strowman has been after the Universal Championship for almost a year. He was slated to face Roman Reigns and Brock Lesnar in a triple-threat match at Crown Jewel last November, but Reigns had to back out due to his leukemia diagnosis. Strowman lost the vacant title to Brock after Corbin got involved prior to the match. This will be Strowman’s first shot at the coveted Raw title since Crown Jewel.

Strowman and Rollins only paired up as a tag team after Strowman got involved defending Rollins during an attack from Gallows and Anderson. Rollins would repay the favor the following week when Strowman was chased down by the two O.C. members, who ruined Strowman’s United States Title match with AJ Styles. That same evening, Strowman and Rollins challenged Gallows and Anderson for their titles and won.

It’s an interesting pairing to say the least, and the WWE may have backed itself into a corner with these two. This is the first time two men will tag together to defend a title and then challenge each other for a singles title in the same pay-per-view event.

It’s hard to imagine Strowman not coming away with the Universal Championship, but Rollins is tough and tends not to give up when others would. It will be interesting to see how things pan out, and how the WWE handles the situation going forward.