SmackDown Women’s Championship Match
Bayley (c) vs. Charlotte Flair
Well this match has taken quite the turn (literally), hasn’t it? This whole thing started with heel Charlotte Flair challenging babyface Bayley for the SmackDown Women’s Championship and that’s not quite where we are anymore. Bayley’s long-overdue heel turn wasn’t quite as intense as I always wanted it to be but it was necessary and the timing was good for it with Sasha Banks back in the mix. And let’s face it, Clash of Champions is in Charlotte so we know that Flair was going to get the majority of the cheers anyway, so the timing works out even better than expected.
Prediction: Well, we know what usually happens when someone has a match in their hometown and this one is even worse when the competitor actually uses the city as her ring name. Creative just pulled the trigger on heel Bayley so it wouldn’t make much sense for her to drop the title right after the turn. She cheats to win to further the new character.
Raw Women’s Championship Match
Becky Lynch (c) vs. Sasha Banks
In what has probably been the best overall build for Clash of Champions, Becky Lynch and Sasha Banks will duke it out for the Raw Women’s Championship this Sunday in what could be one of the best matches of the night. While it is a bit odd that Sasha is getting this high-profile match so quickly after her return from a lengthy absence, we all know that she can bring it in these big matches so I’m very confident that she’ll be ready for this one. The intensity during the build has been fantastic and seems very real so hopefully that carries over into the match itself.
Prediction: It really wouldn’t surprise me to see Becky lose her title. She’s held this title since WrestleMania and there are rumors that she’s going to be one of the big names heading to the blue brand when it goes to FOX, which makes sense given her star power, so I think Bayley comes out to help Sasha win. We know how great Becky can be chasing titles and even a loss here puts her in a position to star on both shows. She can still go after Sasha on Mondays with the wild card rule (if she moves to SmackDown) and can also go after Bayley on Friday nights. So I’ll go with a win for The Boss with some help from Bayley.