\u201cI hate your family.\u201d<\/p>\n
Seth Rollins lost his entire crew in one night. Keep reading to find out what happened to Paul Heyman and how that event led to Adam Pearce sending Bron Breakker & Bronson Reed out to the nearest Paris nightclub. That set the stage for Seth going solo into a big battle against three men who despise him almost as much as they want the World Heavyweight championship. And worst of all for the champ? He didn\u2019t have to get pinned to lose the match. No champion\u2019s advantage, no Vision for the Visionary, and a ring filled with men who want to kill him.<\/p>\n
What on earth would he do?<\/p>\n
Apparently, he\u2019d do what any sane man would do when their boys can\u2019t hold them down: call the wife.<\/p>\n
The Fatal 4 Way morphed into a one-on-one for its final moments. Seth and CM Punk lied on the mat facing each other. Seth summoned all his hatred for Punk in that moment, telling the man that he hates him, hates his face, and his family. And as a result of all that very angry emotion, this was his moment to ensure Punk not only never wrestled for a championship again, but that he never wrestled again. Period.<\/p>\n
I appreciated this immensely. It defies logic that these two will stay away from each other in any match. Tag team, Triple Threat, Fatal 4 Way, Mama Bagwell on a Pole, whatever. It\u2019s always on sight for them. Once Seth realized it was just him and Punk together, that logic dictated that he would let his hatred consume him and go for broke. Like most instances when a wrestler lets their emotions rule them, it almost backfired on the man. Seth grabbed a chair outside the ring, stomped Jey Uso, who started coming to from a previous blow, and then stomped LA Knight, who wiped himself out when Seth just moved off the announce table during LA\u2019s big elbow drop attempt.<\/p>\n
The Architect went back inside the ring, set up the chair, and stuck Punk\u2019s head in a place heads don\u2019t belong. He went for a stomp and missed. I mean, he really missed. I loved the poetry of Seth possibly really injuring the knee he fake injured this summer.<\/p>\n
In the end, that didn\u2019t matter. Neither did Punk\u2019s first Go to Sleep. The second one might\u2019ve but we never got to it. Partially because of Becky Lynch, but mostly because Punk, like Seth before him, let his emotion get the better of him. Mr. Straight Edge spent way too much time savoring a presumed victory over Seth that he missed the real victory. His cockiness gave Becky more than enough time to hit the ring in all black and stick him where the sun doesn\u2019t shine. A three count later, and Seth is still champ. The big news, however, is this is now a family affair.<\/p>\n
Hm, is there anyone in Punk\u2019s family he can call to lend him a hand?<\/p>\n
Oh, right, his wife. This sets in motion her long rumored and often clamored for return. Even if it\u2019s just for one night only. WWE is pulling out all the stops for their first PLE on the ESPN app, so adding AJ\u2019s comeback to the list of said pulled stops makes Wrestlepalooza a very big deal.<\/p>\n
Seth hates Punk\u2019s whole family, which includes AJ. In about a month, we\u2019ll find out how AJ plans on repaying WWE\u2019s power couple for tormenting her husband and disrespecting their union on multiple occasions. Habitual line-stepping can only go unpunished for so long.<\/p>\n
\u201cI hate your family.\u201d Who knew four little words could mean so much?<\/p>\n
First person who understands the connection between the song accompanying this section and Roman Reigns gets a salute from me in the comments. I mean, I don\u2019t have actual gifts so forgive me for coming empty-handed. But isn\u2019t it the thought that counts?<\/p>\n
Back to business, shall we? When I predicted a Roman Reigns win over Bronson Reed, I said I don\u2019t agree with the call. I thought a Bronson win was the best long-term move for The Vision and the Samoan Aussie.<\/p>\n
Roman and Bronson worked a match based on pure power; Bronson neutralizing Roman\u2019s while Bronson was too powerful, at times, for Roman\u2019s biggest moves. It started early with Roman\u2019s Samoan Drop attempt falling flat on its face when the Tribal Chief collapsed trying to lift Bronson on his shoulders. The match followed that basic rhythm for most of its runtime; Bronson dominated for a bit, Roman found an opening, but the big man proved too big to conquer. My favorite moment in the match exemplified this. With Bronson rocking and looking like a steak dinner to a carnivore, Roman went for the spear. Bronson blocked it and in one swift move went from catching Roman in a headlock to putting him in a Sit Down Powerbomb. It was awesome. So much so that I don\u2019t believe my words do it justice. It was a simple thing that said so much about the match and the two men wrestling.<\/p>\n
But eventually, Bronson made a mistake.<\/p>\n
That doesn\u2019t happen if Bronson doesn\u2019t go to the top rope one time too many. And Roman finally hitting the Samoan Drop on him was poetic. In fact, I would\u2019ve ended the match with that although I understand the reasoning for the Spear. But given the last verbal exchange between them regarding Samoan heritage, I felt the Samoan Drop from the top rope was a fitting exclamation point.<\/p>\n
That said, this wasn\u2019t the big deal coming out of Clash\u2019s opening match. After the match, Roman looked like the triumphant hero. He got his sneakers back from Paul E. Heyman, put his former Advocate in a Guillotine, and started autographing said sneakers for the crowd! Just when I wondered how much more value he added to some commonplace Air Jordan 1s, this happened:<\/p>\n
That\u2019s when the chaos truly took control. This was a perfect way to write off Roman while he goes to fight in a few streets for a while. He took umpteen Tsunamis, a couple spears, and even took one of those Tsunamis while strapped to the stretcher! Bronson & Bron looked like total monsters. They not only repaid Roman for all of his deeds to them, but also got him back for taking out Paul.<\/p>\n
If I have one complaint, it\u2019s that Jey Uso showed up a bit too late. And that\u2019s not a creative complaint; it\u2019s a human one! Dude, your blood, which you say you value more than anything, was getting decimated outside and inside the ring. It took you far too long to intervene. What kind of cousin are you? Psh, you deserved to walk into the main event with the DDP tape across your ribs.<\/p>\n
This did wonders for The Vision and I can\u2019t wait to see the follow up. For a stable that hasn\u2019t always rocked my world outside of that first moment they came together, this was an interesting and fun event for them.<\/p>\n
And to think it might not be possible if Roman wasn\u2019t playing Akuma. Go figure.<\/p>\n
Clash in Paris was a bit long, but I enjoyed it for the most part. The opening match and main event were nice bookends that fed into each other and set the stage for something bigger down the line.<\/p>\n
What say you, Cagesiders?<\/p>\n