WWE Clash In Italy: Draws & Duds

We are mere days away from WWE Clash in Italy, a show that will include four championship matches — including Tribal Combat between Roman Reigns and Jacob Fatu — and one massive WrestleMania rematch, as Brock Lesnar returns from his supposed retirement to try and get his win back over Oba Femi. But which of these matches have the Wrestling Inc. crew excited to turn on the show, and which would we rather have been left off the card?

That's the question this column aims to find out. Are we hyped for Cody Rhodes' Undisputed WWE Championship defense against GUNTHER? What about Becky Lynch vs. Sol Ruca for the women's Intercontinental title? Here are WINC's biggest draws and biggest duds for WWE Clash in Italy!

Cody Rhodes will be making his third defense of this WWE Championship reign against GUNTHER at Clash in Italy, having dethroned Drew McIntyre for the title in March and seen off Randy Orton at WrestleMania in April. 

GUNTHER will be challenging for the lineal World Championship for the first time, having previously held the World Heavyweight Championship twice after setting a 666-day record with the Intercontinental Championship. He retired John Cena via submission in December, then AJ Styles in January, and then answered Paul Heyman's call to action against Seth Rollins at WrestleMania 42, defeating him and supposedly cashing in his favor to secure a move to "WWE SmackDown" and a WWE Championship contract at Clash in Italy. Seem straightforward enough?

Well, GUNTHER had attacked Rhodes before the contract had been presented to him, thus confirming to the fans that this was the path forward – GUNTHER vs. Rhodes for the title. He was the next week presented with the contract, which he refused to sign because Rhodes had come out during the signing to say address the attack from the week before. 

Thus ensued weeks of Rhodes and General Manager Nick Aldis chasing a signature from GUNTHER to cement the match, to which Royce Keys sought to make use of and threw his own hat in the ring.  GUNTHER then beat Keys in a Number One Contendership match and still refused to sign the contract, despite the match already being announced, advertised, and definitely going to happen. 

Gradually as the shenanigans have gone on, any interest in this match for the marquee title bout it is has diminished. GUNTHER is legitimately one of the best wrestlers in the world, a natural villain, and Rhodes is also no slouch in the ring and just so happens to be objectively the biggest babyface in wrestling today. Rhodes is one of the rare few to hold a clean win over the "Ring General" in WWE, with just Ilja Dragunov, Bron Breakker, and Sami Zayn before him. 

That would have been enough to justify much of the rhyme and reason behind this match being made. GUNTHER would have been a credible enough challenger even before he had retired Cena, Styles, and beat Rollins at 'Mania. But the route has been so long-winded that this match feels like mercy rather than spectacle. GUNTHER is finally facing Rhodes after a frankly nonsensical build for no reason other than to kill time.

That's the sort of stuff that Nick Khan is drawing on in Senate Hearings to justify why boxing is broken, and here it is being scripted into a show that's choosing to be difficult to follow. That's a dud, unfortunate as it may be.

Written by Max Everett

Despite not earning herself any clean victories on the main roster since her call-up from "WWE NXT" following WrestleMania 42, Sol Ruca looks to be set to win the Women's Intercontinental Championship from Becky Lynch. Hopefully, that happens this Sunday at Clash in Italy, but even if it doesn't it furthers their feud along to get Ruca to that next level, where she inevitably wins the gold. With how beloved Ruca is, that makes this bout a draw.

Ruca got this match thanks to Lynch getting herself disqualified during their non-title bout at Saturday Night's Main Event. Lynch pulled referee Jessika Carr in front of her as Ruca was attempting a move in the corner, taking Carr out. While it looked for a minute like Ruca was going to be the one disqualified, Carr, who Lynch has been a thorn in the side of for months now, thankfully didn't play the role of a dumb referee, and DQ'ed the champion.

Lynch, of course, crashed out on social media and in a brief backstage segment on Monday's edition of "WWE Raw" about the fact Ruca was awarded a title match, calling the system crooked and every other insult in her book of Becky-isms. While Lynch going back to the crash-out well isn't a draw or something that adds to this match, as we've seen it time and time again at this point, it at the very least likely means that their premium live event match won't end in the same manner.

While many of us are not 100 percent trusting in WWE's booking right now, it's nice to think Lynch would advocate for this match to have a different finish, and possibly even for the former Women's North American Champion to go over on a big, international stage. It feels likely that Ruca will get a big victory over "The Man," as the event feels like it needs at least one title change with four total defenses happening on the night.

Ruca will hopefully get the chance to redeem herself after a few unfortunate botches and storyline losses on the main roster, even if they were to major talent like Women's World Champion Liv Moran and IYO SKY. Lynch has done a lot to elevate the Women's Intercontinental Championship, and it feels like the time to move the belt onto a new, up-and-coming talent, and there's no hotter up-and-comer than Ruca on "Raw."

Written by Daisy Ruth

While it feels so very wrong to call any match with Oba Femi in it a "dud," there does not seem to be many fans who want to see him take on Brock Lesnar again, after seemingly retiring "The Beast Incarnate" at WrestleMania 42, so "dud" is the best way to describe the Clash in Italy match. The winner seems decided already, and the story will inevitably lead to a third match in Lesnar's adopted home state of Minnesota for SummerSlam.

Many fans, though not all, were cautiously optimistic when it seemed like Lesnar retired in Las Vegas last month, as it seemed like a perfect way to go out after losing to, and putting over, Femi. Now, in his pre-recorded promo segment on the most recent episode of "Raw," it seems like Lesnar is still declaring himself "retired," which makes little sense," and, of course, "The Beast" couldn't be bothered to show up on the go-home show to the event.

Everything outside of the ring surrounding Lesnar aside, it's well beyond his time for him to leave his boots in the ring, or at this point, keep them there, and losing to Femi was the best way to do that, especially after Lesnar had such a good, emotional reaction. Who knew he was that good of an actor? But, when his unmistakable silhouette crept up behind Femi's during his entrance a few weeks ago on "Raw," even those cautiously optimistic after WrestleMania couldn't be too surprised.

Because, of course. Just of course, with the way WWE books things now. Triple H and company just can't let good things be good, and they obviously saw the opportunity for SummerSlam. That may not necessarily be a bad business decision, but it certainly feels like a bad creative one, especially when it comes to "The Ruler" more than likely taking a loss to Lesnar on Sunday to presumably set up the rubber match.

The predictability of this match lands it solidly in the "dud" column for Clash in Italy, whether Femi puts up a good fight or not. The cautious optimism is gone, and it's time to accept the fact Femi may not actually go over Lesnar and send him off into an official retirement until the beginning of August.

Written by Daisy Ruth

Roman Reigns answered yet another challenge from Jacob Fatu after surviving with his World Heavyweight Championship reign intact at WWE Backlash, this time with the title and his Tribal Chiefdom under threat in Tribal Combat. 

Reigns as the Tribal Chief has answered two Tribal Combat challenges in the past against cousins Jey Uso and Solo Sikoa, beating both to ensure he remained as the one and only leader of the Bloodline. Now Sikoa is off leading his own orchard of Family Trees and Jey is getting beaten up by Fatu in the name of his Tribal Chief, so that's a look into what awaits Fatu should he lose. 

The build-up has been laced with intensity much like in the lead-in to Backlash, with Fatu clearly threatening to Reigns, surprising him with the Tribal Combat challenge which he was bound to accept. That changed the complexion of things, with Reigns no longer the man affronted by the very idea of having to defend his title against a man he called an exile. Now, he is treating the challenge with the familial honor that the story calls for. 

Obviously, their match at Backlash was also just ridiculously fun in itself. Now it has been stripped of rules and restrictions, and will undoubtedly deliver on chaos. That's the type of stuff that, love it or hate it, made Reigns' record-breaking run as Undisputed WWE Champion what it was. 

Win or lose, Fatu will continue in WWE either as a leader or member of the Bloodline, and that really cuts as a promise of good things to come whichever way it's looked at. That means more Reigns and Fatu interactions in the future, and hearkens back to the time wrestling fans would either tout or cringe at the cinema superlative. 

And if all of the aforementioned wasn't enough, it's a Roman Reigns match. They always seem to deliver on spectacle and in-ring storytelling, and nine times out of ten a match featuring him will always be the objective draw of a card.

Written by Max Everett