By Louise Westie

It is finally here and it’s WWE Clash at the Castle week and there is a LOT and I mean lot going on.

There are also going to wrestling events all over Glasgow (ICW, their family friendly show Blockbuster, CPW, VALOR, and Iron Girders) all taking place!

There is also pop-up shops in St Enoch’s Centre from Thurs-Sun which I’m going to pop into at some point. WWE Superstars AJ Styles and Austin Theory will be appearing at Smyths toy stores at the Glasgow Fort on Friday and Saturday, Piper Niven (Viper) will be appearing on Friday at Forbidden Planet, Isla Dawn and Alba Fyre will be appearing at The Entertainer and on Saturday the EST Bianca Belair will be appearing. (LINE UP SUBJECT TO CHANGE!)

There will also be a kick off show on Friday at 16:00 in Hall 4 inside the SECC BEFORE Smackdown with a shop in Hall 5.

Now let’s take a look at the card for Clash!

WWE Women’s Championship – Bayley (c) vs Piper Niven

Bayley has been a 2xWWE Woman’s Champion since WrestleMania XL, when Bayley defeated IYO SKY and has only faced Naomi (which ended in a no contest) and then faced Naomi and Tiffany Stratton at Backlash, France. After some persuasion, SmackDown GM Nick Aldis decreed that Piper Niven will face Bayley at Clash.

Piper cut a promo on Bayley and goes into detail about how Bayley knows nothing about her and her journey – talking about the Mae Young Classic in 2017 and how she’s been clawing and digging her way out of the trenches and putting Scottish wrestling on the map, since 2008.

So while Bayley was at the WWE PC, Piper was busy being a trailblazer, all over the UK, Europe and Japan and was already a world champion before she even stepped through the doors of the PC and if Bayley had any idea just how dangerous Piper was, she wouldn’t be standing so close to her.

At one point in time, Piper held five different championship title belts and has completed in death matches, cage matches, intergender matches etc. If you haven’t seen any of Piper’s matches on YouTube, I strongly recommend that you watch them. I’d also recommend these ones that show how brilliant Piper is on the mic:

Piper was also the star of her own “Fight Like A Girl” documentary:

OUTCOME: I would love Piper to win her first WWE singles title in front of her family and her friends. This week means a whole lot to her, in more ways than one, and it would be the perfect welcome home coming. Piper will also be accompanied by her bestie Chelsea Green who’ll have Piper’s back. Whoever wins will face Queen of the Ring Nia Jax who has already been guaranteed a title shot at SummerSlam.

Undisputed WWE Championship – I Quit Match – Cody Rhodes (c) vs AJ Styles

A match which could also go either way as ‘The American Nightmare’ Cody Rhodes has challenged the phenomenal one AJ to an “I Quit!” match.

Cody Rhodes has been the Undisputed WWE Champion for 65 days having defended his title against AJ Styles at Backlash France and Logan Paul at King and Queen of the Ring.

AJ pulled out a brilliant performance that Mark Henry was proud of as he not only pulled the wool over the WWE Universe eyes, but Cody’s too, into believing that he was finally ready to hang up his wrestling boots and head off into the sunset. This resulted in AJ losing the plot and violently attacking Cody, even going as far as performing a Phenomenal Styles Clash on Rhodes.

This rivalry got so heated that Cody challenged AJ to an “I Quit Match” which Nick Aldis agreed too. Tbh, this feud has gotten so personal, I wouldn’t be surprised if this gets turned into a Glasgow Street Fight as Cody has literally been chomping at the bit to get his hands on AJ. 

Outcome: I’m interested to see where this goes as I can’t see Cody dropping the title anytime soon and I can’t see AJ leaving either.

IF AJ says “ I quit”, The OC would most likely disband with Michin and Gallows and Anderson making waves at NXT right now. Or it could go in the other direction with AJ having one more title run in him, setting up AJ Styles versus LA Knight as a possible outcome.

Cody has a way of finishing chapters in his story, he finished Roman Reigns chapter as the Undisputed WWE Champion, could he finish AJ’s story too or will AJ finish his?

WWE Intercontinental Championship – Sami Zayn (c) vs Chad Gable

Sami Zayn takes on Chad Gable for the third time for a shot at the IC title. 

Since breaking away from Roman Reigns and The Bloodline, Sami Zayn ended the 666 day reign of Ring General Gunther thanks to the help and motivation of Chad Gable who took Zayn under his wing. Zayn went onto win his match and has held the title for 66 days and is a 4x IC Champion! In return for helping him win, Sami gave Gable the first shot at his title. Prior to these events, Gable and Sami also faced each other in a qualifying match to face Gunther (a match Sami went onto win).

Sami defeated Gable in his first title defence in Montreal, where after the match, Gable shocked the world by turning on Sami in front of his friends and family. Then at King and Queen of the Ring, Sami would face Gable and Bronson Reed in a triple threat, which Sami would retain.

Moving onto Gable, who has been in WWE since 2016 has been a multiple tag team champion, but has never won a singles title. He has taken Otis, Maxxine Dupri and Tozawa under his wing (and he’s been a great mentor), but lately his treatment of Alpha Academy has been either verbal or physical resulting in Gable gets a lot of heel heat, given the chants of “you suck!” with shades of Kurt Angle…

OUTCOME: This could go either way. There are rumours flying that Gable’s contract could be up, which I don’t think will happen. 

Now when I watch Raw and SmackDown, I pay very close attention to what’s going on in the background as even the slightest thing can be quite important and can be a sign of something building and I have noticed that Gable seems to be in talks with the Creed Brothers and Ivy Nile a lot lately. 

So, the scenarios I think are the Alpha Academy will accidentally cost Gable his title shot resulting in Otis finally snapping and turning on Gable or Gable deciding to ditch Alpha Academy and get new people i.e. the Creed Brothers and Ivy Nile (Alpha Academy 2.0).

WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships – Triple Threat – Bianca Belair & Jade Cargill (c) vs Alba Fyre & Isla Dawn vs Shayna Baszler & Zoey Stark

Jade Cargill and Bianca Belair have been the WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions since Backlash France, taking the titles from Damage CTRL and it looks like they are going to have their hands full.

Since being drafted to SmackDown, Alba Fyre and Isla Dawn have been patiently waiting for their shot at the titles and after both Isla and Alba and Shayna Baszler and Zoey Stark attacked the champs on both Raw and SmackDown, Belair and Jade made the match a triple threat.

For those who follow the Scottish wrestling scene, we ALL know what both Isla Dawn and Alba Fyre can do in singles and tag team action. Alba Fyre is still, and the first ever, ICW Queen of Insanity and a former NXTUK Woman’s Champion, so she is no stranger to squaring up to people Glasgow. Alba and Isla are also former WWE NXT Women’s Tag Team Champions. 

Shayna is a former 3x WWE Woman’s Tag team champion, her tag team partner Zoey Stark is also a former WWE NXT Women’s Tag Team Champion. During this past Monday’s Raw, Shayna won the match via knockout, but will Alba and Isla have the advantage heading to Clash?

OUTCOME: I’m Team Alba Fyre and Isla Dawn here. I love the idea of them using the “curse of the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships”, it’s almost as if it’s a sign that those titles are waiting for them…

World Heavyweight Championship – Damien Priest (c) vs Drew McIntyre

The main event match Scotland has been waiting for as Damian Priest takes on Drew McIntyre for the World Heavyweight Championship!

I have a lot of respect for Drew, as he held this company on his back during a pandemic and won his title during an event with no fans. At Wrestlemania, he defeated the champion at that time Seth Rollins which only took him about 10 minutes. 

Everything Drew says he does and Drew tells no lies; he won his title in front a crowd, his family, his friends and that he was going to rub CM Punk’s face in it at commentary (which he did) and Drew was in striking distance from Punk on purpose and he didn’t do anything till Drew was distracted and jumped him like a coward.

Damian Priest has only been the World Heavyweight Champion for 65 days (I am under the impression he’s injured, but I could be wrong here) as he’s only defended it ONCE and that was at Backlash in Paris, France, against “Main Event” Jey Uso and that was back in May. 

After Punk put his hands on Drew, Priest took his opportunity and took Drew’s title. Yet, throughout his title reign, Priest is losing control of The Judgement Day; Rhea is injured, Liv Morgan is intent on taking control and being the Mami of The Judgement Day, and ‘Dirty’ Dom has brought Carlito into The Judgement Day family, thus potentially leading to Priest face turn.

Drew was due to take part in the King of the Ring tournament but unfortunately had to pull out due to injury. 

Now on the Raw BEFORE Clash, Drew had a match with Finn Balor, with the stipulation being that IF Drew WINS, The Judgement Day will be BANNED from ringside during their title match, but IF Drew LOSES, The Judgement Day would be allowed to be at ringside for the match. Drew won his match, but whether The Judgement Day keeps to their end of the bargain remains to be seen…

OUTCOME: I want Drew to win the world championship for the fourth time more than anything in the world, he has earned, no, deserved this – to win in front of HIS people and HIS family and friends.

There is another issue – CM Punk.

Ever since CM Punk pretty much caused Drew to lose his title at Wrestlemania, Drew and Punk’s rivalry has been building not only on social media, but their past history goes way back further than any of us realise.

On top of The Judgement Day potentially getting involved in the main event, there is talks of CM Punk turning up in Scotland and costing Drew his title in some way and that could tip Drew right over the edge pushing him into the full ICW Black Label mode and would make Punk the most hated man in Scotland. Also setting up a potential feud for Summerslam.

Drew has warned Punk that it wouldn’t be the best move to get involved or turn up at his match. That being said, Drew is always one step ahead and I think should the numbers game come into play, Drew is going to need a lot and I mean a lot of help and there are plenty of friends that he can call on, all he needs to do is flash the signal…