Build to Clash at the Castle and the separation of the titles.
On the 5th of August edition of Friday Night SmackDown, Karrion Kross returned to send a message to Roman Reigns, Drew McIntyre and the rest of the SmackDown and WWE Roster. The following weeks continued like this, with blackouts throughout the show and a Ticking clock seen before and after commercial breaks. Drew and Roman weren’t the only people Kross was watching as after the Gunther VS Shinsuke Nakamura match for the Intercontinental Championship (which Gunther retained in), Karrion Kross showed up and destroyed Shinsuke Nakamura, an attack that leaves Shinsuke on the shelf for a while. Kross then calls out Roman Reigns and Drew McIntyre and says he deserves to be in the Clash at the Castle Championship match. The USOS then interrupt and say that the only thing that Kross deserves is to be kicked out of the door again. Later on in the night, Drew McIntyre is backstage doing an interview with Kayla Braxton before Karrion Kross attacks him and leaves him laying before WWE officials and referee’s stop him from doing any more harm. At the end of the show, Drew storms into Adam Pearce’s office and says that he if Kross wants an opportunity, he can get one next week as Drew wants to get his hands on Karrion Kross. Adam Pearce agrees and the match gets made official for next week show: Drew McIntyre VS Karrion Kross, if Kross wins, he’s added to the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship match. The following week, the night before Clash at the Castle, Paul Heyman is talking to The USOS and says that “Roman is furious with tonight’s main event stipulation”. Paul tells the USOS that he will fix it and goes to find Adam Pearce. When he finds Pearce, he says that tonight’s main event is wrong and that “after all the tribal chief has done for this company for the past 2 years” Roman shouldn’t be forced to defend his championship in a triple threat match where his historic reign could be ended without him even being factored. He instead says that the fairest thing to do would be to change the stipulation for tonight, where the winner of the Karrion Kross VS Drew McIntyre match will face Roman Reigns at Clash at the Castle. Paul then threatens Pearce and reminds him of what happens when he gets on the wrong side of the head of the table. Pearce then agrees to this stipulation. In the main event, Drew McIntyre has Kross beat before Roman Reigns returns to SmackDown and hits the Scottish Warrior with a massive spear, meaning the match ends in a DQ and Reigns VS McIntyre stays on Clash at the Castle. Kross then tries to fight Roman but then The USOS attack and lay Kross out through the announce table. Roman then spears Drew again, and stands tall as the Undisputed WWE Universal Champion. At Clash at the Castle, Drew McIntyre hits 3 claymore’s in a row to finally put an end to Roman Reigns’ two year World Title reign, meaning that Clash at the Castle ends with Drew McIntyre finally celebrating a World Championship victory in front of actual people (not including NXT). This is very much a new era of WWE.
Monday Night Raw kicks off with the brand new Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Drew McIntyre. Drew says that he has been waiting for that moment for a very long time and says that this is what we all deserved. Drew then says “as much as I love holding both titles and being called the Undisputed Champion, WWE as a brand is better off with two world Champions. Raw and SmackDown are both better shows with there own world championships. The opportunities are greater and most importantly, I deserve at least 1 day off each week! In all seriousness, It’s better for you, the fans, as it means you get more matches and more entertaining feuds and rivalry’s. As for which title I am keeping, I’ve been WWE Champion before, it’s the best feeling but, I’ve never been Universal Champion and that is something that I really want to be. I also love SmackDown and representing the blue brand and most importantly, I’m gonna make Roman Reigns’ title reign look like a piece of trash compared to mine. Drew then walks off, leaving the WWE Championship in the ring.
WWE Championship tournament:
After the ad break, Adam Pearce is in the ring. He announces that Drew McIntyre had informed him of his decision early on in the day, meaning that he has had enough time to put together a championship for the WWE Championship. The first round will consist of Four Fatal 4-Ways where the 4 winners will move into the next round. There will then be two Singles Matches where the winners of both of those matches will move on to face one another at the Extreme Rules Premium Live Event for the WWE Championship.
The Bracket is as follows:
Seth “Freakin” Rollins VS Edge VS Finn Balor VS Montez Ford
Riddle VS Damian Priest VS Ciampa VS Rey Mysterio
Kevin Owens VS Dolph Ziggler VS Theory VS Mustafa Ali
AJ Styles VS Bobby Lashley VS Omos VS The Miz
In the first match of the tournament, Edge and Finn Balor are fully focused on ruining each others chances of progressing which ultimately cost them both the opportunity of becoming the WWE Champion. After Montez Ford misses his frog splash, Seth Rollins hits the Stomp to progress through to the Semi Final in two weeks time. The second match sees Rey Mysterio hit the 619 onto Ciampa. Mysterio then hits the frog splash onto Ciampa before Damian Priest hits the south of heaven choke slam before Riddle hits an RK-Bro to win the match and set up the match with his most recent nemesis. The following weeks show kicks off with Kevin Owens hitting the Pop-Up Powerbomb onto Dolph Ziggler and then a stunner on Mustafa Ali to get the victory. The main event and the last match of the first round sees Omos being targeted but he dominates AJ Styles and The Miz. Bobby Lashley and Omos then have a brawl and Lashley spears Omos through the barricade, writing both of them out of the match. AJ then goes to hit a Phenomenal Fourarm but Ciampa jumps in and takes the hit for The Miz before Miz hits the skull crushing finale for a close near fall. AJ then hits the Styles Clash to progress through to the next round.
On the 19th September episode of Monday Night Raw, AJ Styles VS Kevin Owens is the first semi final match and they have a great 20 minute match where a phenomenal Fourarm and a pop-up powerbomb are both kicked out off. The ending comes when AJ goes for another Phenomenal Fourarm but KO catches him mid-air and hits a Second pop-up powerbomb before hitting the Stunner to get the victory meaning that Kevin Owens is going to Extreme Rules. The main event is then between Seth “Freakin” Rollins and Riddle, a rematch from Clash at the Castle which the Visionary won. This is a very back and forth match and at the end of the match, Seth Rollins then goes for a superkick but Riddle dodges out of the way meaning that Rollins connects with the referee. Riddle then goes for the RK-Bro but Seth Rollins pushes him out of the way, low blows him and hits the stomp. Rollins is then shouting at the referee to get up and do his job. The crowd then get really loud and Seth Rollins turns around and gets hit by an RKO from Randy “Freakin” Orton. Orton then looks at Riddle and smiles at him. Orton then rolls out of the ring, the ref gets back into the ring and Riddle pins Rollins for the 1 2 3. The graphic then comes up for Kevin Owens VS Riddle at Extreme Rules for the WWE Championship. The following week, Kevin Owens and Riddle have a contract signing where Kevin Owens says that you’re only here because of help from others. They then have a big brawl which eventually gets separated and Adam Pearce announces that Riddle VS KO will now be an Extreme Rules match. The final week sees a really cool video package, tracking both Riddle and Kevin Owens’ preparation ahead of the big match. The Main event of Extreme Rules sees Kevin Owens go one on one with Riddle in a crazy extreme rules match for the WWE Championship. After KO kicked out of an RK-Bro and Riddle kicked out of a stunner, Kevin Owens viciously hit the pop-up powerbomb onto the ring apron before hitting another one, this time through the announce table before finally throwing him into the ring to hit a stunner meaning that Kevin Owens is the brand new WWE Champion.
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