WWE CLASH IN PARIS
AUGUST 31, 2025
NANTERRE, FRANKREICH*
(*NO RE
LATION TO THE FORMER INDIANAPOLIS COLTS HEAD COACH)PARIS LA DÉFENSE ARENA
Watch: Peacock/Netflix (Non-US)
This show marks the end of WWE’s PLE licensing agreement with Peacock, which began in March of 2021, ahead of WrestleMania 37. This agreement came to an end earlier than expected, as WWE added several more shows to the calendar (hello, Evolution 2) in 2025 to exit the deal ahead of the rollout of ESPN Unlimited, which will become the new home of WWE Premium Live Events. There will still be more WWE events on Peacock, as they will be the exclusive home of Saturday Night’s Main Event and John Cena’s final match. (Who could have foreseen this nostalgia play failing?)
The Peacock deal did a lot of good for WWE, as the biggest shows of WWE’s year were all available at no extra cost. The easy availability, combined with WWE’s surge in popularity that followed Cody Rhodes’ return to the promotion, worked in tandem to build this hot period in WWE history. That all changes with WWE “PLEs” moving to the ESPN Unlimited platform.
The WWE product is as cold as it has been in years, with even staunch WWE fans noting the lackluster product over the course of 2025. That cold product will be heading to ESPN Unlimited behind a $30-a-month paywall, three times the price of a Peacock subscription at its recently increased price point. On top of all that, the rollout of the ESPN Unlimited platform has been incredibly haphazard and confusing, as no one seems to be entirely sure who has access to it as part of their cable deal or who has to pay the full price for it come the night. Even the name of the platform has caused confusion, as it was initially known simply as “ESPN” until the day the platform went live.
The shift will be notable, as WWE has trained a generation of wrestling fans to expect to pay around $10 for their most premium of shows. Will their fans, who have already shown signs of discontent with the current product, be willing to pay three times as much for the same product? The better question is if WWE will care? We are firmly in the TKO Era of this promotion, where the name of the game is squeezing every penny out of as many fans and companies as are willing to pay for it. It doesn’t seem like a sustainable business model, but the world of business often appears to be about people making money despite losing a significant amount, so what do I know? Anyway, here’s a throwaway card in front of another European crowd that will test my patience.
WWE WOMEN’S INTERCONTINENTAL TITLE MATCH
BECKY LYNCH (C) VS. NIKKI BELLA
Nikki Bella made one of her half-dozen returns to WWE, with the intention of feuding with Liv Morgan. Liv Morgan immediately blew out her shoulder, leading to Bella twisting in the wind for the last few months. She’s gotten programmed here with Becky Lynch, with the story being that Bella “paved the way” for Lynch to get the chances she’s gotten in WWE. Given the six-month-long issue with Lyra Valkyria bombing spectacularly at Summerslam, and given that Bayley isn’t going after this title either, I don’t know what the Women’s Intercontinental Title is accomplishing at this point. Becky retains. Prediction: Becky Lynch
GOOD OL’ FASHIONED DONNYBROOK MATCH
SHEAMUS VS. RUSEV
If you needed any indication that this show didn’t matter, look no further than Rusev getting booked for it. Rusev returned to WWE on the Raw after WrestleMania with his full AEW Redeemer character and has done dick all since coming back. He’s recently entered a feud with Sheamus, where they’ve tried to get him over with his work.
Unfortunately, WWE fans don’t give a shit about wrestling, so it hasn’t worked. They’ll try again here in Sheamus’ signature plunder match, but even if he wins, Rusev has nowhere to go right now. Both singles titles on Raw are on shithead heels, and he’s not over enough to take the attention of any top babyface. Chalk up another one of Tony Khan’s fumbles that Paul Levesque booted out of bounds.
Rusev wins, but until he finds his YEET, nothing changes. Prediction: Rusev
ROMAN REIGNS VS. BRONSON REED (W/PAUL HEYMAN)
On the Raw before SummerSlam, Bron Breakker and Bronson Reed laid out Roman Reigns and Jey Uso. After Breakker speared both Reigns and Uso through the barricade (drink!), Reed stole the shoes off of Reigns’ dead body. It was a genuinely humorous, organic moment. So, because this is 2025 American wrestling, they’ve made this bit Bronson Reed’s entire personality.
He wears the shoes around his neck, with Paul Heyman calling it the “Shoe-la Fala” in a bit of wordplay more tonally fitting for Chelsea Green than a main event-adjacent act. Reed’s begun calling himself the Tribal Thief, and in building this rare Roman Reigns match, he’s stolen his shoes again. Nothing can just be funny, it has to be run into the ground. This isn’t WWE-specific either. AEW really wants us to know that Don Callis doesn’t know Spanish.
Despite being one of WWE’s top babyfaces, Roman Reigns feels far more like a recurring guest than the star of the show. He learned from the top guys when he was coming up and has made himself a complete part-timer, with his appearances being few and far between. I was joking with Rich Kraetsch that this appearance had to be part of an already-scheduled vacation for Reigns, as it’s hard to believe he’d make this trip solely to go to work. Anyway, Reigns gets the win here as he works his way through Seth Rollins’ Putty Patrol. Prediction: Roman Reigns
JOHN CENA VS. LOGAN PAUL
Remember when John Cena was a heel? Remember the heel turn that was fantastically received on the night before an all-time dud of a World Title reign that was abandoned because WWE wanted to run John Cena vs. Brock Lesnar head-to-head with an AEW pay-per-view? What a time that was.
Cena has under ten appearances left in his retirement tour, with his last match getting bumped from NBC to Peacock as part of the reworked WWE/Peacock deal. The word “fumbled” is thrown around in pro wrestling circles a lot, but this will go down as one of the biggest fumbles in pro wrestling history. With months of notice, WWE couldn’t come up with anything for the retirement tour of one of the biggest stars the sport has ever seen. It cannot be understated or brought up enough how badly this has gone, and with the retirement tour getting down to the single digits, it’s hard to see any way this gets salvaged.
Anyway, since Lesnar isn’t coming to Paris, Logan Paul is here to lose to Cena. Prediction: John Cena
WWE WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE MATCH
SETH ROLLINS (W/PAUL HEYMAN) (C) VS. CM PUNK VS. LA KNIGHT VS. JEY USO
Seth Rollins is defending the World Title in a four-way match. Gee, I wonder how he will overcome THESE odds? If they’re gonna serve up this useless, effortless match, I’ll give you an effortless preview. Punk will have the match won, and somehow, Rollins will steal the pin from him. AKA, the finish to every four-way match you’ve ever seen in this company. Prediction: Seth Rollins
