WWE Clash in Paris Review – 08.31.25

Presented LIVE on the Peacock on August 31st, 2025 from the Paris La Défense Arena in Paris, France, and the final Peacock PLE before moving over to ESPN. Michael Cole and Wade Barrett are ringside to call the action, unless otherwise noted. That is a damn nice looking stage, with the Eiffel Tower and the Starry Night incorporated in the events logo.

Roman Reigns vs. Bronson Reed (w/ Paul Heyman):
Roman’s return from a Spring hiatus included run-ins with The Vision that left him on his back, and to add insult to injury, having his Jordans taken off his feet not once, not twice, but THRICE… oh, it only happened twice? Well, I’m leaving that bit in anyway. Since then, Reed has worn them around his neck as a trophy, the “Shoe-la-fala”, if you will. Roman is wearing TWO ula fala’s tonight, honoring his father and uncle. Cole notes Roman has only competed in four matches in 2025 while Reed has been at it every week (minus the missed time due to injury).

After taking in the energy of this hot crowd, they lock-up and stalemate. Roman grabs the side headlock and runs into Reed like running into a brick wall. Both men play it off and Roman tries it again, also unsuccessful in moving the big bad Bronson. This time Roman invites Reed to give it a try and catches him under the chin with an uppercut. Roman with the mounted corner punches with the crowd counting along. Roman tries scooping up Bronson for a Samoan drop but eats it and gets dumped out of the ring, where Reed is quick to meet him with a shoulder block from the apron. Roman quickly turns it around, repeatedly sending Reed into the post. Reed takes advantage of Roman undressing the announce table and lays him out with a clothesline. Back inside, Roman stuns Reed with a straight boot but gets caught coming off the ropes with the World’s Strongest Slam for two. Whip to the corner and Roman lands on the Papa John’s promotion. The crowd gets behind Roman as he fights out of a chin-lock, only to get dropped with an elbow across the chin. Roman with another escape and Reed cuts him off with a Samoan drop. Shouldn’t it be an Australian drop? Reed plays to the crowd, showing off his trophy before going back to pummeling Roman with forearms and headbutts.

Reed goes for the shoes but Roman isn’t having that tonight! Roman lays in a series of clotheslines and uppercuts, knocking Reed out of the ring. Now it’s Roman bringing the fight to the floor, hitting Reed with the Drive-By boots and giving Bronson a taste of the ring steps. Back in the ring, Reed counters the Superman Punch with a uranage and senton combo for a near-fall. Roman blocks a Samoan drop and cradles Reed for two. Superman Punch countered again, this time with a Death Valley Driver. Roman blocks Reed’s silly attempts to go for a tope suicida and lands a pair of Superman punches for a two-count. Reed counters the Spear with a dropkick and hits a tope suicida on the second attempt. Roman avoids the Tsunami but a Spear is caught and countered with a Liger-Bomb for two. Roman pops up to cut-off Reed’s climb to the top rope and brings him down with an avalanche Samoan drop. Spear finally connects and Roman gets the three-count at 22:05.

Heyman tries his best sucking up to his former Tribal Chief, but Roman with the guillotine choke to leave Heyman laying. The celebration is short-lived, as Bron Breakker spears Roman through the table while Roman is signing the shoes and throwing them to the crowd. Roman struggles to his feet, so Breakker comes back down the aisle and hits him with another spear! Reed does his best Braun Strowman tribute, throwing Roman back in the ring and coming off the top with a series of Tsunami, leaving Roman a broken mess that needs to be taken away on a stretcher. It’s nice of Jey Uso to make the save, but too little, too late, and now he’s the victim of the assault as well.

Main Event quality match to open the show, with them doing a great job putting over Reed’s strength canceling out Roman’s usual arsenal of spamming Superman punches and Spears, with Roman taking advantage of Reed’s mistakes to finally put the monster down. The post-match attack seems a bit too much of Raw being the heel territory right now, but if it means Roman comes back for a big clash with Bron, then that’s fine (also, after 4+ years of being untouchable, it’s nice to see Roman showing more ass than he’s shown in years, and this time to the desired reactions. ****

Adam Pearce is fuming hot and ejects Bron Breakker and Bronson Reed from the arena, so now Seth Rollins must face tonight’s challenge without his support team.

WWE Smackdown Tag Team Championship Match:
The Wyatt Sicks (c) vs. The Street Profits (w/ B-Fab):
There was a period where it seemed like the Smackdown Tag Team Division was getting extra attention, with DIY, The Motor City Machine Guns, Street Profits and others getting shine, only for all of them to be fed to the Wyatt Sicks after moving over from Monday Night Raw. It’s been a couple of months and I still don’t know if I’m supposed to cheer or boo the Sicks. Honestly, the same goes for the Street Profits. It feels like every week, they are presented differently. The Sicks have played mind games recently, getting in the heads of Dawkins and Ford and questioning how united they truly are.

Joe Gacy and Dexter Lumis are the title holders of record, with the remaining members of the Sicks at ringside for support. The Street Profits come out wearing Borderlands 4 inspired gear, so we know they’re jobbing. Ford and Dawkins don’t seem on the same page over who will start. Dawkins throws a flurry of strikes to Gacy and sends him to the corner with a shoulder block. Ford tags himself in to give it a go with Lumis. They give us the International, with Ford popping Lumis with a dropkick. Lumis gets chased with a clothesline and Gacy eats a double flapjack before making his exit. The numbers catch up to Ford, allowing the Sicks to take control. Ford tries fighting out of the corner, but Gacy cuts him off and slows it down with a chin-lock. Lumis with a slam and leg drop for two. Gacy and Lumis with another cut-off and a pair of elbows for two. Ford dumps Lumis to the floor and plants Gacy on the apron with a suplex.

Dawkins with the hot tag, hitting the Champions with a tope con hilo. Back inside, Dawkins with a pair of clotheslines and spinning elbow on Gacy, followed by a one-man flapjack to Lumis. Dawkins with the twisting neck breaker and Swanton Bomb to Gacy for two. The Sicks put a stop to the comeback, setting up the weakest, coldest “hot” tag to Ford I’ve seen in a long time. What was the point of cutting off Dawkins for all of 15-seconds? Ford’s trip to the top includes an unplanned stop to straddle the turnbuckle. Dawkins tags himself in for Ford to come off the top with the Doomsday Blockbuster, but Lumis saves. Dawkins with a spine-buster and Ford comes off the top, missing the frog splash. Gacy drops Lumis across Ford and we get the mistimed “break-up the pin with a move” spot. Things get out of control on the floor, with Rowan getting involved for a distraction. Ford wipes everyone out and taunts Dallas, who responds with a Sister Abigai (with help from Nikki holding the ankle from under the ring). Ford gets sent back in and the suplex/powerbomb combo (“THEY CALL IT THE PLAGUE”) finishes at 13:10. This was all over the place, with two teams that don’t seem well-defined, and a finishing sequence that got too cute. If Barrett, who usually leans pro-heel, is shaming the Wyatt Sicks, why are they the ones with the numbers and using it to their advantage? *½

WWE Women’s Intercontinental Championship Match:
Becky Lynch (c) vs. Nikki Bella:
Nikki’s return sure turned into just being another body on the roster, first sowing the seeds with Liv Morgan for a feud that was killed off due to Liv’s injury, being an afterthought for SummerSlam (which was around the time she went down with a displaced implant), and then the Evolution Battle Royal where she wasn’t a factor in the finish. Now she’s doing the same Total Divas era garbage cat-fight arguing with Becky Lynch, who is way too strong of a promo (on average) to be your only weapon.

Sounds like the crowd gives Nikki a less-positive reaction than you would imagine, but maybe I’m mishearing things. Nikki opens by peppering Becky with forearms but a Rack Attack attempt leads to Becky slipping out over the ropes for a powder. Becky avoids a baseball slide and takes Nikki on a tour of ringside, with stops at all the usual destinations. Back inside, Becky comes off the top with a leg drop for two. There’s pro-Becky chants as she gets the heat. I can’t tell if they mistimed something in the corner, but Becky followed it by whiffing a stomp by several feet. Nikki doesn’t appreciate being slapped around and throws more forearms that the crowd isn’t too fond of. Nikki fights out of a chin-lock (that’s she’s smiling for) but is laid out with a clothesline. Both women miss attacks in the corner and it’s time for the BOO/YAY sequence of trading strikes.

The fight spills to the floor, where Nikki slams Becky into the table like 20 times and it looks worse each time. Back in, NIKKI MISSES A DISASTER KICK THAT WAS SO BAD, WORDS AREN’T ENOUGH TO DESCRIBE IT. Becky keeps fighting out of the Rack Attack attempt, hitting Nikki with a final cut for a two-count. Wade’s constant “lack of ring sharpness” is his “bowling shoe ugly” line. Becky with a super-plex into the cross arm bar, but Nikki counters and hooks the “Fearless Lock.” SHOOT ME. Nikki rolls through the Disarm-Her and hits an electric chair drop. Man-Handle Slam is countered to ZERO reaction, but then the crowd boos loudly as Nikki applies the Fearless Lock again. We reach overbooked levels, as they fight on the floor with Nikki fighting off the Man-Handle Slam by ramming Becky’s head into the post a dozen times. Rack Attack fails again, so Nikki uses the Man-Handle Slam for a near-fall. Becky doesn’t bother selling Nikki’s poor attempt at the Disarm-Her and puts this Turkey away with the Lynch Pin at 13:07. This was as poor of a match as you’ll see from Becky Lynch, and yes, this is coming four weeks after the overbooked mess with Lyra at SummerSlam. Half the spots were poorly executed, the crowd doesn’t buy into Nikki as a babyface, and when you have the heel-leaning analyst trying to be apologetic to the babyface, you know the work isn’t smooth. Oh, and that Disaster Kick… Wow. ZERO STARS

Good Ol’ Fashioned Donnybrook Match:
Sheamus vs. Rusev:
It feels like these two have wrestled a ton on Monday Night Raw, including one week where they brawled through the show and across every inch of the arena, frustrating Adam Pearce to the point of needing to start drinking on the job. Rusev still feels like he’s out of place in 2025 WWE, but having hoss fights with Sheamus is a fine way to buy him time to find himself. Of course, if they are wrestling every other week, then that is less fun, and you wish they would finish up and move on to something else.

They trade blows immediately, taking the fight to the floor where we see a giant stack of barrels and Slim Jim sponsored tables. Rusev takes advantage of Sheamus arranging furniture, sending him into the post. Sheamus returns fire, taking Rusev over with a suplex and throwing him into the barricade. Sheamus grabs the shillelagh but Rusev cuts him off with a series of strikes from a Kendo stick and unloads with 10 beats of the bodhran. The turnbuckle cover is ripped off, but Sheamus counters and gives Rusev a receipt with the kendo stick. The amount of ridiculous ringside dressing is certainly a sight to see. Nothing screams BIG FIGHT FEEL like a bunch of left-over props. Rusev avoids a chair shot, hitting Sheamus with a spinning heel kick for a shameful one-count. Rusev punishes Sheamus with a series of blows with the chair before wedging it in the corner. Sheamus seems to get motivated by taking more abuse, fighting back to his feet and blasting Rusev across the face with a knee. Now it’s Sheamus executing his 10 beats of bodhran, and it’s always a good time getting crowd participation… Well, GOOD crowd participation.

They bring the fight to the floor again, where Sheamus is dumped over Ye Olde Hydration Station and the oversized Prime bottle (now in Strawberry Cream flavor!). Sheamus pops back up and it’s 10 MORE beats of the bodhran for Rusev! Rusev tries to escape through the crowd and gets the shillelagh across the chest. Back in the ring, Rusev counters White Noise, only to charge head-first into the chair he set up earlier. Sheamus with the Celtic Cross for a two-count. Rusev powders to avoid the Brogue Kick and nails Sheamus coming off the top with the Kendo stick. Rusev with a uranage through the bar (“that could be last call for Sheamus!”). Rusev rolls Sheamus back in the ring to apply the Accolade, but Sheamus’ FIGHTING SPIRIT meter is pulsating as he gets to his feet and slams Rusev across a pair of chairs. Sheamus decides they need to settle this on the stack of barrels and the plan backfires, with Rusev tripping him up and applying the Accolade on the barrels. They’re both on their feet and Sheamus takes Rusev off the barrels and through the tables with White Noise! Rusev manages to get his hands on the shillelagh but is leveled with a Brogue Kick for a near-fall. They trade bombs until Rusev breaks the shillelagh across Sheamus’ back for another near-fall. Rusev locks in the Accolade with the shillelagh assist and Sheamus is forced to tap out at 20:08. Watching two guys throwing everything they have at each other is always a good time, but I do wish they could have trimmed a few minutes considering the level of impact they brought on everything from the opening bell. This rivalry better lead to them being a team like Cesaro and Sheamus all those years ago. ***½

John Cena vs. Logan Paul:
It feels like forever ago when heel John Cena teamed with Logan Paul at Money in the Bank. Man, this Cena heel run ended up being a giant waste of time. They did the usual interaction leading to the challenge and here we are. I’m sure when SummerSlam ended, most assumed it would be Brock Lesnar in this spot before they pulled a PLE out of their butts for Indianapolis in the latter half of September.

The crowd actually sings along with Cena’s music. That felt random. Speaking of random, Cena is still getting his obnoxious heel introduction. Lockup and Paul grabs a side headlock. Cena counters and Paul goes to the ropes for the break. Paul gives up on the knuckle-lock by stomping the foot of Cena and pounding away at the midsection. Paul’s cockiness and playing to the crowd backfires, leaving the door open for Cena on several occasions. Paul brings up a boot in the corner and hits the Blockbuster and delayed vertical suplex for a pair of two-counts. The crowd rallies behind Cena as he fights out of a chin-lock, only to get cut off with a gut-wrench suplex. Paul with a “Cesaro-like” running uppercut. They’re pacing to go long, aren’t they? Paul goes to the well once too many times and Cena counters with a clothesline. Cena comes off the ropes with the shoulder tackles, followed by a back suplex and five-knuckle shuffle. Paul escapes to the apron to avoid the Attitude Adjustment and hits the Buckshot Lariat for two. Cena brings up the knees on the Frog Splash and hits the AA for a two-count. Paul escapes another AA and traps Cena in the Octopus. Cena with the escape and STF applied, but Paul scrambles for the ropes. This time it’s Paul meeting the boots in the corner and Cena with a Tornado DDT for two. AA countered with the OverBomb for two.

Paul interrupts the 5-Moves of Doom, hitting the Zig Zag for a two-count. Cena counters the Lariat with a weak flatliner for two. “Rarely are you going to catch Cena with the same move twice.” Yeah, let’s ask Punk and Cody about that recently. Paul with a Swanton Bomb and standing moonsault for two. This went from “wow, they are doing something different” to a typical Cena match now, trading falls on random big moves. Cesaro-like pop-up uppercut from Paul for two. Guys, if you want Claudio back, just send him a feeler for when his contract is up. Paul starts doing Cena’s 5-Moves of Doom, again wasting time “peacocking”. Cena pops up and hits the AA for two. Hurricanrana and Code Red from Cena for two. Paul escapes another AA and the right hand of doom lands for a near-fall. Is either man PIN ELIGIBLE? Who knows at this point. Paul From Grace (Frog Splash) and an encore gets two. Cena rolls through an AA attempt and hits the STYLES CLASH for two. “Both men ran out of moves a long time ago.” Cena rolls through the flying body press and hits a pair of AA’s for the three-count at 26:20. This felt carefully constructed and well paced, but then it turned into the typical Cena match of trading power grapple moves like it’s a Fire Pro game, and overstayed its welcome (a complaint I can issue for most matches on a given PLE). **½

WWE World Heavyweight Championship Match:
Seth Rollins (c) vs. C.M. Punk vs. Jey Uso vs. L.A. Knight:
Final match of the card. Rollins “shocked the world” (a.k.a. no one) at SummerSlam when he revealed his injury suffered at Saturday Night’s Main Event was a ruse and stole the Championship from C.M. Punk. L.A. Knight has staked a claim at the title, being the man who defeated Rollins at that aforementioned Saturday Night’s Main Event, and hey, Jey Uso isn’t busy, let’s throw a THIRD babyface into the pot and see how we can kill them all for the sake of building up Seth Rollins as the top heel. Again.

Jey looks like he’s borrowed gear from Angelo Dawkins. Punk sends him to the canvas with a Super-Kick as payback for what happened on Raw. Seth powders and Knight tries to roll up Punk. Um… Seth, that doesn’t seem wise when you can lose the title without being pinned. Knight puts the YEAH-boots to Punk in the corner until Rollins, THE ULTIMATE OPPORTUNIST, interrupts. Jey is back up, sending Rollins out of the ring, only to get laid out AGAIN by Punk. Rollins pulls Punk out of the ring and throws him over the barricade. Rollins hits the crappiest knee strike in the corner to mock Punk (shots fired?) and here’s Knight to form a short-term alliance with Jey. Seth is the last man standing with the other three compromised, and he’s not afraid to tell everyone he can do this alone. All three challengers are back on their feet and gang up on Seth until they fight among themselves for the honors. Calm heads prevail and we get more 3-on-1 assault on the Champion. They set up a table and WHOOPS, Jey betrays Punk.

The fight spills into the crowd and luckily Punk doesn’t shatter his ankle diving into the pile. Back in the ring, Punk runs wild on Rollins with a clothesline and swinging neck breaker. He calls for the GTS, but Jey saves, knocking Punk silly with a step-up enzuigiri. Rollins with the Pedigree on Punk for two. We’re still doing the Buckle Bomb in 2025, eh? Seth shows off his Dinner Theater acting abilities to taunt Knight. Now it’s Knight’s time to shine, laying out all the other competitors. We get a babyface Tower of Doom with Punk being the beneficiary. Rollins blocks Punk’s attempt for a Russian leg sweep. They both tease a big bomb until Knight gently knocks Punk off the apron, cracking the Slim Jim Table. Knight avoids the Stomp and hits BFT but Jey makes the save.

Jey and Knight do the Boo/YEET strike exchange spot. Knight dumps Jey and hits a wrecking ball dropkick. That poor table is getting abused again. Didn’t we get that enough from Becky and Nikki?! Seth gets laid across the table, but a flying elbow from Knight is a misfire. Punk and Knight are incapacitated, leaving the door open for Jey to make a bid for the gold. They trade Super Kicks and Jey dives straight into a Pedigree for a two-count. Jey has the Phoenix Splash well scouted and hits the Spear on the second go. Uso Splash connects but Punk breaks the pin with the Macho Man Elbow. GTS to Jey and Seth breaks THAT cover with the Curb Stomp, covering Punk for a near-fall. MORE DINNER THEATER ROLLINS. Seth fetches a chair and stomps Jey and Knight along the way. Punk avoids the chair assisted stomp and hits GTS! Punk has Seth in position for it again, but WHAT’S THIS? A MASKED FIGURE LOW BLOWS PUNK FROM BEHIND… IT’S BECKY LYNCH! Rollins with the Curb Stomp onto the chair and Punk is done at 24:30. About damn time they put Becky Lynch with Rollins and the rest of his group of goons. Your typical 4-Way with everyone getting their shine, taking a nap, and some overbooked nonsense at the end to try and make people buy into Seth Rollins as the #1 heel in the company. The work was fine and they told their usual lazy story of these matches where the heel fights from underneath by revealing a new ally. It should have been Karrion Kross, but that’s an argument for another day. ***½

Final Thoughts: We opened strong with Roman/Reed and then things took a nosedive to hell for a little bit with the pointless mess of a Tag Team Title Match followed by one hell of a train wreck for the Women’s Intercontinental Title. Sheamus/Rusev brought us back (though it went too long), then Cena/Paul went into overdrive and REALLY went long before we wrapped up with an answer to “how is Seth Rollins going to get out of here with the title?”. With the replay on Peacock running 3h 35m, that is WAAAAAAY too long for a 6-match card, not to mention several of the matches being needlessly long (one more than the other), and I should point out the replays don’t include video packages, so live, this was almost 4 hours. There must be a better solution to tighten up these shows so there’s less filler. ANYWAY, for the final PLE of the Peacock era, this was a fine show, a couple of matches worth checking out, but nothing groundbreaking.