| Clash of Champions | |||
|---|---|---|---|
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| Promotion | WWE | ||
| Brand(s) | Raw SmackDown | ||
| Date | September 27, 2020 | ||
| City | Orlando, Florida | ||
| Venue | WWE ThunderDome at Amway Center | ||
| Attendance | 0 (behind closed doors)[Note 1] | ||
| Tagline(s) | Gold Rush[1] | ||
| WWE Network event chronology | |||
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| Clash of Champions chronology | |||
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The 2020 Clash of Champions (marketed as Clash of Champions: Gold Rush) was the fourth and final Clash of Champions professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) and livestreaming event produced by WWE. It was held for wrestlers from the promotion's Raw and SmackDown brand divisions. The event took place on September 27, 2020, from the WWE ThunderDome, hosted at the Amway Center in Orlando, Florida. An event was planned for 2021, but its September date was instead given to Extreme Rules. As per the theme of the event, all championships available to the Raw and SmackDown brands at the time were defended with the exception of the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship, which was originally scheduled to be defended; however, the match was canceled as the champions were not medically cleared to compete.
The event was originally scheduled to be held on September 20, 2020, at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, but Governor Phil Murphy canceled all large public gatherings of more than 50 people due to the COVID-19 pandemic. With WWE's ThunderDome residency at the Amway Center that began in late August, Clash of Champions was subsequently relocated to this venue and pushed back to September 27.
Eight matches were contested at the event, including one on the Kickoff pre-show. In the main event, Roman Reigns defeated Jey Uso by technical knockout to retain SmackDown's Universal Championship. In the penultimate match, Drew McIntyre defeated Randy Orton in an ambulance match to retain Raw's WWE Championship. In other prominent matches, Bobby Lashley defeated Apollo Crews to retain Raw's United States Championship, and in the opening bout, Sami Zayn defeated AJ Styles and defending champion Jeff Hardy in a triple threat ladder match to become SmackDown's undisputed Intercontinental Champion.
The event received positive reviews from critics, praising both the triple threat Intercontinental Championship ladder match and the Universal Championship main event.
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- ^ Johnson, Mike (September 4, 2020). "Second WWE Clash of Champions Main Event Is..." PWInsider. Archived from the original on September 27, 2020. Retrieved September 8, 2020.