WWE Clash in Paris preview & predictions: The final Peacock PLE

WWE presents Clash in Paris Sunday (2 PM Eastern start time with a noon pre-show start) in what will be the final main roster premium live event on Peacock as the promotion moves its PLE content to ESPN beginning next month.

According to this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter, nearly 30,000 tickets have been distributed. If the crowd is anything like 2024’s Backlash in France, it should be a fun atmosphere. That’s good, because the crowd could end up being the most noteworthy part of this show.

With WWE continuing to run Saturday Night’s Main Event specials on Peacock, Clash in Paris isn’t a complete lame duck show, but WWE’s priority is next month’s Wrestlepalooza on ESPN.

Clash in Paris won’t be a PLE-level noteworthy event, but there should still be some fun matches. Below are preview, predictions, and betting odds for each:

John Cena vs. Logan Paul

Babyface Cena is a -700 favorite.

I’d actually give him much higher odds considering they are building toward Cena vs. Brock Lesnar for the September 20th show. I’d go as much as -1500 and am genuinely surprised his odds aren’t closer to Roman Reigns’ chances against Bronson Reed.

Perhaps the reason Cena is not as heavy a betting favorite as others on the card is the possibility of Lesnar interfering and costing him the match. But even in that situation, beating Cena before the Lesnar match would be a pretty strange call.

Cena will win clean, but the real question is whether Lesnar shows up. That might depend entirely on whether Lesnar personally feels like flying all the way to Paris.

Prediction: John Cena

WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins defends against CM Punk, LA Knight and Jey Uso in a four-way

Rollins is a -3000 favorite to retain and barring a mid-match injury (a legitimate one this time), he absolutely will.

This is definitely a lame duck World Heavyweight Championship match. With it being a four-way, you can have Rollins retain and keep everyone relatively strong in the process. A harder question is who will take the pin. One of your top three babyfaces is going to do it, but it can be after multiple finishers, chicanery, and the like.

Knight has the next highest odds at +600, but he isn’t getting his first World title win here. Punk has +900 odds (but that’s not happening either) and Uso is at +1000.

Rollins will win via dirty underhanded bad guy tactics and then will laugh maniacally about it.

Prediction: Seth Rollins retains

Roman Reigns vs. Bronson Reed

The Tribal Chief is a -1500 favorite to defeat The Tribal Thief and the owner of the shoe-la-fala in Reed.

Wrestlers stealing the shoes off other wrestlers could become more prevalent moving forward. I don’t know that there is any type of sponsorship deal between Nike and WWE regarding the Jordan-brand sneakers Reed now wears around his neck, but I’m sure Nick Khan is working on it.

This will be Reigns’ first singles match since the January Raw Netflix debut when he defeated Solo Sikoa. It feels like he could use a few wins. He’ll win this one but I think this feud continues after, especially if Khan does get a Nike deal done in time.

Prediction: Roman Reigns

WWE Women’s Intercontinental Champion Becky Lynch defends against Nikki Bella

Lynch is a -1500 favorite to retain and that seems about right.

There is one factor regarding her title reign that at least creates some room to believe Bella could win. Season two of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy is set to start filming soon and while there’s been no announcement that Lynch is returning, she did say in an interview that she expects to be part of the cast. That would mean her schedule could become limited in the near future.

And if Lynch gets over in the Star Trek universe (or one of its many parallel dimensions), The Man probably won’t be coming around as often for much longer.

I just can’t see her dropping the belt to Bella even if that is the case, though as they’ll find someone else for her to drop it to on Raw.

Prediction: Becky Lynch retains

Rusev vs. Sheamus in a Good Ol’ Donnybrook match

Rusev is a -300 favorite to beat his former League of Nations stablemate.

With this being his first feud since returning in April, I think Rusev needs to win what I’m assuming is the blowoff match on Sunday. They’ve exchanged wins and had a double countout on Raw, so Paris will likely to decide the winner of the program.

Sheamus losing won’t hurt him as much as it would hurt Rusev to lose his first big PLE match back. It really depends on where on the card WWE plans to use the former Miro moving forward. They might not have that figured out yet.

Prediction: Rusev

WWE Tag Team Champions The Wyatt Sicks defend against The Street Profits

With the Street Profits just having qualified for a title shot on Friday, betting odds aren’t yet available for this match, but I’m expecting the Wyatt Sicks to retain.

There have been a lot of title changes in this division lately, and the titles being held by the group that doesn’t wrestle much feels like the format they’re going to stick with for now. Also, The Wyatts have an attraction at Universal Studios debuting this weekend as part of its annual Halloween-themed season. I’m not saying that’s a reason WWE wouldn’t have them drop the titles, but these days it’s all about keeping the sponsors happy. Maybe someone will go through a Slim Jim table.

Prediction: The Wyatts retain

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