WWE Clash of Champions 2017: Biggest Missed Opportunities with Show's Booking

WWE Clash of Champions may have been a pay-per-view that exceeded expectations and delivered three hours of quality entertainment Sunday night, but it was not without missed opportunities on the booking front.

A Superstar once trusted with guiding the SmackDown ship, its champion and face of global expansion, was done a great disservice and may have had his future near the top of the card extinguished for good.

Then there was a former Olympian who delivered a superb performance but was beaten and had any shred of credibility with fans erased for reasons that still do not make sense.

A rivalry months in the making was relegated to the Kickoff Show, and arguably the hottest act on all of SmackDown missed out on championship gold to round out the booking missteps from the final pay-per-view extravaganza of 2017.

Zack Ryder vs. Mojo Rawley on the Main Show

One of the biggest missed opportunities of the entire night was relegating Zack Ryder vs. Mojo Rawley to the Clash of Champions Kickoff Show rather than allowing those Superstars to tell their story on the actual pay-per-view broadcast.

Neither man is necessarily a priority for WWE Creative, but the Superstars themselves had done a phenomenal job of building their story through social media and the limited television time allotted to them that they should have had the opportunity to showcase the final chapter of their story under the bright lights.

Instead, they wrestled a solid match on the pre-show, where Rawley scored the win and advanced beyond Ryder to whatever it is the writing team will have him doing next.

Still, one cannot help but think Rawley would have been better served by winning a more meaningful pay-per-view match than having the stink of the Kickoff Show cloud what was to be the defining win of his career to this point.

Protecting Chad Gable

Credit: WWE.com

Outside of the red-hot Rusev and Aiden English tag team (more on them in a minute), there was no other element of the SmackDown Tag Team Championship match at Sunday's show that shined brighter or left a greater impression on the bout than Chad Gable.

Seizing a rare pay-per-view opportunity in 2017, Gable exploded late in the bout, unloading a series of Chaos Theory rolling German suplexes on Rusev, English and Big E to a big ovation.

The impressive display of strength, stamina and overall athleticism was proof positive that in the biggest moments, Gable is a prime-time player.

Unfortunately, that strong of a performance was not supported by WWE Creative, who booked him to take straight superkicks to the face and the flying splash to end the match.

Protecting Gable should have been a priority for WWE Creative, especially considering the fact that he and partner Shelton Benjamin are fresh faces to challenge for the title and Kofi Kingston easily could have eaten the pin and lost zero heat as a result.

Crowning Rusev Day

Credit: WWE.com

The Usos have been the top tag team in WWE this year, routinely producing show-stealing matches against The New Day on four straight pay-per-views earlier this summer and fall.

Sometimes, though, one must strike while the proverbial iron is hot, and for Rusev and Aiden English, that iron was never hotter than it was Sunday night at Clash of Champions. The fans in Boston erupted for them and legitimately wanted to see them win the SmackDown Tag Team Championships in the second match of the night.

Instead, they were sacrificed, losing the Fatal 4-Way match without actually taking the fall.

There will be those who insist they were protected enough to ensure they remain over, but fans really wanted to see their efforts to get over with audiences rewarded with a championship reign.

Rebuilding Jinder Mahal's Heat

The moment Jinder Mahal lost the WWE Championship to AJ Styles in England, his credibility took a major shot. Suddenly out of a scheduled main event match against Brock Lesnar, he was cast aside, an afterthought of sorts as Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn became legitimate main event heels on the blue brand.

He desperately needed a performance that was different than all others to date. He needed to work with Styles to deliver a show-stealer and, at the same time, rebuild heat that was extinguished by his title loss in November.

That did not happen.

Like every other Mahal match, The Singh Brothers attempted to get involved and got their asses handed to them. He cheated and still could not win. To top it off, he tapped out to the Calf Crusher and saw any shot he had of maintaining main event momentum evaporate.

He now limps into SmackDown Live on December 20 uncertain of what role he plays in the grand scheme of things while Styles moves on to whomever his next challenger figures to be.