The WWE Clash of Champions takes place Sunday at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. Clash of Champions will be the first WWE pay-per-view event exclusive to the Raw brand since the WWE brand separation draft on July 19, and every championship on Monday Night Raw will be on the line.
Clash of Champions will be the sixth WWE pay-per-view event to take place in Indianapolis, and the fourth to be held at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. The last pay-per-event held in Indianapolis was Survivor Series 2012 -- the night The Shield made their debut.
This is the first instance of a pay-per-view of any kind by this name since August 1997 in WCW. There are a lot of stats to dig into between the champions and challengers competing Sunday night and the event's history, and that provides us the perfect opportunity to break things down by the numbers.
(c) -- indicates defending champion
WWE Universal Championship: Kevin Owens (c) vs. Seth Rollins
Clash of Champions will be the first one-on-one match between Kevin Owens and Seth Rollins since they met in Ring of Honor in 2010 (as Kevin Steen and Tyler Black).
This match will be the first time that the WWE Universal Championship has been defended. After Finn Bálor became the inaugural champion at SummerSlam in August, he was forced to vacate the title one night later due to injury.
Owens won the WWE Universal Championship just 15 months after making his WWE in-ring debut (Elimination Chamber on May 31, 2015). Owens is the third former NXT champion to go on to win a WWE world title. The other two are Rollins and Bálor.
Clash of Champions will be Owens' 10th pay-per-view match of 2016 -- second-most in WWE (Dean Ambrose has had 11). However, Owens is just 1-4 in pay-per-view title matches this year -- tied for the second-most such losses in WWE (Dolph Ziggler has five).
Rollins looks to become the first WWE superstar to win both the WWE World Championship and WWE Universal Championship. A win over Owens would also continue the recent trend of short-lived world title reigns; prior to Owens' and AJ Styles' current championship runs, each of the last eight world title reigns have lasted less than 100 days. In fact, the last WWE superstar to hold a world title for more than 100 days was Rollins, whose 220-day reign as WWE world champion was cut short due to a knee injury.
This will be Rollins' 15th consecutive pay-per-view match that has been for a championship. His last nontitle pay-per-view match came at WrestleMania 31, when he lost to Randy Orton.
Rollins has lost his last three pay-per-view matches, tied for the longest losing streak of his career. His last win came at Money in the Bank when he defeated Roman Reigns for the WWE World Championship, right before Ambrose cashed in his Money in the Bank briefcase and defeated Rollins for his newly won title.
WWE United States Championship: Rusev (c) vs. Roman Reigns
The United States Championship was defended 12 times at Clash of the Champions events in NWA and WCW. The title changed hands just three times:
Rick Rude defeated Sting for the United States Championship at Clash of the Champions XVII in 1991.
Ricky Steamboat defeated Steve Austin for the title at Clash of the Champions XXVIII in 1994.
Former Chicago Bear Steve McMichael won the title from Jeff Jarrett at Clash of the Champions XXXV in 1997 -- the final Clash of the Champions event in WCW.
This match features the winner and runner-up of the 2015 Royal Rumble match (Reigns last eliminated Rusev to win).
Clash of Champions will be Rusev's 10th televised title defense since winning the United States Championship at Extreme Rules in May. On Sunday, Rusev will have been champion for 126 days -- the longest reign since John Cena held the title for 147 days in 2015.
Rusev won his last four pay-per-view matches -- the last three by submission in under 10 minutes. His last pay-per-view loss was in the Royal Rumble match in January.
Reigns was recently named the No. 1 wrestler in the world in Pro Wrestling Illustrated's annual PWI 500. Clash of Champions will be Roman Reigns' first career televised United States Championship match.
This will be Reigns' 40th pay-per-view match since 2013. Reigns and his former Shield partners (Rollins and Ambrose) have been featured more on WWE pay-per-view events in the last four years than any other WWE superstar.
Raw Women's Championship: Charlotte (c) vs. Sasha Banks vs. Bayley
While Charlotte, Sasha Banks and Bayley have faced off numerous times in one-on-one and tag team matches in both WWE and NXT, along with a Fatal 4-Way in NXT that also included SmackDown women's champion Becky Lynch, these three women have never met in a triple-threat match.
Clash of Champions will be Charlotte's first title defense since winning back the Raw Women's Championship from Banks at SummerSlam.
Charlotte is 12-0 all time in singles matches at WWE pay-per-view events, the longest unbeaten streak in such matches to begin a career in WWE history.
Charlotte is 11-0 all time in pay-per-view title matches. Eight of those victories came via submission with the figure-eight leg lock. Charlotte is 8-1 overall in pay-per-view matches in 2016, including her victory at the WWE Network special Roadblock. That is the most such wins in the WWE, male or female.
Banks is one of three women who have won both the NXT Women's Championship and the top WWE Women's Championship. Charlotte and Paige (who won the Divas championship) are the others.
Banks is seeking her third pay-per-view victory of the year, which would tie Natalya for second-most among WWE women. Each of Banks' two wins came in tag team matches; she's 0-2 in singles pay-per-view matches in 2016.
This will be Bayley's first shot at the WWE women's championship. She did have a WWE Divas Championship match during her time in NXT; she lost that match to AJ Lee on July 11, 2013.
Clash of Champions will be Bayley's second WWE pay-per-view match. At Battleground on July 24, she was Banks' surprise tag team partner and they defeated Charlotte and Dana Brooke.
Raw Tag Team Championship: The New Day (c) vs. Gallows & Anderson
WWE tag team titles have changed hands three times in the state of Indiana, including two instances in Indianapolis.
On Aug. 28, 1994, Diesel and Shawn Michaels defeated The Headshrinkers at an untelevised event in Indianapolis.
On May 26, 1997, Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels defeated The British Bulldog and Owen Hart on Monday Night Raw in Evansville.
On Nov. 15, 2004, Eugene and William Regal won a triple-threat elimination match on Monday Night Raw at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis -- the site of Sunday's Clash of Champions event.
At Clash of Champions, The New Day will have been WWE tag team champions for 399 days -- the second-longest tag title reign in WWE history and the longest reign since the current tag titles were introduced in 2002. Only Demolition (Ax and Smash) have held a tag team championship longer.
Clash of Champions will be the 16th pay-per-view title match since the start of 2015 for both Big E and Kofi Kingston. Only Rollins (17, including his match on Sunday) has more such matches during that span.
Clash of Champions will be The Club's third opportunity at the Raw tag team championships. Most recently, they defeated The New Day at SummerSlam by disqualification (titles cannot change hands via DQ or count-out).
During their time with New Japan Pro Wrestling, Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson won the IWGP heavyweight tag team championships on three different occasions. They are looking to become the third tag team in history to win both the IWGP and WWE tag team titles (joining the Steiner Brothers and Dudley Boyz).
WWE Cruiserweight Championship: TJ Perkins (c) vs. Brian Kendrick
This will be the first Cruiserweight Championship match in WWE in over nine years. The title was retired in 2007, with Hornswoggle the last to hold the title in that lineage. The championship was reintroduced on Sept. 14 at the conclusion of the first-ever WWE Cruiserweight Classic tournament; it stands as a brand-new title with a new lineage.
TJ Perkins was the winner of the WWE Cruiserweight Classic, a 32-man tournament featuring superstars from around the world. After winning the final against Gran Metalik on Sept. 14, Perkins was awarded the WWE Cruiserweight Championship. Clash of Champions will be Perkins' first televised appearance and match on the WWE main roster.
Brian Kendrick also competed in the Cruiserweight Classic, losing in the quarterfinals to Kota Ibushi. The tournament was his first appearance in WWE since July 27, 2009.
Clash of Champions will be Kendrick's 13th career WWE pay-per-view match and first since the 2009 Royal Rumble match. It will be his first career one-on-one match at a WWE pay-per-view. This will not be Kendrick's first Cruiserweight Championship match at a pay-per-view event, however; at No Way Out in 2006, he competed in a nine-man match for the title, ultimately won by The Hurricane.
Match 7 of Best-of-7 Series: Sheamus vs. Cesaro
This will be the final match of a best-of-seven series between Sheamus and Cesaro, with the winner promised a future championship opportunity. Sheamus jumped out to a 3-0 series lead, but Cesaro tied the series with three consecutive wins.
Clash of Champions will be the fourth pay-per-view event where Sheamus and Cesaro have met one-on-one. Sheamus won each of the previous three meetings.
Cesaro has not won a pay-per-view match since returning from a shoulder injury the night after WrestleMania 32 (0-4) -- including the loss to Sheamus during the SummerSlam pre-show.
Chris Jericho vs. Sami Zayn
Clash of Champions will be the fourth one-on-one meeting between Chris Jericho and Sami Zayn, but the first to take place at a pay-per-view event. Jericho won two of the first three meetings, but Zayn won the most recent bout on the July 5 episode of SmackDown.
Jericho and Zayn have shared the ring twice at pay-per-view events. They both participated in the 2016 Royal Rumble match and the 2016 Money in the Bank match.
Jericho is the only WWE superstar on the card who competed at a WCW Clash of the Champions event. On Jan. 21, 1997, Jericho teamed with Super Calo and Chavo Guerrero to defeat Konnan, La Parka and Mr. JL in a six-man tag team match. Also, on Aug. 21, 1997, at the final Clash of the Champions event held in WCW, Jericho defeated Eddie Guerrero to retain the WCW Cruiserweight Championship.
Jericho is looking for his fourth pay-per-view victory of 2016 (including his win at the WWE Network special Roadblock). That would be his most such wins in a calendar year since 2009, when he won nine times.
Jericho has lost each of his last three non-tag team pay-per-view matches, including the Money in the Bank ladder match that Zayn was also a part of. Jericho's last pay-per-view singles victory came at WrestleMania 32 against Styles.
After losing each of his first five WWE pay-per-view matches, Zayn has won each of his last two such bouts. Zayn defeated longtime rival Owens at Battleground in July, and then teamed with Neville to defeat the Dudley Boyz at SummerSlam in August. This will be Zayn's first one-on-one pay-per-view match against an opponent other than Owens.