Clash in Paris 2025: France Makes a Good Show Feel Like a Bigger One

Roman Reigns and Bronson Reed begin with a useful problem: nobody in Paris wants to boo anything Roman Reigns does, and Bronson Reed has to find a way to become more than the large man delaying the celebration. He gets there through attrition. Reed cuts off Reigns' early power attempts, throws his weight into simple offense and gradually makes the match about whether Reigns can survive long enough to create one opening.

The match is too long. Twenty-two minutes asks Reed's control work to sustain more tension than it naturally has, and several nearfalls arrive after the basic story has already been understood. But the closing stretch is good: Reed's counters make his size feel dangerous, the avalanche Samoan drop looks enormous, and Reigns finally hits the spear for a clean win.

Cagematch currently sits at 6.54, Meltzer went 3.5 stars, CBS Sports gave it B+, and 411Mania also went 3.5. WrestleFile lands at B+ / 8.0. The post-match attack by Bron Breakker and Reed is more memorable than the middle ten minutes, which is both praise for the angle and a clue about the match.

The Street Profits and Wyatt Sicks wrestle a competent tag match in the least enviable slot on the card: immediately after Roman Reigns and before a crowd that is waiting for bigger attractions. Montez Ford remains the easiest source of acceleration. Joe Gacy and Dexter Lumis work with more pace than the Wyatt presentation suggests, and the match improves whenever it stops trying to manufacture Street Profits tension and simply lets four capable wrestlers trade offense.

The finish hurts it. Uncle Howdy delivers Sister Abigail at ringside while the referee is occupied, allowing Lumis and Gacy to retain. It is coherent with the faction, but another interference finish makes the tag division feel less like competition than an extension of the Wyatt mythology.

Cagematch rates it 5.76, Meltzer 2.75 stars and 411Mania 3 stars. C-plus / 6.6 is fair: perfectly watchable wrestling with little reason to revisit it once the result is known.

Becky Lynch versus Nikki Bella is the night's clearest failure, and the Paris crowd cannot decide whether to rescue it or prosecute it. The intended alignment collapses as the audience gravitates toward Lynch, while Bella's offense repeatedly looks a fraction late or a fraction light. A few ideas are sound - Bella borrowing Lynch's Manhandle Slam, Lynch surviving the submission attempts, the veteran champion winning with a sudden backslide - but the connective tissue is rough.

This is not disastrous in the sense of being dangerous or incoherent. It is simply a thirteen-minute championship match that looks under-rehearsed next to the polished WWE standard around it. The crowd booing Bella's offense is not productive heat; it is feedback.

Cagematch currently has it at 3.94, Meltzer gave it 2 stars, 411Mania 1.5 and TJR 2.75. WrestleFile goes D / 4.5. The match has enough structure to avoid an F, but not enough execution to deserve C territory.

Rusev and Sheamus understand the assignment because neither man treats the props as the point. The point is that two stubborn veterans hate losing arguments. The kendo sticks, shillelaghs, chairs, barrels and tables are merely the vocabulary available to them.

The match escalates properly. Early strikes become weapon shots; weapon shots become furniture; furniture becomes the White Noise from the barrels through two tables. Then they return to the ring and finish with wrestling rather than a scavenger hunt. Sheamus' Brogue Kick nearfall feels enormous, Rusev's response feels mean, and the Accolade with a shillelagh forced into Sheamus' mouth gives the submission a visual worth remembering.

Cagematch rates it 8.27, the highest matchguide score on the card. Meltzer went 4.25 stars, 411Mania 4.5 and TJR 4. Pro Wrestling Dot Net readers also voted it the best match of the event. A / 9.2 rewards a violent match with actual architecture. The sponsorship dressing occasionally makes the battlefield look like an Irish pub was assembled by a marketing department, but the wrestlers make it work.

John Cena versus Logan Paul is better than the premise needs it to be. There is no title, no celebrity entourage and no complicated stipulation. The appeal is simpler: Cena is nearing retirement, Paul is absurdly athletic, and a French crowd treats every Cena comeback as though parliament has just approved a national holiday.

The first half is patient, sometimes excessively so, but the final stretch justifies the investment. Paul gets to wrestle rather than perform a stunt reel. Cena, meanwhile, turns the match into a small tour through wrestling memory, using or referencing offense associated with Christopher Daniels, Baron Corbin and AJ Styles before returning to the Attitude Adjustment. Those choices make the farewell setting feel intentional instead of decorative.

Meltzer gave it 4.5 stars, Cagematch sits at 7.50, CBS Sports graded it B+, Bleacher Report B, and TJR called it the best match of the show. WrestleFile goes A / 9.0. It is a shade below Rusev-Sheamus because the early pacing asks for patience and some of Paul's offense still arrives with visible choreography, but the finishing run is excellent.

The four-way main event has enough stars, enough finishers and enough Paris to remain entertaining, but it never becomes the collision its names suggest. The opening alliance against Seth Rollins dissolves quickly, the match settles into rotating pairs, and too much of the structure feels like four singles programs sharing a ring rather than four men creating one escalating contest.

There is still plenty to like. Jey Uso's late run is hot, CM Punk and Rollins have immediate chemistry, and the chair-assisted closing sequence creates a believable opening for Punk to win. Then Becky Lynch arrives in a hoodie, hits Punk low and allows Rollins to stomp him onto the chair. On the night, it is another interference finish for a champion who rarely seems short of accomplices. In hindsight, it is also the spark that brings AJ Lee back to WWE days later.

The critical record is split. Meltzer went 4.25 stars, Cagematch 7.10, TJR called it very good, while 411Mania gave only 3 stars and WhatCulture argued that it flattered to deceive. B-plus / 8.0 captures that tension. Good action, major consequence, excellent crowd - but not a great four-way.