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Drew McIntyre Beats Randy Orton to Retain WWE Title at Clash of Champions 2020

Mike Chiari@mikechiariX.com LogoFeatured ColumnistSeptember 28, 2020

Photo credit: WWE.com.

Drew McIntyre defeated Randy Orton in an Ambulance match at Clash of Champions on Sunday to retain the WWE Championship.

The Viper appeared to be on his way to victory until initial interference from Big Show stopped him in his tracks. Another former victim of The Legend Killer, Christian, also made his presence felt.

However, Orton saw off those challenges and had McIntyre on the verge of being placed inside the ambulance, but the Scot prevented the doors from being closed and hit his opponent with a Claymore Kick.

The titleholder then added a punt kick before slamming the doors of the ambulance shut. The camera then switched to the driver of the vehicle, who turned out to be Ric Flair, another past victim of The Legend Killer.

WWE @WWE

LAST. CHAMP. STANDING. @DMcIntyreWWE shuts the door on @RandyOrton to retain the #WWEChampionship! #AmbulanceMatch #WWEClash https://t.co/ranz3HfcYg

Sunday's bout was a highly anticipated rematch, after McIntyre and Orton met at SummerSlam on August 23. The Scot won that match by surprising The Viper with a backslide, so the finish wasn't necessarily a decisive one.

He bragged about beating Orton with a wrestling move on the following night's Raw, but he acknowledged that The Viper deserved a rematch and said he would give him one. Orton made it clear that he didn't appreciate his charity, though.

As a result, Orton laid McIntyre out with a punt. He then proceeded to punt him twice more that night, which landed McIntyre on the shelf with a fractured jaw.

The Scot missed Payback on August 30 due to the injury, which left Orton to face Keith Lee. But he shockingly lost clean to the Raw newcomer in short order, which could have put his title shot in jeopardy, but he managed to rebound the next night on Raw.

Orton qualified for a Triple Threat match that also included Lee and Seth Rollins, with the winner going on to face McIntyre for the title at Clash of Champions.

Lee laid The Monday Night Messiah out with his finisher, but Orton hit The Limitless One with an RKO out of nowhere and pinned Rollins to become No. 1 contender again.

On the next episode of Raw, Orton cut a promo in which he taunted McIntyre and said WWE should hand him the title if the Scot was unable to compete at Clash of Champions. Just as he said that, McIntyre arrived in an ambulance.

He stormed out and got some revenge for what Orton did to him a couple of weeks prior by hitting him with a Claymore Kick. McIntyre wasn't done there, though, as he hit his rival with two more Claymores in order to match the three punts he absorbed.

The two men entered Clash of Champions on fairly equal footing, and it was essentially a pick'em matchup since they are currently the top two stars on Raw.

McIntyre retaining seemingly suggests WWE is committed to giving him a lengthy title run, and the company must now put in the work needed to rebuild Orton now that he has failed in consecutive attempts to secure the WWE title.

           

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