Cody Rhodes Says WWE Clash Premium Live Events Are ‘Sneaking Up’ On WWE’s Big Four Shows

WWE

Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes has stated that he believes the annual Clash premium live event is now sneaking up on WWE’s Big Four.

WWE Clash In Italy will mark the company’s first PLE in the country, with the event set to emanate from the Inalpi Arena in Turin, Italy.

Speaking on ESPN Unsportsmanlike, Cody Rhodes noted that he could see Clash sneaking up to join WWE’s Big Four; Royal Rumble, WrestleMania, SummerSlam and Survivor Series.

Commenting on the friendly competition between European crowds, Rhodes said:

“I think right now, one of the things we’re seeing with the international crowds, Nick Khan has been so good at identifying this in the different markets, they’re almost competing with each other in a fun way, in a sense of, ‘Lyon, France is the loudest crowd ever in WWE history, we’re going to be even louder.’

“The German crowd always fills the arenas but they’re a little bit more subdued in the noise, the acoustics, even they have decided ‘No, we’re getting in on being the loudest crowd.’ That’s really the challenge that we present to them.

“One of the fun things here is all of these shows going overseas, this European tour, we did live events pre- a big Clash In Italy on ESPN PLE, and every time I told them at the end of the night, ‘Hey, if you guys make enough noise, we’ll be back.’ I’m really glad I’ve never been made a liar.

“To be able to go back and do Clash In Italy… I think Clash is sneaking up as one of WWE’s ‘Big Four’ PLEs. The fact that it’s somewhere new international each year, I think they’re up to the task.”

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Clash In Italy will be the fourth installment in the Clash series of PLEs, following Clash At The Castle 2022 and 2023 in Wales and Scotland respectively, and Clash In Paris last year.

Many consider Bash In Berlin, which took place in August 2024, to be a spiritual installment in the “Clash” series, with it feeling similar to the Clash events, but with WWE wanting to capitalise on alliteration.

WrestleMania, Royal Rumble, SummerSlam and Survivor Series were each introduced in the 1980s and have since been established as marquee events in WWE’s calendar.

In recent years, WWE has marketed Money In The Bank as one of the “Big Five”, however, as shown by Cody Rhodes’ comments, its a change which will take some getting used to, if WWE is committed to having a Big Five rather than a Big Four.

In reality, which events WWE decides to call “Big” is more of a marketing decision, and doesn’t necessarily correspond with an event’s quality.

European premium live events will always seem significant just because of how few of them there had been prior to the Triple H regime.

With the likes of Cody Rhodes, Roman Reigns and Brock Lesnar set for action this Sunday, it does seem like WWE aims for Clash In Italy to be a show to remember.

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