WWE Clash in Italy takeaways

Credit (WWE) WWE's latest PLE has several questions as they enter the summer.

WWE Clash in Italy has come and gone. It was a solid PLE, and now the takeaways I will give as the road to SummerSlam is underway, along with a few others like Night of Champions. We saw a few champions retain and a new women's IC champion emerge. Let's get into the takeaways

---

1. WWE needs to get the World title off Cody Rhodes- I am a Cody Rhodes fan, you know I was a big fan of him finishing the storyline a few years back. Yet now it's different, as you know, he took the title from Drew McIntyre early this year. His feud with Randy Orton was interesting, and yes, he should have lost at WrestleMania. In his latest match, he once again defeated Gunther to retain the title. The issue is Gunther has yet to be rewarded after a huge 2025, and Cody's latest title reign is underwhelming right now. There are so many options on the SmackDown roster that I will get into later, because WWE has a Cody Rhodes problem.

2. Jade Cargill's time in the main event is over for at least this year- Granted, I had Rhea winning and keeping the title, but man, what a fall for Jade. Jade should have never lost at WrestleMania and, in the rematch, failed to capture the title again. Jade probably won't get another Women's title match this year we will see, but the rest of 2026 is about rebuilding her as a serious contender. What a shame.

3. Brock Lesnar coming back makes sense until it doesn't- Brock Lesnar had all of us fooled that he was done at WrestleMania. His return to challenge Oba Femi and then beat him at Clash in Italy is interesting, right? It was supposed to be a passing of the torch, yet bringing back a feud like this, even if it means a third match, means a third match. Brock is a legend, but maybe it would have been better off riding into the sunset than losing to Oba twice later on.

4. Putting the Women's IC Title on Sol Ruca is good- At least they got this one right, while I had Becky Lynch retaining, I am perfectly fine with Sol winning. For Sol, it will be interesting to see whether she can get a run with the title and how that may prepare her for an even bigger title down the line. Becky dropping the title was the right call in building up a new star.

5. Who will challenge Roman next?- Roman Reigns has succesfully beat Jacob Fatu in back-to-back PLE's. I don't see the rivalry continuing, and with Night of Champions coming up, there is no obvious challenger right now on paper. Also, I was surprised to see Roman defend the world title like this. I saw a 2017-2018 part-time ala Brock Lesnar run. It's been the opposite thus far, and regardless, this is the big dog yard.