Berlin has joined the list of international cities hosting a WWE PLE. Under the leadership of Triple H, the company has been making headway into many new markets. It has been fantastic to see WWE venture outside of their comfort zone and the results have been speaking for themselves. The crowds have been hot, and the wrestling has been sizzling.
Bash at Berlin promises to be quite the show. The card is stacked, and the wrestlers are no doubt ready to blow the roof in yet another international location. But how much does the roof get blown off? Let’s review the matches below.
Kevin Owens vs Cody Rhodes (WWE Championship Match) (3.5/5)
The face vs face dynamic for this match was awesome. Everyone, and their brother, was expecting Owens to turn heel. WWE teased this in the lead-up to the match and it was refreshing to see Owens now head down that path. The tension was great, but the payoff of Owen’s continuing face was perfect.
Rhodes and Owens tore the house down to start the night. The crowd was white hot and both men did their best to get them going even more. It was an interesting blend of brawling and wrestling that played all the hits of Owens and Rhodes. It wasn’t exactly anything new, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t a fun watch.
Wasn’t much doubt that Rhodes was going to win but the tease of Owen’s losing his killer instinct was an interesting twist. His not taking the low road dominated the match and should be a bigger story in the weeks to come.
Bianca Belair & Jade Cargill vs Alba Fyre and Isla Dawn (Women’s Tag Team Championship Match) (2.5/5)
WWE has done a good job of building a program between these four women. More effort has been put into their feud than any women’s tag program before. It is nice to see this, and it built some great interest in the contest.
This was a fairly standard tag match. Belair played the face in peril for most of the match while Dawn and Fyre used every trick possible to keep Cargill out of the match. Once she got the hot tag she was impressive with her power moves. Cargill has come a long way since her debut at the Royal Rumble.
The finish was disappointing. Cargill and Belair didn’t need to retain the straps, and the Unholy Union was just starting to get their footing. WWE must have a grand plan here, but it does not look clear at the moment.
CM Punk vs Drew McIntyre (Strap Match) (4/5)
Punk and McIntyre have engaged in the most personal feud of the year. The barbs thrown during promos have cut deep and their first encounter, at Summerslam, left us wanting more. Naturally, their hatred led to a strap match being booked to heighten the stakes.
Strap matches can be hard to pull off, but it was done well here. Both men were less interested in winning than beating the crap out of one another, which is what we all want to see anyway.
The action spilling out to the ringside was perfect and brought this match to another level. Speaking of another level, how great was it to see Punk getting some color? It is a strap match after all, and it sells the intensity of the contest.
McIntyre and Punk did a great job of working within the structure of a strap match. Creatively they did some interesting things and used the stipulation well. Punk winning seemed the logical choice and evens the two up at one win a piece.
Liv Morgan & Dominik Mysterio vs Rhea Ripley & Damian Priest (4.25/5)
This program has been fantastic. Ever since Dominik turned his back on Rhea the world has been waiting for her to get her hands on him. Priest has developed into one of the biggest babyfaces in the company and Liv Morgan could be the best heel on the roster. Things were looking to explode and boy did they.
Mixed tag matches are usually a dynamic that doesn’t work well, but the heat these four people had made this match great. The crowd was chanting along for the duration and made it feel like a big-time match. The wrestling was great, but they left enough out that they will have something to come back with when the feud continues.
Devolving into chaos was inevitable for the tag match, and it worked well when it did. The Judgment Day came off looking like the thugs they are while Ripley and Priest got a good rub by overcoming the odds. They also limited the physical stuff between Ripley and Dominik enough that they will have plenty to come back with down the line.
Randy Orton vs Gunther (World Heavyweight Championship) (4/5)
Randy Orton was the perfect first hurdle for Gunther. They had a history with the dodgy finish at King of the Ring and Orton is an established veteran. The promos leading up to their match took a bit to get going but when they did, we felt the hatred between the two men. Great way to build towards Gunther’s defense in front of a biased German crowd.
This match was the methodical slug fest that we all expected. It could have been boring, but Gunther and Orton had such purpose and stiffness behind their shots that everyone was invested. Great psychology throughout with Orton focussing on any body part he could and wrecking it.
Gunther going over was the only logical finish here. He has just started on his path to greatness, and this was a great first win. It will be interesting to see where the Ring General goes from here.
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