Hiya!

WWE has been doing a lot lately of actually putting out pay-per-views outside of the United States of America. While I do appreciate the sentiment, I do see a rather lack of importance to them. Most of the time, they come off as glorified house shows but with bigger stadiums. So, I did enter Bash in Berlin with rather low expectations anything major would happen. Was I right? Well, mostly… but let’s talk about the matches so you’ll see what I mean.

The first match had Cody Rhodes defending his Undisputed WWE Universal Championship, Smackdown’s top prize, against Kevin Owens. The buildup to this felt very light as the two really didn’t have any reason to feud besides the hinting of Kevin Owens turning heel to get the title by hook or, more likely, by crook. I did enjoy the counter wrestling as Kevin Owens would reverse a lot of Cody’s offense as he’s been his buddy for a while. The only real spot had The Prizefighter hitting his fisherman brainbuster from the second rope (always a classic) but I was left wanting more.

The finish was mostly story focused, with Cody feigning a knee injury and Owens didn’t want to capitalize on it. Once outside the ring, the American Nightmare tried to sucker punch Owens, which did lead to KO actually striking the knee. It looked like he was going to powerbomb Cody onto the ring apron, which is the hardest part of the ring, mind you, but relented. Owens sent Rhodes into the ring and set up for a pop-up powerbomb but Cody reversed it into a couple of Cross Rhodes neckbreakers but Owens snuck in a Stunner during the 3rd attempt. Owens attempts a swanton but Cody gets his knees up and then, one Cross Rhodes later, the American Nightmare has his hand raised in victory to retain his Undisputed WWE Universal Championship.

The action during the match was just okay but the story did keep me watching. I did like how Kevin Owens showing mercy may have cost him the match and I’m pretty sure this will play into his character in the future. I do wish there was a little more drama as, once Owens didn’t go in for the kill when he had the chance, they still kept on going for a little too long. If they ended the match then with Cody sneaking in a pin, that would’ve been more dramatic.

The next match had Jade Cargill and Bianca Belair going after the reigning WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions, The Unholy Union. I’m sorry but the WWE didn’t do a good job of making The Unholy Union a team to be reckoned with. Even their double-team moves and cohesiveness didn’t look convincing. This is probably why I had a hard time buying they were dominating a former WWE Women’s champion in Bianca Belair. I get its tradition to have the heels dominate the face but I just didn’t believe any of it. Also, I just know Jade Cargill works better as a heel and I’m still awaiting her eventual heel turn coming soon.

The finish came after The Unholy Union got the upper hand again and set up Belair for their backstabber and swanton combo double team move. It looked like Jade Cargill missed her cue a split second too late as it looked like Belair just wormed her way out of the backstabber, sending Alba Fyre crashing into Isla Dawn‘s raised knees. Fyre is tossed into the barricade by Cargill, taking her out of the picture. The faces hit their raised DDT into wheelbarrow suplex for the pinfall and become the NEW WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions.

Although this was a title change, it was a title change I didn’t care for. There was indeed a feeling of no real tension because Alba Fyre and Isla Dawn didn’t feel like a threat. Also, what happened to Blair Davenport? The WWE showed her in the hype buildup video and yet she didn’t even accompany the Unholy Union to the ring? If she was ringside, then maybe I would have been more inclined to believe they wouldn’t lose. She wasn’t so, if she didn’t bother, why should I?

The next match was another grudge match between CM Punk and Drew McIntyre in a Strap match. Now, I never really liked the Strap match stipulation as, well, I find it stupid. You win by having to hit each corner top turnbuckle without any breaks in between? That’s more like video game logic than wrestling logic. Still, I will have to commend both CM Punk and Drew McIntyre trying their best to make things interesting. I love the start with MyIntyre blasting Punk before the match even started. They also made full use of the stipulation as, because of the rules, it’s No DQ. This means they could use a table and a chair here and there. Punk even got busted open at one point. There’s also the point where Punk put Drew in the Sharpshooter, which led to Drew trying to tap out or make it to the ropes but that did nothing. We also had the obligatory “take the strap and whip your opponent with it” attacks, which I felt they overdid here.

The finish was rather poetic as it had Drew put on CM Punk’s bracelet and hitting him with his Claymore finisher. This allowed him to hit 2 of the turnbuckles before Punk came to and retaliated with his GTS finisher. Punk then saw Drew had the bracelet on and hit another GTS before retrieving his bracelet. Punk then hit 2 turnbuckles before turning back to McIntyre to hit another GTS. One more turnbuckle and then another GTS to Drew. Finally, Punk hit the final turnbuckle to win the Strap match.

While the finish had some incredible storytelling, the match itself was kind of hit or miss. Like I said, there were just too many strikes with the strap for my liking. The first few were fine but, when you keep on doing it, it loses its impact. I fully expect a final match to happen in the next pay-per-view as both CM Punk and Drew McIntyre have 1 notch each in their win columns. They can’t end it in a tie, can they?

The next match had the newly christened team of the Terror Twins, consisting of Rhea Ripley and Damien Priest, taking on The New Judgement Day’s “Dirty” Dominik Mysterio and the current RAW Women’s Champion, Liv Morgan in a Mixed Tag Team Match. Although Rhea Ripley and Damien Priest dominated early on, The New Judgement Day’s team eventually got the upper hand thanks to creative double teaming. The match was basically mostly hype as, while the action wasn’t all that exciting, everyone, including myself, was into what was happening because of the buildup to this point, with Damien Priest and Rhea Ripley having personal stakes against the duo.

The finish was a heated affair with the rest of The New Judgement Day attempting to do shenanigans to allow their team members to steal the win. It looked like Damien Priest was going to get pinned after getting hit by Finn Balor‘s slingblade while JD McDonagh distracted the official. Dirty Dom hit a frog splash but Priest managed to kick out. Morgan tagged in, forcing a loopy Rhea Ripley into the match. Liv went for Ob-Liv-ion but the Eradicator blocked it and hit a backbreaker. McDonagh distracted Ripley long enough for Morgan to hit a modified codebreaker. Priest then goes on a rampage on the outside to take out the non-participating members of The Judgement Day as well and Dominik. This left Liv Morgan all alone with a recovered Rhea Ripley who ate Rhea’s Riptide finisher, giving the pinfall victory to the Terror Twins.

This was an exciting match only because of the personalities involved. The action itself felt pretty standard but everything felt heightened because of all the strong emotions involved thanks to the storytelling before this point. This definitely isn’t the end and I actually do hope the team of Damien Priest and Rhea Ripley go after The New Judgement Day’s RAW Tag Team titles. If Chyna can be Intercontinental Champion, why can’t Rhea be in the Tag Team title picture?

The final match of the night was for the biggest prize on RAW, the WWE World Heavyweight Championship held by GUNTHER, with Randy Orton trying to take the belt away. Immediate criticism with the match? There are slow starts and there are slooooooow starts. This one definitely follows the latter as it took them a good long while to get out of the blocks. I kind of blame the live audience although I don’t blame them. The Germany crowd was very excited to cheer on GUNTHER but they were also too excited, leading to both The Ring General and The Viper stopping every so often to either soak it all in or wait for whatever distracting thing, like them doing a wave, to subside.

Thankfully, once the action started heating up, things really did get good. Some smart in-ring storytelling, with Randy Orton targeting GUNTHER’s right arm which did play in nicely to the action. The Ring General started to do chops using his non-dominant arm or he would lose slugfests whenever he tried to use his right hand.

The finish was rather surprising. Orton setting up the steel steps beside the announcer’s table so he could back suplex GUNTHER through the table. Orton then went for his RKO finisher but GUNTHER blocked it and locked in a sleeperhold. Orton tried various ways to get out of the hold but GUNTHER wouldn’t let go. Orton then slammed his back and GUNTHER into the mat and he escaped the hold. This was very short lived as GUNTHER immediately locked it back in and, eventually, Orton succumbed to the hold and GUNTHER declared the victor, retaining his WWE World Heavyweight Championship. After the match, Orton gave GUNTHER a mutual handshake of respect before The Ring General basked in the cheers of the German crowd.

This was a good match but the first half really suffered as it really took a long time for the action to really heat up. I do think the finish was smart as they established GUNTHER was in no condition to hit the powerbomb effectively with his bad arm. I also like how both GUNTHER and Orton really didn’t hit any major moves but sold all of it really well. Good match but just plain too long.

So, while I will say Bash in Berlin was good overall, it was put together to make the live audience happy. Besides Jade Cargill and Bianaca Belair reacquiring the WWE Women’s Tag Team titles, nothing here really pushed the story forward and none of the storylines were concluded. The big title matches were just there for name recognition and you just knew those titles wouldn’t change hands. Like I said, it’s a house show.

Byee!

What did you think of WWE’s Bash in Berlin? Let me know in the comments section below!