On Saturday, August 31st, WWE traveled to Germany to present its big PLE, Bash In Berlin. The show was headlined by a huge match that saw GUNTHER put his World Heavyweight Championship on the line against Randy Orton. We also saw Cody Rhodes put the Undisputed WWE Championship on the line against Kevin Owens.
We also saw Rhea Ripley and Damian Priest, The Terror Twins, look for payback against The Judgement Day’s Liv Morgan and Dominik Mysterio, CM Punk and Drew McIntyre do battle in a strap match, and much more. So, what were the top three moments of the show?
3. CM Punk gets his revenge on Drew McIntyre
Towards the middle of the show, another one of the big marquee matches of Bash In Berlin took place. This time, we saw CM Punk do battle with Drew McIntyre in a strap match. Strap matches have a history of being very violent, so this was a formidable match to take place in this very hatred-fueled feud.
Earlier in August at Summerslam, Drew McIntyre picked up the win over CM Punk with Seth Rollins as the special guest referee. This was a violent and hard-hitting match, which set the tone for how the remainder of the feud will go. With McIntyre up 1-0, Punk looked to get back on track at Bash In Berlin, and he did just that.
This match got very violent, very quickly. With no pinfalls or submissions allowed, the only way to win was to touch all four corners in succession. The only catch here, is you were strapped to your opponent on a 13-foot-long strap. This strap came into play a whole lot in this match. Ultimately, it would be CM Punk who won the match, touching all four corners first.
This win was expected, but the match more than lived up to the hype. With WWE Bad Blood on deck, it seems that we could see this feud get a little bit more bloody, and violent. With Punk and McIntyre now tied at one win a piece, a fitting final setting for this rivalry could very well come inside of one of the most dangerous structures in WWE, Hell In A Cell.
2. Cody Rhodes reigns supreme against Kevin Owens
In the night’s opening contest, Cody Rhodes put his Undisputed WWE Championship on the line against one of his good friends, Kevin Owens. Despite Owens’s reluctancy to accept what he thought was a “free handout,” this match was made official by SmackDown’s GM, Nick Aldis.
Earlier in August, Cody Rhodes successfully defended the Undisputed WWE against Solo Sikoa at SummerSlam, with help from Roman Reigns. However, this match, and the build up also saw Kevin Owens (and Randy Orton) help thwart off the remaining members of The Bloodline. Due to Owens watching Rhodes back, Rhodes thought he more then deserved this shot and the fans agreed.
The match itself delivered on all fronts. Owens and Rhodes put on a 20+ minute classic in the middle of the squared circle. Ultimately, the conclusion of this match saw Rhodes land a cross Rhodes onto Owens and pin him for the three-count in the ring. However, a big point here is Owens couldn’t pull the trigger on his famous apron powerbomb on Rhodes.
Wade Barrett said it best, Owens looked like he lost his killer instinct, which explains why Owens hasn’t held gold in seven years. If Owens landed that damaging apron powerbomb onto Rhodes, could we have seen a different result? One thing we know for sure is Rhodes reign is nowhere close to being over, and we are one step closer to the big marquee match for Cody Rhodes to meet his biggest challenger to date, Randy Orton.
1. The Ring General reigns supreme against The Viper
In the main event of Bash In Berlin, we saw “The Ring General,” GUNTHER put his World Heavyweight Championship on the line against “The Viper” Randy Orton. This was a match that kind of came out of left field, but it was a very welcomed edition to the Bash In Berlin card.
Back at King of the Ring, GUNTHER defeated Orton, controversially, to earn a World Heavyweight Championship match at SummerSlam. GUNTHER would go on to win the title, and sit alone atop the Monday Night RAW mountain top. During his speech the following night, Orton interrupted and said he wanted his rematch. So, GUNTHER accepted, and it later came to be known that if Orton won, he’d be on Monday Night RAW full-time, and GUNTHER would head over to Friday Night SmackDown.
This match was fantastic. GUNTHER and Orton put on an incredible 30+ minute main event in GUNTHER’s home country. While nothing out of the ordinary happened here, this was essentially just two men who wanted to beat the hell out of each other. Ultimately, GUNTHER put Orton away with his famous submission hold.
With GUNTHER’s reign continuing, Orton will be heading back to Friday Night SmackDown. Where do things go from here? Who challenges GUNTHER next, and what does Orton do next? One thing we know for sure is there’s a lot that can happen between now, and Bad Blood.
