Returning to the new standard five-match format after the bumper SummerSlam, WWE’s first German PLE, Bash In Berlin, was another solid show with a healthy variety of matches and some key story moments.
Overall, these five-match cards have worked very well since WrestleMania, delivering events with clear stories, clear stakes, and excellent in-ring action. With just five matches, not every talent can get a spot on the card – and on this front the division between who’s working PLE matches and correspondingly only doing promos and segments on RAW or SmackDown, and who’s wrestling on those weekly shows has made a good deal of sense.
Gunther, for example, works promos and segments on RAW because he’s over well enough that his weekly screen time can be focused solely on character and story work. By contrast, Ludvig Kaiser is working promos and matches each week because he’s not yet at the stage where he’s over enough to just wrestle on the PLEs – he still needs both the mic and in-ring time each week to keep building his connection with audiences. No shade whatsoever here – it’s a system that, for the most part, is working. For more, see CM Punk and Drew McIntyre compared to, say, Bronson Reed.
That said, there are some other patterns at work, too. The most prominent of which, for me, is the difference in the treatment of the men’s and women’s division top singles titles (the “WWE” and “World” championships). Across the six PLEs since WrestleMania XL, there have been ten men’s championship matches compared to just five women’s championship matches. HURM.
Now, I’m not necessarily arguing for every top singles title holder to wrestle on every big show, but I am arguing for better gender parity in that conversation. Once we start factoring the Intercontinental and United States championships, things get even more uneven – because there are no women’s intermediate championships.
Stray PLE thoughts concluded, onto the Bash In Berlin card!
Undisputed WWE Championship – Cody Rhodes (c) def. Kevin Owens: Shades of Will Ospreay! I don’t think this was a lift in all seriousness, but Owens’ hesitation to use his devastating apron powerbomb certainly recalled Ospreay’s recent crisis of conscience around using his Tiger Driver ‘91 over in AEW – with different outcomes, at least for the time being. Aside from Owens’ character tensions, this match was decent but never quite hit its possible highest gear. Cody’s fairly comfortable win here does, however, raise the question: how would Cody fare if KO decided to get really mean again?
WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship – Bianca Belair & Jade Cargill def. Alba Fyre & Isla Dawn (c): After the shock (and wholesome hometown pop) of Fyre and Dawn snatching the belts at Clash At The Castle and their ensuing pointless and under-featured run as champs, order has been restored. Fyre and Dawn are both great talents, but it was clear from their spotty presence on weekly TV that there was no real creative direction for them going forwards as champs.
The story here was that Fyre and Dawn never properly beat the superheroes and that they probably couldn’t. And indeed they could not. The best moment here was Cargill showing off some ring smarts by breaking up a pin attempt on Belair by pulling on Bianca’s long braid. Adding more to Cargill’s presentation beyond just “powerhouse” could be really interesting.
Strap Match – CM Punk def. Drew McIntyre: Dog collar vibes detected!! This was a perfect, intense second instalment of the Fed’s hottest feud of the year. Totally different, tonally, than the SummerSlam match refereed by Seth Rollins, this strap match gave Punk some much-needed retribution in the narrative as he finally reclaimed his fabled charm bracelet. And equally importantly, the decisive win here re-established him as a gritty, tenacious and dangerous opponent in the ring. As the show’s midpoint, this hard-hitting strap match also contributed really positively to Bash In Berlin’s variety across the card.
Mixed Tag Team Match – Damian Priest & Rhea Ripley def. “Dirty” Dominik Mysterio & Liv Morgan: Another match that was a little out of the ordinary, this mixed tag match was super soapy fun. Everyone’s character work was excellent, and everyone involved is more over than they were pre-SummerSlam betrayals.
Another pitch-perfect performance from the dastardly Dom Mysterio, and props to Liv Morgan for continuing to expand her moveset, showing off a brilliant magistral bomb here. Priest looks like he’s enjoying himself at the moment, despite dropping the World Heavyweight title. He also has a fantastic worked punch, which I don’t think I’ve commented on before. And Rhea Ripley is simply magnetic. She is absolutely in that bracket of “doesn’t need to wrestle every week” because she is truly over huge – and rightly so.
World Heavyweight Championship – Gunther (c) def. Randy Orton: Randy Orton knows how to single-handedly turn on “big fight feel” just with his demeanor and body language. Taking in his pacing, selling, and character work in this match was really a case of watching a master of their craft at work. In 2024, with so much added power in his frame and authentic, meaningful promos to boot, Randy Orton has, to my mind, genuinely never been better.
Orton’s performance here actually helped thematically bookend the show, subtly recalling Kevin Owens’ performance at the top of the card. Palpably enjoying his connection with the crowd and wrestling as a babyface, Orton took a long moment to pose and soak in the moment after putting Gunther through the announce table. Orton went on to lose the match. Knowing his character history, the outcome here left some tasty lingering questions: okay, so theme-song-singalong Randy Orton failed to win the world title, but what about the amoral Randy Orton who uses the punt kick? Does that Randy still exist? Could he be summoned by a returning John Cena?
Character-wise, the work Gunther’s been doing lately, peppering a snobbish European classism into his promos is a positive development. It’s much more interesting and less problematic than “has a German name and wears a long black coat” (yes, I know those things are not a million miles apart). That said, it didn’t feel like any of that new dimension was present in this match. His performance here was still very good and was certainly not lacking in intensity – but I’d love to see him put more character into his in-ring work going forwards.
Curtain Call: This was another really good big international show for the WWE. The changes in locale are really working to keep the PLE calendar feeling fresh as we get further and further from WrestleMania.
This show didn’t feel like Backlash, and Backlash didn’t feel like King And Queen Of The Ring. The audience is a major part of a pro wrestling show (because it’s theatre!) and different crowds do create different atmospheres. This in turn impacts the performers (this is how magic happens!). Combined with the tighter cards, WWE PLEs have a new feel, but with a variety of locations and a variety of match types, they’re staying nice and fresh.