Nearly 13,500 fans are filing into the Uber Arena in Berlin, Germany for the country’s first pay-per-view event as WWE continues their attempt at a world takeover.
As we’ve seen with Smackdown, as well as press conferences, the Berlin fans are wild and look to continue the hot streak that non-North American WWE crowds are on.
Let’s get things going, shall we?
Cody Rhodes vs Kevin Owens – Undisputed WWE Title Match
With adopted son Gunther defending the World Heavyweight Title in front of the German crowds, it makes sense that this match didn’t get the main event spot. As we’ve discussed a million times in the past, if a match isn’t going on last, the next best place for it is to open the show, allowing it to set the tone for the rest of the night, and to give the eager fans something to be excited about.
We just heard the sound of the opening bell of the very first match, but this Berlin crowd is already rocking and rolling. There have been multiple loud chants for both men, and we’ve topped the 100 decibel mark on multiple occasions.
A lot of people are under the assumption that we’re getting a heel turn for KO here, or at least in the aftermath of the show. While that would certainly fit KO’s career path, I don’t want to see it. Not yet, anyway. He’s such an easy wrestler to cheer for, and he does great work as a face. I guess we’ll have to wait and see.
It’s interesting that Cody has pulled multiple submission holds out of his bag in the relatively early moments of the match. He’s working a different style, and it’s causing Owens to second guess everything. I dig it.
Commentary mentioned how warm it is in the arena, and it certainly looks like both Cody and Kevin are sweating a lot. Folks who don’t live in North America… is it normal for your venues to either not have air conditioning, or at least not have the air conditioning on full blast? I know I’m biased, living in one of the hottest places in the world, and I know it’s not very hot in Berlin right now, but it seems like you’d want to cool the arena down with all of those people packed in like sardines. It’s the same thing that we saw at Backlash, when the arena in France had every wrestler seemingly dripping in sweat.
Owens is battling an angel on one shoulder and a devil on the other. He has had multiple opportunities to attack Cody’s injured knee, and to perform his patented powerbomb on the apron, but he keeps fighting the urge to do so, and it cost him. After blocking a KO Swanton with his knees, Cody was able to land a Cross Rhodes for the pin and the win.
It was a good match. Really good, actually. I wouldn’t quite put it in the “great” category, but it was a really fun opener that featured a red hot crowd to make things even better. 3.75 Stars
No heel turn for Owens after the match, either. Both men hug and raise their arms to soak in the adulation from the crowd, but that’s it.
Alba Fyre & Isla Dawn vs Bianca Belair & Jade Cargill – WWE Women’s Tag Team Title Match
After their feel-good title win in their home country of Scotland, the champions haven’t exactly looked dominant. I’m no math whiz, but if my numbers are correct, I believe 109% of people are predicting a title change here.
It has become really funny to me that Bianca and Jade’s matches have become so formulaic. You get some cool power spots from both women, perhaps on their own or perhaps in double-team fashion. Then you get an extended stretch where Bianca gets beaten down, which is weird all by itself because Bianca has always been booked to look like a superhuman. Finally, it turns into a hot tag for Jade, who comes in and hits a flurry of powerful offense, and then the match usually ends soon thereafter.
As I typed that, of course things decided to switch up. We built all the way up to the hot tag for Jade, but the match didn’t end right away. Instead, we needed… a second hot tag for Jade, and then the match ended within a minute or so.
We have brand new Women’s Tag Team Champions, as expected. Personally, I’m hoping to see something different from Bianca and Jade’s matches. I understand trying to protect Jade as much as possible, but it has been months of the same thing again and again. 2.75 Stars
CM Punk vs Drew McIntyre – Strap Match
Time to get violent.
Not every Strap Match follows these particular rules, but WWE sure loves to use the “wrestler must touch all four turnbuckles in succession to win” stipulation when they have matches like this. I prefer it when it’s a Strap Match that ends in pins or submissions, but I’m obviously not the one in charge here.
Neither man is truly trying to win the match early. Even when they get the opportunity to do so, they’re bypassing the turnbuckles in order to deliver more pain and punishment to their opponent.
A headbutt from McIntyre opens up Punk’s forehead. Vince McMahon has been gone for a long time, but it’s still so weird to see blood in WWE matches once again.
Punk locks McIntyre in the Sharpshooter, and Drew repeatedly taps out, but it doesn’t matter. If this match was in AEW, it would be over and Punk would be the victor, but Punk has to touch the turnbuckles now.
Drew had Punk’s bracelet in his trunks for the duration of the match, and he pulls it out and puts it on his wrist. Gross, man. I’d just let Drew keep it at this point if I were Punk.
Punk hits McIntyre with Go To Sleep approximately 37 times, takes the bracelet covered in Drew’s ball sweat back, and then wins the match.
It was violent, as everyone thought it would be. One could argue that it wasn’t as violent as we were hoping it would be, but the rumor has been that Punk and Drew will be facing each other inside Hell In A Cell at Bad Blood on October 5th, so perhaps that’s when we get the true massacre. Either way, this was fun, and becomes the new Match Of The Night so far. 4 Stars
Damian Priest & Rhea Ripley vs Dominik Mysterio & Liv Morgan – Mixed Tag Team Match
So much potential for entertainment here.
LMAO @ Woi Bar-ruh name dropping Eli Cottonwood while talking about Dom’s epic mustache, causing Michael Cole to start laughing.
I don’t think we’ll get much of it in this match, but if you want proof that Vince McMahon’s time with the company is really over and done with, we’ll get some intergender action. The amount of fun that we could get from a Rhea vs Dom match in the future could be off the charts, though.
The crowd EXPLODES when Rhea gets her hands on Dom, dropping him with multiple clotheslines. The decibel meter goes well over the 100 mark again. Yeah, the company could have something special on their hands if they go with Rhea vs Dom at some point.
The Judgment Day makes their way out to the ring, and both Rhea and Priest have taken turns looking stupid. They’ve both been distracted and stopped performing offensive moves to go after Judgment Day members at ringside or on the apron.
Did it matter in the end? No. Rhea gets the pin on Liv, giving her team the victory. It was an entertaining match that was never going to be a classic, although it wasn’t designed to be one. There’s still more to the feud, that’s for sure. 3.25 Stars
Gunther vs Randy Orton – World Heavyweight Title Match
I don’t know if the crowd mics were muted or altered, but they showed the decibel meter topping 100 again during Orton’s entrance, but it didn’t sound anywhere near as loud as it did at points earlier in the show.
During Samantha Irvin’s pre-match introduction, though, we got to see the cameras shaking due to the crowd noise and atmosphere, so there’s that.
We’ve reached the point of the show where people are going to complain about the crowd. They’ve spent more time doing chants and, now, the Wave, than they have actually focusing on the match itself.
As expected, this has been a really physical match in the early stages. Stiff strikes, and Gunther has bruising on his shoulder and arm after being slammed on the announce table several times.
Orton has been pretty dominant. There was a stretch of the match that seemed to last about five minutes where I don’t think Gunther landed a single strike or offensive maneuver. It’s incredibly rare to see Gunther physically dominated like this.
LOL @ Orton purposely poking Gunther in the eyes, right in front of the ref, and then smirking at the crowd when some of them voiced their displeasure. Vintage Randy Orton?
Gunther is a dangerous, dangerous man. Even after being dominated for large portions of the match, he shows what he can do if you don’t put him down with a kill shot. The champion retains the title after making Orton pass out in a sleeperhold. He locked it in time and time again, dragging Orton into deep waters, and eventually had what it took to get the win.
4.25 Stars. That might be underselling it a bit, based on some of the reactions I’ve seen on social media. This was super fun. Great work from both men, making this match feel like a big-time World Title match, because that’s exactly what it was.
If you’re going to find a complaint about the show, it would be that things were on the “predictable” side. All five matches were won by what seemed to be the overwhelming favorites. That makes shows like this get the “glorified house show” label by many people. Whether or not you agree with that, the show itself was fun, and definitely worth checking out if you didn’t already do so.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, it’s time to get my vacation started. I’ll see you all again in November. Be good to each other.
