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Orton runs into a wall named Gunther at Bash in Berlin

Bob Kapur

Randy Orton may be called the Legend Killer, but that moniker didn’t apply in advance to Gunther, who’s solidifying his reputation as a future legend thanks to performances like the one he had at Saturday’s Bash in Berlin. Gunther’s successful title defence was a hard-fought affair that had the German crowd in a fervour from bell-to-bell. In that way, it was representative of the show as a whole, highlighted by strong in-ring performances, definitive conclusions, and – with all matches won by babyfaces – plenty of fan service.

The pre-show was quite lengthy. They ran down each match with a video package and interviews with the competitors. They also did some time-filling Q&A segments with stars unrelated to Bash in Berlin. At one point, they aired a PSA by Scarlett reminding people not to drink and drive.

At one point, Byron Saxton did a sit-down with Triple H, who said that the show is WWE’s highest-grossing arena event in company history. I guess there are a lot of Deutch Marks out there.

The pre-show felt long and perfunctory. When it was finished, the main show kicked off with an opening video and the introduction of the English and German commentary teams.

 

Match 1: Kevin Owens  vs. Cody Rhodes (c) – for the Undisputed WWE Championship

The commentators noted that Cody didn’t take a knee during his entrance, reinforcing the idea that it’s injured, so may be an area of focus for Owens during the match. The Germans loved Cody, singing his theme song, and chanting (presumably in some soccer chant) his name before the bell and throughout the match.

They started off with a handshake and the fans gave them dueling chants at the top of the match. After some technical exchanges, Owens dodged a Flying Kick attempt by Cody and then hit a Running Senton onto Cody. After an exchange of finisher attempts, tempers got a bit flared and they went nose-to-nose a bit spicily.

Owen caught Cody in a Flying Dive attempt and then sent him hard into the apron. But Cody recovered and soon hit a Disaster Kick and then did nail the Flying Dive to the floor. Cody then slowed down the pace, going for submission holds, forcing Owens to scramble for the ropes to break the holds.

Owens, though, went for big moves, eventually sending Cody to the floor hard and hitting a Frog Splash off the apron. In the ring, Owens continued to work over Cody’s ribs and torso. But Cody had no quit, and he surprised Owens with a Cody Cutter to give himself some breathing room.

After a strike exchange, Owens hit a Rolling Senton Slam off the top for a near-fall. But Cody came back, and nearly got the win after Cross Rhodes, but Owens got his shoulder up just in time. Cody went up top for a Superplex, but Owens blocked it and hit a Fisherman’s Buster off the top for 2.99.

After another striking exchange, Cody went for a Springboard attack, but his knee gave out on him and he fell to the mat.

 

Owens had the opportunity to clip his knee from behind but hesitated out of sympathy for his friend. They went to the floor where Cody defiantly told him to fight, as he was okay. Owens thought about Powerbombing him onto the apron, but again Owens released him. Owens then kicked Cody in the knee, but looked regretful about it, and instead of continuing the attack, he went back in the ring.

There, Owens hit a Stunner but Cody kicked out. Rhodes then recovered and hit a pair of Cross Rhodes. Owens stopped the third and hit another Stunner, but again Rhodes kicked out, earning a “Holy s—!” chant from the appreciative crowd.

Owens went for a Swanton, but Cody got his knees up and Owens crashed hard. Cody picked him up, hit another Cross Rhodes that finally kept Owens down for the 1-2-3.

After the ring, Cody approached Owens, and they hugged it out, with Owens raising Cody’s arm in a sign of respect.

This was a strong opener, with the crowd reactions making this seem even better than it probably was. The commentators made it seem like Cody will be feuding with Solo Sikoa next, so don’t expect these two to do anything further for the time being.

Winner, and still Undisputed WWE Champion: Cody Rhodes

 

Match 2: Alba Fyre and Isla Dawn (c) vs. Bianca Belair and Jade Cargill – for the Women’s Tag Team Championship

The challengers countered some early mind game attempts by the champs and used their power to take early control.

But some dirty tactics let Fyre and Dawn turn the tables, double-teaming Belair on the floor and then trapping her in their corner where they took turns beating her up.

In a neat spot, at one point, Fyre hit a Tornado DDT on Belair, and in doing so, she used Cargill as a springboard, sending Cargill to the floor. But despite those kinds of moves, Belair eventually did get the tag and Cargill came in fresh, tossing around both champions like they were children. In other news, please don’t toss children around.

An awkward sequence saw Bianca get clumsily sent to the Underworld, but Belair kicked out. At which point, the ref lost control and soon all four women were fighting it out in the ring. The champs went for a top rope attack on Belair, but Cargill kind of prevented it and the pin got avoided. The challengers then chucked Fyre out of the ring and hit their double-team move on Dawn for the pin, the win, and capture the titles.

This was a pretty standard tag match, that got sloppy at times. The title change was a feel-good moment, and keeping Jade protected by having her in tag team matches is the right call. But they really hadn’t scratched the surface with Fyre and Dawn as champs.

Winners, and new Women’s Tag Team Champions: Bianca Belair and Jade Cargill

 

Match 3: CM Punk vs. Drew McIntyre – Strap Match

During the introductions, the announcers reiterated the rules: to win, you have to touch all corners in succession without being interrupted through physical contact by your opponent.

McIntyre attacked Punk before the bell, and before the strap could even be attached to their wrists, and pummeled him on the floor before ground-and-pounding him in the middle of the ring. With Punk down, Drew grabbed the strap and gave Punk a few lashes before attaching the strap to both of them.

Drew then continued the beat-down, alternating between hitting Punk with hard strikes and chops or whipping him with the strop. But Punk ducked a shot and hit Punk with GTS. Punk looked to touch a corner, but instead, he stopped in order to start punishing Drew with the strap. Drew rolled out of the ring, and when Punk paused to get a weapon from under the ring, Drew smacked him and put him on the announce table, looking to put him through it with a Future Shock DDT. But Punk blocked it and Back Body Dropped Drew on the table instead (it didn’t break) and then whipped him some more.

Punk again focused his attention on getting a weapon – a table – from under the ring, but Drew recovered while this was going on, and he smacked Punk again from behind, hitting him with the strap and then with a steel chair before resuming his hard strikes and chops. He continued the assault in the ring, where it was shown that Punk was bleeding from his forehead.

Drew wedged a chair in the corner, and this time it was Punk who caught him moving too slowly, hitting Drew from behind with a knee, and then dragging him to the floor where Punk threw him into the ringpost. Punk then got another table and set that up on the floor. Drew scrambled into the ring and when Punk followed him, he ran right into a Claymore. With Punk dazed, Drew was able to hit three turnbuckles, but Punk stopped him from hitting the fourth, driving Drew into the chair that Drew himself had wedged in the corner earlier.

After a brief exchange, Drew scooped up Punk and simply threw him over the top rope and through the table that Punk had set up earlier. That was brilliantly simple and looked great.

Drew then picked up Punk and carried him on his shoulder, walking to each corner and hitting the turnbuckle. But Punk then hit the corner as well, unbeknownst to Drew. As Drew went to hit the fourth, Punk stopped him. But instead of the cliché where Punk would hit the fourth, he hit Drew instead, and Drew responded in kind, resetting the count for both of them.

Punk locked on a Sharpshooter and Drew tapped out, but submissions, of course, don’t matter in this kind of match.

McIntyre nearly passed out from the pain, and as he slowly recovered, Punk hit three corners. But Drew pulled him away from the fourth and hit a Neckbreaker to reset the count for Punk.

Drew then hit Punk with a huge shot and Punk went down. Drew then pulled out Punk’s bracelet and wore it before hitting Punk with a Claymore. Drew then hit three corners, but Punk yanked the strap and pulled Drew into another GTS. And then hit another for good measure. He hit two corners, then paused to hit Drew with another GTS before hitting the third. And hit one more for good measure before taking back his bracelet back, and hitting the fourth corner to definitively win the match.

After the match, Punk celebrated with the fans, including UFC fighter Oban Elliott who was sitting in the front row.

This was fun fight and seems to firmly close the chapter on this feud with Drew getting his bracelet back and giving Drew his comeuppance once and for all.

Winner: CM Punk

A commercial aired for the upcoming movie Killer’s Game, which stars Dave “Batista” Bautista and Drew McIntyre.

 

Match 4: Terror Twins (Rhea Ripley and Damian Priest) vs. Dominik Mysterio and Liv Morgan

To be clear, the Terror Twins should not be confused with the terrible twin wrestlers Brie and Nikki Bella.

In this match, contact had to be between opponents of the same gender, meaning that any time someone tagged out, their opponents had to tag as well, in order to keep that balance.

Priest and Ripley dominated their respective opponents early on, beating them up with fury. Eventually, though, Liv was able to cause a distraction that allowed Dominik to send Priest hard off the apron and smashing into the ringside barrier. Dom capitalized and started putting the hurt on Priest with big moves in the ring, including a big Tornado DDT. Liv would get in some cheap shots as well when she could – but not as cheap as the shots Michael Cole took against referee Dan Engler in his commentary.

Priest eventually broke free and tagged in Rhea, who hit Liv with all sorts of moves, including a huge Release German Suplex and a big Running Knee. This prompted Dominik to come in and he tried to save Liv by making peace with Rhea, including offering a reconciliatory hug.

But Rhea was having none of that, and she beat the heck out of Dom, including trying to choke him out with a Leggy Neck Clamp.

 

But Liv saved Dominik with a cheap shot on Rhea and nearly got the win after hitting Rhea with a couple of big moves.

The match went back-and-forth for a bit, until finally all four were in the ring and the twins hit Double Razor’s Edges on their opponents. Before Priest could end Dominik for good, the rest of Judgment Day came to the ring and used the numbers game to attack Priest and Rhea behind the referee’s back.

Thanks to this, Dom hit Priest with a 619 and a Frog Splash, but Priest kicked out. After that, Liv hit Rhea with a Flying Dive and tried to end things with ObLIVion, but Rhea kicked out.

More Judgment Day shenanigans ensued until Priest and Rhea took them out of the equation. After that, Priest Chokeslammed Dom on the announce table. Liv was left alone in the ring with nobody to save her from Rhea Ripley, who ended things with Riptide.

This was another fun match and the crowd loved the action and the finish. Look for this one to continue until Rhea wins the title from Liv, which should happen pretty soon, maybe in a Hell in a Cell match down the road?

Winners: Rhea Ripley and Damian Priest

 

Match 5: Randy Orton vs. Gunther (c) – for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship

During Orton’s entrance, Michael Cole said that Orton told him that he would not only win his 15th World Championship, but he would also go on to win a 16th and 17th in the future. Why would Orton already be planning on losing the title? Shouldn’t he have the mindset that he’ll never lose the title? With that kind of defeatist attitude, how’s he going to beat Gunther? Spoiler alert: he won’t.

Ludwig Kaiser interrupted Samantha Irvin’s introduction of Gunther so he could deliver it himself. He got a great ovation from the crowd for doing so, especially when he started off with a few words in German. Gunther, no surprise, was very popular with his home country crowd.

The crowd sang for 30 seconds or more before the two actually made contact. The crowd was so vocal early on that Randy had no choice but to acknowledge them, playing along with their chants and songs and even joining them in the wave. Meantime, Gunther – who, presumably, was the one they were supporting – no-sold the crowd and kept his focus on the match, at least visibly.

After an exchange of takedowns, they had a striking exchange that Gunther won with a huge chop, and Randy rolled to the floor for a breather. There, he threw Gunther into the steel ring steps, hurting Gunther’s shoulder, and then worked over Gunther’s arm, looking to take away a big part of the champ’s arsenal.

Randy dropped Gunther onto the announce table a few times and then rolled him into the ring. There, the affect on Gunther’s arm was noticeable when he didn’t get the impact he wanted on a chop to Orton’s chest. Orton continued to target Gunther’s arm, and Gunther started cradling his bad arm due to the pain.

Gunther, perhaps a bit desperate, tried to power through the pain, hitting a couple of Clotheslines, but they didn’t have the same power as normal, and Orton was able to fire back with a big Powerslam. Orton went for a Draping DDT, but Gunther whiplashed Orton on the top rope. Gunther went up top, but Orton caught him and brought him down with a Superplex, reminiscent of his father, Cowboy Bob’s trademark move.

They exchanged chops and punches, with Gunther’s arm causing him troubles, so he switched to kicks before Orton used a dirty eye poke, with the referee let go without any comment, forcing the commentators to comment that he was exercising his discretion to give them some latitude in following the rules.

Orton went for an RKO, but Gunther countered with a German Suplex, buying him some recovery time. Gunther than hit a Running Dropkick and a Superfly Splash, but Orton kicked out. Gunther went for a Powerbomb, but his arm gave out in the attempt. He was able to hit a Clothesline, and finally did manage a Powerbomb, but Orton kicked out at the last possible moment.

He went for another Powerbomb, but Orton escaped and hit an RKO out of nowhere! 1-2-No! Gunther kicked out, earning a “Holy s—!” chant from the crowd, and some disbelief from Orton.

Moving to Plan B, Orton cleared off the German announce table and set up the ring steps beside the table. Gunther rolled to the floor and Orton dropped him hard onto the ring steps and then smashed Gunther’s weakened arm on the top of them to add to the pain.

Orton then climbed the ring steps that were beside the desk and drove Gunther through the table, but posed for the crowd instead of immediately trying to role Gunther back into the ring for a pinfall attempt. He sloooowly rolled Gunther into the ring, and then went for another RKO, but Gunther shoved him off.

Gunther locked on a Sleeper, but Randy kept trying to break it. Gunther released the hold occasionally to drive some elbows into Orton’s head and neck, but then would lock it on again. Orton kept fighting, but eventually he couldn’t, succumbing to the Sleeper and passing out.

After the match, Gunther offered a handshake to Orton in a show of respect, and Orton obliged. Gunther celebrated to the crowd’s accolades, bringing the show to an end.

This was a different match than most of Gunther’s as he normally isn’t on the receiving end of so much offense. But it was very well done, and the definitive conclusion was the right call, as any controversy would have ruined the moment for the crowd. Gunther is a generational talent, and this will likely be seen as a defining moment in his career when it’s all said and done.

Winner, and still WWE World Heavyweight Champion: Gunther

WWE Bash in Berlin - August 31st, 2024
4.5

Uber Arena - Berlin, Germany

Seemingly concluding many of the compelling ongoing stories with strong in-ring performances – in front of a raucous and appreciative crowd – there really is nothing to bash about Bash in Berlin. This was a good one, and continues the company’s streak of very strong international events.

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