WWE Bash in Berlin review: The Ring General stands tall

Gunther is probably going to be World Champion for a long, long time.

The Ring General righted a wrong on Saturday morning by defeating Randy Orton in what ended up being a methodically sound, terrific main event. If you wanted a brutal Gunther match, you got it, as he laid in Orton with chops and kicks. Orton, one of the best mechanical wrestlers WWE has, more than held his own and took Gunther’s punishment. In the end, while he battled out of the sleeper once, he couldn’t do it again, ultimately passing out to end a fantastic main event.

One thing I appreciate about WWE nowadays is that instead of just shrugging and moving on, they took something that happened in real life (Orton’s shoulders were up in their King of the Ring match a few months ago) and made it into a storyline where Gunther, the new face of Raw and World Heavyweight Champion, took on a decorated veteran.

The long-term storyline involving Gunther isn’t as clear as others in WWE, but one thing is for sure: he’s likely to be champion for a long time and given his recent performances, there’s no reason not to go with him. In the short term, based on post-match interviews, it seems like CM Punk is looking at challenging Gunther next. Good luck!

Here’s the rest of my thoughts on Bash in Berlin, a very good show thanks to two excellent title matches:

• The opening match had Cody Rhodes retain the WWE Championship by defeating Kevin Owens in what ended up being a fantastic match thanks to the Berlin crowd, which was hot all night for everything. The work here was really good, but the crowd made it so much better, especially in the final moments of the match. You can have the best match in the world but if people aren’t reacting, no one’s going to remember or care. Next up for Cody is…probably Solo Sikoa again from what it sounds like. I’m not particularly excited about that one given their SummerSlam match, but maybe a stipulation match would make things more interesting? Hell in a Cell?
• What I got from the WWE Women’s Tag Team title match wasn’t so much the match, which was fine aside from some sloppy moments. What I realized is while Jade Cargill and Bianca Belair are teaming up now, they probably aren’t going to be for the long run. Bianca sold and sold and sold, and announcers put over that it was Jade, the star, that turned the match around for them, winning the titles from Alba Fyre and Isla Dawn. It is clear WWE sees Cargill as something special, and I feel it’s only a matter of time before a turn goes down and these two face off.
• Here’s the thing about the strap match. This was pretty good as a whole. The crowd was into it, and the finish was pretty strong. Here is what annoys me: this was a strap match, right? They are tethered together. The strap hurts, and since this is a strap match, this can be a weapon, right? Well, that worked for the first few minutes, as Drew used the strap to batter Punk. Then McIntyre introduced a chair. Why? Then CM Punk took out a table. Why? Why does every stipulation match in the year of our lord 2024 need tables and chairs and other plunder? There is a strap RIGHT THERE. It is ATTACHED TO YOU. USE IT! IT HURTS! Ok, I got that out of my system. This was good but man sometimes some of the psychology involved in these kinds of stipulation matches are just not sound at all.
• Rhea Ripley and Damian Priest got their measure of revenge, defeating Liv Morgan and Dominik Mysterio despite the interference from the rest of Judgement Day. This was pretty good, the crowd was hot for everything. Seems like a given that the programs taking place this fall on Raw will be Rhea Ripley looking to get the Women’s World title back from Rhea and Damian Priest seeking a match against Finn Balor.

And that will do it for Bash in Berlin, a good show overall with two great title matches. Up next is October’s Bad Blood. The fall season for WWE begins now.