Official 2024 Bash in Berlin Review & Reaction

generally it was a pretty damn good wrestling show. They gave the stories time to breathe, and that's been Triple H's approach for ple since he took the reins, and I think generally it's been pretty damn good. Most of his ples have overachieved, and now we kind of know what we're going to get from him and his administration,

so to speak. As we roll towards Bad Blood, which is October fifth, a month away, and lot to talk about for that pl as we get closer too, as we can see a lot of rivalries coming to a head at that ple given that once Survivors series takes place the following month, and if there's a Crown Jewel that usually resets things for Rumble season believe it or not, Yes, so Sarviber series is of course around the corner. But

Bad Blood is going to wrap up. I think a couple of rivalries, particularly Drew mcintoyre and Seampunk in a likely rubber match, and then we have the Terror twins of Damian pre Sin, Rhea Ripley versus Live Morgan and Dominic Massio, but I think that one may be in a singles competition. As we head towards Bad Blood with likely Damian Priest versus Finn Balor, there's still some unresolved

tension there. I mean, Finn Balor still hasn't gotten his receipt for what he did to Damian Priest at the last plee, costing him the world title, so hopefully they wrapped that up. But Rhea Ripley has got to get her hands on Dominic and as expected, we didn't see any any maneuvers, well offensive maneuvers towards any of the females, while the females are able to do whatever they want against the males because well reasons. So that ultimately wasn't

a surprise. But we look forward to the Bashit or the Bad Blood event that's only a month away. But we're here to talk about bashon Berlin obviously, as it took place last night in Berlin. And let me just say one thing about the crowd, and a lot of you think I'm gonna complain about it, and I probably will. It wasn't as distracting as France. And when I just say distracting, that may many of you may take that

as a compliment, especially if you're over in Germany. Many of you may take that as a compliment because you're loud and and that kind of thing. And it's about the number of decibels. They even have a decibel meter. It's you know, it's a very fulfilling prophecy for WWE who just looks at the noise level and looks at that as a success. But the German crowd outside of there're one chant that they kept cheering. I don't know what it is. I don't know what they were saying.

I don't know what the hell it was. It had obviously nothing to do with wrestling, which you know me, it's I'm not a fan of that. I don't I honestly don't know how you go to an event and have the energy or the will to even chant that long, even if it was something I understood and liked, which is half the problem. But how does anyone go to an event? Maybe this is the United States mentality? Why would you want to go to an event and yell that long and chant the same chant forty seven times over?

And I mean, what exactly is so important that you need to chant the same thing over and over? What was that? And honestly, the answer doesn't really matter because I don't care what it was. I really don't care. It doesn't matter to me. I mean, it could have been anything from we Love Ourselves. It could have translated into we love ourselves, I love me, or the sky is blue, wrestling is cool. I don't care what it was. I don't understand that the will to even want to

do that. But that could be coming from the United States mentality, where I go to an event and I cheer when I feel like it's necessary and that's the way it is. But WWE is taking a global approach here to their business growth, and I understand and appreciate that. But the crowd overall, I think they paid attention to the matches, unlike some previous pls and in countries overseas that have been more about just the noise level. For the sake of noise level, regardless of what's happening in

the ring, we're just gonna talk talk amongst ourselves. This was a little bit more focused. The German crowd is seen to be a little bit more focused on what was going on in w and in the match itselves anyway, So that was good. So, you know, credit to the German crowd. Really mean, you guys brought the energy. I honestly have no idea how you even have that sustained energy that long I have, I don't understand it. But no credit to you guys. Yeah, you definitely made it loud.

So now the other thing is for Germany. Because I said my piece about the crowd, I hope you guys are you know, taking a look at your wallets this morning, because I bet you're a little bit a little bit lighter. Your bank accounts are hurting a little bit more because WWE was very proud of the fact that they were able to announce that Bash in Berlin was the highest grossing arena show in WWE history. In fact, don't hear from me, hear from WWE during the event. Here you go, the highest show.

Damian Priest, We'll get to that in a second. But the crowd, though, cheered for losing their own money, for shelling out the most money of any arena crowd in WWE history, because they had somebody come out I don't know his name and speaking German to say you basically that you guys are the highest grossing out in ww history. Why are they cheering for that? I understand if you're talented talking about attendance records, right, that makes sense. Cool.

I'm part of the biggest crowd ever be here. Why are you in the middle of the show? Also telling the crowd that you are part of the most money we've ever been able to take from fans at a single arena event in our company's history. Thanks for your cash, guys. This essentially what they're saying. That's just no shame. And hey, I've been sitting on this show saying this company is a for profit. They are Their first and foremost priority is to make money, regardless of how people view that.

That is how they survive as this as an organization. But the fact that they don't hide this, I mean, this is stuff that you discuss or release in a press conference or rather an earnings call, I should say, an earnings call quarterly. You don't talk about it in the middle of a show. I mean, no one seems to care. No one's talking about it, no one is making a big deal about it. I'm I personally have no dog in the hunt. I didn't spend a dime

going there. Tickets must have been absolutely insane. If somebody went to the event, I'd love to hear from you over in Germany. I know we got some of you out there that listen in Germany, if you went, or you know someone that went, or you know how much ticket prices were, let me know. I'll translate them into US dollars. Okay, what the hell were they charging over there? Did they charge you for the air to breathe by the minute, did they charge you to go to the bathroom?

I mean, what were they doing? That's that's a that's it is an impressive feed. But from simply a greed standpoint, that's an impressive feed. But if you're part of that the company or part of the fans space sitting there, you must be like, yay, wait, they're talking about how much money they just took from us? Boo. You know, of course everyone there is voluntarily there, no one was forced to be there. But still not something that you

usually hear from a company. You'll hear that in MLB, like sometimes you may hear about the stadium attendance records or consistent sellouts or whatever, and the people cheer for that because oh we're wow, we're a part of this. You know, go go us. But at any event across the world and tell me about football over in you know, in the UK, which is i e. Soccer here in the United States. Whatever. Tell me if they've ever announced. Hey, now, thanks guys, thanks, we just made the most money we've

ever made from a single event. Did the Yay? I don't know. Okay, I'm moving on. I'm moving on to promise some of us say. He spent ten minutes talking about them, you know, not even the show, but talking about a stupid comment made. All right, well, let's move on again. I'll get to the other Cole thing in a minute, which is just it sounds so ridiculous. I'll let you listen to it a minute. I'll have another sound bite for you. But I got to take a breath between my complaints, so I don't get so many

one star reviews. Let's get to it, all right, Let's talk about Kevin Owens Cody Rhoads. They opened the show for the Undisputed Championship, and both competitors got a very positive reaction. There wasn't really a ton of booing. In fact, there wasn't a lot of booing going on at all. There was some some booing, I mean, Dominic Mysterio got some booze, but generally this crowd was so amped up

to be there, they didn't really boo anybody. And I had that feeling they wouldn't do that too much because there's I mean, this is an event that's unprecedented for our you know, a lot of people's lifetimes. A pl coming to Germany is it's you know, what been twenty years whatever. But Michael Cole also pointed out a stat to his credit that it's been seven years since Kevin

Owens has held singles gold in the company. That's wild, also alarming, And if I'm Kevin Owens, I mean, yeah, it's not everything, but you've been a major player in the company for how long and yet they haven't put

gold on you in three quarters of a decade. That's insane. However, Kevin Owens is in the main event here, or excuse me, a main event, even though it opens the show, and the second you saw it open the show for anyone that even had a for those outlier fans that thought they were going to be smarter than everybody else and thought, hey, wait a minute, maybe there's a chance, maybe there's a

chance Kevin Owens could win here. The moment that you saw this match open the show, you must have been like, crap, crap, right, there's no chance opening the show, this match, opening the show, that you're going to have a title change, but that's not the story here, and most people going into this said, Okay, look, Kevin Owens has no chance. Unfortunately, that's been the approach going into almost every Kevin Owens world title especially when he faced Roman Reigns during the early parts of the

early years of his run. The story really was more about is Kevin Owen's going to turn heels? What's up with this leg is? Were we going to see the old Kevin Owens? That's the story. That's what made this match interesting. Yes, both are world class workers. You knew you're gonna get a bustass match. That that, of course is I hate to say a given, but with these

two talents you kind of know it is. But the story was more about the Kevin Owens character than it ever was about match quality or if there's any chance Kevin Owens could win. Those are totally irrelevant in this story. If you were a wrestling fan for any amount of time, so you got a lot of teases throughout this match, just Kevin Owens gonna resort back? Is he going to do the buckle or the ring apron power bomb, and he almost did it to Cody. Is he gonna attack

the knee of Cody? And he did at once he was pushed to do so he did. And you're wondering, after Kevin Owens loses, okay, is he going to turn a heel here stunner? What are we doing? You know? And he didn't. He didn't. Same with Randy Orton, and we'll get to his match with Gunther for the actual Maine event. They didn't do it, and so there's no This kind of continues the trend of ples overseas that have great wrestling but very little story progression like actual turns, returns.

That has not been the approach for a lot of these ples. In France and Germany and Australia, it's been typically just, hey, here's five great matches, give us a boatload of money. You can go enjoy it. But you know what, sometimes watching pro wrestling for just great wrestling matches isn't the worst thing in the world. In fact, I would argue sometimes that's what most of us want. Yes, storytelling overall is important, but sometimes you can have a

story told in the ring. We forget that that Sometimes it's not just about the over arching story, but also what's happening in the ring, allowing the wrestlers to do what they do best, and that's what we get under the Triple H regime thus far, specifically for these overseas events. And now it looks like the next event is solo Soca versus maybe Roman reigns versus Cody in a three way, or it could be just be Solo versus Cody, or it could just be Solo versus Roman in some way.

Bad Blood's going to be a bigger event in a lot of ways than Bash in Berlin was, And there's a lot more to be told with this bloodline story, and I think it's going to be obviously much bigger event when if you're looking for progression and story returns, big moments, that thing, that kind of stuff you're looking at.

Bad Bad Blood, one that I a pl that I hold near and dear to my heart from nineteen ninety seven has a knew many I know many of you who have been long time per wrestling WWE specific fans, But okay, talk about Rhea Ripley dom Live priest. All right, this matchup was I thought really good, but before the match, I am a. You know what, I have learned to like Michael Cole and actually appreciate him more than I

think a lot of us have. Coming off the Jim Ross era, he was a he was villainized because he didn't sound like Jim Ross. Jim Ross is to me the best announcer of all times, across all generations. Gordon Solely, Tony Schavani, the you know whoever, pick whoever, even Taz, who I really really like as an announcer, Cole, whoever? Right, I think you have Michael Cole put in an unfair position coming off of a legendary run to Michael Cole.

And I've learned to really appreciate his work over the years, and he seems like a genuinely good guy, and I don't don't get on him too much, all right, And this is not something I don't know if I'm really gonna take issue with him or what he's just really told to do, right, what he's told to do is what he's told to do. And Michael Cole didn't exactly deliver this next segment on the show with particular fluidity or as a natural delivery, shall we say, If you

can't tell that this next segment is being read. I just I don't know what to tell you, So just take a listen to this. Can you honestly say with the straight face, this sounds like it's somebody actually speaking to you. Does this sound like somebody how they normally would talk. Just take a listen and I'll have some comments on it.

in the way. To bring upon this they have.

And maybe he was told verbatim, you gotta read this, or Cole said, screw it, I don't have time to add lib let's just read what's on the paper. I'm not gonna paraphrase. I'm just gonna read it word for word. Like, listen to that. I mean, just I know again some of you don't care. Just get on with the show here, but I wanted to point it out. When I'm listening to this, I go, this is horrible. How could anyone even remotely get excited for the match by Cole reading this?

It was just how the how creative wanted the crowd to perceive this, Like, I don't know, so just go back and listen to it. It's horrible. I'm not I don't know if I'm really blaming Cole. Maybe he was told to read this verbatim, but it was as dry and inorganic and just red. It's like somebody doing a presentation reading the PowerPoint presentation. That's what it felt like.

Instead of just in your own words, you pay much more attention when you feel like someone's actually talking to you, and instead it's just like, hey, I'm just gonna read every word on the PowerPoint. I mean that's what it felt like. So anyway, moving on, the match I thought was as expected. It went exactly as expected, and that's a compliment to this match. The story going in was as hot as WWE's had, one of the hottest stories

they've had. Rie Ripley did her part. She got she you know, was positioned several times throughout the match to get the hot tag. She's the one that you want to see get her hands on Dom give him some payback. There were some moments when you thought liv might actually get the victory here, and I think that there were moments of doubt that they planted in you that we were done very well. And yes, Live had a weird

oblivion that was I don't know what it was. Even Michael Cole said, I'm not sure what the hell that was. In so many words, he goes, I'm not sure what that was because it was just, yeah, it was a little bit of a botch. It's fine, it happens, but it was one that you're you're thinking Okay, finally they're going to get what's coming to them. And then here comes here comes j D. McDonald, here comes Finn Balor,

and they got to you know, beaten down a little bit. Ultimately, though, the Terror Twins get the victory with Riptide on Live Morgan, ripped tied on Live Morgan, and that's not what you want to see though, So you didn't get the real payoff. You didn't get ripped tied on Dom, and you didn't get South of Heaven on Finn. Those are the two pairings that you're waiting to see, which tells you this match is not over or this feud is not over. And Bad Blood, even the name of the event screams

that this rivalry is not over. There's bad blood between these all these individuals. So you're looking you can easily look forward to and I am there conclusion to this rivalry at Bad Blood and we'll see Ria get her hands on Dom. Now to that point, Rhea did what

she exactly. You know, we kind of knew she was gonna do, and she got to play with the big boys and even had a little offense on Carlito when he came out to help the judgment day with interference and realiabily attack Dom a few times, of course, with absolutely no offense on Dom side. I'll continue to say it. I know you're tired of me saying it, but I keep seeing it, and I'm not just gonna normalize it,

because that's I think something that I'm not. I'm just I'm just not gonna do fuse to adhere to this renormalization that men can just be attacked by women in pro wrestling, and the men just how are supposed to take it. And so that's what we continue to see, which is ridiculous but real. Ripley's Mega over priest has done a nice job transitioning to a babyface role. I

think those two work very well together. They got a nice victory over the Judgment Day, and I think we'll see a little bit of heat back on the Judgment Day on Monday Night Raw. So all right, one last thing I want to mention about Cody and Ko though I forgot to say, and this really goes though for one of the themes of the whole event in Bash, the over use of kickouts of finishes. We need to do something about this. I don't, I mean, I say we

I don't know who the we is. I guess the we are the people that are the ones who actually can make that change, which are the wrestlers themselves who have a little bit of autonomy over their matches, but also the agents, the ones putting the matches together, not even creative, creative of the ones that just give you general direction maybe how someone's going to win, but they don't really do all the intricacies of the in between of the actual match itself. So the agents and the

wrestlers themselves, I guess are the wei. But this re education that pro wrestling needs to have in order to have a great match, you need to have kickouts of finishes and kickouts of finishes, and how many crossroads did we get? I mean, and why would you want to

finish that is in a finish? This isn't just Ko and and and Cody Rhodes, of course, they had that happened several times, specifically the crossroads that just continues to be an egregiously terrible finish, and not just terrible because it looks bad, but also because it's constantly kicked out

of one never does the job. And so yeah, that and the other moment that tends to rear its head during these long form matches, and this happened in both world title matches, the World title itself and the Unisputed Title.

About three quarters through the match, when both men are exhausted, they've each had their hope spots, they've each had their comebacks, you get this moment when they're like they've both kind of had a stalemate and they're staring at each other, and they'd both just restart again punching each other in the head. Sammy's a and Ko used to do this many many times. Orton and Gunther did this, and so

did Cody Roads and Kevin Owens. And I understand, it's just, you know, all we're stalemate, and we've thrown everything at each other and we were still both standing, and now we're gonna throw these punches that have absolutely no effect on each other as a visual aid to show you how determined we are and how closely matched we are. It's essentially what they're doing. And I understand the visual and I can appreciate it to a certain level, but

the fact that both matches had it was noteworthy. I'll just leave it at that. But I just wanted to the re education to finishes. We need to do something. It's getting worse. And what I mean by worse is it's gonna it's taking more finishes to finish matches, even protected finishes like the RKO, really protective finishes like the RKO are being kicked out of now nothing and no

move is safe anymore. And there needs to be a different way to create drama other than forty eight finishers being implemented in a match, because it also takes the drama out of a finish. Why because the second a fan sees a finish, especially at a ple e which everyone has their superpower turned on and can suddenly kick out a finishes when on televised regular TV shows they

can't like will O' SmackDown. But again, it takes the drama out of it because the fans are sitting there at a pl e going, well, it's gonna take minimum three finishes here, There's no way it's gonna take one or two. So I mean, you see a finish, you're like, all right, well, we're getting closer to the end of the match. You know, it's never oh my god, that could actually be it. And they're taking away what a purpose?

What the purpose of an actual finish is supposed to mean when you see it get implemented in a match, they're taking that drama away from it. You're you're thinking, like three finishes is equal to one. It's the ratio is now three to one. What three finishes getting hit today mean is what twenty years ago, even fifteen twenty years ago getting hit with one finish meant. So it's been diminished by a factor of three. So I mean,

that's not exactly super statistical or scientific. I should say I haven't done a study on it, but I would say that's about right. So I just I'm not a fan of the constant kickouts of finishes and the reliance at the end of matches to make it dramatic by hitting finishes that need to be hit multiple times that

fans no need to be hit multiple times. In fact, I think it would be even more shocking now if one finish in a match finished the damn match at a big in a big moment, in a big spot, on a big pl e. Do I think that's ever gonna happen again? Probably not. We've moved too far away from it. So I just wanted to point that out maybe someone can totally disagree. Did this ultimately hurt the Ko and Cody Roads match? I mean a little bit, because the Roads finish is just so awful, awful looking

and weak. I mean what he hit six or seven times? The stunner was hit twice. I think Cody Roads kicked out of it twice. But I digress. So let's go to the women's tag team title match Alba Fire elid On versus Jay Cargill and Bianca Bellair. Now, I still don't like the constant and need to have coordinated moves and stuff that Jade and Bianca do. And you' all know Jade is going to get the hot tag. It's because they're there. She's the star that they're trying to build.

And yes, my constant complaints of Bianca Belair twirling her hair down to the ring and skipping as continues to remain, I don't, you know, reneg on that at all. I double down on that. But I actually thought for Jade this match was pretty good. She had some some moments that were almost botches, especially specifically the finish at the end of the match when they have their you know, kind of triple maneuver that ends in a German suplex

kind of finish. I forget the name of it. I apologize there was almost a botch there, but she is so strong that she was able to make sure that move went off without too much of a hitch, and they end up winning the tag team titles, a move that many fans expected, but I think it's the correct move. Alba Fire and Iil the Dawn weren't exactly setting the

world on fire. That was lame, but there was a need for a change because the bigger story I think they're trying to build to is the final split with Jade and Bianca, and whenever these two do split, could they split quietly? They could? They could, but I think it's built to have these two split and eventually feud, and it could happen at WrestleMania. Maybe that's what they're eyeing.

Maybe they feel confident enough now between now in the middle of April that they're saying, hey, there's a chance here,

there's a chance. And I think that we feel confident now that Jade is in a position in the next six months seven months that she'll be in a place where she could have a one on one with Bianca, who is one of the best that the company has, so I think that that's something that something that they they are probably eyeing in my mind, but I mean I could be totally wrong, but that's how I view it. So the match, though, was fine. I mean, albi faire alida on now the fans, if it weren't for the

Berlin fans. I mean, there's not a whole lot of usual reaction for the Unholy Union. They haven't really been established too much and you know, in terms of depth of character, so we kind of know that though they're Unholy Okay, are they demonic? Do they you know, are they Satanists? What are they? And you know, you get the occasional quick promo from them backstage, but not a lot of fans are attached to them because we don't know a whole lot about them, and you know, outside

of we love pentagrams is essentially what they do. Then I haven't said that, but every time you see there any any kind of symbology, symbolism rather with them, it's pentagrams. Take that for what you will. But with Jade and Bianca Jada, she was smoother in this match. For me, I'm looking for consistent improvement. I'm looking for a steady rise, not a meteoric rise, not up and down, up and down,

up and down, but just kind of a steady little bump. Okay, but we're still going up, a little bump, but we're still going up, right, That's what I'm looking for from Jade, And I think overall I've gotten it. I know there's some emailers and listeners of the show that I feel differently, and they look at Jade and are unimpressed and are tired of their board with this, this union of Jade and Bianca, and I totally get it to some degree.

They're very formulaic. They're very rehearsed, are they not? You know, they're they're very uh you know, just they're they're two in two in sync, and I think that does take away from the organic feel of these two. They're they're so like they are there. They're rehearsed with all of their pre uh you know, the their their mannerisms and things, and they're they're that is something I agree, it is.

It's not it's boring, it's annoying. But if they get away from that and just try to base their base that this team and something more real get away from all the rehearse poses and things they do and sayings and all this and phrases. I think that the fans may organically start to come back to them. I think Bianca has been in the shadows with this whole company for too long now. I think Beyonca needs to come back into the limelight. And I think that's going to

happen when these two finally split. I think you could have a Bianca turn, you could have a Jade turn, and I think we're looking at probably three four months from now that that'll happen. But they have the women's tag team titles. Fine. I mean they're the most dominant team that the women's tag team division. And that's not saying much that, but that's true that they've ever had.

There's not a team in the company right now that really is has a chance on paper, all right, Drew McIntyre and see them punk the Strap match, brutal, brutal, and this was not I this also was not immune from the insane amount of finishes. I really I think the the GTS might have been used more than even the Crossroads was. I think the GTS was like six or seven maybe Cody roads was like four or so, so the GTS was hit and drew just a crazy

amount of times. But this match wasn't about pinning or submitting. It was just about hitting four turnbuckles. And you have to really in this kind of match, no matter how talented the people are in the ring, you have to suspend your disbelief even deeper than just the standard match, because you're supposed to believe that these ultra athletic athletes aren't able to hit four corners in succession when their

opponent is down. I mean, if they really wanted to, these these men are so athletic, they could have done it in about four seconds, but we have to go through the drama of well, they're just so exhausted that they can't make it to the next Again, I'm not trying to tear this match down. These men did an awesome job. I really enjoyed this match, but it's just as a pro wrestling fan, it's just another level of disbelief you have to kind of, you know, inherently absorb

before you go into this match. There's not a lot of them, I mean, strat matches are few and far between, but ultimately I think they did a really good job. The storytelling was good. The pacing of the match was slow at times, but it was fun. You had Ceampunk getting his bracelet back. There were times when you thought Drew would win clay More's there were two of them, three of them at most, and you had the announcers telling the story of Punk is his only worst enemy.

That's what cost him his match last month. And that's true because there were moments when Punk had the match one and he decided to go back and he almost cost himself again, and he you know, went to a turnbuckle, hit a GTS, went to another turn buckle, hit the GTS, and you know, ultimately he ends up getting the victory after hitting the fourth turn buckle. And this match was brutal. I mean, they worked their asses off. It's good to see that Punk didn't get hurt. That's always a concern

every time he works. And it's the first victory he's had, as Michael Cole stated, in ten and a half years in WWE. That's significant, which is really mind blowing that it's been since twenty fourteen that Punk has had a victory in WWE. Crazy, but I appreciate those kinds of stats. Stats that most people aren't thinking about, and the match I think delivered, the match delivered, and one that I think again is not done as each man has a victory and it'll conclude inside I believe inside Hell and

a Cell. This is out of all the rivalries. Yes, you could even say Solo and Roman, but that matchup has been put on the shelf for a little while now, and what's been going on longer and burning hotter is Steampunk and Drew McIntyre that I think they are destined for a Hell in a Cell match. That's if I was to put a Hell in a Cell match at Bad Blood, which I do think there should be one. The Punk and Drew rivalry is worthy of the cell.

That's the key. So when I say there should be a cell match, it's not just because it's bad Blood, although there is a little bit of me thinking that I assimilate bad Blood in Hell and a Cell. But the more important question is is a match or a program worthy of it? Not just we're going to put one there and whoever happens to be the most qualified gets one. To me, it's this program's deserving of one, and I think that I think I hope they'll they'll give the one, and yeah, it could be wrong. They

could go solo. If they're gonna do a Hell and us hell, I guess they could do a different program. But this is the one to do it for me. But I give it, you know, I give this match like an eight out of ten. I really enjoyed it. Both men, as I said, worked really hard. Physical. That leather strap must be brutal. I can't imagine the welts that are on their backs and stomachs and bodies this morning. It's got to be just painful as hell. But they

told the story. They told it well. They worked at a pace that Punk can work at at his age. And the bracelet. It was all a lot of it was about that bracelet man. And now Punk has the bracelet back, so there's that, you know. And the lights I do appreciate, you know, the lights that kind of are are indicative of how many in a row they've gotten and what their progress is. That's I think important. That was implemented. I forget the last time it was.

But you know, I've seen stram matches in Texas, bull rope matches that they aren't implemented. And you have to just kind of remember where they're at. I mean, I remember watching some of the two thousands with Eddie Guerrero, and you just you have to remember, oh wait, did hit that turmb brokele? That turmb brokele. So the visual of seeing which turnbuckles they've hit is a nice touch. And each man is assigned to color. So I do

like that too. The visual presentation for a STRAT match has been upgraded, you know, in the last several years. This isn't the first one to have the lights, but so I enjoyed it. I enjoyed the punk and true. So there's some positivity for you for all the stuff that didn't not that I took issue with all the weird stuff right that no one's thinking about. And he's you guys are probably like, why is he spending so

much time on this weird stuff? Now my brain, I guess is for better or worse works differently than a lot of fans. But let's get to the main event here, Gunther and Randy Orton. Andy Orton comes out and gets a very positive reaction. And I had said, even though Randy Orton acknowledge he's going into enemy territory and figured he might get booed. I didn't think he would because

the fans are so excited to see him. The last time Randy Orton competed a ple e in Germany, I mean, I don't think he ever has he ever maybe I don't know, So they were just so excited to see him. He's a legendary star. He's still at the top of his game, which is incredible. Guntherer You knew he was going to get a positive reaction because it's close to his home country, and he did. Both men I think

got equally close to equally positive reactions. The fans were just there to have a good time and cheer for both men, and that's what they got. And the pacing of this match was slow in the ways that Drew and Punk were, but the story told was here was really good. With the arm of Gunther and not being able to power bomb Randy Orton, Orton eventually hit a RKO, and again with that being one of the few protected finishes, you're thinking, hey, maybe maybe one two kickout, so nobody

was immune. It is an equal opportunity kickout. Of all finishes last night, no finish was safe, but it was a fun finish with Gunther not using his power bomb or any other any other maneuver other than a sleeper. I love that stuff. It's a smart finish, a smart finish on several levels. Let's go through them, gun Through retaining very smart, Randy Orton winning for what another number to get closer to John Cena slash Ric Flair's record. So that's that should not be at the top of

the ww's list. Plus Gunther already won it or run it recently. You're not going to have him drop the belt. Now, that'd be absurd, even to a guy like Randy or who is a legend in the business. And so that was number one. Gun They're retaining good stuff. Number two.

How he won was super important here. You didn't want another question mark or asterisk next to this victory that Gunther collected on Randy like he did at King of the Ring when shoulder the shoulders of Randy Orton were clearly up and they brought it into storyline and it was it was a stain on Gunther's record, and Gunther won fair and square. So they redeemed guntherro And you

want that for gun Through. You a guy that they're helping or hoping is one of the building blocks of the future, and not just a future main eventor but a future Hall of Famer. At this point, he already is a main eventor so a next Hall of Famers, the next big, big stage he could get to. That's what they're hoping. And you can only do that if you you got to give him real victories at some point, and it was very important that Gunther win clean, and

he did. Number Three, The fact that you can use just average quote unquote moves in a match to finish a match makes total sense logically. Now, I know that wrestlers have quote unquote finishers, and that finishers are assigned or I guess, chosen by the wrestlers to end their match, and it's exciting and you know, oh my god, this could be it. But once in a while it makes sense that you have a regular maneuver and the match. Putting somebody in a sleeper hole in real life would

actually make them pass out. And Gunther has the size and strength and believability to actually make Randy Orton pass out. And he kept hanging on and kept hanging on and kept hanging on, and Randy Orton passed out. They could do this every once in a while too. It'd be nice if they did this a little bit more often with oh, I don't know, the effing super kick that has been I guess defined down to a wrist lock.

I mean, that's essentially what it means now. But it's nice to see when moves that aren't typically viewed as finishers are used as finishers. And also number four did protect Randy. Where Randy wasn't pinned, he didn't submit, he just passed out. That's a classic maneuver to protect a baby face. And I have no problem protecting Randy, not that his character needs protecting in the sense that, oh my god, his legacy. You know, I'm using all these puns.

I don't mean to be, but that could be it, you know, or rather, Randy Orton looks like he's on the decline. You know, he he just got he's doing jobs. No, he didn't. He didn't get pin he didn't submit, he just passed out. That's a nice out for Randy if you're trying to make him a serious opponent for maybe maybe Cody Rhodes, which I am really really hoping we get a Cody Rhodes and Randy Orton match. Up maybe as soon as Bad Blood. Could they do that in

four weeks? For me, this is even Rumble or Mania level worthy. I would much rather see a Randy Orton and Cody Rroad's main event for WrestleMania than it would Cody Roads on the Rock, and simply because I don't want to see Cody Roads beat the Rock because you know they would. But with Randy Orton, there's a hell of a story there. And if he's protected in this match to where you could say, well, he never was

pinned or submitted. Yeah he lost, but he didn't actually lose in a way that would damage him for being able to say he earns it, he should get a title shot. And also with Cody Roads just giving away title basically begging people, he had to beg Kevin Owens for a title shot, which is ridiculous. Why isn't Randy Orton, you know, qualified for that? I mean there is no reason he should be. So it could be a way again that they were just trying to protect Randy because

they know he's about to turn. He's about to turn, and he's gonna turn on Cody, and I would, I mean, give me a heel Randy Man give me a heel, Randy, and they might not do it because SmackDown is a bit short on the babyface side, or rather, no, I shouldn't say that with Roman back. Excuse me, Roman back. Cody's there both mega babyfaces. You have Kevin Owens apparently still a babyface. Randy Orton is the perfect candidate to turn. He feels way more natural as a anyway. I don't

like when he panders to the crowd. It's weird. Last week on SmackDown with him like two weeks ago and SmackDown pandering to the crowd, thanking them all this stuff. He should turn on Cody, give us a bad blood main event. There's bad blood between them. He even hinted at it about a month ago, right, remember the ww underspeeded title sitting between them backstage in the locker room, and there was a hint that he could eventually come for him. I think it's a perfect time to strike.

Why not get Cody also out of the bloodline stuff. I know that Solo said he's next in line, but I think Roman has something to say about it. Maybe the match between them will be a number one contenders, or that'll just be a grudge match between Roman and Solo that has to take place at Bad Blood. You know, I don't even want Cody involved. Get Cody added the bloodline for God's sakes. I mean, we've seen it enough. But to me, I don't know, what do you guys think.

Do you guys want Cody and Randy? Boy, that'd be to me, it's the prime opportunity. It's if you don't want it for WrestleMania, now's the time because once you get into WrestleMania season, which only is a few months away, believe it or not, as Survivors Series starts to plant the seeds and then a month or two later you're into Rumble and bam you're there. So it may not

be a bad time for Randy and Cody roads. Also, it would turn Randy into a heel, which not only is it better for SmackDown in balance of heels and babyfaces, they need a heel actually not a babyface, and they need a good experience heel and Randy Orton can provide that. But also it would set the stage for a John Cena return on January first. You could have a long run with Randy as a heel most of his career.

I believe has been as a heel. To me, the most successful parts of his career has been has Ben as a heel or have Ben as a heel? And then you could have eventually a John Cena Randy Orton matchup before John Cena hangs up his boots in December of twenty twenty five. So it really I think serves multiple purposes to have Randy turn. So when does that happen? Is it soon as SmackDown could be? I will say if Randy Orton is not injected into the title situation

over on SmackDown on Friday, this coming SmackDown? Is it Denver, Colorado? I think it's in Denver. Then you know, maybe he is going to go for Solo versus Cody versus Roman or some kind of combination thereof. But Solo and Roman need to battle themselves out here. They're the story that you want to see. Cody, I think would be a distraction even though he's the champion now. Randy Orton is not,

hopefully not coming back to Raw. He was on Raw facing Gunther here with again no explanation of than they needed a main event. But he comes back to his home base and SmackDown, and I think this Friday we could see could see hints of it, if not a full blown tern by Randy. So all right, well, I

think that'll do it for me here on the show. Now, I do want to give a shout out to some a new patron here, and we have a new patron that joined us over the weekend here and over for the bash in Berlin event as some of you did. I saw some of you. I watch a little bit of the community tab there and saw some of your chats and saw some of the Discord server. You guys are a lot of fun to watch, which, by the way,

is exclusive to patrons. If you want to join the Patreon side of things, it's patreon dot com slash WWE podcast we want to go AD free. You can also check out Apple Podcasts and go add free there. Spotify has an ad free option, but for the ad free version, or rather the new patron w I'll just I don't know, Ontario, Ontario, w thank you for joining us, and I don't I think I already mentioned it. Yeah, I already mentioned that person. I can't pronounce the name, that's how I know. So Ontario,

thank you for joining us. Over on Patreon. I hope you enjoy your AD free. I know a lot of you do, because there's nothing like listen to a podcast you don't have to worry about like, oh crap, here comes the AD. You can feel it come and it's been about nine minutes. Here it comes, and you don't have to worry about that. You don't have to worry about that. Over a Patreon, you don't have to worry

about that. Over on our website WWE podcast dot com, you can go ahead for you there, or you can go as I said, to Apple or Spotify Great places if you want a totally streamlined experience. So all right, well that'll do it for this official WE podcast Bert Bash and Berlin Review. I know I went off some tangents here and talked about things that's most are I'm talking about with some little nitpicks, but overall I would give the event a B B plus when it comes

to pure wrestling. If that was your xbaation, you got it and hoped those of you in Berlin didn't go into debt too badly in order to you know, if you finance your tickets to go to this event, you know you may have probably overspent. But I understand it. You know, they don't come off And I probably would do the same thing too. I'm sitting here like a hypocrite, but I probably would too. If I was starved for

a pl I'd go to. And the ww knew that they knew they had pent up demand, they knew they had a fan base that was rabid, and they knew that they could squeeze all the money out of them that they could. And what do you think, Oh my god, imagine this one last thing, but the UK rumored to hold WrestleMania forty two this year obviously's in Vegas and WrestleMania forty one. With the UK rumored to hold WrestleMania

forty two, imagine the ticket prices in the UK. Oh my god, you guys might want to start a separate savings account now, like eighteen months in advance. Just start putting little money away now, those of you in the UK, because you're gonna need it. You're gonna need it. And there's reasons they do that. They know they can get away with it, they know the fans are willing to spend it. But also it's more expensive for the company

to go over there. A lot more expensive for them to travel there, bring their all their equipment, all their supplies, and obviously the hotels, and there's a lot more that goes into the travel overseas than just you know, domestically here in the US. But anyway, thanks so much everybody for listening. I appreciate it. If you like us, give us a five star rating on Apple Podcasts. I would

appreciate it, I really do. And go follow us on x at Wrestling Underscore Audio or just search the WWE podcast on Twitter or x whatever you still call it, and I'll be back tomorrow. I might be dropping a new episode of my other podcast tomorrow. It's called The War on Truth, not wrestling related. I always want to have that little disclaimer. It's a not a wrestling related show. It's culture and politics. You can search for that really anywhere podcasts are available. My show is the one with

the laptop, not the other one. I like to point that out because people have asked me I'm the one with the laptop. I have three or four episodes that I've dropped, and maybe i'll drop one tomorrow on top of a nostalgia that I'll pull out of the vault and drop for you guys here on the ww podcast and then I'll be back Tuesday with the raw review. So thanks so much everybody. I really appreciate it and take care.