WWE Bash in Berlin 2024: Recap, Hits & Misses

Another Saturday morning/afternoon in America and another WWE international PLE, this time live from Germany, including several big-league feuds led by two world title matches representing both the RED and BLUE brands. Bash in Berlin marks the fifth different international territory to host a PLE for WWE this year, including Canada’s MITB (they also hosted an NXT event: HEATWAVE), but they did not include the Saudi show. Other than the two title matches on the card, both of which benefitted from the go-home episodes of RAW and SmackDown, the big mixed tag match is the culmination of several months of the hottest feud in WWE.

Gunther (c) vs. Randy Orton (WWE Heavyweight Championship) The Main Event

It might have been a miscalculation on the part of WWE, but when Gunther and Randy Orton shared the ring nothing to that point felt bigger, and it was hard to imagine anything left on the card feeling more important. The kayfabe hometown champion, Gunther, is actually of Austrian descent and was born in Vienna, but he has proudly portrayed his character’s heritage, and the German crowd rewarded him with stout loyalty. Both superstars slowly played the beginning of the match—a move typically used when the crowd is so hot that starting too fast could be detrimental to the storytelling—but once it got going, you knew it would be special.

Gunther attempted to utilize the technical superiority he enjoys against most opponents while Orton leaned on his veteran abilities and experience. Randy was calculating and methodical, fighting the perfect fight under the bright lights and not allowing the moment to overwhelm his performance. Gunther utilized the crowd consistently in the match to gain and regain momentum.

The crowd started chanting, “This is awesome,” and rightfully so, as Gunther mustard the strength to land a powerbomb, but it resulted in only a near-fall. As Gunther attempted a second powerbomb, he couldn’t get the challenger up high enough, and that allowed Randy the slight opening to counter into an RKO for yet another near-fall. Orton began setting up the commentary desk for a big spot that included the steel stairs. Gunther was dazed. In fact, he inadvertently broke the ref’s count at a time when Randy was setting up, costing him the chance to retain via count out. Still, Gunther was able to rest, but it didn’t matter much when Orton dropped the champ through the table from the stairs. Gunther eventually turned the tables to sink in a sleeper hold, and even when Randy attempted a rollout, the champ was able to transition the headlock to keep the hold before establishing the sleeper.

Randy fought like the dickens but went to sleep like many past Gunther opponents. This win was decisive, especially compared to his KOTR win, but he still has not pinned Orton for whatever that is worth. With family and friends in attendance for his adopted hometown showing in front of 13,000 strong was plenty of reason to be proud, but nothing will overshadow the moment for Gunther when Orton shook his hand after the match, cosigning the future of WWE. It is undeniable that Gunther is a star headed for brighter orbits.

Hits:

• Best match on the card
• A psychological masterpiece
• Not pinning Orton leaves this great rivalry open for another run, and keeping Orton unpinned by Gunther leaves room for Orton to get his revenge
• NO INTERFERENCE!!! MORE OF THIS, PLEASE!
• Gunther addressed the crowd in German, and he received the kind of tremendous ovation that made this whole match hit different. This felt HUGE, and it felt like ‘the Universe’ as a whole felt it.
• Cole set the tone for the importance of the main event, commenting on his ‘goosebumps’ from calling an Orton match of such importance and clearly holding back some emotion. The problem is that breaking the ‘journalistic continuity’ by acting out in the mixed tag match makes it hard to reset the tone for moments like these.

Miss:

• The table spot should have been a DQ, and Cole did a great job of saving ref Charles Robinson by claiming he was ‘letting these two fight’ because the crowd deserved a conclusive winner. It was a great save, but the spot probably made zero sense to the live crowd and those not paying attention to commentary. The fact that it was a planned spot on Orton’s part means the match should have ended.

Terror Twins* (Rhea Ripley and Damian Priest) vs. Judgement Day’s “Dirty Dom” Mysterio and Liv Morgan (c)

Michael Cole was the epitome of objective journalism in this one… sike; he actively trolled Dom and Liv prior to the match. Imagine Joe Rogan yelling at “Sugar” Sean O’Malley to ‘get in the cage’ (and accusing him of ‘being scared’), that is the kind of blatant bias Cole displayed at the start of this match, which was on point for how this program has been booked. The German crowd delivered white-hot heat to Dom throughout the match, and it is hard to argue that anyone in this feud was more over than Dom. Despite not having a title on the line, this felt like a big match, and that fact was directly related to the fan participation.

Rhea’s hot tag amped the match up another notch if that was possible, and it led to the first genuine tease of Rhea getting her hands on Dom, something the WWE universe has been waiting to see. Liv tried to intervene, but a sharp elbow to the face quickly shut her down as the attention was only briefly taken from Dom. Then, Rhea brought Dom in for a stiff ‘Lariat’ before putting him in a reverse triangle choke in the corner turnbuckle. Liv regained consciousness long enough to break up the illegal submission, but the crowd nearly broke the ‘Live & Loud’ meter that measures dBA (maybe), getting the numbers up to as high as 112.

Rhea took Liv out and then set Dom up for the ‘Rip Tide,’ and she managed to get him up before Liv, the legal competitor at the time, was able to take control of the action. We got to the portion of the match where the Terror Twins* stood center ring with their opponents’ backs on the mat, and that is when the former JD members landed a Razor’s Edge on both Liv and Dom. It felt like the match was in hand, but that is when Judgment Day interfered to even the odds by taking advantage of the numbers game—HEEL MATH, I don’t get it (but maybe Scott Steiner does?).

Dom landed a 619 and subsequent ‘Frog Splash’ for the near fall, but Priest finally had his chance to get revenge on the faction that turned their back on him at Summer Slam. Priest set up Balor for the table choke slam, but it instead led to Dom getting railroaded with a clothesline. That left the door open for Rhea to land the Rip Tide on Liv for the win.

Hits:

• We got the revenge we waited to see, and it was an image that will last forever
• The match used the perfect amount of comedy.
• Dom’s La Parka-inspired gear was dope
• The crowd was so white-hot it would have been tough to have a bad match. It’s a good thing it played into the live crowd very well.

Misses:

• The match hit its crescendo and the crowd helped to elevate it, but the JD interference booking brought it back to RAW territory. Bookers could have been a bit more creative.
• Terror Twins is the worst name ever. It is not even lame-cool. It is just nonsensical.

Cody Rhodes (c) vs. Kevin Owens (WWE World Championship)

It was a solid match, and its place on the card was apropos, but it never felt like a big-time ‘title’ match. The feud never got past KO’s reluctance as the challenger, and it came off too baby face. They worked a tight match, but the crux of it came down to KO NOT using his apron popup powerbomb that was a staple of his move repertoire since debuting— he even used the move in his very emotional heel turn on Sami Zayn in NXT. The idea was terrific, but it felt similar to the ‘Tiger Driver’ angle that AEW’s MJF and Will Ospreay successfully got over just a week ago in London.

Owens refused to work heel or even take advantage of Cody’s most vulnerable moments, though Owens did finally target the injured knee of Cody. Still, KO refusing to attack when Cody was clearly hurt helped to set up the champ retaining. Cody hit the Cross Rhodes for the pinfall victory, but in the aftermath, it appeared as though KO might finally be feeling ‘love-loss’ with his “best friend.” They teased a potential split because of KO’s record of slighting best friends, but ultimately, KO hugged it out with Cody and gave him respect.

Hit:

• The match was undeniably great, and both men worked together to tell a great story
• Putting this match on first gave Gunther the stage he deserved

Miss:

• That was yet another title defense from Cody without any teeth. The hope is that this is not over because these two work very well together, and KO is capable of long-term booking

Other Tidbits

Joe Tessitore is officially making his RAW debut live on the USA network this Monday

Sheamus, Bronson Reed, and Ludwig Kaiser were announced for RAW in a triple-threat match to continue the search for Bron Breakker’s next challenger. Ilja Dragunov vs. Dragon Lee vs. Dom Mysterio was announced for the last IC number one contender qualifier triple threat match on RAW.

Mario Mungia

Mario Mungia Jr. has a decade worth of experience as a combat sports journalist and correspondent which began with ThaBoxingVoice (TBV) as a podcast co-host, writer and editor-in-chief. Aside from his online resume, Mario spent a fair portion of his early career working for Spanish/English magazine Premier Round and the Mexican website Izquierdo. Mario has also contributed to NYFights while simultaneously working for MIC Sports Network as part of the broadcast crew covering local high school sports. Since then, he has launched his own podcast/live stream (Infighting/Work In Progress) and is covering pro wrestling for FightsATW.

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