WWE Clash At The Castle: CM Punk Costs Drew McIntyre The Title

Clash at the Castle was live from Glasgow, Scotland, at the OVO Hydro, and it features hometown hero Drew McIntyre receiving an opportunity to regain the world heavyweight title he won and lost on the same night. This event continues the trend of PLEs outside of the States, but the odds were certainly against Drew and most title challengers on another short PLE card.

World Heavyweight Championship: Damian Priest (c) vs. Drew McIntyre

The build could have been better, but by the time Drew McIntyre made his way to the ring, the match had all the feels of a major heavyweight title showdown. The crowd was electric as McIntyre made his way with live Scottish drummers. The WWE’s dba gauging system is used to measure the loudness of their live crowds, and without knowing the accuracy or quality of their instrumentations, it topped out at 99 (the highest measurement it can take).

The champion did not have a welcoming entrance, partly because Damien Priest was facing their hometown hero, but it is also important to note that Priest cashed in his MITB briefcase on Drew moments after he won it off of Seth Rollins and while he was confronting CM Punk. The heat always felt genuine between the two, but they did not get much help from creative as most of their segments ended rather generically. However, WWE knew they did not need to sell this as a major fight because this crowd would always be white hot.

McIntyre defeated Finn Balor on RAW in the lead-up to this match, and he did it with the stipulation that the win would bar The Judgement Day from ringside for Priest’s defense. Adding to the storyline, Drew benefited plenty from past interferences from TJD, contrasting the situation currently is what excellent storytelling looks like. To Priest’s credit, he worked well solo and managed to hit some huge moves like the Razor’s Edge, and he even went kick for kick with Drew on one occasion.

In one moment, both the champion and challenger were down with their backs on the mat, and Drew used the crowd’s energy to power up Undertaker/Warrior style. Moments later, McIntyre hit the Claymore Kick on Priest, sending him through the barricade on impact. Priest attempted South of Heaven on the top turnbuckle, but Drew blocked it only to have Priest change strategy and surprise us all with a hurricanrana that sent McIntyre to the canvas. Yet, the crowd showed their impact as McIntyre popped right back up and landed another Claymore.

With 11,391 in attendance acting as the proverbial “6^th Man” and no Judgment Day, this was his match to lose unless Priest could somehow even the odds. The ref went down, and Drew hit another Claymore. McIntyre attempted the cover and Priest’s shoulders were on the canvas for much longer than it takes to count to three. McIntyre signaled for another ref to come down to make the count, and that’s when a referee jumped in with his Jordan 1s and counted the one, the two, and then froze with his hand at the top—refusing to make the third count.

That is when it was revealed to be CM Punk wearing a ref shit. McIntyre grabbed Punk by the throat before Punk kicked Drew well below the belt, allowing Priest to hit the South of Heaven for the win. The crowd was silent, and Punk brazenly stuck around ringside long enough to enjoy his handy work—somehow finding the only three Punk fans in the arena celebrating alongside Punk. He is probably well on his way back to the States, so he should not risk being in a country where he has made himself public enemy number one amongst that demo of the WWE Universe.

Undisputed WWE Championship: Cody Rhodes (c) vs. AJ Styles (“I Quit” Match)

The magic captured in this year’s “Road to WrestleMania” helped launch Cody Rhodes’ reign in a huge way, but is it getting stale without another viable opponent that can help launch a meaningful program? AJ is undoubtedly a viable opponent, but the lead-up has not grabbed the attention of casual fans. Adding the “I QUIT” stipulation helped to make this match look different, but the motivation did not quite hit the same. The two men took this match to the back and into the crowd and everywhere in between, but it was booked to be way too familiar. However, it was the simple storytelling that got this match over—other than the amazing in-ring work.

Before the post-match schmoz, AJ was messing with Cody’s mom seated ringside, but he eventually took it too far, and Cody’s mom, Michelle Rubio, slapped AJ three times. He, in anger, grabbed a chair and briefly made his way to Michelle before cooler heads prevailed. Cody took the violence to another level with chairs and tables, but he eventually handcuffed AJ to the ropes and continued to beat on him with whatever he could find, which made AJ quit. It was a great ending because AJ used a fake retirement to get the upper hand on Cody, but AJ’s fear of being retired caused him to quit.

After the match, Cody was holding up the belt before making his way to the back, but just in his shot was Solo Sikoa waiting. That is when The Bloodline attacked Cody, but Kevin Owens and Randy Orton came out to make the save. The Bloodline needed to make an appearance, and WWE found a way. That is all the rationality we have for now, but hopefully, they will make it make sense.

Intercontinental Championship: Sami Zayn (c) vs. Chad Gable

This match has been building since before Mania and began with Gable rising up the ranks as a face on RAW, delivering quality match after match before losing both of his chances to become Intercontinental champion. Before Zayn won the IC title from Gunther and his record-breaking reign, it was Gable who helped to coach a Sami who was having issues with sports psychology. Gable was a great coach, and the paring was masterfully done, which helped to keep Gunther’s booking strong.

Fast-forward to the present, and we are in the mitts of a faction breakup that has captured the hearts and minds of the WWE Universe © as Otis has been close to turning on the Alpha Academy leader for the past several weeks. The match was quality, but it did seem like something was taken from the potential in-ring work that played second to the story narrative.

There were amazing suplexes and quality exchanges, but once Maxine was given a chance to help Gable cheat, the finish was set in place, and the match revolved around Alpha Academy’s loyalty. Maxine refused, and Gable got in her face. That is when Otis’ role in the match kicked into high gear. Otis got in between Gable and Maxine. Later in the match, Gable moved out of the way as Zayn flipped from inside the ring to the outside and onto Otis—a spot we’ve already seen in this feud already. Then, Gable got ahold of Zayn’s ankle on the outside to further soften him up, but he reversed the ankle lock, sending Gable crashing into Maxine’s already injured leg.

Otis had a down Zayn to his right and a hurt Maxine to his left. The decision was his to make, and he chose to scoop up Maxine and take her to the back for medical treatment, much to Gable’s disappointment. Zayne retained, but it was not the conclusive ending we hoped for, and this story cannot be finished until Otis has made a physical declaration against Gable—hopefully that happens Monday.

WWE Women’s Championship: Bayley (c) vs. Piper Niven

This was a match that did not need to happen. Yes, it was awesome to see Piper get an opportunity, and it was even better in Scotland, but Bayley was never dropping the title. I’m sure the hometown crowd appreciated the opportunity for Niven, but seeing two of their stars lose huge matches is probably not the best taste to leave in their mouths.

The match was terrific, and Piper performed well, but her tag partner, Chelsea Green, attempted to help but only worked against Piper in the end. Piper has real potential, but WWE has never used Green correctly. They would both be served well from a split.

WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship: Bianca Belair and Jade Cargill (c) vs. Alba Fyre and Isla Dawn vs. Shayna Baszler and Zoey Stark

The champs dropped the titles in the only unsuccessful defense of the night. The hometown heroes of Alba Fyre and Isla Dawn won the tag titles, probably because Priest and Bayley were not losing their titles tonight. There might be a bit more to it than that, but it certainly does not come with an actual push towards the titles.

For Belair and Cargill, it is probably the best move to just split them up. After all, they both can make huge impacts on the women’s division, and they do not need each other. If Cargill is able to swim on her own, then now is the time to see what she can do as a singles performer in the WWE.

Tidbits

• Summer Slam 2026 will be a two-day affair, much like WrestleMania has become. This has been in the works for a while, and Minneapolis will benefit from the August 1^st and August 2^nd
• Money in the Bank will continue WWE’s trend of PLEs outside of the United States. MITB will be at the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto on July 5^th, with a corresponding Smackdown on July 4^th and NXT Heatwave on Sunday, July 7^th. MITB qualifying matches start this Monday on RAW
• World’s Strongest Man, Tom Stoltman, was in attendance. He is a Scotland Native with the personality to maybe work in WWE one day.

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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