WWE stars Gunther and Cody Rhodes walked into the Bash in Berlin on Saturday as champions and left the same way as the company held its first premium live event in Germany.
Gunther, who is from Vienna, main-evented the night in a match for his World Heavyweight Championship against Randy Orton. The 37-year-old titan and the "Legend Killer" had an entertaining match in front of a hot crowd that couldn’t decide who to root for.
Orton had the strategy of wearing down Gunther’s arm throughout the night. The WWE star tried to avoid getting chopped in the chest as much as possible. But the Austrian still found a way to take out "The Viper." Orton even put Gunther through the announcer table, but it was far from enough.
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Gunther unleashed a sleeper-hold assault on Orton and the relentless pursuit was enough for Orton to pass out and eventually lose the match. At the end, Orton and Gunther shook hands as the former acknowledged the latter with a sign of respect.
Rhodes started the match with a title defense against Kevin Owens.
Owens appeared to have reservations throughout the match about working on Rhodes’ knee, which Owens said was injured on the final SmackDown before Bash in Berlin. When Owens had a chance to take out the knee, he hesitated.
Rhodes and Owens battled for several minutes with the two exchanging multiple finishers between each other. Owens tried a senton from the top rope, but Rhodes put his knees in the way to deflect. "The American Nightmare" then hit all three Cross Rhodes maneuvers to finally put Owens away and win the match.
Rhodes and Owens hugged in the ring, though Owens was unhappy about losing the match.
CM Punk and Drew McIntyre had the match of the night.
The two fought hard against each other in a strap match, adding another chapter to the impressive eight-month rivalry. The two took out everything they had on one another. McIntyre bloodied Punk at one point.
But there were no pin falls, no count-outs and no submissions in the match. The winner had to touch all three corner turnbuckles in succession. It took a bit for them to do that, but in the end, Punk had the advantage.
Punk delivered three Go to Sleep finishers, took back the bracelet McIntyre stole that had the names of his wife and dog on it, and completed the walk around the squared circle.
Punk then told Cathy Kelley he has his sights on Gunther’s title.
"I want the gold, I’m coming for you sucka," he said.
Two tag-team matches were also on the card.
The first tag-team match saw Bianca Belair and Jade Cargill win the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship from Isla Dawn and Alba Fyre.
Cargill and Belair showcased their athletic abilities, somehow getting past the dominant teamwork from Dawn and Fyre, which they showed throughout the match. Cargill hit a German suplex off of a Belair DDT and pinned Dawn.
Cargill and Belair could call themselves tag champions for the second time.
Lastly, the next chapter of the Judgment Day’s rift was written.
Damian Priest and Rhea Ripley defeated Dominik Mysterio and Liv Morgan in a mixed tag-team match. Ripley had WWE fans going wild when she put Mysterio into a head scissors in the corner – a callback from when she initially performed the maneuver a few years ago.
Ripley hit the Riptide on Morgan, rolled her up on the pretzel pin and her team was declared the winner.
The feuds between the new-look Judgment Day and Priest and Ripley and Morgan appeared to be far from over. Finn Balor, JD McDonagh and Carlito all interfered in the match at some point, while Ripley is sure to be going after the Women’s World Championship after losing it at SummerSlam.
The next WWE premium live event is Bad Blood, and it’s set for Oct. 5 in Atlanta.
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