Saturday night’s WWE clash at Cardiff Castle in Wales will take place as one of those events.
“Those” which means a must-see event with a star with an almost WrestleMania energy that stays that way until the end of the main event – this time Roman Reigns vs. Drew McIntyre – — that could make things worse.
The first major stadium event in the UK since 1992, and the first pay-per-view in the UK since 2003, Castle Clash is one of the best in professional wrestling example.
The six-girl tag match that kicked off the show in front of a lightning bolt crowd was a lot of fun, and had a great impact on pushing WWE’s hottest new faction damage control (Bayley, Dakota Kai, and Iyo Sky) made a great contribution. Gunther and Sheamus unsurprisingly tore up the house with scarred slugs, while Liv Morgan continued her excellent form, beating Shayna Baszler.
Unlike some of the other big event crowds in WWE, things just seem to strengthen from there. What could have been a “cool” match between Morgan’s title fight and the two main games to wrap up the show turned out to be a complete steal.
There, Edge Rey Mysterio, assisted by Dominik Mysterio, won the competition at The Judgment Day. The match was great, but more importantly WWE chose to use the platform to set the big story for the near future: Dominic turned to Edge and his father and brutalized them.
These personal interests are only magnified in the conflict between Seth Rollins and Matt Riddle, the former becoming too much by inciting his opponent in a classic match Emotional, it cost him.
Rollins is an architect after all, and now we’ve got serious character development ready for a full-blown riddle.
It doesn’t look like there’s any main event to spoil the fun, as well. WWE has a setup that’s been in production for years and will always be missed:
- A beloved baby face
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- Extremely disliked high heels
- PERFECT LOCATION
- Perfect crowd
But what about the result? The Reigns won (again) by jamming, this time Solo Sikoa pulling jamming from almost nowhere.
Before the jaw-droppingly stupid result, McIntyre then screwed it up by singing along with Tyson Fury (after losing via prank, too), things went smoothly. There were no distractions, and both showed up in unforgettable places and nearly fell over creatively. Even the big story Theory is trying to deliver unfolds at the perfect moment, only for Fury to end up on the sidelines. It was a Reigns game without stupid distractions, and Paul Heyman was there to coach him.
Of course, until not. The men put on a classic game that could have been a memorable result, but fans had to accept that even this special occasion couldn’t take the company off the plan .
This is again a product of WWE bookings, there is only one goal, and in the main event scene, everything else is filler. This is a GOAT-making run of Reigns, which still has its eye on The Rock at WrestleMania 39 in Inglewood, California.
The problem is that everything before this is sagging under the weight of hold mode. If Reigns beat The Rock (if it happens/he 100% will), no one is A credible contender to topple him. Not even Cody Rhodes, at WM39 or any other point in time, can match the energy, timing and moments of Clash at the Castle. And WWE can’t say that was always the plan because the idea of Rhodes leaving All Elite Wrestling didn’t exist at the time.
While Sikoa’s addition to Bloodlines would make for some interesting pit stops on things like the Survivor series, the reality is Saturday’s result means a sustained (mostly) part-time The champion holds two belts.
One of the things WWE has been grappling with is that all the heat is ‘hot, Raines’ run may have just reached a tipping point where fans can’t get it back.
That’s not to say Clash of the Castles won’t be remembered by fans with a smile on their faces. But it will be a variant of WrestleMania 38 from earlier this year, and it was a fine show until the shrug-worthy main event between Reigns and Brock Lesnar ended with an understandable end.
The fact that fans were expecting such an ending wouldn’t be a great look for WWE’s main event scene or even its biggest event. It’s good, then, that the rest of the card is delivered again. It’s another flashing signal to the WWE brass that it’s a no-brainer to host more international events in front of a hot crowd like this. vice versa. It’s this synergy that makes the event such a classic that even a massive misfire from the performers can’t tarnish things too much.
