You can’t say Drew McIntyre wasn’t due for it.
CM Punk ran to the ring in a referee tee shirt at the end of Saturday’s WWE Clash At The Castle as McIntyre covered, counted to two, stopped, and blatantly interfered in the main match. McIntyre was pinned by Damian Priest shortly after the distraction, losing his second consecutive Clash at the Castle Match.
Priest’s injury to his knee, which he sustained when he accidentally wrapped it around his knee while attempting to launch himself with a dive outside, was perhaps the only thing that ruined a good main show. Priest worked the remainder of the match and it turned out to be good.
Some were upset McIntyre did not win on Saturday. To borrow a phrase from the WWE textbook, I’m looking at the big picture. McIntyre’s return to his home country of Canada is a slow process, much like Cody Rhodes winning the WWE Championship took two years. Since Punk’s injury, the rivalry between McIntyre and Punk has grown. It is only natural that the two will have their big match at one of the biggest WWE shows of the season.
Priest defending his title against Gunther may not sound like the big World title match for SummerSlam, but there are still weeks to go before they get there.
It was a good show. I thought it was a B-level WWE PLE. There were no matches of the year, but the majority of the time, the match was very good. Here are my thoughts on the entire card:
- Cody Rhodes & AJ Styles kicked off the show with a great I Quit match. WWE matches of this type can go either direction, but in this case it worked. There was some good brawling and blood (! Rhodes’ mother was berating Styles all through the match. The best part of the match was the post-match when Styles left just as Rhodes was about attack him with steel steps. He hit Styles after the bell rang as a final revenge for what happened just a few weeks earlier. It was a neat move. What’s next? The Bloodline has Rhodes in its crosshairs. They attacked him after the match, only to have Kevin Owens and Randy Orton save him. My best guess would be a six-man Tag at Money in the Bank.
- Sami Zayn won the Intercontinental title with a dramatic match in which Otis helped Maxxine Dupri instead of Chad Gable. This allowed Zayn to land the helluva Kick for the win. In this match, the one thing that you must understand is that people REALLY wanted Otis to turn against Gable. The wrestling was excellent, but the story between Gable and Otis was compelling. We’re likely to be seeing more of these two in the weeks ahead based on the finish.
- The WWE Women’s Title Match was great with Bayley winning over Piper Niven. The Chelsea Green spot with her wearing a Lucha mask at the end was dumb but there wasn’t much wrong here…except that everyone knew the outcome beforehand. Next up for champion? Nia Jax. Good luck with it.
- Isla Dawn and Alba Fyre won the WWE Women’s Tag Team title in an unexpected way. The match was fine and I’m glad they got their big moment at home, but this team was barely on television until a few months ago and they lost in just two minutes on Raw last week. This doesn’t give them the credibility of champions and it makes it feel like this title is being passed around like hot potatoes. Jade Cargill, and Bianca Belair are likely to regain their titles. It’s only a question of when.
Money in the Bank will be the next WWE event, which will take place next month. We will crown the two people who will hold briefcases throughout the rest of the calendar year. Qualifying matches start Monday, and we’ll find out quickly who’s going to do crazy spots from a ladder in 2024.
WWE Clash at the Castle Review: Drew McIntyre fails…again in todays Wrestling news, Chatalong Chatbox, Results will be Hidden inside a spoiler Button so you will not bet spoiled about direct results.
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