After a mostly routine episode of Monday Night Raw, the cast of the red brand is set for Bash in Berlin on Saturday, August 31.
Currently, there are five planned matches for Berlin, three of which come from Raw storylines. Here are the confirmed matches so far:
- WWE Championship – (c) Cody Rhodes vs. Kevin Owens
- World Heavyweight Championship – (c) Gunther vs. Randy Orton
- Mixed tag team match – Liv Morgan and Dominik Mysterio vs. Rhea Ripley and Damian Priest
- Strap Match – CM Punk vs. Drew McIntyre
- WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship Match – (c) The Unholy Union vs. Bianca Belair & Jade Cargill
It wouldn’t be a shock to see one more SmackDown-related match at Bash in Berlin to make things even.
Raw continued to tease a breakup of the New Day, and Bronson Reed’s version of the Hall of Pain continued to cook. On Monday, he and Braun Strowman battled into the parking lot in Providence, Rhode Island. Reed flattened the Monster of All Monsters with a Tsunami while the latter lay atop a car.
Reed doesn’t have a match at Bash in Berlin, but he does a spot in the current Intercontinental No-1-contender’s qualifying match next week.
Finally, the feud between the Wyatt Sicks and American Made continued with a singles match that saw Uncle Howdy defeat Chad Gable.
As for the Superstars, who will be in action in Berlin, we saw Orton cut a promo alone without an attack or confrontation from Gunther. Orton is beginning to mention becoming a 15-time world champion in his promos.
That makes me believe he could have a better chance to win against Gunther. If Orton does prevail, it could mean he’ll lose it soon, only to win it again against John Cena in the latter’s retirement match in late 2025.
I won’t change my prediction that Gunter will be retained, but WWE is doing an excellent job creating some doubt.
The Terror Twins got the better of The Judgment Day following a confrontation at the end of a match between the latter and Rey Mysterio and the LWO.
The sequence was the formulaic route you’d expect ahead of a high-profile mixed tag-team match. The star power in the match is exceptionally high on the women’s side as Rhea Ripley and Liv Morgan are far and away the two biggest needle-movers in their locker room.
CM Punk and Drew McIntyre’s feud could be coming to an end, or at least a slowdown. The two teased their strap-match action on Monday, with Punk winning the sequence but failing to recover the bracelet McIntyre stole from him following an ambush earlier this year.
McIntyre has done the best work of his career during the feud and even right before it as he battled Seth Rollins for the world heavyweight championship. A part of me wants to see McIntyre go over at Bash in Berlin, but there’s seemingly no way Punk loses at two straight PLEs after taking the L at SummerSlam.
Be on the lookout for more WWE coverage through the countdown to Bash in Berlin.
