Clash at the Castle 2024 BreakDown

 Written by: Danny Albers 

1. WWE Universal Championship Match: © Cody Rhodes VS AJ Styles 

Result: Cody Rhodes wins to retain the Title

Star Rating: ★★★★★★★ 7  

Interesting move to kick off the show with your franchise player Cody in an I Quit match. I felt like this might have been a big reason why the fans were so burnt out. There was a lot of excitement in this match, as the fans backed Cody the hole time, and even chanting “Fuck You AJ.” Cody and AJ readjusted their moveset to be a bit more creative and more devastating, as each move inside the ring should make the fans feel like the opponent will say I quit. They broke off into the crowd, brawling into the backstage area, something that I don’t remember seeing in this era of WWE in quite some time. They brought it back to the ring where AJ began to take control of the match and getting some serious heat with the crowd. He split open Cody who looked in serious trouble as a crimson mask covered his face. AJ began to start arguing back and forth with Cody’s mother who was sitting front row. Eventually, Cody snapped back into the fight, and took a chair that AJ was going to hit Cody’s mother with. Cody then handcuffed AJ to the turnbuckle and began beating him with a chair. Not satisfied enough, Cody grabbed the steel steps and that ultimately made AJ say “I Quit.” Cody looked at his mother, and hit him anyway with the steps. Cody walked off in triumph, and as he stood at the top of the ramp, Solo stood next to him. They looked at each other until Toma Tonga and Tonga Loa came out and attacked Cody. Randy Orton and Kevin Owens came to his aid. With Cody tied back into The Bloodline, my prediction that Cody being the leader of the new Bloodline stable could become a reality.    

2. WWE Women’s Tag Team Titles: © Jade Cargill & Bianca Belair VS Shayna Baszler & Zoey Stark VS Alba Fyre & Isla Dawn: Isla Dawn pins Shayna Baszler for the win 

Result: Isla Dawn pins Shayna Baszler to win the Women’s Tag Team Titles

Star Rating (1-10): ★★★ 3 

What the fuck did I just watch. Jade and Bianca are the best thing to happen to those belts. Fyre and Dawn are decent, but this was just to get a shocked crowd reaction for the hometown girls. And WWE risked possibly building the female version of the Road Warriors to get this feel good moment. And they didn’t do Fyre or Dawn any favors on the build up or the match. On Raw, Shayna and Stark ran through Dawn and Fyre. with no problem. And then in this match, Jade and Bianca were dominating the field. Jade hit her finisher on Shayna. As she went to pin Shayna, Isla Dawn hit one of the weakest suplexes I’ve seen, and rushed a cover on Shayna for the win. So with this weasel of a victory to win the belts, where do you go from here with Dawn and Fyre. Do you break up Bianca and Jade? Or do you just have them get a rematch and win the belts back? Either way, unless you’re from Scotland, this entire booking was confusing. The moment was cool, but seeing a female Road Warriors would be way better.   

3. Intercontinental Championship: © Sami Zayn VS Chad Gable

 

Result: Sami Zayn wins by pin to retain his title

Star Rating (1-10): ★★★★★★ 6 

  I will start by saying the obvious, I’m a little bummed we didn’t get a complete uprising from Otis against Chad Gable. When Gable and Zayn did a mix of moonsaults on each other on the outside, Gable went to push Maxine Dupree out of the way and ended up hurting the injured foot of Dupree. This caused Otis to be incensed. Sensing that he screwed up, Gable went into the ring to create distance between him and the angry Otis. Otis stormed away leaving Gable behind, this distraction allowed for Zayn to regain his composure and pin Gable for the win. It felt like the same match in Saudi Arabia a couple weeks ago. It was a fine wrestling match, and WWE got everything they could out of both wrestlers in this feud. But it’s time to move Zayn and the Intercontinental Championship to new things. 

4. WWE Women’s Universal Championship: © Bayley VS Piper Niven 

Result: Bayley wins by pin to retain her title

Star Rating (1-10): ★★★★ 4

The crowd seemed dead for the women’s match. Piper got a solid reaction, but Bayley got no reaction at all from the packed crowd. Pretty early into the match, Chelsea Green would get her fingers stomped on and get kicked out of ringside. Not that Piper needed her. The majority of the match was Piper throwing Bayley from corner to corner and slamming her body into her. A lot of Bayley’s offense came from her chipping away little by little at the massive Scottish challenger. Chelsea would get involved again, now wearing a Rey Mysterio mask. This distraction didn’t help Piper as intended, and caused Piper to fall victim to Bayley. This match was a little slow for me, and I don’t feel like they fans were really into this match. They were dead for both ladies, and besides the “HEEEEEYYYY BAYLEY” chant, they didn’t give a lot of reactions to much else (not like the action provided anything for them to react). Not trying to be overly critical, but it was the worst match of the night. 

5. WWE World Heavyweight Championship: © Damian Priest VS Drew McIntyre

Result: Damian Priest wins by pin to retain 

Star Rating: ★★★★★ 5 

I don’t remember a match where Damian Priest looked so sloppy. He seemed to miss all his spots in the beginning of the match. The attempt to dive to the outside where his foot got caught in the top rope looked really ugly, and by Drew’s reaction I don’t think it was planned. And as the match went on, Priest’s ankle looked like it might have been bothering him. But he continued to work this match which you have to respect. Drew looked incredible, all of his moves seemed powerful and devastating. He did some well executed powerslams off the top rope. With this crowd fully behind Drew, they sent out CM Punk as a referee, and Punk began counting on Drew’s cover to win the belt and Punk stopped on 2. Punk eventually would distract Drew so Priest could get the advantage and get the win. It’s impressive that Damian could hit a chokeslam on a competitor like Drew and make it look legitimate. As for my thoughts on this match and our reigning World Heavyweight Champion. Remember when Kevin Nash went to WCW, and they had Kane work as a new Diesel. That’s how I feel when I watch Damian Priest but instead he’s trying to be Roman Reigns. His promos lack charisma, he’s clearly uncomfortable in almost every segment, and his matches feel like they’re missing something. This is good exposure, but Priest still has a ton of work to do before he’s ready to break off as a top singles competitor. Right now he’s just the place holder for Gunther to win at SummerSlam. 

Show Overall Star Grade: ★★★★★ 5 

There just wasn’t anything great to write about on this PLE. There weren’t any matches that stood out to me as anything over 7 stars, and I’m being generous on that match. The main event didn’t hit, the crowd was burnt out for all the mid card matches. It’s fine, you're not going to hit on every event you do. Looking forward to them getting back to some of the main pay per view events like Money in the Bank and SummerSlam. This event, and WWE the last couple weeks has felt like they’re just treading water to stay afloat.