Hidden Details Most Fans Missed From WWE Bash In Berlin 2024 (2024)

SummerSlam may have been the biggest part of the summer, but WWE unofficially brought its summer to a close in Berlin. Indeed, Bash in Berlin felt like a capstone of sorts as WWE solidified Gunther’s place as a world champion and main eventer. Moreover, the event continued a string of strong title defenses for Cody Rhodes and furthered the Judgment Day vs. Terror Twins and CM Punk vs. Drew McIntyre angles, while also giving the Women’s Tag Team Championship a spotlight. As is so often the case for major WWE events, this one included its share of Easter eggs, interesting points of trivia, and other details it would be easy for fans to miss.

Gunther Continued An Unlikely Trend Of Hometown Heels

Hometown Heroes Are Nothing New But WWE has Gone In a Different Direction In 2024

• There’s a time-honored tradition of featuring local favorites in main event matches.
• Rhea Ripley and Drew McIntyre received heroes’ welcomes in front of their home countries at Elimination Chamber and Clash at the Castle 2024 respectively.
• Austrian Gunther was another top heel to nonetheless get a warm welcome when he returned to neighboring Germany.

There’s a longstanding tradition of building events around a hero’s homecoming, ranging from Ric Flair beating Big Van Vader for the WCW Championship in Charlotte at Starrcade 1993 to CM Punk’s triumph over John Cena in Chicago at Money in the Bank 2011. WWE has embraced a less traditional spin on this trope in 2024, though.

Indeed, for three international events this year, the main event saw a performer who was ostensibly a heel headline the show in front of crowd all too eager to claim that performer as their own. It happened with Rhea Ripley at Elimination Chamber (though she was edging toward a babyface role even then and up against heel Nia Jax, she was still entrenched in Judgment Day and her pairing with Dominik Mysterio). It happened with Drew McIntyre for Clash in the Castle as he embraced a Bret Hart-like role of playing the villain to everyone but his countrymen.

Finally, Gunther hasn’t shown any face tendencies at all, but nonetheless making his first World Heavyweight Championship in Berlin of all places against a surefire future Hall of Famer came across as all about solidifying him as a new top guy in WWE.

Rhea Ripley And Dominik Mysterio Both Continued And Broke A Pattern

The Duo Have Been Mixed Tag Team Match Staples

• Rhea Ripley and Dominik Mysterio worked mixed tag team matches as partners on SmackDown against Zelina Vega and Rey Mysterio as well as Santos Escobar.
• Rhea Ripley and Dominik Mysterio also faced Lyra Valkyria and Dragon Lee at NXT Heatwave 2023.
• For the fourth out of the five most recent WWE televised mixed tag team match featuring Dominik Mysterio and Rhea Ripley occurred at Bash in Berlin, but this was the first time they were on opposing teams.

One of the more fun attractions booked for Bash in Berlin was a mixed tag team match, pitting Rhea Ripley and Damian Priest against Dominik Mysterio and Liv Morgan. It’s interesting to note that Ripley and Mysterio were actually involved in three of the last four preceding mixed tag team matches in WWE, as they teamed up against Lyra Valkyria and Dragon Lee at NXT Heatwave 2023, against Zelina Vega and Rey Mysterio as well as Vega and Santos Escobar on episodes of SmackDown.

So it is that these two performers continued their pattern of being featured in mixed tag matches, but Bash in Berlin marked the first time they did so as opponents rather than partners. Interestingly, the one televised main roster mixed tag match of late not to include Ripley did still include Mysterio as he teamed up with Liv Morgan to beat his father and Zelina Vega on Raw. On the other hand, Ripley was actually a part of two of the other most recent mixed tag bouts before the ones previously listed, teamed with Finn Balor and with Damian Priest in the earlier stages of the Judgment Day run.

To be fair, both of these wrestlers lend themselves well to the mixed tag format. Ripley is powerful enough and booked strongly enough to be a believable foil in limited action against a male opponent. Meanwhile, Mysterio plays the kind of cowardly heel who isn’t hurt by taking a little offense from a woman.

Kevin Owens Responded To Wade Barrett's Criticism In Real Time

The Exchange Was Brief But Entertaining, Mid-WWE Championship Match

• Wade Barrett hasn't shied away from playing the heel on color commentary.
• Wade Barrett questioned Kevin Owens not giving Cody Rhodes an apron powerbomb when he had the chance.
• Kevin Owens fired directly back at Wade Barrett's critique.

Wade Barrett has done a nice job of delivering his color commentary with a heel bent, following in a long tradition of performers like Jesse Ventura, Bobby Heenan, Jerry Lawler who've done so to great effect over the years. Bash in Berlin featured a fun moment when Barrett's heelish advice to Kevin Owens as he challenged Cody Rhodes garnered an immediate response.

In a fun exchange, Barrett screamed, "What are you doing, KO? Where's the killer inside?" Owens had foregone an apron powerbomb and went on toss Rhodes back into the ring. He took a moment to turn around though, and fire directly back at Barrett, "Shut up, you idiot," before resuming the match.

This was an easy tidbit for fans to miss if they weren't watching and listening closely, but a fun bit of realism when KO clearly could hear the former Nexus leader questioning his choices during the bout and wasn't going to let it stand.

Randy Orton Worked His First PLE Singles Main Event Since 2020

The Viper Has Worked Other Kinds Of PLE Main Events In Between

• Randy Orton has headlined more than his share of WWE PLEs over time.
• Randy Orton’s most recent one-on-one PLE main event was in 2020.
• Randy Orton had worked as part of main event teams and closed the show in Royal Rumbles between 2020 and 2024.

Randy Orton is one of the most decorated WWE Superstars of all time and he has certainly worked his share of WWE PLE main events. However, it may surprise some fans that Bash in Berlin actually marked his first PLE main event singles match in nearly four years. The last time he closed a PLE in one-on-one action, he was taking the WWE Championship off Drew McIntyre at Hell in a Cell 2020 from the WWE ThunderDome.

Another wrinkle in this piece of trivia is that Orton actually has main evented at least one PLE every year in between, but always as part of a team like his appearance inside War Games at Survivor Series 2023 or in a match like the Royal Rumble.

Rhea Ripley Used Some Throwback Offense On Dominik Mysterio

Dominik Mysterio May Have Experienced A Sense Of Deja Vu

• Rhea Ripley got revenge with some physical punishment on Dominik Mysterio at Bash in Berlin.
• The Eradicator used an eye-catching leg choke to punish her ex-boyfriend.
• The hold was actually a throwback to how Ripley dominated a babyface Mysterio at the very beginning of their on-air interactions in WWE.

In a sequence that got a huge response from the fans in Berlin, Rhea Ripley got her hands on Dominik Mysterio during their mixed tag team match and delivered quite a bit of offense. That included using the ropes for leverage to apply a choke to him with her legs.

If this hold looked familiar, it's because it was a throwback to the very beginnings of the storylines between these two. Before Mysterio turned heel, Ripley applied this same hold to him amidst a series of beat downs designed for Judgment Day to get at Mysterio's father, while they also planted the seed for Mysterio and Ripley's kayfabe romantic pairing.