McGuire’s Mondays: Overthink Mondays – WWE Bash In Berlin edition

By Colin McGuire, ProWrestling.net Staffer

It has to be one of the most throwaway weekends in WWE’s calendar year – a B-level PLE followed by an NXT show (that, to be fair, probably overdelivered). It comes smack in the middle of AEW’s All In/All Out sandwich, and, at least stateside, it’s also the unofficial end of summer, what with it being Labor Day weekend and all. But that doesn’t mean things didn’t happen and that doesn’t mean there hasn’t been time to overthink! As such, here’s a quick look at a few takeaways from WWE’s soon-to-be-forgotten weekend.

I BELIEVE IN INTERNATIONAL MEDIA (Clap! Clap!)

After the dust settled Saturday night in Berlin, WWE staged their obligatory press conference, and at least two things stuck out (outside of the fact that Paul Levesque blew it off to reportedly help his daughter move in at college because sticking around an extra hour in Germany was apparently a deal-breaker). First, the Janel Grant question. Some fine reporter ignored the side-eyes that WWE handlers were undoubtedly giving him and pressed Cody Rhodes, of all people, on the upcoming Vince McMahon documentary, as well as the Janel Grant allegations.

Better yet, when Cody tried to charm his way out of it by flippantly pivoting to how he’s in the middle of a “Game Of Thrones” rewatch, the media didn’t budge and Cody actually had to deal with the Real Life stuff. To his credit, he tap-danced around the stuff impressively, especially considering he most definitely could not have been expecting a heavy inquiry like that to be lobbed his way. There’s a future in PR for the guy if he wants it, but we already knew that.

My only issue? Come on, man. Nobody believes that you don’t know enough about the McMahon trial to speak on it, and nobody believes that it isn’t a topic of conversation backstage. Yes, Cody’s options for responses were limited, but there was probably a better answer than that floating somewhere out there. Either way, it was fun to see the room get uncomfortable and at least one of WWE’s biggest names have to at least try to work his way around these very real issues that hover over all things WWE.

As for the other thing that stuck out …

A NOT-SO-QUIET STORM

Jade Cargill, who absolutely does not want to talk about AEW anymore. Damnit. Just listen to her:

“You know what, I’m so tired of answering questions about AEW,” Cargill responded when she was asked about how life’s been over the last year or so. “I’m proud to be from there. However, I’m here [in WWE]. I’m focused on what I’m doing next, and what’s next is us just solidifying and owning these tag team titles and going out there and making a name for ourselves.”

And you want to know what? I kind of agree with her. Implicit in these AEW questions that keep getting thrown her way is that her WWE run – so far, at least – hasn’t really turned out the way a lot of people thought it would after her dominance in AEW. In a lot of ways, that’s insulting. But she seems happy. It’s not like she isn’t working with A-level talent in WWE when you consider who her tag team partner is. And, above all, who knows what the long-term plans are for her and perhaps those long-term plans are plans that we on the outside know nothing about.

She left AEW about a year ago. Let’s move on. To this point, everyone involved – both AEW and Cargill herself – have been class acts regarding her move to WWE. She’s not going to speak ill of her time in Jacksonville and everyone in Jacksonville seems to have nothing but positive things to say about her time working there. I’m with her. Leave it alone.

NO NEWS IS (NOT GREAT) NEWS

So, have we cracked the code for how things are going to work now? Five or six matches on a B-level PLE card. No title changes for the highly regarded belts. The non-highly-regarded belts (see: any tag-team title) may change hands – that is if those belts even get a match on the card. Every match is either a championship match or one that features a stipulation. Nothing important really happens (i.e. debuts, returns, etc.). And then it’s on to one of the next big four (or five) PLEs, where titles can and do actually change hands?

It’s all to say that Bash In Berlin was not newsworthy. No heel turn from Kevin Owens. The women’s tag belts were returned to their rightful owners. CM Punk and Drew McIntyre had a fairly pedestrian strap match. And Rhea Ripley and Damian Priest got their revenge on The Judgment Day. But in the end … so what? There’s no denying that under Vince McMahon, things got to a point where the formulaic nature of the shows were such a burden, the product became unwatchable. These days, there’s a lot of hoopla surrounding the new regime in WWE and the vast improvements in everything, pretty much across the board.

But who’s to say this formula that Paul Levesque and his team has concocted won’t soon run its course? When Levesque was at the helm of NXT and started the trend of less-but-longer matches on PLEs, he had a great roster filled with talent that thrived in that environment. But this main roster he’s dealing with now? I’m not so sure I want to live in a world where we need to have an 18-minute Nia Jax match. Or, for that matter, a world where a 44-year-old Randy Orton, who has no problem taking his time doing everything from walking to the ring to setting up ring steps, is asked to stretch his atypical 12-minute television match into a 35-minute PLE main event slog.

In short, PLEs don’t need to happen for the sake of having a PLE. Likewise, we don’t need to force issues between wrestlers for the sake of half-ass building a story for a half-ass Special Show. It’ll never happen, but all the major wrestling companies in America could stand to lose one or two of their Special Shows on their respective calendars. There’s too much money involved for anyone to scale back – I get that – but when does this schedule begin to compromise the quality of the Paul Levesque era in WWE?

I ask because after this weekend, I’m beginning to think we’re closer to that point than at least I, for one, previously thought we were.