WWE Clash At The Castle: Scotland (2024)

Glasgow, Scotland hosted the latest WWE Premium Live Event to cross the Atlantic Ocean. The card was, on paper, a relatively mixed bag - but these overseas cards almost always deliver, so I was excited nonetheless. The two men's world title matches were easily the most anticipated parts of the show for me, so I had high hopes for those in particular.

The show started off hot with the Unidisputed WWE Championship 'I Quit' match between champ Cody Rhodes and the phenomenal AJ Styles. It was an explosive, high-octane affair, with the usual weapons and creativity employed in these 'no rules' match types. The result was never really in doubt, but two pros of the calibre of these two men were always going to make the stakes feel as high as possible.

The Women's Tag Team Championship match saw the champions Jade Cargill & Bianca Belair defend their titles against Shayna Baszler & Zoey Stark, and home nation favourites Alba Fyre & Isla Dawn. It was, unfortunately, very messy. Everything felt a bit rushed, perhaps plans changed - either way, it wasn't as good as I had hoped. I was surprised by the winners too, but I'd count that as a positive.

This was followed by the Intercontinental Championship match between Sami Zayn and Chad Gable. As expected, the two men put on a technically proficient and very solid match. The storyline drama worked well to add to the excitement of the match, but I wish the result had been the other way around, to be honest.

Bayley's WWE Women's Championship was on the line next, as she defended against Scottish local Piper Niven. I enjoyed this one quite a bit - it was a little slow with its pacing, but the quality of the moves and the in-match story was good. The right woman won, but they did a good job of selling the challenge.

Finally, the time came for the main event; Damian Priest defended his World Heavyweight Championship against hometown hero Drew McIntyre. The match was intense and the two men clearly revelled in the atmosphere, which picked up substantially for the main event. There were some good false finishes and good spots, which culminated in a dramatic, high drama ending. I wasn't necessarily expecting it, which added to the shock value of it. I didn't mind it, but there's mixed feelings.

Overall, this was a good, but not great event. The opening and closing matches were clearly the standouts, and while I did enjoy the other three matches, they weren't close to the level of the other two.

The Scottish crowd weren't quite as good as other international crowds have been of late either, which was a slight letdown. On the whole though, it was a solid show.