WWE Clash at the Castle PLE Results: 6-15-24
Results courtesy of
PWTorch.com (complete link to Keller's real-time report).
(1) CODY RHODES vs. A.J. STYLES – I Quit match for the WWE Undisputed Title
Cody hugged his mom Michelle at ringside who flew in for the event. (Uh oh.) Cole noted this is Cody’s first I Quit match. Cole said the first WWE I-quit match was Bret Hart vs. Bob Backlund at WrestleMania 11. Graves said the I-quit back in 1985 between Magnum T.A. and Tullly Blanchard for the U.S. Title is considered the match that popularized the format. Cole said the last time a WWE Title changed hands in an I-quit match was John Cena vs. Randy Orton in 2009. Fans were singing loudly early throughout ring introductions. The bell rang 12 minutes into the hour.
Cody went after Styles at the bell aggressively, whipping him face-first into the middle turnbuckle. Fans continued to sing Cody’s name. Styles blocked a Disaster Kick and took over at 1:00. Graves said this match is about breaking your opponent’s spirit. Cody made a comeback and took it to Styles at ringside at 4:00, He pulled a table out from under the ring. Fans cheered and it interrupted their singing. He threw Styles into the ringside steps and then fought him into the crowd and then into a narrow back hallway.
At 7:00 back in the ring, Cody put Styles in a figure-four. Styles grabbed the bottom rope to pull himself out of the hold. Cole said critics question whether Cody has the grit to do what it takes to survive and win this type of match. Styles suplexed Cody over the top rope and then Cody held on and they both tumbled to the floor together. Styles gave Cody a Death Valley Driver from the floor onto the announce desk. He followed with a brainbuster suplex onto the table. When Styles hit Cody with the mic, Cole said it’s legal but he’s not sure it’s ethical. Graves asked if he really just said that. Cody’s mom yelled “Asshole!” at Styles as Styled yelled at her at ringside. That distraction gave Cody a chance to blade. He came up bleeding.
Back in the ring, with Styles in control, Cole said Styles was enjoying it. The ref held the mic up to Cody and asked if he quit. He said, “Absolutely not!” Fans cheered. At 12:00 Cody teased a comeback, but Styles cut it off. As Styles took it to Cody at ringside, the crowd chanted “F— you, A.J.!” Graves said the fans in Scotland have “potty mouths.” Styles set up a Styles Clash on the ringside steps, but Cody backdropped out of it.
At 16:00 Styles began bashing Cody with a kendo stick in the ring. Then he began whipping him with his belt. He oddly wrapped the belt across Cody’s forehead and it slipped. Not sure what he was going for there, but he knew choking him with it isn’t WWE-approved. He settled into a crossface. The ref asked Cody again. Cole said in a normal match, Styles would’ve won since Cody appeared to be passed out.
Cody dumped a chain and handcuffs out of a black sack. He handcuffed Cody’s arms behind his back. Then he bashed him repeatedly with a kendo stick. The ref asked again and Cody said, “No!” Cole said Cody is a proud and defiant champion. Barrett said he’s prolonging the inevitable. Styles got in Cody’s mom’s face at ringside. He poked her in the chest. She slapped him several time and sat down.
Styles returned to the ring and bashed Cody with a chair. Graves said that was Styles taking out his frustrations with Cody’s momon Cody. He wrapped his forearm with a chain. Cody had moved his chained arms from behind his back to the front since there was enough slack. Styles went for a Phenomenal Forearm, but Cody hit him with a chair. Styles bounced backwards and fell head-first through the table that Cody set up at ringside earlier.
Cody crawled over to the key and uncuffed his wrists. Cody then landed a Cody Cutter. He got fired up and the crowd popped huge and stood and cheered. Cody yelled at a bloodied Styles’s face and delivered a Crossroads. He delivered a third Crossroads onto a chair in the ring. Cody then cuffed Styles’s wrist to the bottom rope. Cody then battered Styles with the chair over and over. The ref asked Styles if he quit. Styles seemed to pause to consider it, but then said “Screw you, Cody Rhodes!” Cody brought the ringside steps into the ring and threatened to hit Styles with it. Styles then burst out with, “I quit!” Graves said it was self-preservation.
WINNER: Cody in 28:00.
-As Cody’s music played, they cut this mom celebrating. Cody ended up hitting Styles with the ringside steps anyway. Cole said that was a message. Cole wondered what was next for Cody, which foreshadowed Solo Sikoa walking out to stare down Cody in the entrance area as he celebrated. Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa attacked him. Randy Orton and Kevin Owens ran out for the save and quickly sent The Bloodline retreating to the back.
(Really good I quit match. Sometimes this type of match can have some belabored stretches of wrestlers with a mic held up to them or prolonged redundant beatdowns since there isn’t the usual cadence-freshening near falls to pop the crowd and reset the drama. This avoided those. I wasn’t a fan of Cody hitting Styles with the steps after the match. He won and got what he wanted, so it felt a bit cheap and gratuitous given that Styles had conceded the match. That wasn’t the most intimidating Bloodline appearance since they didn’t last long at all once the odds were even. They seem to be setting up a six-man tag match which could then lead to Cody vs. Solo or a turn by KO or Orton that leads to Cody versus one of them.) [
(2) BIANCA BELAIR & JADE CARGILL vs. ISLA DAWN & ALBA FYRE vs. SHAYNA BASZLER & ZOEY STARK – Triple Threat for the WWE Women’s Tag Team Titles
The bell rang 57 minutes into the hour. Jade gave a Samoan Drop / Fallaway Slam combo on Fyre and Stark in a big spot that popped the crowd early. Fyre and Baszler threw Belair into the ringpost and then turned to attack Cargill basically four-on-one. Dawn landed a Meteora off the ring apron onto Jade at ringside. Back in the ring, they went back on the attack on Belair. The crowd popped when Fyre leaped onto Baszler and Stark at ringside. She leaped off the top rope with a dropkick in the ring. Belair broke up the cover.
Belair and Stark battled on the top rope. Belair landed a superoplex, but she appeared to have a hard landing also. Jade rose from ringside and stood in her corner. Cole said she was trying assert herself back into the equation. Belair leaped and hot-tagged her. Jade springboarded on th top rope, but slipped. Fans “ohhhed!” Graves said that’s why they call it high-risk. Jade recovered and went on the attack with a flurry of moves against each of her four opponents. Baszler broke up a cover with a kick to Jade’s face. Baszler then put Jade in a Kirafuda Clutch. The ref didn’t have an angle on it, but it appeared Jade tapped. Baszler held on. Jade collapsed to the mat. Belair broke it up with a top rope 450 knee to Baszler’s back. Dawn got cheers when she re-entered the ring and gave Jade a German suplex. She then covered Baszler for the three count. Cole said, “Hometown ladies make good.”
As Fyre celebrated at ringside, Cole alluded to a recent family tragedy. Her mom was struck by a car and killed a few weeks ago.
WINNERS: Dawn & Fyre in 12:00 to capture the Women’s Tag Team Titles.
(Well, I sure didn’t expect that, but it was a crowd-pleasing moment. The match was the usual cluster of multi-person sequences that were exciting and felt sometimes higher risk than intended. It’s not the most prestigious way to begin a title reign when you pin someone other than the champs. This should set up a rematch and I suspect Jade & Belair regaining the tag team titles. I wonder if the death of Fyre’s mom played into the decision to book her to have this moment in her career. Or perhaps it’s a sign there’s not another title change coming later.)
