7 Match Star Ratings For WWE Clash At The Castle

4. Liv Morgan Vs. Shayna Baszler - SmackDown Women's Title Match

Gunther Sheamus
WWE.com

The crowd was exhausted after watching an emotional Sheamus soak up the adulation that a superb body of work has always deserved.

This, combined with Liv Morgan's dud of a SmackDown Women's title reign, created an apathetic atmosphere in the building. She did well to get the crowd somewhat into it as she fought through a painful onslaught of submission offence by the finish. Liv countered with some MMA stylings of her own, and while the technical application of the work wasn't terribly convincing, the comeback almost worked because of it. She was out-skilled, but fought with enough guts and spirit to convince the crowd to get behind her. A bit.

When she broke free of Shayna's grasp and created enough space to fly into strikes, her kicks didn't look particularly credible either, which is always going to look more glaring against an opponent of Baszler's calibre. In the end, though, she did just about enough to get the desired reaction.

Is that impressive, given the match that preceded it, or should she have done more to get something out of a crowd so hot on the night elsewhere?

That's up for debate, but Liv needed an unqualified great night after this bad spell - and this wasn't it.

Star Rating: ★★¾

In this post: 
Sheamus
 
Posted On: 
Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!