Despite Triple H spending years on the grift that SummerSlam 1992 was a fiscal failure, he sure understood the importance of making September's Clash At The Castle a WWE premium live event for the ages. Even if it was just to zoom and enhance on the praise he'd been receiving for his work since taking over two months earlier.
Riding a wave of that optimism and mixing in the excitement and enthusiasm of the Cardiff/UK crowd buzzing for the first event of this nature in 30 years, the show was a work of unqualified excellence.
A tight and supremely well-paced card offered the probable WWE match of the year in Sheamus Vs Gunther, an exceptional and nerve-jangling main event between Roman Reigns and Drew McIntyre, Damage CTRL's finest hour in a killer six-woman opener, and what turned out to be the creative and critical peak of Seth Rollins and Matt Riddle's spirited summer series.
Every visual was better than the last, Cardiff city centre buzzed with WWE's curated vibe all weekend, and echoes from Edge's pop and Dominik Mysterio's heel turn can still be felt in and around the South Wales Valleys to this day.
Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett
