Clash at the Castle 2026 is a booking disaster waiting to happen

The mid-card filler that nobody actually asked for

We are just days away from Clash at the Castle 2026, and looking at this card feels like staring at a freshly generated AI prompt that forgot how human logic works. WWE is hauling all this gear to Scotland, and they’ve filled the undercard with matches that feel like they were picked from a random number generator. The opener between Ricochet and a recently called-up prospect from NXT is the definition of pointless.

We have seen this exact style of match for eighteen months. It is just gymnastics without any stakes. When you put a high-flyer in there with no storyline, it’s just a highlight reel for a YouTube clip, not a reason to tune in. If you aren't building toward something that matters, don't waste 15 minutes of my afternoon.

The tag title mess is a total creative vacuum

Moving up the list of disappointments, the Tag Team Championship match is a genuine head-scratcher. Pairing two factions that only started feuding on a random episode of SmackDown last Tuesday is the laziest way to fill a premium live event spot. It reminds me of the classic 90s era where they’d just throw names in a hat to see who could eat a pinfall fastest.

You can’t just expect the crowd in Glasgow to care because the belts look shiny. There is zero heat here. It feels like the bookers were so worried about missing the mark on ring psychology that they just opted for a standard two-on-two layout that guarantees a commercial break halfway through.

The main event is the only reason to watch

Finally, we reach the only part of this card that deserves to exist. The World Heavyweight Championship clash between Gunther and Drew McIntyre is the only thing keeping this show from being a total skip. Watching two heavy hitters trade chops until their chests look like raw hamburger meat is the only reason I pay for the subscription.

If Gunther doesn't walk out as the champion, the entire booking strategy for the last year falls apart. The match intensity is expected to hit 25 minutes at minimum, which is exactly how long you need to build a proper narrative. Anything shorter is a disservice to the athleticism both men bring to the ring.

Why the filler is ruining the spectacle

The problem with the current WWE booking style is that everything feels like a warm-up for something else. I’ve said before that we are hitting a wall when it comes to keeping fans engaged with meaningless spectacles. We need stakes, not just shiny entrances and pyrotechnics that cost a fortune.

Look at the women's division match on this card. It is a four-way dance that serves no purpose other than to get four people on the poster. Without a clear arc, you just get people running through spots. It kills the crowd, it kills the momentum, and it makes the entire show feel smaller than it should be.

Unless the finish to the Drew versus Gunther match provides a shock, this event will be forgotten by the time the FIFA World Cup kicks off on June 11th. I want to see actual storytelling, but lately, they seem more obsessed with checking boxes on a corporate spreadsheet. The average match rating for this card will likely be mid-tier because the talent is there, but the vision is entirely absent.