I think as a whole the whole Extreme Rules PPV was pretty solid, there were some week moments and some weak matches, but as a whole it was fairly impressive. Here are some standout moments/matches for me…
Without a doubt the match (if you can call it that) of the night was John Cena vs. Brock Lesnar. It’s just unfortunate that it was the match of the night for all the wrong reasons. Firstly I am going to say that Brock Lesnar is unsafe in the ring, twice he has been in a brawling situation with Cena and he has busted him open. Whether the first time was a blood capsule or not I’m unsure, but I don’t think it was. Last night with the elbow splitting Cena’s head was in my opinion a reckless thing to do. I really don’t think that Vince wants blood in the WWE. It without a doubt added to the match but still I think Lesnar need to remember that this is WWE not UFC. If the idea for the match was to have Cena beat down to a point he has not been for a long time and turn him into something of an underdog again, getting the crowd behind him then I think it worked. It has been a long time since the crowd behind him like they was at the end of last night main event. It will just be interesting to see where his character goes after Cena comes back from injury.
I think the CM Punk vs. Chris Jericho was a great match, I think it was done well. I don’t think there was any doubt that Punk wasn’t going to win in front of his hometown crowd, but there was times when I thought Jericho was going to get the three count. I wasn’t really a fan of Punk’s sister’s involvement in the match but I understand why it was done as that was what the storyline has been all about. I think I liked that match because it was given time to mature as a match, I think that is the downfall of many matches in the WWE at the minute they are over far too fast and there is little back and forward. It will be interesting to see if this feud continues or if Lesnar challenges Punk for the title, I hope that they stick with Punk/Jericho for at least another month as they are both bringing the best out of each other.
I think the Sheamus/Daniel Bryan feud is much the same as the Punk/Jericho feud in the sense that both Sheamus and Bryan are bringing the best out of each other. I will be the first to say that I couldn’t see a good feud being built between Sheamus and Bryan when it was announced before Wrestlemania, then the 18 second match happened at Mania and I thought that would be it, but I think they have built a pretty good feud. I think it was a great wrestling 2 out of 3 falls match, Sheamus’ power vs. Bryan’s speed was great to watch. The first fall of the match at Extreme Rules was the match they should have had at Wrestlemania. I hope they continue with this feud, and have some sort of involvement from AJ, hopefully a full heel turn for her.
It was an interesting finish to the Intercontinental Title match between Big Show and Cody Rhodes, I was really getting into the match Rhodes was doing some pretty solid moves. Especially the ‘Disaster Kick’ off the table leaning against the turnbuckle. It safe to say I didn’t see Rhodes winning the match though, I thought Show was going to retain and Cody would go onto a push for the World Heavyweight title, but as soon as the match started rolling Show slipped through a table. I honestly thought for a minute that Show wasn’t meant to go through the table, his face alone sold the ‘what have I done?!’ moment, even the referee solid it. Whether it was meant to happen or not it was an interesting ending to the match.
Some other interesting moments of the night, obviously the return of Layla. I thought it was a little strange that she came out to what seemed like Michelle McCool’s entrance music? But I guess it is ‘Lay-Cool’ entrance music. Unfortunate for Layla that’s her return and eventual winning of the Divas title was over shadowed but how much the crowd wanted Kharma to return. Although it was good to see Ziggler at Extreme Rules, I think he deserves so much better than a unannounced match at a PPV, Ziggler deserves to be in a title race or at least a major feud with someone big. The same could be said about The Miz, Santino Marella and the Tag Team Champions. The Miz vs. Marella being on the pre-show was a shame that they didn’t get a proper showcase, but the fact that the Epico & Primo being the Tag Team Champions should have a match, or at least some sort of segment on a PPV.
What did you think of WWE Extreme Rules? Did you love it? Hate it? Was it better than Wrestlemania? Let us know with a comment or sent me a tweet at @Greg_SLTD.
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