Extreme Rules Review

Hello! It's a PPV Review- albeit you didn't necessarily have to pay for it; which on balance was a good thing given what happened last night. I touched on it yesterday in my Predictions but the Free Month equals Bad Month strategy WWE adopts is so short-term and ill thought out it's unreal. Yes, it inflates the numbers just in time for the quarterly reports- but once that small stock boost happens what is WWE left with? Because I doubt a 10p Rise in Stock Prices is enough to offset the potential 9.99 a Month earned- EARNED by putting on a good show and convincing the free subs to part with their cash and keep their subscription. But then again, what do I know- anyway, let's get reviewing!

Pre-Show: Neville v Bad News Barrett
This was pretty good for what it was, and what it was is a filler because of Bryan's ill-health. This match was in a way helped because of it's lack of build because we didn't know who would win- especially because Barrett was already booked on the PPV in the Bryan match. That meant the false-finishes actually meant something. Both of the guys involved are top competitors and it wouldn't surprise me to see this being a feud over the IC Title soon.

Dean Ambrose v Luke Harper (Part 1)- Chicago Street Fight
This was never going to be a pretty match, or a technical masterpiece- but brawls can often be the best types of match because of how chaotic and violent they tend to be. The first part to this match was at least passable in that regard, Harper in terms of where he's placed on the card is so underrated it's unreal, and while some of the shine has come off of Ambrose he's still a good in-ring guy- and when you combine the two guys- and throw in weapons it would take a special set of circumstances for this match to lead balloon. The finish to this part of the match was just stupid- and while they put over the fact the match was still going on meaning that it wasn't the finish it properly took the wind out of the match just as it was starting to get good with it spilling over into the backstage area.

Dolph Ziggler v Sheamus- Kiss Me Arse
This match, well not the match itself- but this "segment" has properly pissed me off. The match was actually pretty good, both guys can go in the ring, and Sheamus works better both in the ring and as a character when he's a heel. They told a good story of Dolph being the plucky underdog against the bully Sheamus- but this is when it all starts to go downhill. Firstly, I fundamentally disagree with Sheamus losing in the first place- it was his first PPV match back and he loses, so any chance of him being taken as a legitimate heel have already gone drastically down in my book. Then we get onto the thing that really annoyed me, the actual Stipulation was beyond idiotic from the start- but what followed the roll-up and Dolph win was just really awkward and left a bad taste in mine- and I'm sure everyone apart from Vince & Kevin Dunn's Mouth who were presumably jerking it in gorilla to it all. Then not only did we get the awkward build to it all, the stipulation didn't mean anything anyway.

New Day v KiddSaro- Tag Title Match
If you look back on my Predictions, I pretty much talked myself into why New Day would win last night- and then I still went with KiddSaro because- well I don't know why. KiddSaro aren't really Heels- in that they don't really draw too much heat they're too good in the ring to draw heat from "wrestling" fans- New Day on the other hand are heat magnets- and as such will make much better champions for the Lucha Dragons to oppose- and after the way New Day won the #1 Contender's Gig on RAW you've got a built in story. I can't see KiddSaro lasting much longer- they may keep them together for a couple of Triple Threats but apart from that KiddSaro aren't long for this world- and I just hope they do the smart thing and have Cesaro turn.

Dean Ambrose v Luke Harper (Part 2)- Chicago Street Fight
This would have been alright as the finish- had all of the heat not vanished off of the match because of the gap between the two parts of the match. They didn't even any explanation as to where Harper & Ambrose went in the car and we didn't even get old OJ footage like a certain previous match that supposedly had a car chase in- then this actual part of the match was pretty short so they didn't have time to get the heat back onto the match- overall this was just an Anti-Climax of something that could have been a lot better.

John Cena v Rusev- Russian Chain Match
These matches are flawed right from the start, the fact the two guys can only get so far apart from each other- combined with the fact any kind of move set up from a corner is off the table pretty much shafts anyone involved in this type of match from the start. As such I'm not really sure how to judge this match- this was so- meh, there weren't many memorable spots- the closest they got to telling a compelling story was Rusev sending Lana to the back, but I'm gonna place the blame of this match being "meh" on Cena & Rusev because they were set up to fail.

I'd hoped the Cena win, coupled with the American Flag dropping etc. would have meant that was that and we could finally move on from the "MURICA" feuds we've had had for pretty much a solid year- but nope, they couldn't let Rusev be Kozlov'd in peace.

Nikki Bella v Sasha Bank- I mean Naomi- Divas Championship
Fresh off of giving Cena a Urinary Tract Infection (See my Predictions for Context) Nikki, who is apparently the babyface won against a freshly heel'd up Naomi who blatantly stole Sasha Banks' look- with heel tactics courtesy of Brie. It was an average match at best, and the finish was just a complete cluster, I don't count the Bellas as Babyfaces, and with Summer turning last Monday we don't have an active Babyface Diva on the Roster, The Divas Division is a complete clusterfuck at the moment- and I have zero faith in WWE to rectify said clusterfuck.

Roman Reigns v Big Show- Last Man Standing
I'm slightly torn on this match, firstly I should say it was better than it had any right to be and I give credit to Show & Roman for putting their bodies on the line like they did with some of the spots they did. But on the same token, it was just that- a series of spots without anything connecting them, and hardly any story for us to invest in. I'm not being a blind Reigns hater, if people deserve credit I'm the first one to give it out- but we had the spots, but we didn't have the reason as to why we should care about said spots. I'm hoping this will firmly end the Big Show rivalry with Show- because Roman needs to be in the ring with different guys in order to keep improving, however the way they protected Big Show with the finish means I'm not at all confident of that fact.

Bo Dallas, Ryback "Thing"
This was just mindless filler, it could have meant something if Bray had ambushed Ryback when he was about to Shellshock Bo- but he didn't and that meant there was absolutely zero point to it.

Seth Rollins v Randy Orton- WWEWHC Match
For a PPV called Extreme Rules, this wasn't a very "Extreme" Main Event- but on balance it told the best story of the night I'd say. Yes, it was overbooked as anything- the finish hardly made any sense whatsoever in the grand scheme of things- and Kane still being relatively on the fence is quite annoying. The RKO Finish was clever I'll admit it- because it keeps Orton in the hunt which is presumably where they're going for Payback, but as with Big Show Orton doesn't need protecting- for a different reason, but he doesn't need protecting and- with the history making of J&J and Kane managing to breach the integrity of the Cage for the first time it wasn't a very convincing first defence for Rollins- which in my opinion he needed given the way he's been booked in every PPV since The Shield broke up.

It'll be interesting to see where they go with a few of these feuds tonight- and beyond, because unfortunately a PPV which is based around matches that should be the blowoff there was hardly any blowoff matches (or at least from where I'm standing). Anyway, thats for tonight.

Thanks for reading as ever, as always I hope you enjoyed this Review- I'll have a RAW Review up tomorrow so stay tuned for that- and I hope you tag along during RAW tonight for my usual sarcastic Twitter Tones. Anyway thanks again for reading, and let's hope 2 Editions of RAW on Consecutive Days doesn't hurt tonights show- Oh Wait.