Extreme Rules 2018: The Good, The Bad & The Meh
Pittsburgh picked the wrong match to shit all over.
The Pittsburgh fans showed WWE when they’re not entertained, they will damn sure let you know it (regardless of whether that happened to be during one of the best matches of the night). Any fan with a paying ticket has a right to chant and be disruptive, and the chanting was one of the more notable moments of the night, for better or worse. Yes, the show itself was a bit lackluster, but that doesn’t mean we can’t have fun discussing it. Let’s get to it.
Getting right into it with the Meh:
Finn Balor vs. Baron Corbin. They sure had a match. I like Finn Balor, and I like Baron Corbin in his new heel authority figure role, but this just existed to fill time. Balor got the win, so good on him. I’m hoping he can move on to bigger and better things soon, though. Corbin is great where he is right now.
B-Team vs. The Deleters of Worlds (c). I like all of the characters involved, and the B-Team has been very entertaining in this feud with their spot-on impersonations and celebrating every fluke victory over Wyatt and Hardy like they had just won the FIFA World Cup. I just don’t think they deserved to win the titles, not to mention the match itself was kind of dull. There were no examples of the great character work that all of these men are very capable of. It really was a miss and that’s unfortunate. Congratulations to Bo and Axel, though; you can’t deny that they’re very hard workers.
Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Jeff Hardy (c). It pains me to do this, it really does. On the one hand, I’m elated that Nakamura is now United States Champion. That was well deserved. On the other hand, the match wasn’t what the crowd wanted, even though they popped for the big moments. Orton’s reappearance was cool, but the follow-up on Smackdown was a lot more riveting than this match ended up being.
Here’s the Good:
AJ Styles vs. Rusev. Styles is having the greatest run of high-caliber matches in recent memory. He’s the best wrestler in the U.S. for my money. These two put on a great match, and the crowd was into it more than anything else in the show, deservedly so!
The Intercontinental Championship Iron Man Match. Seth Freaking Rollins once again showed how it’s done, this time as the challenger against Dolph Ziggler. It was great with high intensity throughout, and a classic dramatic Iron Man ending. If I could nitpick one thing, it’s that this would have been better received if they hadn’t already fought on Raw so often. It made everything a bit predictable. A little separation would have added to the drama. Still a great match, though.
Roman Reigns vs. Bobby Lashley. Yes, yes, I know you loved it when I was so harsh on the Big Canine in the opening to my first pay-per-view review. However, I consider myself a fair man who calls it like I see it. While the crowd hated this, I actually liked this match. Lashley and Reigns had a great, hard-hitting fight that didn’t try to be something it’s not. It was a knockdown, drag-out, heavyweight-style match and a good first act to their feud. Lashley got the big win and has taken one giant step toward proving why he’s still a deserving main-eventer (and maybe even future Universal Champion).
Let’s get to the bad and my goodness there’s a lot to talk about:
Team Hell No vs. The Bludgeon Brothers. The crowd was out of it from the beginning. Daniel Bryan, Luke Harper, and Erick Rowan tried their darndest to make the fans care, but because of the injury angle they shot earlier in the show, Pittsburgh was not buying it. There was a small pop for Kane, but when the Bludgeon Brothers just ended up dividing and conquering, no one cared. My apologies to all involved.
Alexa Bliss vs. Nia Jax. It was an Extreme Rules match and, surprisingly, the only one on the card, so I had high hopes. They were quickly dashed, though. Too many moving parts with the corner women, Mickie and Natalya, involved. It was sloppy and a bit predictable. The saving grace was Ronda Rousey and, judging by how the rest of the match was booked, maybe that’s the only thing the producers wanted us to care about.
The Steel Cage match between Braun Strowman and Kevin Owens. Oh man, this was a hard one for me to put in the Bad column. I really like both of the wrestlers involved and found the week-to-week cat and mouse game leading up to this to be hilariously entertaining. But I just hated the finish of this match. I popped for the big spot, but it was just so illogical. Strowman, as well as all wrestlers, need to care about wins and losses. It bugs me when they just throw that out the window. Sorry.
Carmella vs Asuka II. This was a promising match going in with the shark cage stipulation. It would have been the perfect time for Asuka to get her revenge and perhaps win the Women’s Championship. Instead, we got a really rushed match that was definitely a dud. Carmella is getting some real heat, for what it’s worth, but it wasn’t worth how bad this match was. I hope Asuka does win the Women’s Title sooner rather than later.
Finally, I’m going to do something contrary to what I did last month. I can’t believe I’m going to say this, but to the Pittsburgh crowd – I’m disappointed in you. The chanting during the Rollins match was simply disrespectful. I get it, though. You didn’t see the caliber of entertainment or the results you wanted from Rusev, Asuka or the Hardy vs. Nakamura match. Or maybe hijacking the show is just the cool thing to do now. Even though I understand it, I felt like it was the absolute wrong match to do that. The Royal Rumble countdown was funny the first five times, but then it got real old, real quick. Yes, you paid your money to go, so you can do what you want, but hijacking used to mean something. It used to be reserved for bad booking and crappy matches. Rollins vs. Ziggler was definitely not that.
Overall, Extreme Rules was a lackluster show in the era of dual-branded PPVs. The talent on both rosters should have provided can’t-miss entertainment, but as of late, WWE has been treating their second-tier events with a lack of care and consideration. Also, there was a noticeable absence of gimmick matches on a PPV literally named after a gimmick match. In years prior, every match had a stipulation, no matter what. That’s the whole point of this show.
With all of that in mind, I have to rate this show a C. It had some good moments, but fell flat overall.
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