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EditorialExtreme Rules 2017 Review and Match Ratings

Extreme Rules 2017 Review and Match Ratings

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The Miz def. Dean Ambrose (C) – Intercontinental Championship

Rock, solid start.

When you think of Extreme Rules, the last thing you’d think of is winning a title by a disqualification right? I suppose you could say this was WWE’s way of thinking outside the box, but at Extreme Rules, there always seems to be that normal one-fall match without any special, extreme stipulation. Ambrose and The Miz have always had chemistry dating back to January of this year. I appreciated how well they were able to play up the added stipulation early, with The Miz taunting Dean Ambrose, and Ambrose’s unhinged attitude often working against him early in the match. This match was rock solid, with great psychology with the leg and impressive ring worth from both men. The ending sequences with The Miz using Maryse at his disposal to intentionally get disqualified was smart, and while technically the ref should have called for the bell, I can completely understand why they didn’t finish the match that way.

While I would have loved an extreme stipulation to this match, I still loved the match between the two and thought it was a very impressive start to the night. The Miz’s work throughout his career ought to be commended, and this will now be his 7th reign as Intercontinental Champion. Who he feuds with next will be interesting to see, but if he can keep up in the ring like this, it’s bound to be good.  Damn fine start. Damn fine. ****

Sasha Banks and Rich Swann def. Noam Darr and Alicia Fox

They had a match.

Like I said in my preview, I didn’t care much for this match, and I was actually tuning in and out, but from what I saw, the match was fine. There was some decent back and forth with the men and the women, Swann got his hometown pop reaction, and the faces went over, so good for all of them, I guess. I guess this is what you’d call a match you would see on RAW. **

Alexa Bliss (C) def. Bayley – RAW Women’s Championship (Kendo Stick On A Pole Match)

Whatever.

I kid you not, after about 2 minutes in the match (about at the sequence where Alexa first got a hold of the kendo stick), I went to the bathroom. When I came back, the match was over. Bayley lasted against Nia Jax, Charlotte and Sasha Banks in a Fatal Four Way elimination match at WrestleMania, but evidently, couldn’t last five minutes in a match against Alexa Bliss. I don’t know if it shows how high WWE is on Alexa or if WWE has cooled off on Bayley, but whatever the case, I can’t give the match a high rating just on the length of the match by itself. Off the strength on what I saw ring wise, it just looked more like a brawling segment as opposed to an actual match. There didn’t appear to be a focus, it looked rush and sort of just thrown in there. It’s sort of surprising because there were only six advertised matches on the card, so I thought this would get at least 10 minutes, but whatever. I just don’t get what WWE is doing with Bayley. DUD

Cesaro and Sheamus def. The Hardy Boyz (C) – RAW Tag Team Championship (Tag Team Steel Cage Match)

The Hardyz still got it.

In order to see how The Hardy Boyz would act in this match, I watched their previous tag team steel cage matches at Unforgiven 2000 and Survivor Series 2001 and see if they would try some of the same things. What I’ve deduced is that Jeff Hardy has yet to lose his step from what I saw. His acrobatics is still incredible to this day. I think these two tag teams have proven that they have great chemistry with each other as they went out there and laid waste to each other. I’m not a fan of steel cage matches these days, and steel cage matches at Extreme Rules have a track record of sucking (Cena/Wyatt, Rollins/Orton comes to mind in recent years).

Putting the titles back on Cesaro and Sheamus is an interesting move on WWE’s part, but the two have worked well as a tandem, and I’m glad they are still invested in these two as a team and didn’t flame out on them too early. Where the Hardy Boyz go after this is anyone’s guess, but if this leads to the Deletion character making a return sooner than later, then the possibilities would be endless. One thing I didn’t like about the match was the finish. They said during the end of the match that if you leave during a tag team steel cage match and re-enter, you need to leave once again in order to win. This is actually news to me, so if any of you have examples that you could reference in which that happened, I appreciate it. Other than that, great tag team action once again from these two. ***3/4

Neville (C) def. Austin Aries – Cruiserweight Championship (Submission Match)

Another good outing from these two.

Neville has been the savior that has been holding the Cruiserweight Championship on his back since the beginning of the year, and I’m inclined to believe that he will have an extended reign because of his work. Neville is just too gifted in the ring with the Cruiserweights to be usurped by anyone at this point. The match between these two was a pretty solid submission match. It wasn’t like  ROH submission bonanza like it had the potential to be, but I still think there was a good story told. I especially liked Austin Aries holding on to the Last Chancery to the outside and Neville tapping out on the outside made both men looks strong as Neville was able to move outside of the ring so the submission didn’t count and Austin technically made Neville tap out.

Neville used his heel wits and came in with a strategy and it was seen evidently in this match, as he was able to escape each one of Aries’ submission holds and reverse with his own. The Red Arrow right into the Rings of Saturn was spectacular as well. I’m not sure who is next to challenge Neville, as I can’t believe he’d still be in the conversation after tapping out, but whoever it has huge shoes to fill. ***1/2

Samoa Joe def. Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, Finn Balor and Bray Wyatt – Extreme Rules Fatal Five Way Match

Loved it.

So there was a lot to digest from that match, so let’s just get right down into it. Multi-man matches have a plethora of possibilities, and with the prize being a number 1 contender to the Universal Championship, you knew that all men were going to throw caution to the wind and do what they can to obtain the opportunity. I loved the often frantic pace from all five men. There was just so much that took place, and WWE playing up the kitchen sink routine with all five men just going bananas and using anything they can to win was fantastic to see. My favorite sequence was when Roman speared Samoa Joe and Finn Balor through the barricade and Seth Rollins frog splashed Bray Wyatt on the table simultaneously.

While I thought there was a lot of fluff in the first twenty minutes, the last 10 or so made up for it. The back and forth between Roman and Seth was fantastic and Finn interjecting himself at the last minute was also great to see. Samoa Joe winning wasn’t a surprise since the smart money had him winning the match, and while I didn’t understand why he was the favorite at first, it makes perfect sense why he would win. Now is as perfect a time as any to give him a Universal Championship match. He hasn’t lost often, he has still been heavily protected, and he is a legit enforcer and pwerhouse. Of course, he won’t be beating Brock Lesnar, but hey, if they do a physical 10-15 minute sprint, like a longer version of the Goldberg match at WrestleMania, it would accomplish its purpose. Overall, all five men gave a great effort and a worthy main event for Extreme Rules. I’d go even far as to say it was a match of the year candidate. It will be interesting to see the direction for the other four men in the match going forward. ****1/4

Conclusion:

Remove Alexa Bliss and Bayley’s match and the mixed tag team match filler, and you have yourself an enjoyable PPV if you asked me. Some people didn’t like the finishes to the matches tonight, but I’ve always tried to see the positive in most of the matches, and there was significantly more good than there was bad to me tonight. Definitely, a thumbs up PPV for me. What did you all think? Let me know, and let’s have a discussion about it. Until next time.

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