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EditorialExtreme Rules 2015 Review and Match Ratings

Extreme Rules 2015 Review and Match Ratings

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Ahh, the night of the extreme. A night full of contrived spots headlined by an unoriginal PPV name. If you ask me, the last great Extreme Rules PPV was in 2012 with the Punk/Jericho street fight, Bryan/Sheamus 2 out of 3 Falls Match and Lesnar beating up Cena for twenty minutes. In recent years, I have just felt….meh. Can WWE make it up this year? Let us find out.

Dean Ambrose vs. Luke Harper – Chicago Street Fight

So……I’m assuming this is just going to be an incomplete for now. I’m assuming when they drove off they hit a Chuck E. Cheese, made a stop by the Chicago Bulls arena and got themselves some deep dish pizza before coming back. Meh.

Of course we need time for a Triple H promo. Of course we do. Heaven forbid he doesn’t get time for him and Kane to regurgitate what they have talked about thousands of times already.

Dolph Ziggler def. Sheamus – Kiss Me Arse Match

Can someone confirm for me if Ziggler has ever defeated Sheamus in one on one action? Because I don’t think he has. I’m pretty sure that this is the first time he has beaten him one on one. Regardless, I thought the match was just okay. I know these two are capable of much more as I watched their match at No Way Out in 2012. There some good spots and nice reversals, but the finish wasn’t really hot and the ending sequence was really out of nowhere. I’m not sure what they are planning to do with Ziggler, but I don’t see the logic in having Sheamus lose his first PPV match as a heel. To top off the stupidity, they spend a good five minutes of Sheamus trying to weasel his way out of puckering up even though he can just walk away. Then Sheamus attacks ZIggler and Dolph ends up getting a face full of Irish booty. If you were planning on doing that, then what was the point on giving Dolph the win? It’s not like he is due for a big push, and if he is, WWE hasn’t led us to believe that he is due for one. Seeing as how Bryan and Barrett are off the card, I was expecting much more. **3/4

Big E and Kofi Kingston def. Tyson Kidd (C) and Cesaro (C) – WWE Tag Team Championship

If we are being honest with ourselves, that’s about as great as a tag team match is going to get on PPV. I was admittedly disappointed when this team went over the Lucha Dragons, but these two produced a very good match. I didn’t have sky high expectations for this match, especially considering it was originally slated to take place on the pre-show. I can’t be mad at the title change, however. Kidd and Cesaro had a decent run with the belts, and I suppose this was the time to go into a new direction. If Kidd and Cesaro end up being singles performers in this and strengthen the mid-card even more, then no one loses. The tag team division is still pretty weak though. ***1/2

Oh, what do you know, our favorite mid-card friends are back. They didn’t really go very far now did they? 

Dean Ambrose def. Luke Harper – Chicago Street Fight


This match is a very tough one to grade because I have to grade in segments. Well it looks like Ambrose has finally broken his PPV curse as he gets his first singles win on PPV since Night of Champions 2013. This is really difficult to do. It’s hard to grade a match that goes for about six minutes, two matches in between and then they resume. In that aspect, it was kind of sloppy. As for the in-ring action, I suppose it was respectable, but this certainly wasn’t one of the better street fights I’ve seen. If there were no breaks, I’m inclined to believe it would have had a higher rating. So I’ll just say that it was okay. Or something like that. Stop asking me questions! ***1/4

John Cena (C) def. Rusev – Russian Chain Match (United States Championship)

Oh, I see. They were doing the JBL/Guererro bit from The Great American Bash in 2004. When I saw that this was a Russian Chain match, I was under the assumption that this was going to be a regular match and the use of a chain would be permitted. I was expecting something along the lines of Cena getting dominated for most of the match and then Cena brings back his old chain from his Thuganomics days. But now Extreme Rules has turned into Overly Complicated Rules. This match was just bleh. I tuned in and out far too often. The crowd was into it, but then again, it is Chicago. As a match, I thought this was Cena’s second straight stinker at the Extreme Rules pay-per-view. Not over-the-line terrible, but just very boring. Not to mention the horrible finish. The Lana separation was inevitable, but I’ll definitely miss her. Now where Rusev goes is anyone’s guess. **

Nikki Bella (C) def. Naomi – Divas Championship

Brie’s constant yelling throughout the match just annoyed the hell out of me. For what it awas, I really liked this match, but the highlight of the night….NEW NAOMI MUSIC! I wanted some ghetto Nicki Minaj music, but it’s a vast improvement over that dreaded, dated Funkadactyls music. As I said before, for what it was. I’m inclined to believe, however, that The Bella Twins are starting to take lessons on how many times you should turn heel or face from The Big Show. I was pulling for Naomi here, but I’m far from mad. Her time will come. **

Whenever Lana is sad, I am sad.

Roman Reigns def. The Big Show – Last Man Standing

Sorry but I was sick of seeing The Big Show knock down Roman numerous times and struggle to get back up. Meanwhile you have The Big Show no selling that Samoan Drop to the table and still moving as though he is fresh. Now there were a lot of table spots, and clearly the barricade spear spot was just begging to happen. These two should not be in the ring with each other anymore. Too slow. However, the match did get going towards the end. I liked the announcer’s table spot especially. But The Big Show got up after that, and then sat back down. This match ended up being better than it had any right to be, but this feud must end. NOW. ***1/2

It is announced that Cena and Rusev will be facing each other on PPV for the fourth straight time in an “I Quit” match. John Cena and I Quit matches. Need a spoiler for that one?

Seth Rollins (C) def. Randy Orton – Steel Cage Match (WWE World Heavyweight Championship)

Overbooked mess this was. This match is all the reasons why I hate steel cage matches. It’s slow, they are confined in the ring, and there is less extracurricular activity and freedom unlike what you would have in a regular match. Steel cage matches used to be interesting, but they have gotten progressively boring over the years. This was another classic example. Rollins and Orton just looked very sluggish here. There was nothing particularly interesting, and of course what steel cage match, a match that is designed to keep two people confined in the cage, is complete without interference? Of course Kane has to stick his nose in everything. Because clearly we need old, washed out veterans taking up the time to get in the spotlight. Reminded me of the ending to Battleground in 2013. Now as it pertains to the RKO being used by Rollins, my understanding of it is that Rollins told Orton that the RKO is banned. So I was inclined to believe that it was only Orton who couldn’t use it. But then again, the match just said “RKO is banned”, so that’s a big generic too. It’s not as if it mattered though, because Orton used the pedigree, so I’m sure if Rollins used a Stunner or Sweet Chin Music in that situation, it wouldn’t have changed much. I expected much more from these two, but sadly, I was more than disappointed in this match. **1/2

Conclusion:

Roman Reigns has been involved in the match of the night for the past three Pay-Per-Views. As much flack as he gets, give him credit. Reigns/Show I thought was the match of the night based on pure action followed by the tag team match. Everything else was just cluttered up together. I can’t be sure that the PPV would have been saved had the Barrett/Bryan match took place, but nonetheless, there was a whole lot of going through the motions here. While nothing was particularly horrible, per say, this just felt like a glorified house show if I ever saw one. The main event could have saved it had it delivered, but alas, it did not. So this show is getting a slight recommendation to avoid if you ask me. Until next time.

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