Here's a rarity, you liked a WWE production more than I did. There were elements of Extreme Rules I liked, but they were overshadowed by the many things I didn't like. In fact, there's no way to avoid using the term, but there were some things about the PPV I truly hated. The unadvertised pre-show match was Kevin Owens vs Buddy Murphy. It was okay, but ended abruptly. The only official title change involved the Smackdown tag belts. Cesaro & Shinsuke Nakamura defeated the New Day in a tables match. This was a well done match and I'm fine with the title switch. I was also okay with Bayley vs Nikki Cross. There are a couple of storylines unfolding here. Aside from the Golden Role Models (Banks & Bayley), there is Nikki's mini losing streak, too. To this point, the PPV was respectable. But it was downhill from here. There was no US title match. MVP gave us a cockamamie story about Apollo Crews being injured by Bobby Lashley last month (which hadn't been mentioned at any point leading up to the PPV). There is speculation Crews has the coronavirus and that is why he wasn't on the show. So MVP declared himself the new US champion, but it doesn't mean he actually is. From here, Extreme Rules fell off a cliff. I hated Seth Rollins vs Rey Mysterio...or more accurately, I hated the Eye for an Eye stipulation. It was ludicrous and disgusting, so I didn't care about how good or not the action was. And, yes, Rey had a fake eyeball in his hand and Seth upchucking was equally phony. Asuka vs Sasha Banks was a good match with a terrible ending, which is all anyone will remember. And, like with the U.S.title, the result we were given isn't necessarily what officially transpired. Bayley isn't a ref and her three count doesn't count. Expect more on tonight's Raw. Drew vs Dolph wasn't bad. I also think they used the stipulation well, but so much had gone wrong in the pay per view to this point, nothing was going to overcome it. The result was predictable, Dolph was never going to win the belt. But it was fine. The main event, such as it was, just made my eyes roll. To have the cinematic thing (it wasn't a match) as the showcase offering was an indictment of the PPV. I have no interest in these concoctions because they aren't wrestling. It was sporadically entertaining, but heavy handed. We had two generic masked men attack Braun for no reason. If WWE had tried, they would've hired Erick Rowan for a one-off appearance, the same as they did for Heath Slater two weeks ago. I had no doubt the Fiend would be coming back but whatever this was, there wasn't a winner or a loser. So that makes three matches where we don't officially know who won or lost. I'm glad you liked it, but I will not remember Extreme Rules fondly.
Here's a rarity, you liked a WWE production more than I did. There were elements of Extreme Rules I liked, but they were overshadowed by the many things I didn't like. In fact, there's no way to avoid using the term, but there were some things about the PPV I truly hated.
The unadvertised pre-show match was Kevin Owens vs Buddy Murphy. It was okay, but ended abruptly. The only official title change involved the Smackdown tag belts. Cesaro & Shinsuke Nakamura defeated the New Day in a tables match. This was a well done match and I'm fine with the title switch. I was also okay with Bayley vs Nikki Cross. There are a couple of storylines unfolding here. Aside from the Golden Role Models (Banks & Bayley), there is Nikki's mini losing streak, too. To this point, the PPV was respectable. But it was downhill from here.
There was no US title match. MVP gave us a cockamamie story about Apollo Crews being injured by Bobby Lashley last month (which hadn't been mentioned at any point leading up to the PPV). There is speculation Crews has the coronavirus and that is why he wasn't on the show. So MVP declared himself the new US champion, but it doesn't mean he actually is. From here, Extreme Rules fell off a cliff. I hated Seth Rollins vs Rey Mysterio...or more accurately, I hated the Eye for an Eye stipulation. It was ludicrous and disgusting, so I didn't care about how good or not the action was. And, yes, Rey had a fake eyeball in his hand and Seth upchucking was equally phony.
Asuka vs Sasha Banks was a good match with a terrible ending, which is all anyone will remember. And, like with the U.S.title, the result we were given isn't necessarily what officially transpired. Bayley isn't a ref and her three count doesn't count. Expect more on tonight's Raw. Drew vs Dolph wasn't bad. I also think they used the stipulation well, but so much had gone wrong in the pay per view to this point, nothing was going to overcome it. The result was predictable, Dolph was never going to win the belt. But it was fine.
The main event, such as it was, just made my eyes roll. To have the cinematic thing (it wasn't a match) as the showcase offering was an indictment of the PPV. I have no interest in these concoctions because they aren't wrestling. It was sporadically entertaining, but heavy handed. We had two generic masked men attack Braun for no reason. If WWE had tried, they would've hired Erick Rowan for a one-off appearance, the same as they did for Heath Slater two weeks ago. I had no doubt the Fiend would be coming back but whatever this was, there wasn't a winner or a loser. So that makes three matches where we don't officially know who won or lost.
I'm glad you liked it, but I will not remember Extreme Rules fondly.