This year’s Extreme Rules event was certainly a show. A horror show at that.
Lots happened, storylines were furthered (even if the next step was very bizarre) and people are talking about ‘The Horror Show at Extreme Rules’.
I also have to admit I kind of enjoyed the show. The matches had some great action despite the few endings that had me scratching my head. Also, no one can deny that the show was definitely sports entertainment!
The build to SummerSlam starts now but I’m not ready to move forward just yet. Let’s reflect on the ‘Six Biggest Takeaways From The Horror Show At Extreme Rules’:
1. The Fiend Is Back
The Swamp Fight got the job done in conveying a grungy, wacky family gone wrong. This was the first time during this Strowman-Wyatt feud that it felt personal. It felt like Strowman had to find his strength to battle his past demons.
Even though Wyatt was in his weak state of mind, it still felt like he had control of his ‘Monster’. Each section of the fight was eery in Wyatt fashion and even though Strowman is known for defying the odds, time was ticking for the Universal Champion.
The strangest part of this match was when Alexa Bliss appeared, luring Braun into Wyatt’s trap. This has many people believing Alexa Bliss is the real Sister Abigail, however, I disagree.
My assumption is that Wyatt planted these illusions in our imagination. He knew about the past romantic connotations between Braun and his ‘Team Little-Big’ partner, Alexa Bliss. He used this to hypnotize Strowman.
For example, if that was Otis in this situation then Mandy Rose would appear as the gothic ghoul.
The copyright logo appearing when Braun was standing victorious was a trick on WWE’s part. Only for surprisal purposes, when Wyatt got Strowman into the mandible claw to pull him into the Swamp to drown alongside him.
Instead of Wyatt emerging from the gator-infested waters, the Fiend lifted his head revealing that he was the winner of this match.
This was a non-title cinematic, however, it was an interesting main event nonetheless. Overall, it felt like a mix of Boneyard and Firefly Funhouse Match but it never seemed to connect like the previous films. Maybe their next match expected at SummerSlam will be the capitalization this feud requires.
2. MVP Crowned Himself United States Champion… Again.
The United States Championship match was scheduled to be Apollo Crews defending his gold against MVP.
Due to unforeseen reasons, Apollo Crews didn’t turn up. Commentary tried to play off that it was due to an injury from Lashley’s full nelson finisher, however, it is being reported that this is a COVID-19 related issue.
Obviously, this must have been a short-notice situation as the best WWE came up with was MVP crowning himself U.S. Champion due to forfeit. This was quite a lame segment because he literally did that a few weeks ago when he revealed the new U.S. title design.
They could have had Ricochet or Cedric Alexander come out seeing as they are friends of Crews. Hell, they could have even had Shane Thorne and Brendan Vink if they wanted to add more creativity.
Commentary kept on telling us that this doesn’t mean MVP is the official champion, so expect this match to happen whenever Apollo Crews has the all-clear to return to work.
3. Rey Mysterio Lost An Eye
Rey Mysterio has had quite the rough year so far. He got thrown off a roof onto a smaller roof, harassed by the Monday Night Messiah for months and to make it even worse, lost an eye at Extreme Rules. All on the road to his retirement which is getting closer and closer as he is reported to be under no-contract with WWE.
The hype surrounding ‘Eye for an Eye’ was the stipulation’s downfall. The way to win being to extract your opponent’s eye out of its socket made WWE seem very unbelievable even for a scripted show. They couldn’t possibly have a real-life actor lose an eye all in the name of drama!
The end came after Rollins stomped Mysterio into the mat and pushed his already injured eye into the corner of the steel steps. After Rollins found out what lengths he went to, he puked. This ending was way too hokey for me and I would have preferred if WWE allowed Rollins’ facial expressions to tell the story. As he looked devastated that he had to prevail here.
It would have been better overall if WWE just made the match a no-DQ with the same result. Instead, they shoved the stipulation down our throats, tiring us and forming a bad reputation on the match before it even began.
In the long-run, this has me intrigued to see the development of Rollins’ character. Hopefully, he has a match with Dominick at SummerSlam. Also, this whole ‘Eye for an Eye’ stipulation would be proven null and void whenever Mysterio wrestles with both eyes and we will be sitting wondering “What was the point?” He is expected to be taking some time away to sell his eye injury.
4. Drew McIntyre Overcomes The Odds
WWE was very smart in keeping the stipulation between Dolph Ziggler and Drew McIntyre a secret until moments before the match. It made Ziggler seem like a smart heel because he didn’t want Drew McIntyre – a tactical, strategic champion – to find out his gameplan. Win, win!
McIntyre’s ‘overcome the odds’ aura worked best due to this stipulation. It was obvious Ziggler was never going to become Champion. He has barely won a match this year and hasn’t been relevant for the better half of this decade. Unfortunately, WWE gave up on the ‘Showoff’ years ago.
This match was very fun! McIntyre struggled to stay composed so as not to get himself disqualified. However, he battled any rage that was inside him and managed to hit Ziggler with a wicked claymore for the win.
This may have made Ziggler look weaker (who really cares at this point) but it certainly made McIntyre feel stronger than ever.
5. Cesaro & Nakamura Win The SmackDown Tag Team Championship
In the opening match of the main show, Cesaro and Shinsuke Nakamura finally got titles on their waists again in the form of the SmackDown Tag Team Championship. This came from the end of a fantastic tables match against former Champions, the New Day.
The ending spot was very innovative and saw a deadly powerbomb through two tables from Cesaro to Kofi Kingston! At first, I thought he was going to hit the neutralizer into the thin wood, which may have added a new meaning to “Horror Show”.
With Cesaro and Nakamura as Tag Champions, we could hopefully see fresh rivalries in the tag division for the blue brand. Even though New Day are great it felt like this title run was quite meaningless and that the tag division was literally just them, Miz and Morrison, and The Usos for months. Now, this could change and teams like Heavy Machinery or Lucha House Party could show what they can do. Or it’ll just be the New Day again…
6. Sasha Banks Is The New Raw Women’s Champion?
Finally, in the most baffling ending of the night, Sasha Banks became Raw Women’s Champion because Bayley put a ref shirt on and counted the pin?
In WWE logic this could have certainly been an official way to crown the Boss as Women’s Champion. However, it jars with me. It can’t be whoever is wearing a ref top (unless it is for the 24/7 title) or everyone would go around dressed as a referee helping their buddies win. Although, this definitely works for the selfish characters of Bayley and Banks and it does have me excited to stay tuned for Raw tonight to get my answers.
It is believed that Asuka is still the champion, so we will see how WWE unfold this story and still reach the speculated Bayley vs. Banks match in time for August 23rd.
Despite this confusing ending, this match was incredible throwing it back to NXT level wrestling. Submissions were being countered with submissions. Banks even unleashed her inner-Pete Dunne targeting the fingers of the Empress. Unfortunately, the strangeness of this ending will be all that is remembered of this match. Which is a common point about most of the bouts at Extreme Rules.
Let’s hope the next few shows give us answers and deliver a captivating story heading into WWE’s biggest show of the Summer.
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