WWE Extreme Rules Results and Highlights: All Hype, No Substance
Things were back to normal as several finishes left more questions than answers in the mind of the fans. Sometimes that is a good thing but not when the ending is not satisfactory.
WWE was marketing Extreme Rules as a Horror Show for the past few weeks. It was to hype up the Swamp Fight between Bray Wyatt and Braun Strowman. And sure there was horror but for all the wrong reasons. After a good show at Backlash, WWE delivered a dud at Extreme Rules. Things were back to normal as several finishes left more questions than answers in the mind of the fans. Sometimes that is a good thing but not when the ending is unsatisfactory.
The United States Championship match between Apollo Crews and MVP did not take place. But it seemed the title went to MVP as he proudly hoisted it in the air with Apollo not cleared for action. Bobby Lashley attacked Apollo, so he was ‘injured’.
Then Bayley vs Nikki Cross also had outside interference with Sasha Banks hitting the challenger with her ‘BOSS’ brass knuckles. Then Bayley pinned Cross and another match ended without a clean ending.
One of the most talked about match was Rey Mysterio vs Seth Rollins in an ‘eye for an eye’ match. The concept of the match was already debated but the result of the match would be ridiculed. They had a fun match till the ending where Mysterio’s ‘eye’ came out its socket.
Rollins puked after seeing that. The audience did not see the ‘eye’ but maybe Rollins saw what other couldn’t. Video footage after the match showed blood in Mysterio’s eyes but the whole premise was weird to say the least.
Asuka defended her championship against Sasha Banks but it again had an ending which was plain confusing. After Asuka put green mist in the referee’s eyes, Bayley hit her with the SmackDown Women’s Championship. Then Bayley removed the referee’s t-shirt and put it on herself, which apparently made her the referee. She put Sasha on top of Asuka and counted 1,2,3. And Sasha was the new Raw Women’s Champion as Bayley made an official ring the bell also. If this is how champions can be made then why are many fighting for hours, they can just beat up the referee, take off the t-shirt and pin the opponent. Voila, Bayley gave everyone an idea to play with.
The saving grace was the WWE Championship match with Drew McIntyre taking on perennial challenger Dolph Ziggler. They had a great back and forth fight and an interesting stipulation in which only Ziggler can use any weapons. But still no one believed that Ziggler could win. Even if the stipulation was McIntyre’s hands and legs would be tied and he has to fight the match like that, then also everyone would have made Drew the favourite. Nothing on Ziggler as a wrestler, but his booking history suggests that. In the end, McIntyre won after a kip-up Claymore kick which looked beautiful.
Finally, the #SwampFight. It was something that disappointed to be really honest. After the FireFly Funhouse and Boneyard match, a lot was expected out of this. But it was more on the lines of the ‘House of Horrors’ match than those matches. There was an appearance of Alexa Bliss in disguise of maybe ‘Sister Abigail’ but noting excited in this match. Braun was beaten up, tied and dumped (literally). At the end, The Fiend appeared to drown Strowman. The show ended after that and seemingly suggested that Wyatt won but it wasn’t clear. Actually, nothing was clear in this PPV.
It looked WWE had no intention of making a wrestler pinning the opponent without any interference. Not just one match, the whole PPV went like that. Rather than a film, it was a television show (pun intended) with the answers to be delivered in the next episode.
