WWE Extreme Rules Proves That WWE Wants To Make New Stars

Last night's WWE Extreme Rules PPV seemed to have one theme, push the younger guys.

In the first official match of the evening, Showmiz took on three tag teams in a row, with the stipulation that if any team beats them, that team gets a tag team title shot on Monday.

Monday is WWE's annual draft show, so it looks like the WWE may want to take the titles off of Showmiz and split them up.

Showmiz defeated Jomo and R-truth by DQ when Jomo wouldn't release a submission hold, and they also beat MVP and Mark Henry.  The third and final team, The Hart Dynasty, showed they were serious about their opportunity by beating Showmiz very quickly.

The Hart Dynasty are two of WWE's younger talents, and it looks like WWE may want to give them the belts tonight on Raw.

Sheamus attacked HHH before thier match, setting up an injury angle for HHH to possibly take a break.  Sheamus hit HHH with a pipe, causing nerve damage according to WWE officials.

HHH was said to be too injured to compete, but in typical HHH style, he wouldn't stay down.  He made his way to the ring and tried to fight the Irish Assassin, only to eventually succumb to the pale warrior.

Putting Sheamus over HHH accomplishes two things, HHH gets to take a break, and Sheamus looks more like a legit contender than before Extreme rules.

Jack Swagger also won his match against Randy Orton to retain his World Heavy weight Title.  Swagger put on a good show, keeping up with Orton most of the match.  Swagger has been criticized by some for getting pushed too early, but he may have silenced some of the critics last night.

JTG and Shad had their match to settle their score once and for all.  In the first strap match I have seen in a few years, JTG defeated Shad by getting to all four corners first.

Shad, towards the end of the match, picked up JTG and carried him from corner to corner, not realizing that JTG was also touching each turnbuckle.  At the last one JTG hit his finisher and hit the final turnbuckle to win the match.

I don't understand why they broke up Cryme Tyme, but it looks like they want both guys to succeed in singles competition.  Shad's new gimmick needs an explanation otherwise it just looks like WWE repackaged him without caring.

Overall, the night was not full of surprises, Punk kept his hair, Beth Phoenix won the women's title, and Cena Taped Batista so he couldn't make the ten count in their match.

The PPV did however show that WWE wants to put the spotlight on some of the newer guys in order to create new stars.

What was your reaction to Extreme Rules?