Best and Worst Booking Decisions of WWE Extreme Rules 2022 Results

WWE's Extreme Rules premium live event was a show that featured mostly good matches, some questionable creative decisions within them and a closing angle that will have fans talking for years to come.

The return of Bray Wyatt in the final moments of the broadcast captivated the audience and created a jolt of excitement for the product and what is to come that wrestling has not had in quite some time.

It also covered up some head-scratching decisions in key match finishes that will take some repairing in the coming week of television.

Beginning with the re-emergence of The Eater of Worlds, relive Extreme Rules with these creative decisions that stood out as both the best and worst of the night.

Best: the Reintroduction of Bray Wyatt

There were lofty expectations entering Saturday's Extreme Rules premium live event that Bray Wyatt would return to WWE, revealing himself to be the White Rabbit that had been teased in a brilliant social and digital media campaign over the last handful of weeks.

WWE met those expectations and then some with a haunting reintroduction of the former universal champion that both played on his past incarnations while toying with his presentation to incorporate new elements.

There were a million different ways the creative forces behind the scenes could have gotten this one wrong. They could have failed to deliver and infuriated an audience that had been chanting "we want Wyatt" well before the event went on the air Saturday night. They could have overthought things or underdelivered and the entire presentation would have fallen flat.

Instead, it combined the unsettling nature of Wyatt's mellow voice singing "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands" with the creepy visuals of the Firefly Funhouse characters come to life with the on-the-nose image of Wyatt no longer waiting for his followers to let him in. Instead, he opened the door and walked through on his own.

Regardless of whether it was all Wyatt, mostly the creative team or some combination therein, this was extraordinary and left the Extreme Rules event on a major upper, an exclamation point of an ending if there ever was one.

Worst: Bianca Belair Defeats Damage Ctrl by Herself

The Raw Women's Championship defense by Bianca Belair, which saw her battle Bayley in a ladder match, was very good in and of itself. There was a major booking issue with it, though, that put a damper on what the champion and challenger were able to put together within the framework of the bout.

Dakota Kai and Iyo Sky rushed the ring to prevent the EST from retaining her gold, only to be beaten down and laid out with a double Kiss of Death. From there, Belair shook it off like nothing happened, eventually laid out Bayley and went out on to retain her title.

In one fell swoop, any threat that Damage Ctrl was to the babyfaces on the roster was erased because a single competitor handled the whole damn faction by herself.

That can easily be retconned come Monday's Raw, but it was such a glaringly bad creative decision that one has to wonder why Kai and Sky would even be used in that spot. Film something backstage that saw Bayley tell her cohorts that she wanted to do this alone, claiming to know she can beat Belair by herself.

That saves the whole faction from looking bad and makes Sky and Kai look much more integral to the heel's success. Instead, all three look like chumps, and the once-dominant faction now has its credibility called into question.

It was a big misfire and the first obvious head-scratcher from Triple H and Co., especially given the work that he, specifically, put into focusing that group on Monday nights.

Best: the Entire 'I Quit' Match

"I Quit" matches can be hit or miss, but what Edge and Finn Bálor created Saturday night was perfect from start to finish.

Tonally, it worked because was essentially an old-school ECW match told in the same city where Tommy Dreamer and Raven beat the hell out of each other every week and some of the same diehards in attendance had witnessed in the cramped sweatbox known as the ECW Arena.

It was a brawl that took the stars through the stands, back to the ring and leaned heavily on storyline elements at the finish. Judgment Day predictably emerged to help Edge while Rey Mysterio rushed the ring moments later, only to be brutally and unapologetically beaten down by his son, Dominik.

Edge got a measure of revenge of the second-generation star, kicking him low and shoving him away in a scene eerily similar to that of Dominik's betrayal of The Rated R Superstar back at Clash at the Castle. It was a nice nod to that particular creative decision and proof of the booking team's attention to detail.

Then Beth Phoenix came to the aid of her husband, stared down and then brawled with Rhea Ripley. It was the presence of The Glamazon that brought about the finish, which saw Balor force "I Quit" out of Edge on the premise that Judgment Day would go through with a heinous con-chair-to to Phoenix.

Then did it anyway.

It was a great series of spots, a plausible finish and fantastic heel work from a Judgment Day faction that is infinitely better than the overthought mess it had been under the previous creative regime.

On top of that, Bálor scored a much-needed victory and Edge now has the added motivation he needs to further battle an oppressive force that has made life hell for him here in 2022. Just great stuff all around and, hopefully, something Paul Heyman and those who fondly remember the height of ECW can appreciate.

Worst: Matt Riddle Goes Over Seth Rollins

There is nothing inherently wrong with the babyface defeating the heel in the finale of their rivalry. That is, ideally, the outcome most of these lengthy pro wrestling storylines come to and the one that benefits the protagonist that the company hopes to keep strong.

In the case of Matt Riddle and Seth Rollins from Saturday night's Fight Pit main event, though, that is not the case. In reality, the match should not have happened. Rollins beat Riddle straight-up at Clash at the Castle and had no real beef left with The Original Bro, but that did not stop the creative team from milking the rivalry for an additional three weeks.

That aside, the issue with Riddle beating Rollins is two-fold.

First, The Visionary did not need to endure another loss. He has suffered far too many in WWE this year. Just because a Superstar appears to be bulletproof does not, by any means, suggest that theory should be tested to the extent it has with him.

Second, Rollins is challenging for the United States Championship Monday night. He is battling the sole singles champion on Raw, Bobby Lashley, for the top prize that brand's competitors have to strive for. Now, he limps into that match devoid of any real momentum.

Naturally, the moment Daniel Cormier was announced as the referee for the main event, it was fairly obvious Riddle was going over, if only because WWE loves those photo ops of the celebrity guest posing with a top babyface.

This all felt too short-sighted and at the expense of one of the genuine main event stars the company has on its roster right now.

Rollins has been too good for way too long, an unsung hero and MVP of WWE through the many ups and downs the company has experienced since, say, 2020, and really should be better utilized so as not to take him for granted.