WWE Extreme Rules 2012 on-Site Report, off-Camera Notes and More

Extreme Rules is in the books and it was certainly an interesting night, to say the least. I think a few of the match winners surprised everyone in the crowd.

I attended Extreme Rules, making it the first PPV event I attended, and I have to say, it is certainly a different experience from watching it at home.

I had a great time, but honestly, there were times when I wish I was watching from the comfort of my recliner.

You know how there is always one group of three or four guys who want to chant things the entire night? They were right behind me. To the young men in section 111 row BB, you do not need to sing Sheamus' theme song throughout his entire match!

I arrived right around 7:00, so I did not get to see Santino vs The Miz, but from what I heard, I did not miss much.

Before the PPV went live, there were lots of "Yes!" chants throughout the arena as well as Lesnar and CM Punk chants in some sections.

I have a feeling most of the chants did not come through on PPV because it did not seem like the entire crowd was chanting in unison very often.

The first match was Kane vs. Randy Orton. Orton got a huge pop when he entered and the crowd was heavily on his side in this match.

Kane's pyro was so jarring that a lot of people jumped out of their seats when it hit. I was close enough to feel the ridiculous heat generated from those explosions. I may have slightly singed eyebrows.

The one mistake I felt WWE made in the set design was not having a ramp. It could be that AllState could not accommodate one, but I felt that not being able to see anyone during their entrance took away from the show a bit.

The match itself was better than I expected it to be, and at one point they were fighting six inches from me, which was cool. Those guys are so much bigger in real life than you would think.

Ryder showing up during the match got a nice pop and later when the match had come back to the ring, there was an "RKO Woo Woo Woo" chant going.

Orton getting the win was something which seemed to start the night off right. The crowd was hyped up and Orton put on a great show with Kane.

The next match was Brodus Clay vs. Dolph Ziggler. Brodus got a decent reaction but as soon as the crowd saw that his opponent was Ziggler, they immediately turned on him.

The night was actually quite full of heels getting cheered. Clay getting the win got a mixed reaction, but Ziggler had a lot of support. There were many Ziggler chants, which may not have been heard on the broadcast.

The IC Title match was up next, and Cody Rhodes had a bit more of the crowd on his side. The match was really good from a live perspective, as Rhodes looked very good. Show is bigger than you could ever imagine unless he is right there.

When Rhodes won, a lot of people seemed shocked, but the crowd seemed to like the decision for the most part, although I did not see many Rhodes signs or shirts floating around.

During the video package for the next match, the crew was cleaning the table scraps from the ring and Lillian Garcia was helping by kicking small pieces out of the ring.

Daniel Bryan got a massive reaction when he popped up on screen, but when he said something negative about the Chicago crowd, we turned on him, for all of 10 seconds.

His entrance pop was deafening—I know because my ears are still ringing. Sheamus had some supporters, but this was a Daniel Bryan crowd for sure.

The first fall felt like it took forever, and then the match was over a few minutes after it finally happened. I was hoping for the falls to be spaced out a bit more, but the match itself was very entertaining.

I am glad they stayed inside the ring most of the time because I was not elevated enough to see very much of the action when it would spill to the outside.

When two jobbers popped up in the ring, a lot of people immediately started chanting "Goldberg."

Throughout the Ryback squash there were RVD and Goldberg chants due to his singlet being similar to some of RVD's and his appearance and style matching Goldberg's.

A lot of people used this as a chance to go to the bathroom or go buy something from concessions or a merchandise stand.

Speaking of which, there were so few merchandise stands that everyone I spoke with said it was a minimum 25-minute wait to buy something, which was over-priced.

The match between CM Punk and Chris Jericho easily had the loudest reaction from the crowd. I am assuming the woman who slapped Jericho was Punk's sister, but there was no way of knowing without being able to hear the commentary.

The match was awesome and, in my opinion, it stole the show by a large margin. Punk and Jericho both looked on point and the fact that they wore street clothes made it feel more like a street fight.

When Jericho hit punk with a broken piece of the announce table, a small piece of it flew into the crowd and landed a few feet from where I was sitting.

The shots form the kendo stick were very audible, even over the extremely vocal crowd. I am sure Jericho and Punk both have a few welts today.

Punk winning made the Chicago crowd happy and he stayed in the ring for most of the next video package after his music had stopped.

The Divas match was another bathroom break opportunity, according to the crowd, but Layla did get a very nice reaction when she made her surprise return.

The even bigger surprise was that she won the title in her first match back. This was more shocking given that Nikki did not have the belt for very long.

The final match was essentially a Lesnar Love-fest from the Chicago crowd, as there seemed to be very little support for John Cena.

The dueling Cena chants seemed one-sided, but as the match progressed, Cena's support became more evident. I am not sure if it came across on PPV but when Lesnar attacked the second ref, a lot of fans turned on him.

The ending of the match was a shock to the crowd, who thought the heavily favored Lesnar would win.

I have to be honest and say that I thought Lesnar looked pretty sloppy in the ring, and not because he was trying to play up his UFC move set.

The match was exciting and I am glad I was able to witness it live, although I thought there would be a riot when the ref stopped an Extreme Rules match for blood.

I think attending was well worth the money I spent, but next time I am going to either try and get seats a bit higher off the ground level or get closer to the ring because anything that happened outside the ring was out of my line of sight due to the angle.

If you were able to see me in my Bleacher Report hoodie or holding the BR sign, let me know.

What did you think of Extreme Rules last night?