WWE Extreme Rules: Extreme Rules Lives Up to Its Name

The build to this pay-per-view made anticipation difficult. Most of the intriguing angles, minus Cena, were created just after WrestleMania. The preceding Raws were too PG to imagine any potential for extreme rules on May 4. Nothing really happened that made us need to order Extreme Rules—but as a network subscriber, it would be available.

Literally, one of the Raws in this span between WrestleMania and Extreme Rules suffered the worst viewership rating in two years. Two weeks ago, PWTorch reported that Raw suffered a two-year low rating. But that didn't stop the WWE from rebounding with a very worthy event Sunday evening.

Extreme Rules Recap

Jack Swagger vs. Rob Van Dam vs. Antonio Cesaro

This match was worrisome in terms of setting a tone. I personally thought a more intriguing match would have been Swagger vs. Cesaro, a PPV prime-time Hardcore match with a lot of bad blood. RVD's place in this match was random if nothing else, regardless of the five-minute build he had on Raw or the tournament everyone forgot about.

Swagger took a decent superplex from the outside of the turnbuckle into the middle of the ring, another impressive feat of strength by Cesaro, and he was immediately hit with a Five Star Frog Splash before being eliminated. So much for the bad-blood-between-partners angle.

It's not that the remainder of the match was bad. Cesaro and RVD carried the rest of the match fine, but on a night entitled "Extreme Rules" and in a match preceded by Paul Heyman talking about a "synagogue of hardcore," why was a trash can the extent of extreme we were given in the opener?

RVD took the Neutralizer on top of the trash can, and Cesaro won a very quiet opening match.

Alexander Rusev vs. R-Truth and Xavier Woods

Just an obligatory squash match that lived up to its billing. Rusev evidently decapitated Xavier Woods to begin the fight, as Woods was tended by "medical professionals," or at least guys in WWE uniforms, after taking just one kick to the head. The rest of the match was just a longer-than-average promo for Rusev. R-Truth tapped to the camel clutch, and the squash came to a merciful end.

I've seen enough feeding of Rusev, and I think the WWE would be best to get this guy a worthy opponent to see if he's truly capable of being featured in a compelling angle.

Bad News Barrett vs. Big E (Intercontinental Championship)

After watching TV in the back for nearly a month, Big E was finally allowed to wrestle and put his IC belt on the line. But it's no secret that the IC Championship has wilted away to almost nothing around Big E's waist. A tournament for a title normally screams Creative is out of ideas, but Big E gave the company no choice.

He has had months to establish himself as more than just the big muscular guy. And after months of wearing the belt, he is still just that. It's the very same reason Ryback is working in a tag team with Curtis Axel. Muscles alone aren't enough in today's professional wrestling, and Big E may have been one of the most boring, lifeless IC champions to date.

It couldn't last. Everyone knew Bad News Barrett, someone who actually knows how to speak to a crowd, was taking that title. And he did just that. Boos littered Big E, who no doubt will be having a very serious meeting with Creative and discussing a future of NXT appearances, if not an overall rebranding.

The Shield vs. Evolution

This match is the result of failed plans. Triple H seemingly did everything in his power to ensure his prodigies, Batista and Randy Orton, would be the faces of the company. After the WWE Universe hit return-to-sender, Triple H had to go back to the board and rearrange a few pieces.

While Orton and Batista were beefing with Daniel Bryan, the members of The Shield were bumping heads with the likes of The Wyatt Family, Kane and the (old) New Age Outlaws. Orton and Batista managed to get so little reaction independently that Triple H knew he had to bundle them into a marketable package. That's why Evolution was "reborn."

Regardless of why they arrived at this match, fans should be glad they did, as this may have been the highlight of Extreme Rules. If you didn't know Seth Rollins before last night, or if you only knew him as the third member of The Shield, it's time to reintroduce yourself to one of the game's biggest risk-takers currently playing.

Evolution worked The Shield over for most of the in-ring portion of this match. Orton and Triple H both hit finishers on Roman Reigns, but Batista failed to convert either into a victory, which was fantastic considering what had yet to transpire.

The fight, of course, spilled into the crowd, with Dean Ambrose tumbling down the steps at one point. The action was both intense and believable.

With Triple H and Randy Orton battling Dean Ambrose, Rollins climbed to a balcony of seats above them and proceeded to take the high spot of the evening, jumping from the balcony onto all combatants beneath him, eliminating himself as well as the other three from competition.

It was a stellar spot, one that will surely help his stock rise. Elsewhere, Reigns achieved vengeance for one of the worst Creative decisions ever at the Royal Rumble. In the ring, it was Reigns and Batista. And this time, the WWE got it right. Spear, match over, The Shield are victorious.

John Cena vs. Bray Wyatt

After such an amazing performance by Evolution and The Shield, the WWE wasted no time in tackling the show's rising momentum with this sorry excuse of a Steel Cage match. I've never had any personal vendettas with John Cena. He is what he is. He's the prayer/vitamins guy of this wrestling era, and his merchandise moves.

But last night was an embarrassment to the entire industry. It was pretty evident that Bray Wyatt would win this match. His stock was quickly rising before jobbing at WrestleMania, and the WWE knew people wanted to see this guy succeed after feeding him the company's T-shirt machine.

This Cage match was egregious. It was insulting. It was offensive. Apparently, John Cena can never lose a major match cleanly. At TLC last year, it took Orton handcuffing Cena to a turnbuckle to keep him from winning. At Elimination Chamber, it took a Wyatt interference to remove him from contention.

And last night, it took five blocked escapes from the cage to keep Cena from winning, at least it was at five before I stopped counting. What an embarrassment. As if John Cena is unbeatable, as if it's impossible to imagine a scenario where he cleanly loses a match. Is he truly the greatest to have ever participated in this sport?

We've seen Hogan lay down. We've seen The Rock lay down. We've seen Austin lay down. Many of them were clean losses. And yet, John Cena apparently is in a class above, as defeating him requires everything just short of a congressional act. 

What are we left with following a night where Bray Wyatt needed five interferences and a little kid singing a stupid tune to keep Cena from winning? What does that do for Bray Wyatt? How weak did he look? We know what it does for John Cena. John Cena is still the guy who never quits. He's still the good guy who can overcome anything—short of creepy kids.

Bray Wyatt apparently can't beat John Cena. No one can on their own. This is how the WWE wants it. Now go buy a Cena headband and keep watching. Because if nothing else, WWE Universe, you have a voice! It just doesn't matter when it's talking about a guy who moves T-shirts.

Tamina Snuka vs. Paige (Divas Championship)

Paige is proving to be a formidable champion. She has the looks and the electricity to hold our attention for a while. The match with Tamina Snuka had a good pace. Paige ultimately got the victory by submission in a short, clean contest.

In what world are we living in where the Diva's Championship match is more entertaining than a Steel Cage match?

Daniel Bryan vs. Kane (WWE World Heavyweight Championship)

It was admittedly tough to get excited for this match because of the poor build. Sure, Kane Tombstoned Bryan onto some stairs, put him in a neck brace and used his wife as bait on previous Raws. But it just felt forced. It felt like Kane was the de facto choice for the heel to oppose Bryan while we wait for another compelling angle to emerge.

The match didn't disappoint. In fact, it was much better than anticipated. Bryan ran to meet Kane at the entrance, showing little fear of a guy maybe twice his size. Kane, being the seasoned professional he is, knew the main event of Extreme Rules had to be extreme. He wasted no time getting weapons involved.

Kendo sticks, chairs, tables—Kane was sure to introduce all of them into the mix. Both wrestlers took healthy shots from sticks and chairs before they moved backstage. With Bryan's head near a huge bin of cold water, Kane grabbed a TV and threw it into the water; Bryan of course avoided what would have been a fatal blow. 

They made their way to the parking lot, where Kane tossed Bryan onto the hood of a car. He grabbed a metal object and threw it at Bryan. The object missed and went right into a car windshield. Bryan countered with a tire iron before beating Kane onto a forklift pallet and driving him back to the ring.

The match screamed Attitude Era. After getting Kane back to the ring, Bryan proceeded to hit the diving headbutt off of a raised pallet, making for an awesome spot. Following this, Bryan went for a flying knee, which Kane reversed into a chokeslam through the announce table.

Kane didn't stop there. He set up a table and then poured gasoline all over it before lighting it on fire. Bryan quickly recovered and knocked Kane from the ropes through the table engulfed in flames. A surprisingly alert WWE crew was apparently waiting with fire extinguishers, as they ambushed Kane with the extinguishers as soon as he went through the table.

A disheveled and discombobulated Kane re-entered the ring, took a flying knee and laid down for the a three-count, but not before giving fans an amazing match to end the night. Kendo sticks, chairs, backstage brawling, attempted electrocution, broken car windshields, damaged hoods, a forklift, broken announce tables and flaming wooden tables made this match everything it needed to be.

For such a forced, immediate rivalry, the WWE has plenty of room for Kane and Bryan's rivalry to really flourish. WWE should let it do so, as both wrestlers clearly demonstrated they know how to put on a main event.

Overall Grade: A

WWE gave us a great product Sunday night minus one insulting Cage match. I give credit to incredible performances by everyone else to make Extreme Rules one of the better PPVs we’ve witnessed in a while.