Random Network Reviews: Extreme Rules 2014

Extreme Rules 2014
May 4th, 2014 | Izod Center in East Rutherford, New Jersey | Attendance: 15,907

Following the surprisingly great WrestleMania XXX, the WWE was on a bit of a hot streak. Leading into this Extreme Rules Pay-Per-View, things were looking up for the product as a whole and the card was looking solid on paper. You had Cesaro starting a singles run, the Shield going toe to toe with Evolution, Daniel Bryan on top of the world, Paige as Divas Champion and a lot more to love. This will also be the first show that I review to include a Pre-Show that will be reviewed as well.

The Pre-Show Panel consists of Josh Matthews, Booker T, Alex Riley and Sheamus. Unfortunately this was before Renee Young ran these things with her perfectness. They run through some highlights of the main feuds.

WeeLC Match
El Torito w/ Los Matadores vs. Hornswoggle w/ 3MB
Not only do we have Wee competitors, but we have wee commentators (Micro Cole has the best name), ring announcer and referee. As expected, this starts quickly as Hornswoggle is taken outside before Torito dives onto 3MB. Hornswoggle goes for his own but hits the ropes because he’s too chunky to get over. The mini commentators are arguing like the real ones. Torito gets a tiny chair before hitting a bronco buster. Jinder Mahal gets in only to get knocked back out. 3MB brings out the smallest ladder you’ve ever seen, so Hornswoggle requests a slight smaller one. “This will put him up in the rafters” exclaims Micro Cole. Hornswoggle is scared to jump and crashes when he does. After a break, everyone is brawling. Hornswoggle leaps from a chair, much more suited for his fear of heights. He nails a variation of Rolling Thunder that Lawler coins “rolling blunder.” Outside, they clear off the tiny announce table. Hornswoggle puts Torito through it as this has been a blast. Inside, things turn around for the faces as Torito hits a cross body on Mahal, who was on the shoulders of Los Matadors through two tables and two ladders. Massive spot for this thing. Hornswoggle gets up Torito on a table outside, but he moves, causing Drew McIntyre to front flip through it. Torito springboards in with the West Coast Pop and wins.

Winner: El Torito in 10:53
Okay, that was much better than it had any right to be. It was a complete spot fest but that’s exactly what it should have been. A fun match and props to everyone for going all out, including 3MB and Los Matadores. **¾

We now move to the main show.

The opening video package focuses on the huge Evolution/Shield rivalry, before moving to Daniel Bryan vs. Kane. This was such a lame first defense for Bryan but there weren’t many other options. The last highlighted program is the disappointing Bray Wyatt/John Cena one. Commentary is the awful combination of Jerry Lawler, Michael Cole and JBL

Triple Threat Elimination Match
Cesaro w/ Paul Heyman vs. Jack Swagger w/ Zeb Colter vs. Rob Van Dam
Rob Van Dam seems so out of place here considering the issues that the Real Americans had after splitting. I also think it was a bad move to turn Cesaro heel coming out of WrestleMania. Paul Heyman is out before Cesaro to promote Brock Lesnar instead of him, which was a major problem with their pairing. All three guys just beat each other up to begin. A cool spot comes when RVD monkey flips Cesaro onto Swagger. He continues to roll and flip around the ring, but is so much slower than his prime that he gets caught by Cesaro. Things spill outside when RVD sunset flip bombs Cesaro off the apron. As always in these match types, one guy goes down and the other two go at it. Swagger Bomb connects for a near fall. Cesaro jumps back in and gets a HUGE pop for the Cesaro Swing, but RVD stops it with a spinning heel kick. RVD goes up for the Five Star but Swagger leaps up and slams him down face first, right into the Patriot Lock! RVD escapes and Swagger eats an uppercut. Cesaro does his incredible dead lift superplex from the apron on Swagger before RVD hits the Five Star and Swagger is eliminated. It seemed like he kicked out and it came off strange. Cesaro does Three Amigos, but with gutwrench suplexes. I wish he did that more because it’s a sweet spot for sure. We continue the power showcase as RVD leaps into a beautiful German suplex for two. Outside, Cesaro climbs the guardrail purely so RVD can trip him and hit his guillotine leg drop rail spot. I hated that. Why on earth would Cesaro get on the guardrail? He has no offense from there. Split leg moonsault gets two. A trash can is brought into play for the first time and we get a Van Daminator with it. RVD misses the Frog Splash onto the can and Cesaro, allowing the new Heyman guy to hit the Neutralizer onto it. That gets the 1-2-3.

Winner: Cesaro in 12:34
Fun opening match. All three guys worked hard and most of this was damn good. I didn’t like the guardrail spot and RVD was clearly a step or two slow, but the elimination rules gave this a different feel. ***¼

Backstage, Daniel Bryan is getting checked on. Stephanie McMahon comes in and says she can’t control the “Demon” Kane. Steph, just steal his attire and force him to wear slacks. Then you can control him and he becomes pretty terrible. She tries to get Bryan to forfeit the title but he obviously is all like, “NO!”

A pretty great vignette airs for Bo Dallas. You just have to BOLIEVE! I love that character.

Handicap Match
Alexander Rusev w/ Lana vs. R-Truth and Xavier Woods
Oh man, that Lana sure is something isn’t she? This was before Rusev dropped his first name and joined the likes of Seal and McLovin as one named men. This is Rusev’s first ever Pay-Per-View match, besides the Royal Rumble. R-Truth doesn’t even rap because he means business, but he does stop to dedicate this to the USA. Ugh. Woods instantly is kicked and Rusev beats them down outside. He lifts the apron and tosses Xavier into the steel under it, which is creative. He also suplexes him outside. The match now officially begins. The crowd chants “We Want Lana” and when the tron shows her, the crowd pops. With the exception of some kicks, this is all Rusev.

Winner: Alexander Rusev in 2:53
At this point, I wasn’t big on Rusev, but he would grow on me over time. This was fine for a squash, but didn’t really need to be on a PPV. *½

After the bell, Alexander Rusev continues the beating by slamming Xavier Woods outside. Cutting backstage, Renee Young interviews Evolution. Triple H mentions that they have 31 World Titles between hem and he puts over both Batista and Randy Orton. They steal the Shield fist bump salute while Renee cowers in between them.

WWE Intercontinental Championship
Big E (c) vs. Bad News Barrett
Before the bell, Bad News Barrett delivers some of his classic bad news. He won a tournament to become the top contender. The crowd is firmly behind the heel Barrett in this one, booing as Big E takes him down. Barrett gets Big E down outside and goes to the apron. “BANG! BANG!” he shouts as he nails the Cactus Jack elbow in a cool spot. He hits an interesting looking suplex where he comes from the top before landing on his feet and hitting the suplex. Strange. Barrett plays o the crowd a bit too much for a heel in my book. It actually costs him as he runs into a belly to belly. Big E really needs to wear a longer singlet. Too much ass for my taste. With BNB on the apron, he hits a nice spear to the outside. BNB comes back with the Winds of Change for two and nails the Wasteland. That’s not his finisher anymore, and for good reason, so it only gets two. Near fall from Big E after a strong slam. He hits the big splash and the STRAPS ARE DOWN! He has bigger tits than like 75% of the Divas. Big Ending is countered, but Big E ducks the Bull Hammer. Barrett bounces off the ropes with it anyway and captures his fourth IC Title.

Winner and New WWE Intercontinental Champion: Bad News Barrett in 7:58
Solid but unspectacular. It was a crisp match that was well worked and featured no botches. I liked that it seemed as if they planned things out beforehand and it showed. ***

Evolution vs. The Shield
It was so surreal to see Evolution back together in 2014. There is certainly a big fight feel in the atmosphere. As expected, a brawl starts this and the Shield clear the ring of Evolution. Seth Rollins and Triple H are legal once this officially begins and Seth sends him outside and nails a suicide dive. He eats a wicked clothesline back in though. The three members of Evolution now take turns beating on Rollins. Little things like glaring at the Shield’s corner while doing this is what makes Evolution such good heels. Rollins gets an opening with a back suplex, but Evolution knocks Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns off the apron. Seth still comes out with a nice enziguri and tags Ambrose. He comes in like the crazed lunatic that he is and fires away on everyone. In a cool callback to Ric Flair putting over the Shield on Raw, Ambrose locks in a Figure Four but it’s broken up. It’s breaking down as Reigns manhandles Batista before HHH sends him into the steel steps. “Bootista” chants ring out. Now, the heels are cutting the ring in half on Ambrose. Triple H hits a spinebuster for two as the heels just continue to work Ambrose. Batista is easily the most hated guy on the whole show. Ambrose plants HHH with a DDT (acronyms are fun), and makes the hot tag to Reigns. He’s easily one of the best “hot tag” guys in history as his offense is high impact and built for it. He ducks a HHH clothesline outside before nailing Batista with a jumping dropkick. Inside, Batista tries the Batista Bomb but Seth springboards in with a high knee. The Shield do the thumbs up/thumbs down Evolution taunt, getting them back for the promo earlier and hit the Triple Powerbomb on Batista. Orton and HHH save the pin though. Rollins dives out and crashes hard, while HHH Pedigrees Roman. Ambrose saves, allowing Roman to kick out. Reigns also eats an RKO so Seth saves him this time. The crowd buys every near fall. As the fight goes on by the timekeeper’s table, Ambrose runs across the announce tables and leaps onto Orton and HHH, taking them out. That’s the perfect spot for the nutcase himself. Things get very Attitude Era like as those three and Seth fight through the crowd. This leads to Ambrose getting double teamed before Rollins hits a CROSS BODY OFF A BALCONY! Sick! Inside, Batista nails a spinebuster on Roman, but before he can hit the Batista Bomb, Reigns nails the Superman Punch. The spear follows and this is over.

Winners: The Shield in 19:51
It’s hard to live up to the hype sometimes, but these six men did just that. The Shield had an incredible run in 2014 before their split and this was no different. We got a ton of high spots, each guy got a chance to shine and Seth’s dive is still fondly remembered and should be for years to come. This is how you make a team look like a million bucks. ****½

An Exotic Express vignette airs for Adam Rose before we go to a promo for Bray Wyatt/John Cena.

Steel Cage Match
Bray Wyatt w/ Erick Rowan and Luke Harper vs. John Cena
The crowd is very pro-Bray Wyatt. They start the match by trading shots as the crowd gets more into Bray by the second. We get basic steel cage match stuff like Bray grating Cena’s face into the cage. At one point, Bray stops to conduct a chorus of the fans singing “The Whole World in His Hands.” That song got so annoying because the WWE overdid it. He goes to escape but Cena stops him and slingshots him into the steel, though hit looks bad. Here’s where this match gets bad. Cena tries to escape but is stopped by Luke Harper and Erick Rowan. They tease a redo of the WrestleMania finish, where Cena counters Sister Abigail into the AA, but Bray blocks it, only to eat a dropkick. As Cena tries to climb out, Bray nearly crabwalks out, but is stopped. Five Moves of Doom are coming as the crowd boos heavily. He goes to leave but Rowan shuts the door on him and, with help from harper, they hold him back. So that’s another time that Cena had the win but Bray needs all the help in the world to stay in this thing. Again, Cena rallies and the Wyatt Family stops his escape. You would think he’d just try and pin Bray for once. Yet again, his escape is cut off by Harper this time. He overcomes that and Bray trying to stop him, before Rowan blocks him with a chair. Bray hits a senton and tries to pin. Shouldn’t he try to leave and Cena try to pin? Cena locks in the STF before Bray tries to leave via the door. He pulls Bray in, while Rowan tries to pull him out. Harper, who was brought in by Cena, just keeps getting tossed around. As Bray attempts to climb out, Cena stops him with a second rope AA, but Harper breaks the cover. You can hear the crowd hating how badly this has been booked. Rowan gets taken out atop the cage by Cena before he hits the diving Fameasser on Harper. Bray is also down as Cena crawls to the door. The lights go out and a deep voice sings “the whole world in his hands”. We see it’s a child singing it at the door, which scares Cena. The crowd boos this stupidity. Cena stumbles back right into Sister Abigail and Bray exits the cage.

Winner: Bray Wyatt in 20:11
One of the worst steel cage matches I’ve ever seen. If someone ever looked weak in victory, it was Bray Wyatt here. This is the worst kind of John Cena match as he just obliterates the entire Wyatt Family and makes them look horrible. A cage match is the kind of match that Bray could win and not pin Cena, leaving him looking pretty good without all of the absurd overbooking. The ending is also straight out of the WrestleCrap Hall of Fame. A terrible waste of twenty minutes. ½*

They go to the Pre-Show panel to discuss that crap match.

WWE Divas Championship
Paige (c) vs. Tamina Snuka
Here we have the first ever Pay-Per-View appearance for Paige. She debuted the night after WrestleMania and won the Divas Championship from AJ Lee. AJ left for a few months, and her bodyguard, Tamina, won a battle royal to earn a title shot here. Early on, they go through some awkwardness, but Paige is wise to avoid Tamina’s strength. She gets in a nice elbow and a victory roll for two. After goading her into the ropes, Paige nails her knee strikes. She’s knocked off the top though, to turn the tide. Tamina now wears Paige down with some power based offense. Paige knocks her outside with a tackle before trying a hurricanrana from the apron. The crowd boos when it seems like they botch it, but Tamina actually blocks it and slams her into the guardrail for a cool spot. Tamina goes up top, which is a mistake as Paige counters into a sunset flip bomb. Tamina comes back with a huge slam for a near fall. Impressively, Paige is able to apply the PTO on Tamina and make her tap out.

Winner and Still WWE Divas Champion: Paige in 6:18
This started as your standard Divas match but they made sure to try and do a bit more than usual. The guardrail spot and some of the later moves were bigger impact, which made me like this more. **

Bray Wyatt cuts a promo backstage with Erick Rowan, Luke Harper and LIL JIMMY standing behind him. I assume this is Lil Jimmy. I could be wrong. The kid says “Follow the Buzzards” and it’s in the stupid deep voice they give him. Awful.

WWE World Heavyweight Championship Extreme Rules Match
Daniel Bryan (c) vs. Kane
Like any good personal feud, Daniel Bryan doesn’t wait for the bell and attacks Kane during his entrance. As they brawl in the ring, a “Dr. Shelby” chant comes over the arena. They fight outside, where Kane puts a chair on Bryan’s back and slams him onto the guardrail. Creative spot. Bryn comes back with a kendo stick but tries to come off the top and is caught with a right hand. As Bryan rallies, he clears off the Spanish announce table. Those poor guys almost made it through an entire show. They nearly go through the table but instead, Bryan flies off of it and takes out Kane. They’re moving through spots quickly as Kane tries the Tombstone on the steel steps that injured Bryan in the build to this but it’s countered. The two men brawl to the backstage area, which is the second time I’m reminded of the Attitude Era tonight. Kane throws a TV at Bryan but misses and it explodes in a random tub of water. The fight moves to the production truck and to the parking lot, where Bryan takes a back body drop onto the hood of a car. Kane continues to throw stuff at Bryan, like a fire extinguisher, but misses and breaks a window. He misses a punch this time and his hand goes through a window. They’re wrecking this arena. Bryan levels Kane with a wrench and knocks him out but it isn’t falls count anywhere. The resourceful Bryan drags Kane onto a forklift and drives him back to the arena. As they get to the ring, Bryan raises the forklift and rolls Kane off of I and onto the mat. Bryan then climbs the forklift and hits a diving headbutt, but only gets two! Kane sits up and blocks the running knee with a Chokeslam for two. He goes for the Tombstone onto a chair but Bryan counters into a tornado DDT for two. He then wails on Kane with a bunch of chair shots and applies the Yes Lock. He even uses the kendo stick for extra leverage, but Kane still doesn’t submit and escapes to the outside. Bryan does a suicide dive but is caught and Chokeslammed through the announce table. Kane decides this show is too PG and he sets up a table before pouring gasoline on it. He then lights the table ablaze and goes to Chokeslam Bryan off the apron. He counters and sends him through the flaming table! They get inside and Bryan ends this with the running knee.

Winner and Still WWE World Heavyweight Champion: Daniel Bryan in 22:30
Here was two guys just beating the hell out of each other for over twenty minutes. Easily the best match that Kane has had in the past few years. The flaming table was something we have rarely seen in the WWE so that was cool. This was a creative Extreme Rules bout that made for a better than expected main event. ***½

After the match, Daniel Bryan’s celebration is cut short by Kane getting to his feet and setting off his pyro. I assume there were plans for a rematch before Bryan got injured.

8.0

The final score: review Very Good

The 411

After an excellent WrestleMania, the WWE followed up with a really good Extreme Rules. The only thing on the show that really sucked was the John Cena/Bray Wyatt cage match. Other than that you get a surprisingly good main event, fun opener, solid IC Title match and must see six man tag war. The entire show flowed well and moved quickly, with nothing but the cage overstaying its welcome.