Building The Ultimate Extreme Rules Card: A Puzzle Game

Building The Ultimate Extreme Rules Card

 

-Extreme Rules is upon us this Sunday which means it’s time to build another card. Extreme Rules became a PPV in 2009 and has run every year since. For those reading this column for the first time, the goal is to take a match from each card without having a wrestler appear more than once. The other rules are you must include one match for every title that has been defended in the show’s history. For Extreme Rules we have to use a WWE, World, ECW, Intercontinental, United States, Cruiserweight, Tag, and Woman’s Title match. As always post any of your own cards below.

2009: ECW Title: Hardcore Match: Christian (c) vs. Tommy Dreamer vs Jack Swagger (9:38)

-There has only been one ECW Title Match in Extreme Rules history so this was an easy choice. What made this difficult for me was that it took Christian and Swagger away from me for using in any World Title Matches and that limited what I could pick there. The match itself is a solid match with a feel good ending as Tommy Dreamer wins the ECW Title. With this being the only match I could pick, I didn’t even get to look at the rest of the card, but Edge vs Jeff Hardy in a Ladder Match and Punk cashing in after would have been solid choices.

2010: Hair Match: CM Punk vs Rey Mysterio (15:57)

-This was one of the few spots where the World Title was defended, but it was Swagger and Orton and Swagger being in the ECW match eliminated that. There was also the option of using Cena vs Batista for the WWE Title, but I wanted to save Batista for later and I was hoping to save Cena for an ever bigger match. It came down to two options for me and it was between Punk/Mysterio or Edge/Jericho in a cage. Both matches have some impressive star power and I decided to go with the better match. Punk and Mysterio had some good chemistry and this is a very good match that ended with Punk losing his hair.

2011: WWE Tag Titles: Lumberjack Match: Big Show/Kane (c) vs. The Corre (4:15)

-I tried anyway to find another tag team match, but after all the other title matches were satisfied this is what I had remaining. My initial run through with this card I had Punk/Orton penciled in, but I like the previous year’s Punk/Mysterio match better and again, I needed a tag title match. For those wondering The Corre in this match consisted of Ezekiel Jackson and Wade Barrett.

2012: World Title: 2 out of 3 Falls: Sheamus (c) vs. Daniel Bryan (22:55)

-I really wanted the awesome Lesnar/Cena match here, but it just wasn’t going to work with needing a World Title Match. As mentioned the ECW Title match screwed me as I had to use it in 2009 which took out Edge/Hardy. In 2010, Orton/Swagger World Title match was eliminated and in 2011, Del Rio/Christian were eliminated as well, both thanks to the ECW title Match. In 2013 we didn’t even have a World Title match so all I had was this 2012 match. Don’t get me wrong, this is an amazing match that made up for them being short changed at Mania, but I really love the Cena/Lesnar match. Again though, Sheamus and Bryan tore the house down on what was the PPV of the year in 2012.

2013: WWE Title: Last Man Standing: John Cena (c) vs. Ryback (21:26)

-I originally had Reigns/Styles pegged as my WWE Title Match and Cena in the US Title spot against Rusev, but I really wanted Reigns for a different match and that shuffling lead to this match being in my WWE Title spot. This was the first meeting between the two and the match is ok, but the finish is horrible as it ends in a draw. At first I was going to use Ambrose going over Kofi for the US title, but realized I also had New Day in a Tag Title match which double booked Kofi. Instead of just changing one, I opted to take both matches out and start from scratch. Nothing else on the card really stood out besides the Brock/HHH cage match which was my only chance to get Brock on the card, but the match is dull and I wanted HHH for a different match.

2014: The Shield vs Evolution (19:52)

-It may be a mistake to get 6 of the top stars from this period all in one match, but I was happy I was able to make it work. These 6 had a great feud for a few months following Mania that helped put The Shield over after their initial babyface turn, but as soon as they were at their hottest, Rollins  turned on the group. This match was fantastic as most of the Shield 6 man matches were at the time (go check out Wyatt Family/Shield at Elimination Chamber). Evolution did everything to put over The Shield on back to back PPVs and it was fantastic. As noted using all 6 of these men her killed using them anywhere else, but the only other match I considered was Tamina/Paige for the Divas Title and I think I made the right decision.

2015: Divas Championship: Nikki Bella (c) vs. Naomi (8:10)

-Originally I had New Day vs Cesaro/Kidd, but I deleted that after I was going to use Kofi earlier and then realized I wanted Cesaro for later. Next I opted to use Rusev/Cena for my US Title spot, but I needed a WWE Title match and using Cena/Ryback filled things in better for me. So that leaves a spot for my Woman’s Title match and this was a decent choice I think. Sure, most would want a match post Divas Revolution, but the WWE was getting there in 2015 and Nikki was fine as the bridge to the new era we have now.

2016: Intercontinental Title: The Miz (c) vs. Cesaro vs Kevin Owens vs Sami Zayn (18:18)

-This is great match that is a forgotten classic. These four stole the show on a card that featured a very good main event with AJ and Roman. I originally had that for my WWE Title Match, but I really wanted this 4 Way because it was the better match and I wanted the Evolution/Shield match. It sucks I didn’t get AJ on the card, but again, this match is tremendous. Do your self a favor and go check it out if you haven’t as everyone plays their role perfectly and deliver.

2017: Cruiserweight Title: Submission Match: Neville (c) vs. Austin Aries (17:35)

-As of now this is the only CW Title match in Extreme Rules history so it made things easy. The match is on the low end of what these two can do and much of that is thanks to having to work a submission match. Neville was carrying the division and it was fun seeing Aries work after spending some time at the announce desk. Both men quickly burned their bridges on the way out of the WWE, but they are doing well for themselves outside the WWE bubble.

2018: United States Title: Jeff Hardy (c) vs. Shinsuke Nakamura (0:06)

-I needed a US Title match and once I opted not to use Rusev/Cena this was my best option. I was actually at this show and the best match was Rusev/AJ for the WWE Title, but I already had a WWE Title match. Before settling on the IC Title Match and Shield match, I had decided to use the Ziggler/Rollins Iron Man match. For whatever reason the WWE loves giving us (Pittsburgh), Iron Man/Woman matches though after the debacle with the crowd counting down with the clock like it was the Rumble we may never get one again. I was actually ok with the Hardy/Nakamura match as all I wanted was to see Nakamura’s entrance, see him land the ball shot of death, and see him win, and I got all three. Plus not every match on a card needs to be 20 + minutes.

-There you have it with my Ultimate Extreme Rules card. Just like the last few this one was pretty easy to piece together and nothing gave me too much trouble. Overall I think it is a solid card with a few of the matches approaching and/or topping ****. The star power is also solid, so again, I think this worked out well.  The total bell time of the 10 matches clocks it at 2:18:06 so it would be an rather easy watch even if you added in all the entrances.

-Next month is SummerSlam and that one should be a choir as there will be 31 shows and a ton of titles to work through, but who doesn’t love a challenge? I may try to squeeze in another card before the SummerSlam one, but no promises as that one may take me a bit. I still have a few ideas as I would like to do one for the In Your House shows and I also realized I just passed what was the time of year the WWE held King of the Ring, so we may hit that one up next.

-As always thanks for reading and again, please post your cards and any comments.