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Kevin’s WWE Extreme Rules Review

July 15, 2019 | Posted by Kevin Pantoja
AJ Styles The Club Extreme Rules The O.C. Image Credit: WWE
7.5
The 411 Rating
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Kevin’s WWE Extreme Rules Review  

WWE Extreme Rules
June 14th, 2019 | Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

WWE Intercontinental Championship: Finn Balor [c] vs. Shinsuke Nakamura
A last minute addition to the Kickoff Show. They went out and had a strong match with some quality back and forth. Nakamura and Balor both brought a level of aggression that I wasn’t expecting. It worked well because of how their Smackdown match went. Balor wanted revenge. Nakamura was able to match his intensity. Being so aggressive kind of backfired on Finn. He hit a vicious double stomp and immediately went for the Coup de Grace. Nakamura avoided it and hit a knee to the back of the head, followed by the Kinshasa to capture the title in 7:35. Like a lot of Nakamura, this was good and not at all great. I appreciated how hard they went and it feels like there’s something better in there. [***¼]

WWE Cruiserweight Championship: Drew Gulak [c] vs. Tony Nese
Hometown boy Drew Gulak. These two went right at each other out of the gate. Just an instant attack that showed how much the title means to both of them. Again, it’s something I dig. Get in there and get your shit in. Don’t waste my time. This was another case of two guys having enough chemistry to kind of give us something solid in their sleep. They kept up the level of intensity throughout, though it wavered a bit late. Gulak busted out a powerbomb for a near fall before simply hitting the Cyclone Crash to retain in 7:26. Kind of an anti-climactic finish, but another good match. The Kickoff Show delivers. [***]

No Holds Barred Match: Drew McIntyre and Shane McMahon vs. Roman Reigns and The Undertaker
Undertaker wore a t-shirt for this match. He must not be working hard tonight. Despite the thought process that Shane McMahon has been booked as a dominant force, he’s consistently only won by luck or with help. So he got his ass kicked by both Reigns and Undertaker. McIntyre against Taker was an interesting exchange. It’s a match I think we’re getting soon. Of course, they eventually set up Roman as the face in peril. McIntyre handled the heavy lifting and Shane got in his cheap shots. When Taker got his hot tag, he didn’t look bad. It’s almost as if he shouldn’t be working 25 minute singles matches. Undertaker had it won but wanted to put Shane through the announce table. Elias showed up with the guitar to give his buddies the advantage. Shane hit Coast to Coast but Reigns got up to take out Drew. Undertaker started Chokeslamming the world and Reigns cut off a Dew Claymore with a Spear. A slightly flubbed Tombstone later and Shane was down after 16:55. This was more fun than expected. Going the tag route was weird for the gimmick but made sense for Taker. [***¼]

WWE Raw Tag Team Championship: The Revival [c] vs. The Usos
It’s pretty much impossible for these teams to have a bad match. The greatest tag team of all time challenging one of the best teams around. You can’t beat that. I admittedly missed a portion of this as I switched to a different TV. When I got back, it was right around hot tag time. The Revival seemed to have cut the ring off with their usual antics. Once the hot tag did come, it led to a barrage of great offense. Tons of cool spots and the teams showing off their chemistry. It looked like the Usos would steal it more than once, but then they got tripped up going for stereo dives. The Revival entered and hit the Shatter Machine to retain in 12:37. Like I said, these teams can do no wrong together. And this is probably not even close to what they’re capable of. [***½]

Aleister Black vs. Cesaro
Potential for a show stealer here. What we got was a match that was very good from a technical standpoint. Cesaro showed that he can still go in a singles match and Aleister Black was allowed to showcase what makes him so good. However, I do think Cesaro was a weird choice for his first opponent because he should’ve done something more impressively dominant. Anyway, like I said, the action in this was top notch. Cesaro throwing Black around with his ridiculous strength was a sight to see. Black fought back and hit the Black Mass to win in 9:44. Good stuff from two quality wrestlers. [***¾]

WWE Smackdown Women’s Championship: Bayley [c] vs. Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross
The Alexa/Nikki angle continues to be well done. A lot of this centered around the obvious story that Bayley was outnumbered. Even with tags, she was in trouble. The challengers constantly kept the pressure on her. It made Bayley into the underdog babyface that she plays so well. It’s her bread and butter. She only turned the tide when she got aggressive. That’s great storytelling considering Bayley’s embarrassing loss at Extreme Rules two years ago to Alexa due to a lack of killer instinct. I loved Bayley using two submissions at once to keep both women down. With Alexa taken out, Bayley hit the diving elbow on Nikki to retain in 10:22. That was better than it had any right to be. They made the stipulation work and told a compelling tale. [***¼]

Last Man Standing Match: Bobby Lashley vs. Braun Strowman
Considering the big spot on Raw a few weeks ago and the stipulation, this needed to feel like a fight. Thankfully, it did. They went right at each other and brawled all around the arena. The idea was that Braun got off to a hot start but came in battered and injured. After taking a Spear, he was seemingly no longer the same dominant Braun that started the match. They kept up the idea of fighting all over the place and did their best to keep the action from lulling. It still did at a few points, but they handled this much better than expected. The hardcore aspect picked up as this went on, building to something bigger. The two behemoths fought atop a sectioned off portion of the crowd. Braun powerslammed Lashley off into the abyss. The ref counted both men down but then Braun burst through the wall like the Kool-Aid Man and won in 17:26. As I said, it dragged at points but they mostly did well to have an entertaining monster mash. [***¼]

WWE Smackdown Tag Team Championship: Daniel Bryan and Rowan [c] vs. Heavy Machinery vs. The New Day
Another potential show stealer. It was clear this was laid out to be the most fun time on the card. Tucker Knight showed off more athleticism than expected. Otis was the entertaining guy we all know. Daniel Bryan was the GOD that he is. New Day were a blast. Even Rowan got to strut his stuff. There were several moments where I truly believed Heavy Machinery would pull out the win. In fact, it felt like they were given the most to do so they could be the stars of the match. I loved the little things like Bryan blind tagging in while everyone risked the match on a tower of doom spot or Big E standing up to Bryan like he’s a main event star. It was great. Big E caught a backflipping Bryan and they turned it into Midnight Hour to regain the titles in 13:41. That was awesome. The Smackdown Tag Titles have given us some bangers in its short history. A blast of a match where everyone shined. And that Big E/Bryan battle at the end ruled. [****] 

WWE United States Championship: Ricochet [c] vs. AJ Styles
Gallows and Anderson jumped Ricochet before the match, giving Styles the upper hand. The crowd was disappointingly dead for this. They woke up a bit late, but they were mostly silent and it made for an awkward atmosphere. AJ Styles has been my favorite wrestler since 2005 but he’s fallen hard. He wouldn’t even crack my top 10 or 20 people I like to watch in WWE today. He’s fallen into this lull where he just delivers three star specials. It’s a methodical pace that keeps him healthy, but doesn’t make for great TV. Where’s the guy who had the stellar match with Seth Rollins a few months ago? This felt like the first match in a series, even though they’ve had some TV contests already. Ricochet threw in some flashy offense to keep it interesting, only to get canceled out a bit by the old Bullet Club shenanigans we used to get in NJPW. I did love the finish, though. With Ricochet crotched up top after Gallows interference, Styles took him off there with an avalanche Styles Clash, winning the title in 16:25. Like I said, this was fine. Nothing more. [***]

Dolph Ziggler vs. Kevin Owens
I saw this live at Fastlane 2016. This was much better because Dolph ate a Stunner and lost in 0:16. [NR]

WWE Championship: Kofi Kingston [c] vs. Samoa Joe
Samoa Joe entered 0-7 in WWE/Universal Title shots. There was a ton of potential here with bully Joe taking on underdog babyface Kingston. Unfortunately, it didn’t click the way I wanted it to. They told the right story. It’s just that there was never a sense of urgency or drama. Joe’s reached a point where it’s next to impossible to believe he wins the big one. So no matter what he did, I never bought into him as a threat. And that’s a shame. They never made me buy into this. I liked stuff like Joe using the steel steps to crush Kofi’s fingers and . Kofi made the fiery comeback and eventually won in 9:45 with Trouble in Paradise. A fine little match, but underwhelming given what their personalities and styles should be capable of. [**¾]

WWE Raw Women’s and Universal Championships Extreme Rules Match: Becky Lynch [c] & Seth Rollins [c] vs. Baron Corbin & Lacey Evans
I don’t ask for much. If you’re going to book an Extreme Rules match, use the stipulation. Why are people standing on the apron waiting for the tag? Just brawl. Especially since you can’t fight the opposite sex. Do two separate brawls that interact in a creative way and go home. Chairs played a small part but not enough to justify this stipulation in a main event setting. Nothing about this was special or made me all that interested. I will point out that, while I like Becky and Seth more, it was Lacey and Baron who had more chemistry. I’d keep them together going forward. Heat magnets. Seth seemed to definitively send Corbin back to the midcard with three Curb Stomps to win in 20:12. It reminded me of when Okada buried Goto to the midcard with a bunch of Rainmakers. The match itself was wildly average. Entertaining at points, lame as hell in others. [**¼]

Brock Lesnar showed up and successfully cashed in Money in the Bank. I don’t care to write much more about it. It’s late. I’m going to bed.

7.5
The final score: review Good
The 411
Other than Super Showdown, WWE has been on a roll with PPVs in 2019. This was above Stomping Grounds but that’s about it. We had one hell of a show to start, with everything getting at least ***. The final two matches were dips in quality and AJ/Ricochet was a disappointment despite being good. A very good show that could’ve been great with a better final few matches.
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WWE Extreme Rules, Kevin Pantoja