wrestling / TV Reports
Kevin’s WWE Horror Show At Extreme Rules 2020 Review
Loading...WWE Extreme Rules
July 19th, 2020 | WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida
Kevin Owens vs. Murphy
This was such a late addition to the card that KO tweeted that he needed to rush to the building for it. Murphy needs his old WUBB WUBB theme. Regardless, it was automatically one of the more interesting bouts on the card. This was about what I wanted from it. Two guys having a quality match on the Kickoff Show. They started with simple stuff before progressing to things like Owens’ cannon ball attack and Murphy’s Meteora. Murphy fired off a barrage of knees and a Brainbuster that nearly earned him the victory. Owens weathered the storm and won after the superkick and Stunner in 8:53. Solid wrestling match. [***]
WWE Smackdown Tag Team Championship Tables Match: The New Day [c] vs. Cesaro and Shinsuke Nakamura
I’m glad they went with no tags in this. That allowed this to have a fair amount of action throughout, even if there weren’t tables breaking all over the place. These are four guys who know how to entertaining, so there wasn’t concern that this would be a problem. As this progressed, more tables were set up but they kept building towards someone possibly going through it without it actually happening. It was fine but made me miss the days when both men had to through a table in a tag match. It allowed for more spots. The finish was cool, though. Kofi went for a super rana through two tables but Cesaro blocked and hit a powerbomb through them to win the titles in 10:23. That was pretty good but like I said, would’ve been better with the old rules. [***¼]
WWE Smackdown Women’s Championship: Bayley [c] vs. Nikki Cross
Bayley was out with Sasha, while Nikki had Alexa. An overconfident Bayley was put on her heels by the energy that Nikki brings to her matches. It put the champion at a disadvantage for the opening minutes. An interesting note is that Sasha held the three titles outside but put the Tag Titles on her shoulders and wore Bayley’s Smackdown Women’s Title. Bayley took over but couldn’t keep Nikki down with the Bayley to Belly. Not a fan of that finisher kickout. One of Bayley’s signature corner spots got cut off by Nikki, who rallied following it. Bayley was in serious trouble and resorted to help from Sasha, who handed her the BOSS ring. A distraction opened the door for Bayley to hit Nikki with it in the ribs and added a new(?) faceplant finisher to retain in 12:21. This had potential but lacked something to make it stand out. Largely average. [**¾]
It was announced that Apollo Crews didn’t pass his physical earlier due to an “injury” sustained on The VIP Lounge a few weeks ago. He declared himself the champion and left with the title.
Eye For An Eye Match: Rey Mysterio vs. Seth Rollins
I’M HERE FOR CGI EYE VIOLENCE! Seth had pliers with him, I think. I saw a tool but looked up too soon to realize what it was exactly. Rey showed up behind Seth to start this but still got his ass kicked. Seth was particularly aggressive and violent throughout this. I liked some of the creative ideas like going after the eye using the legs of a steel chair, tools, and even a pen. It made for such a different concept for a match that I appreciated. The whole match was intense, creative, and made good use of the stipulation. Mysterio got some revenge by driving Seth’s eye into the steel steps but the Messiah hit a low blow to stop him. Seth did it back to him, which was enough to win in 17:48. Seth barfed because it was gross to see, though the cameras didn’t show it. That was a hell of a match and I really enjoyed the action. However, I came in wanting CGI goofiness and I didn’t get it. I want goofy shit in wrestling, dammit. [***¾]
WWE Raw Women’s Championship: Asuka [c] vs. Sasha Banks
Imagine not putting this as the main event. It sounds way better than Bray/Braun or Drew/Dolph. Also, their match on Raw the night after Royal Rumble 2018 was great (****). Almost immediately, they played off of it. Sasha countered a signature Asuka knee that wrecked her in 2018 and rolled through into the Bank Statement. Asuka pivoted and found a new way to hit that knee just a few minutes later. That was the trend as this match was just filled with smart wrestling and really cool spots from both. I dug the German suplex off the apron attempt and how it backfired on Sasha, only to then work out well for her. Sasha bumped impressively on some German suplexes, getting completely folded up and making Asuka look like a beast. They were a few flubs, like Sasha falling when trying a move off the top, though it played into the story as she had just landed on her knees to survive an avalanche German suplex. Kairi stopped an intervening Bayley but took a Bayley to Belly for it. Asuka and Sasha had a fantastic exchange before Bayley tried interfering again in a spot that just looked totally phony and goofy. It led to Asuka going for the mist and Sasha moving, only to catch the referee. That looked much better for a spot. Bayley hit Asuka from behind and put on the blinded referee’s shirt to count three. She demanded they ring the bell, which happened at the 20:10 mark. Confusing finish but the match before it was spectacular. I could watch these two wrestle all day. [****]
WWE Championship: Drew McIntyre [c] vs. Dolph Ziggler
Dolph finally revealed his stipulation. It’s Extreme Rules but only for him and if Drew doesn’t pin him or make him tap, he loses the title. It’s smart kayfabe-wise but it’ll be interesting to see how it works as a match. They did a pretty good job with it. For example, when McIntyre got going, Dolph just hit him with a low blow simply because he could. It worked to make McIntyre something of an underdog despite his obvious physical advantages. Dolph threw everything at him, including multiple Zig Zags and various weapons but McIntyre kept surviving. Dolph began tuning up the band for a superkick but ate the Claymore and that was it after 15:23. They did some cool things that played off the stipulation and that was one of the better Claymores ever. It was just hard to get too invested in this match because Dolph is uninteresting. [***]
Wyatt Swamp Fight: Braun Strowman vs. Bray Wyatt
I LOVE NON-TITLE MAIN EVENTS! I’m kidding. I honestly, didn’t pay a ton of attention to this. I looked up a few times to see Braun throw a chair in the swamp and get attacked by a version of himself. Seriously, it was him under the old black sheep mask and everything. It involved an appearance from Alexa Bliss as part of what Bray used to manipulate Braun. It eventually led to them fighting in the actual swamp and both men ending up in the water. Bray popped out after the water turned red in his Fiend mask. I don’t know. It wasn’t a fun cinematic match and I’ve been over Bray Wyatt for a long time. He should’ve gotten into acting or something because his character stuff is fun but his matches are usually lackluster. [NR]
