BY MIKEY MIGO
This past Sunday was the WWE Extreme Rules Pay Per View. Going into it, I wasn’t all that excited. Some matches sounded entertaining and have potential, but actually getting your hopes up for a post-Mania PPV is just dumb. It’s never that exciting. This year is a little different. Jericho and Punk doing a Chicago Street Fight can’t be that bad, right? Sheamus and Daniel Bryan doing 2 out of 3 has to good, right? Brock Lesnar coming back to take Vince McMahon’s money and make John Cena look bad is a HUGE draw, right? The undercard won’t fail us at all, right? This PPV will be worth not only the money, but the time, and emotional investment ...Right?
Well… The answer is “Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes!”
The opening match between Randy Orton and Kane was perfectly placed. The WWE has great luck with the Chicago crowd. They’re ALWAYS hot. Taking a Falls Count Anywhere brawl between these two main eventers all around the building was great. The crowd ate it up and both guys did a good job with it. Nothing too crazy. Just a fun brawl. It was cool to see them fight through sections I’ve sat in before in the same venue. The crowd was all about Dolph Ziggler and were pissed that Brodus Clay won. I don’t think they even showed his post-match dance crap this time. I’m a big fan of Dolph so it’s GREAT to see him getting pops like that. Hopefully it doesn’t go unnoticed. I just didn’t care about the Cody and Show tables match. I like the feud and the story they’ve told, but their in-ring chemistry hasn’t gone anywhere new. I’m not asking for a five star classic, but there has to be new ways for Show to chop him and for Rhodes to cheat. I enjoyed the cheap way this match ended. It was a very heel way for it to go. Cody gets the title back and the bragging rights and Big Show doesn’t lose any real heat. Good way to move the story along and build Cody at the same time.
Daniel Bryan and Sheamus tore the house down. Their “Best of Three” match was the shit. This was the Wrestlemania match we all wanted and deserved. I’m having trouble thinking of a better match in either of their WWE careers so far. I can’t say enough good things about the match. I think the only small judgment is that Sheamus looked like he was winded pretty quickly in there, but the big guy kept up without any issue. This is going to make plenty of “MOTY” lists for sure, surely my own as well. They followed it up with a fucking squash match. Ryback beat two St. Louis jobbers. I’m thrilled for those guys. It’s something they’ll be able to tell their grandkids. The “Goldberg” chant was right on. I understand they needed to bring the crowd down after that great title match, but a Divas match, a Tag Title match, or #1 Contenders Match to a mid-card title would have been MUCH better here.
Chris Jericho and CM Punk put on one helluva show in the “Chicago Street Fight”. Another “MOTY” candidate for sure. It was a slow burner. It had all the right action a match like this needed, but it felt a little held back at start. It quickly caught pace and took on the energy I thought their WrestleMania match lacked. It kept me on the edge of my seat and honestly didn’t know who’d win. I miss that kind of match. This is followed up by another “crowd breather”. The Bella Twins defend the title against Layla El. Yeesh. Layla is cool and all, but her comeback title win could have happened on RAW. They should have had the Bellas fight each other. I’m sure it wouldn’t be a barn burner or anything, but it makes sense.
I don’t care what anyone says. The John Cena/Brock Lesnar match delivered like no other. I’ve never been a fan of either guy. I never thought Brock was as good as everyone did. I’m an adult male so I’m big on Cena’s rise and repeat bullshit. This match was brutal and hard to watch at times. It made you want Cena to just stop trying and avoid “suicide by Brock.” There was just a lot of sick shit in there with the blood, the hanging with the chain, and the stiff shots Brock was getting in. I’ve not seen a match like this in a LONG time. It made me feel a little uncomfortable, feel anxious, and feel really unsure about the chaos and action going on. The key word here is it made me “feel”. That’s all you can ask for. I didn’t care where they went with this story before the match and I don’t now. I’m open minded to things moving forward, but for what this match was I really dug it. It protected Brock’s ring rust, made him look like a monster, won Cena some respect, and displayed one of the most brutal matches I’ve seen in a long time.
Overall, this show was great. I think I enjoyed it more than Royal Rumble, more than Wrestlemania, and even more than that Money in the Bank from Chicago last year. It blew my mind to see so many people pick this show apart with complaints and little bullshits. Whatever. That’s fine. I’d rather not had seen the lame squash match, the divas match, or the Brodus/Dolph match on the show. I’m glad Dolph got his pops, Big Show/Cody was creative, Cody got his pops, Bryan/Sheamus did great, Jericho/Punk did great, and the Cena/Brock thing was great. This is one of those PPVs that’ll be talked about for many reasons for many years to come. Solid stuff! A-
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