Extreme Rules

[KrisZ]

Helluva match considering the participants...Cena always does well in gimmick matches but Ryback did enough to make this solid

[anarchistxx]

Anyone care to quickly sum up the last two finishes? Skipped both matches to watch GOT.

[Dylan Waco]

Anyone care to quickly sum up the last two finishes? Skipped both matches to watch GOT.

Show survived an RKO and RKO on a chair and lost via punt.

 

Ryback tackled Cena through a wall of electrical stuff/lights on the stage for a double KO.

 

They were the best two matches on the show so far

[anarchistxx]

Thanks, just my luck to miss the good stuff - Show/Orton seemed unappealing and I expected Ryback/Cena to go on last. My punishment is half an hour of HHH...

[J.Q. Murder]

There was some iffy stuff in Ryback/Cena, Ryback just getting back to it after the FU table bump/count, Cena's weird sleeper(?) thing, but it was still 50 times better than I thought it would be. Ryback always cutting off Cena's comebacks was pretty cool and he drilled him with a few impressive power moves, the powerbomb was really sick. Really liked both Shield matches, the title changes were very nicely done. I have the HHH match on but I really have no interest in it, really a shame how they've booked Brock in this. Although I don't need to watch since I can hear HHH telling me what's going to happen next.

[goodhelmet]

Brock vs. HHH

- Much better than the Mania match. Helps that the crowd was into the match and Brock knows how to sell.

[Exposer]

HHH vs. Brock - Steel Cage Match

 

Very good match I thought all because of Brock's brilliant selling and the right finish happened.

[Dylan Waco]

Didn't give a shit about the main event one way or the other. I agree with the consensus that Brock's selling carried the match, but I don't want to see Brock working underneath for the God King Game. The problem is there is no good way to book HHH, particularly as a face. Or at least no way in which I am going to have any interest. I thought the match was fine, but I really hope I never have to watch a HHH match again

[J.Q. Murder]

My stream died just as Brock was screaming in agony, comes back to him holding up what seems to be a solid silver sledgehammer. I guess he won.

[KrisZ]

Brock smiling and saying "THAT'S MY MANAGER" was the highlight

[soup23]

Really liked the main event and lesnar's selling was damn great. Pretty good PPV overall.

[hammerva]

Didn't know that they now do a Post Game show as well. Of course they show Super Cena refusing an ambulance ride and a neck brace. Even Lawler and JBL thinks this is stupid.

 

Someone must have gave Wade Barrett a talk and said "put a nice shirt on and stop looking like a mark"

[MikeCampbell]

My quickie thoughts:

 

Jericho vs. Fandango: Pretty much non-descript. When the guys and I were summing up what was good and what wasn't, I had to ask what the opener was, because I'd already forgotten about it.

 

Kofi vs. Ambrose: Kofi relied a bit too much on the head kicks, but the match was solid and the finish was flawless.

 

Sheamus vs. Henry: The strap looked like a giant ace bandage. They worked in some good ideas for teasing the end. But he thought the actual finish was stupid. The ref should have called it when Mark picked him up for the WSS.

 

Del Rio vs. Swagger: Good match, goofy finish with the reversal. Way to kill off Swagger by jobbing him two PPVs in a row.

 

Hell No vs. Shield: Non-stop action, this was exactly what it needed to be. Reigns yelling "You tried to break my arm, I'm gonna break your face!" was priceless.

 

Orton vs. Big Show: Some good spots, and a good finish, but I just don't care about either of these two right now.

 

Cena vs. Ryback. Ryback's Ultimate Warrior stuff was funny. They paced this really well, although Ryback went overboard on overselling stuff to milk the count. Ryback was on his feet, while they were still putting Cena on the gurney. Ryback should be champion.

 

Cage Match: HHH's new gear is hideous! This seemed like a typical HHH wankfest, except for Brock selling his knee really well. The right person went over. I'm hoping that this winds up meaning something down the line, like Rock getting the 'Rumble title shot due to beating Cena at 'Mania. Heyman cuts a promo saying Brock is rehabbing his knee at home, and he's now in line for a title shot at Summerslam or Survivor Series.

 

I'll be surprised if Ryback doesn't find some way to make a pun for the name of the next PPV, seeing as Ryback and Payback are so similar looking.

[Wolfman]

I enjoyed the card except I hated the reverse on the Del Rio-Swagger match and enough of the both men out in the LMS matches. Also, I wish Henry would have won since I enjoy seeing him as an unstoppable monster . Btw, I so miss blood in the cage matches. What's the point of the cage then? I get that they want to stay away from the old days of blading, but every once in awhile there should be an exception. Tonight should have been one of those. Good card overall!

[sek69]

The Orton commercial for the Payback PPV was a bit of a non sequitor, as if when they shot it they expected him to be a heel by now. Also the Lesnar/HHH match was a little irritating in the sense that Brock's supposed to be death incarnate but it takes Heyman interference/hammer shot/finisher to beat a guy who works twice a year.

[Johnny Sorrow]

I thought that was a fun fucking show. I had a living room full of family and pals, a couple pizzas, some burgers grilling, plenty of beer, and a large screen TV with a paid for show that looked great.

 

~Jericho/ Fandango was a fine opener and the codebreaker to finish looked sick.

 

~Kofi/ Ambrose was a blast. Ambrose looked great, and jacked in a good way. His arms are looking bigger every month. He's definitely been hitting the gym. I loved the finish and the whole deal with the Shield all holding gold. In a time where the lower belts can come off as meaningless, it's a killer boost to have the hottest act decide they all want gold and get it.

 

~Shaemus/ Henry was good. I've never been a huge fan of the old "drag a guy around and tag the buckles" matches but this was good. And Henry losing means nothing. He's always gonna be a dominant monster, whether he loses or wins.

 

~I loved Del Rio vs. Swagger. All the goofy shit worked for me, and the match was fun. I loved JBL saying that a terrible precedent has been started re: instant replay, but if ya really think about it...doesn't it make kayfabe sense that a ref can look at instant footage during a situation like that in this day and age? Especially if it's a match of importance, like this was considering it was for a number one contender's spot.

 

~Hell No vs the Shield. Can't add much more to the praise this is getting. Fucking awesome match. Everyone involved was working like a motherfucker and it was a total stone blast. I love Hell No, but again...the Shield holding the gold is some great old school thinking.

 

~Orton/ Big Show: Orton normally bores me to tears but this match fucking ruled. Orton brought it, Show was awesome, the crowd was crazy, and the match was pretty damn great.

 

~Cena/ Ryback was a blast. I loved the whole "Clash of the Titans" vibe. This was King Kong vs. Godzilla and I enjoyed it a ton. The crowd was chanting "bullshit" at the finish, and I get that. If I was there live I'd probably be pissed that there was no real finish and it happened backstage on a screen. But as a TV watcher, it was fucking great.

 

~HHH/ Lesnar. I thought it started out a little slow, but that was the point. After the previous two matches I thought this was gonna be a let down. I was wrong. This fucking ruled. Brock's selling, HHH getting totally dominated for a good while before Brock hurt his knee, Heyman's stuff, it all came together to produce a great fucking match that I again, at first was indifferent to, but by the end I was shouting and cheering at the TV.

 

My match of the night is Orton/ Big Show. I love Show, but I wasn't expecting much. And they went out and tore the house down.

[anarchistxx]

The traffic lights on the strap match deserve special mention. Is that a new invention? Seemed like a nice touch.

 

The cage match was pretty average. They have destroyed Brock's aura with the way the Cena job was handled and the thirty minute HHH matches but he is still one of the more fun guys to watch on the card, especially with Heyman involved.

[NintendoLogic]

The Eddy/JBL strap match at the 2004 Bash had lights in the corners.

[S.L.L.]

I don't wanna harp on it too much, because I really dug the match (and the show as a whole, for that matter...I don't know why I keep shelling out money for Mania when Extreme Rules is consistently the better and more meaningful show), but I actually was bugged by the finish to Cena/Ryback. Is there some reason Lil' Naitch couldn't count both guys down before/during medical personnel arriving on the scene? Because he didn't, and without that, the match just sort of ends. Why does this fall outside standard last man standing match protocol? Why do they have to stop the match because the wrestlers can't continue when the whole point of the gimmick is that the wrestlers beat each other until they can't continue? It's like stopping a cage match because of the sudden realization that you're surrounded by chain-link fence. This is what they signed up for. Make the fucking count.

 

Also without the count, it's pretty clear Ryback got fucked over, because he was the last man standing. With assistance, yes, but standing nonetheless. Wouldn't be surprised if that gets worked into the angle, though, so I'm not gonna get too bent out of shape over it.

 

Again, terrific match, and it's probably a petty detail to complain about, but that really did bug me anyway.

 

I actually liked Brock/HHH even less than their Mania match, however I chalk that up to my inability to see it as anything other than HHH's self-insert fanfic about how he made the big, scary UFC fighter his bitch inside of a cage. And also because I liked it a lot better the first time I saw it, when it was called "Brock vs. Cena at Extreme Rules 2012", the role HHH was being played by Lesnar, the role of Lesnar was being played by Cena, and the one-hit kill that gets the win for the guy who got the shit kicked out of him all match actually felt like a one-hit kill.

[Matt D]

It really is amazing how meaningless Mania has become. If I had to choose I'd choose going to the Raw after over Mania itself in a heartbeat.

[tigerpride]

No matter how good or bad the Mania card is, there still is something special about attending a Wrestlemania that no other card can replicate

[KrisZ]

Like I've said before Mania & Super Bowl are very similar as most of them haven't been very good but the spectacle makes the event what it is.

 

On another note

 

Heyman's mysterious 3rd man is supposed to debut tonight and Scott Hall among others have been very vocal about it being RVD.

[sek69]

I guess if nothing else it would be funny to see Straight Edge Punk and Mr. 420 RVD in the same stable.

[NintendoLogic]

Actually, Super Bowl quality has increased significantly in recent years. Virtually all of the past ten SBs have been exciting competitive games, with Colts/Bears being the only outright stinker of the bunch.

[KrisZ]

They have gotten mostly better but when I was growing up they were mostly over early in the 3rd quarter