@RoxBlackburn<\/p>\n\n\n\n
WWE Extreme Rules. What we know now and\nwhere could we be heading next?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Let\u2019s start this off by addressing the absolute\ntravesty of Finn Balor versus Shinsuke Nakamura (Intercontinental Championship\nMatch) being on the kick-off show. Not only does demoting the title completely undo\nall the hard work guys like The Miz and Seth Rollins did to actually make us\ncare about it, but it also serves to prove that WWE has no idea what to do with\nBalor or Nakamura. On paper this should have been the match of the night, a\nfuture main event but instead it\u2019s relegated to a seven-minute slot where\nneither athlete did anything to garner any offence or show any sort of sparkle.\nAnd why should they? Both have been drifting, aimlessly drifting for months. Part\nof me thinks it\u2019s not their fault but part of me also thinks they should assume\nsome responsibility for the direction of their characters. My only glimmer of hope\nfor Balor rests on a strong (and it would need to be strong) heel turn and a\npossible alliance with The Club. As for Nakamura? Who knows?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Cruiserweight championship match\nbetween Drew Gulak (c) and Tony Nese was well received by the building Philadelphia\ncrowd, who were happy to see their home-town boy (Gulak) emerge victorious.\nSome high points of the match included Nese\u2019s Moonsault and 450 splash. The\nmatch itself was ok and managed a decent response from the crowd but there\u2019s no\ndoubt that 205 Live is an afterthought when it comes to the booking of a PPV,\nwhich in itself, is very sad. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The main event kicks off with Roman Reigns\nand The Undertaker versus Shane McMahon and Drew McIntyre. The Undertaker\u2019s\nreaction was warm, albeit, predictable. He\u2019s a legend, I get it but when are\nWWE going to stop relying on him to draw numbers? The guy is almost 55 years\nold and he just can\u2019t cut it amongst the new generation of wrestlers. Reigns\nwas sharp as a tac during this match but \u2018Taker was sluggish, understandably so.\nI wish he would bow out gracefully before he ends up really hurting himself. Drew McIntyre should be the next in line for a\nUniversal Championship match, hands down. There isn\u2019t another guy on that Raw\nroster who is as ready as he is to take the next step. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
And let\u2019s address the second biggest issue\nof the night; Shane McMahon. Later in the show, Kevin Owens reminds us of a\nrecent past where the McMahon family said they were going to listen to the fans\nmore, yet here we are are with Shane O getting more TV time than your\nIntercontinental Champion. Read that again\u2026.. Am I missing something with\nShane? Is there a bigger picture I\u2019m just not getting? Please, someone fill me\nin because all I see is a rank amateur taking away TV time from a locker room\nfull of talent and competent superstars. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Although the match between Kevin Owens and\nDolph Ziggler happens later in the night, there\u2019s no harm talking about it here\nbecause it only takes around 45 seconds\nfor Owens to pick up the win. It\u2019s what happens at the end when KO gets the\nmic. Please keep in mind, he had his mic cut off on Smackdown in an almost (and\nonly almost) CM-Pink-esq pipe bomb style. KO addresses the state of the WWE\nUniverse and delivers a promo where he speaks, very eloquently, for the WWE\nUniverse and the locker room about their frustration with Shane McMahon\nsituation. KO is once again at the edge of another character twist and it\u2019s\nvital WWE pick this up and run with it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the stand-out matches of the event\nwas The Uso\u2019s v The Revival for the Raw Tag Team Championships. In terms of\npace, technical ability and storytelling, it was my favorite match of the night.\nThe match itself didn\u2019t deliver anything we haven\u2019t seen before from either\nteam but the Uso\u2019s are great fun to watch and I like how both teams haven\u2019t\ntaken themselves too seriously as the feud has built. The Revival retains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cesaro v Aleister Black was another\ninteresting match. These two guys were both nurtured during their time in NXT\nand they serve to prove you don\u2019t need a massive build up to deliver a good\nmatch, sometimes you have to let the wrestling tell the story. And this story\nis one of two guys who have come up strong through a developmental roster and\nhave now got a solid foundation and platform to build from. Interestingly,\nBlack won. I wouldn\u2019t be surprised to see either in the Intercontinental\nChampionship picture in the near future and possibly a Rumble win in January. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The triple threat Smackdown Tag Team match,\nwhich ultimately saw The New Day pick up their sixth tag team championships was\nalso fun to watch. Again, nothing to write home about in terms of anything new\nbut a match with a nice pace, some comedy, some high spots and a nice ending. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
An admirable effort from Bayley during her\ntwo on one handicap match against Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross, which ultimately\nsaw her retain her title. It\u2019s a funny set up with Nikki Cross at the moment,\nbecause I feel like she doesn\u2019t quite fit into the current women\u2019s roster. The\ncurrent women\u2019s roster is way too polished, something I didn\u2019t realize had\nhappened until this weekend. Every woman is pristine in looks and very soft and\nfluid in the ring. Other than an odd move, there isn\u2019t a lot to tell them apart\nin terms of their actual wrestling ability (and I include Becky Lynch and\nCharlotte in that sentiment) but Nikki Cross is different, which is ultimately the\nbasis of her appeal. She is a little more rugged and rough around the edges, I\nlove that she isn\u2019t plastered in make up and fake hair extensions. Her style is\nmuch more jagged, animalistic and intuitive. I have to wonder if WWE are going\nto wear away those endearing rough edges to have her fit better into the mold\nor will they let her sit just outside it and perhaps open the door for other\nwomen of a similar style to step in too. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
AJ Styles defeats Ricochet to claim the\nUnited States Championship in WWE\u2019s first WTF title change of the night. The\nClub don\u2019t need a title to be successful and if they are going to have gold,\nthey all need to have it, quickly. I feel very much that WWE are good at\npulling the rug from under us, they almost fear and retreat when something new\ntakes hold and they end up digressing to what used to work, rather than\ntrusting what is currently working. There was no real need to have Styles take\nthe championship. What are they so afraid of? The other question on all our\nminds is whether or not The Club version 2.0 is going to work this time around?\nAre they going to be given enough free reign for it to actually mean something?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Samoa Joe versus Kofi Kingston was a solid\nmatch, a solid showing from both competitors. For a while, I wasn\u2019t sure\nKingston was going to keep the championship for a sustained period but I\u2019m\npleased WWE are holding their nerve with it. They need to let this run, at\nleast until we start on the road to the Royal Rumble. On a personal note, seeing\nKingston land an SOS on a guy like Samoa Joe was pretty impressive. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I don\u2019t think I\u2019ve ever seen Braun Strowman\nin such great shape. Bobby Lashley is still as dull as dishwater and I hate\nthat he took to social media to indicate he may have his sights on the Universal\nChampionship. This \u2018Falls Count Anywhere\u2019 match, which saw Strowman emerge\nvictorious saw some of the biggest spots of the night, particularly when a\nrunning powerslam from the top of the stairs had the whole audience on their\nfeet. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The main event, sigh, the main event. Becky\nLynch and Seth Rollins versus Baron Corbin and Lacey Evans, winner takes all,\nboth the Universal and Raw Women\u2019s championship were up for grabs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Where to start?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I really want to like Lacey Evans. I love\nher gimmick but something about her character just isn\u2019t gelling for me. Corbin\nhas carried a lot of the weight of Raw for the past few months and his growth\nas a heel character has been one of the most surprising twists of this year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Did you know Becky Lynch and Seth Rollins\nwere dating? Did you know? Did you?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some nice spots in this match included Lynch and Rollins double Suplex to Corbin and Evans on the steel ramp, the constant and unfiltered use of Kendo sticks and chairs, Suicide Dives, aerial spots and of course, Becky Lynch taking an End of Days from Corbin, which saw Rollins absolutely lose it. Again, a really fun, nice paced match and a great way to end the event. Lynch and Rollins retain but then Brock Lesnar\u2019s music hits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bork Lesnar (yes, I\u2019m aware I spelled it\nwrong) cashes in his Money in the Bank contract and wins the Universal Championship.\nIt\u2019s hard to see the reasoning behind this and a large part of me thinks it\u2019s\njust undone the last few months and we\u2019re right back to where we started but\nyou have to look at the bigger picture. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
They have taken the Universal Championship\noff Seth Rollins because Lesnar is perceived as a bigger name and a bigger draw\nand WWE are aligning their chess pieces ahead of the new TV deal. Could Rollins\nin fact need a bit of a rest? He\u2019s been slugging it out for months. I actually allowed\nmyself to entertain the notion that Rollins title reign has been mediocre. With\nall the hype leading up to \u2018Mania and the fact we got everything we wanted, was\nit only inevitable the come down from that would leave us feeling underwhelmed?\nAnother part of me thinks Rollins has been the face of the red brand for a\nwhile, especially when he held the Intercontinental Championship, does he\nreally need the Universal Championship to cement that? Absolutely not! He\u2019ll be\nadored no matter what he does, with or without a title. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It still baffles me that such a young\nchampionship is being treated the way it is. In all honesty, the Universal\nChampionship hasn\u2019t held much appeal since Kevin Owens had it. Could we see\nthis happen again? What influence will Heyman and Bischoff have over the future\nof a championship still in its infancy? One thing I do know is there\u2019s a bigger\npicture here and at the moment, we can\u2019t quite see it. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
@RoxBlackburn WWE Extreme Rules. What we know now and where could we be heading next? Let\u2019s start this off by addressing the absolute travesty of Finn Balor versus Shinsuke Nakamura […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":13007,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[28,2,185],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13006","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-editorials","category-featured","category-wwe"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9jnWd-3nM","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/EXTREME-RULEZ-2019-poster-1200x589.jpg?fit=1200%2C589&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13006","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13006"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13006\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13009,"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13006\/revisions\/13009"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13007"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13006"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13006"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13006"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}