Extreme Rules VIII

[Web Conn]

That Interview Todd Phillips had with Lana and Rusev on the pre show was one of the best things i've seen super fun. Rusev and Lana are awesome together, great heels. Lets hope that this title reign is a return to prominence for Rusev.

[DreamBroken]

Awesome main event. Enjoyed the Asylum match with a great finish, actually using both the barbed wire and thumbtacks which gave us at least a little blood on Extreme Rules, unlike Ambrose/Lesnar where the teased weapons never factored in. Was surprised that the one and only weapon not used was the potted plant which was the major part of the feud.  IC Title 4 way was excellent though I wish the finish was better. Thought for sure they'd do the more logical Miz pinning zayn in order to keep Cesaro for a one on one rematch, instead the finish was a bit weak.

Charlotte/Natalya was ok but not as good as their previous matches, don't mind the finish since it gives Dana something to do where she's not on her own. Interesting stat with Charlotte being the first woman to compete on 11 straight PPVs.  Tag title match was pretty much exactly as it should've been. Usos/Club was pretty fun as was Kalisto/Rusev. Not crazy about Rollins return, guessing AJ will be in MITB next now. Solid show.

[mattdangerously]

54 minutes ago, Stevie Ray Von Erich said:

The amount of hate Rollins gets here has always been huge and surprising. Like, y'all were hating on Tyler Black when he was still a Jimmy Jacobs lackey.

To be fair, he kind of sucked as Tyler Black.

[Go2Sleep]

1 hour ago, Stevie Ray Von Erich said:

When Cole and JBL mentioned that Jericho had been in every WWE match type I spent the rest of the match thinking of all the kinds of matches he's never had.

My buddy and I did the same thing. Other than obvious one-offs like kennel from hell, the major ones we came up with were I quit, strap, stretcher, inferno, tables, and chairs (although he's been in a couple TLCs).

Oh, and the show was ok I guess. If AJ had won with that WM 17 finish, that would've been badass. I'm happy to see Seth back, hopefully he gets a new finisher. Also the Vaudevillains are officially dead. Xavier Woods kicking out of your established team finisher with no shenanigans? See you guys on Superstars.

[zev]

Ambrose couldn't let the plant be used as a weapon. Just like his buddy Roman, he has a family bloodline to look after. Son of the Mitch and all that. He wants to be their Joker but he's not even doing Poison Ivy right.

[mattdangerously]

He ain't even Killer Moth at this point.

[The Natural]

Seth Rollins' facial expression made me laugh.

[The Natural]

Bonus:

[The Natural]

GIFS in spoiler tags for size:

 

 

 

[Joecc]

2 hours ago, Web Conn said:

That Interview Todd Phillips had with Lana and Rusev on the pre show was one of the best things i've seen super fun. Rusev and Lana are awesome together, great heels. Lets hope that this title reign is a return to prominence for Rusev.

Totally agree. The best thing about them is that they are so certain of their superiority that they don't have to constantly mention it. To them it is a given so it comes across as completely arrogant and heelish. 

[Niners Fan in CT]

I loved this show. I didn't like all of the finishes but the work was tremendous.

The intercontinental title match was really great stuff and though I would have preferred someone else to win just for personal reasons, Miz winning in the fashion that he did was absolutely perfect for his character. Also, it'll be better if one of these guys beats Miz one on one. The whole Miz and Maryse power couple thing just started too so give them some time. 

Oh wow did JBL ether the fuck out of Byron with that Jimmy Hoffa line. Jericho and Ambrose was a slooowwww burn but the payoff was great.

I didn't care for the finish to Natty and Charlotte but Dana Brooke strutting around had me laughing my ass off. 

New Day is so awesome. Great ring work too.

AJ Style and Roman Reigns put on a hell of a show. What a war. I think my only issue is that it's pretty clear whatever town they are in AJ is more over and has a natural babyface reaction so it just kind of sucks that he won't have a run.   Seth coming back is great, I loved Seth.  I'm in the minority on this board but fuck yeah Seth is back!

[Overly Critical Man]

It's okay, Seth'll cut a promo and then everyone'll remember why they didn't miss him in the first place.

[The Natural]

Miz vs. Cesaro vs. Kevin Owens vs. Sami Zayn for the WWE Intercontinental Championship Fatal Four Way match was great. I liked the opening with Sami taking out Kevin Owens with the Helluva Kick, the Uppercut Express by Cesaro to all three men, THAT Giant Swing and the ending. Zayn had Cesaro beat but Owens pulled Zayn out. Zayn’s frustration at having the match won meant he took it out on Owens on the outside allowing Miz to sneak away with the win.

The other great match and my match of the night was Roman Reigns vs. AJ Styles for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship in an Extreme Rules match. Both brought the physicality and everything to try and put the other one down. Amazing bumps by AJ in this such as the Splash Mountain in the ring, Reigns whipping Styles into the ring apron graphics/the barricade/powerbomb through the announcers table combo and the match winning Spear, one of if not Reigns’ best. The crowd was particularly hostile to Roman. I’m not sure if I preferred this or the Payback match, I’m leaning towards the former though I’ve only seen both the once. Welcome back to Seth Rollins hitting Roman with the Pedigree and going for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship he never lost.

Fair play to Dean Ambrose taking barbed wire 2x4 shots and Chris Jericho into thumbtacks. I never expected to see barbed wire and thumbtacks used in a WWE ring again since they went PG in August 2008.

[RIPPA]

I always enjoy the YAY! SETH ROLLINS IS BACK! SAVE THE TITLE but in the same breath "BOO!!!! MIZ HELD ONTO THE TITLE!!!" thing

If you don't realize what a good thing it is to have 3 good quasi-babyfaces (4 if you count Neville) chasing Miz then you clearly want different things out of wrestling than I do

[RIPPA]

Rusev is the God Damn best

 

[RIPPA]

I CAME PREPARED!!!

The best thing to happen to Tom Phillips was the Youtube channel

[Kyuubi]

Ambrose vs Jericho is pretty much a match I never found any interest in seeing. Jericho needs to find some compelling offense that does not take ages for him to do. He is not Lionheart anymore. He is not Y2J anymore. Rey Mysterio changed his offense like a dozen times in his career and still is watchable if not fucking fantastic.  Ambrose cartoony gimmick makes me long for the days of Jon Moxley raving about his childhood and spout nihilistic rants. I get that Jon Moxley as a character could never work in a PG crowd, but fuck, man. This kind of cartoony shit makes me like Ambrose less and while I like the performer, I absolutely hate the character.

The Fatal Four Way delivered on workrate and story telling. Sami continues to be the underachieving babyface who cannot quite get it and his perpetual stop gap is Kevin Owens who sheer animosity and pettiness prevents Sami from ever being on top. It's a great feud and WWE capitalizes on it. I question that Miz was the one who went over, however, no one looked bad in this match. Cesaro took 3 finishers before being taken down and each kickout was logical too(He kicked out of Miz's finisher because he was barely in the match at the time and did not take much damage, and kicked out of Kevin's powerbomb because Sami Zayn). 

AJ made Roman watchable. If that's not a feat in of itself, I don't know what is. He sold every offense and bumped like a champ. Honestly, this is the peak of a Roman Reigns title run because it gets no better than this. I would rather watch Seth Rollins, angry tweener, over "I'm not a good guy, I'm not  bad guy, I am a stereotypically bland guy" Reigns. Regardless, it was a good match and it has me looking forward to Rollins vs. Reigns. I still think Reigns kicking out of the Styles Clash is bullshit, but whatever. Great match.

 

[Ramsey]

The only thing I can really add here is that during this show I fantasized about beating JBL silent with a shovel. Fuck, he is awful.

[MonteCarl]

That cage match did drag on way too long. Somebody said that a segment got cut and they had to go an extra 10 minutes, but what could've gotten cut? There weren't any other matches set up. If that cage match were 10 minutes shorter, it would've been a lot better. Crazy bump in to those tacks by Jericho. Brutal looking.

Loved the IC Four Way and the last 8-10 minutes of the Main Event. The IC title scene is so great right now. I had picked Miz to retain in this match as I see Cesaro getting a one-on-one match at MitB and being the one to finally defeat Miz. Miz losing the belt in a one-on-one match will mean more than in a Four Way. Sami and Owens go in to the MitB match itself.

Speaking of which, who do we see in that match next month? With Cena and Rollins and possibly Orton returning, are they thrown in to the match making it one with the most "names" in it? You could also possibly put AJ in the match. Do we already go to Reigns/Rollins next month, or hold off on that?

What about the possibility of a "first time ever" Women's MitB match? Throw in Natalya/Dana/Paige/Sasha/Becky/Naomi. Could be done and would be interesting, I think, should Naomi and Sasha be OK and cleared by then. Though if the reports of them keeping Sasha off TV because they don't want her to get hurt by SummerSlam are true, they may not want to put her in that type of match.

[nate]

7 hours ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

and a jacket

"You killed my plant."

"You destroyed my jacket."

CIVIL WAR

[RIPPA]

The knee jerk reaction I thought when I heard about the cut segment was it involved Goldust

They bailed because the crowd was very pro-Cody

[offspring515]

I don't understand people complaining about the finish of the main event.  Roman dominated about 75% of the offense during the match.  AJ took a powerbomb and backdrop through a table, spear on the floor, multiple Superman punches.  If anything it took too much for Reigns to take him out. The idea that it was some sort of out of nowhere finish where a completely healthy AJ was made to look bad is utterly baffling.

 

I won't even get into the idiocy of thinking AJ carried Roman in that match.  Same people who still think Cena is being carried after a decade of excellent work I suppose.

[The Natural]

#BlameKevinDunn ; )

[Cyanide]

7 hours ago, Go2Sleep said:

My buddy and I did the same thing. Other than obvious one-offs like kennel from hell, the major ones we came up with were I quit, strap, stretcher, inferno, tables, and chairs (although he's been in a couple TLCs).

Iron Man/Ultimate Submission/whatever with a time limit can be thrown in there too, I think.

 

@The NaturalThat Mick/Jericho pic is an instant classic.  And you're a national treasure for that Helluva kick GIF.

[(BP)]

Roman is absolutely not being carried by anyone. He's growing into one of the best guys on the roster. They are wise, however, to put him with really accomplished guys like AJ who they can count on for great matches. Roman's very good, but he's not a ring general yet (and that'll come with time.) He doesn't need to be carried, but he's in too vulnerable a position and he's not ready to carry someone else. Fortunately, they have an absurdly deep roster of great guys to pair him with.