Braun Strowman.
WWE
After unprecedented Raw ratings, “The Horror Show at Extreme Rules,” as it is called 2020’s Extreme Rules, is based on two world championship matches: Drew McIntyre defending his WWE Championship against Dolph Ziggler, and the Universal Champion Braun Strowman taking over former mentor Bray Wyatt in a fight in the Wyatt Marsh. (That sounds silly, but so did the WrestleMania Firefly Funhouse match, which turned out great.)
But perhaps the most exciting match is for the Raw Women’s Championship, as Asuka and Sasha Banks, arguably the top two on the women’s list, compete for gold. Most troubling is the Eye for an Eye match between Seth Rollins and Rey Mysterio, which seems to have the potential to be hugely chilling. (See the complete card here.)
Please return to this page as the program progresses as we will be updating with results and match analysis.
The Fiend wins Wyatt Swamp Fight (I think)
This sucks. Like the WrestleMania Boneyard and Firefly Funhouse bouts, this Swamp Fight was a short film that pitted Bray Wyatt, as Bray Wyatt and not The Fiend, against Braun Strowman. The Strowman Universal Championship was not at stake. Unlike Boneyard and Firefly Funhouse, this was not fun at all.
Remember the Bray Wyatt promotions? How did they sound a little cool at times, but mostly they were empty boats that you didn’t need to pay attention to? That was Wyatt’s swamp fight.
It started with Strowman confronting Wyatt at the entrance to the Wyatt Swamp. Bray is in his rocking chair, but he laughs and disappears. Strowman then runs to fetch him, hitting various types of swamps while trying to find Bray. He is then hit in the back with a shovel, and then we see that he has been attacked by a clone of himself. Clone Strowman hits him on the head with the shovel.
The real Strowman wakes up, chained to a rocking chair. Wyatt comes in and says … things. “To be the monster you were, I need to destroy the monster you have become,” lines like that, but too much. Bray takes out a lady with a snake. The snake bites Strowman.
Strowman wakes up next to a fire and then hits more types of swamps. You see visions of who I think Sister Abegail is, but in any case she is the lady of the snake. I stopped paying attention because it didn’t make any sense and was actively painful to watch, and when I got back to that, Bray and Strowman were fighting.
Strowman chokeslams Bray in a boat. The boat perks up and rides toward the lake, but then returns. Bray and Strowman fight a little more. Strowman throws Bray into the swamp. He is relieved. Bray jumps out of the swamp and pulls Strowman. The show ends with The Fiend laughing at the camera.
Boneyard’s party was fun. Firefly Funhouse was fun. The money in the bank was fun. All the short films they’ve made since then haven’t really worked. This not only did not work, it was bad. Very bad.
Drew McIntyre retains the WWE Championship
If Asuka vs. Sasha Banks was disappointed due to their completion, Drew McIntyre vs. Dolph Ziggler ended up being the biggest winners of the night. Drew McIntyre ended up catching Ziggler after a Claymore Kick to end a very strong fight.
It opened with Ziggler revealing a surprise stipulation for the match: These are extreme rules, but only for Ziggler. If McIntyre uses a weapon, is numbered or disqualified, Ziggler is the new champion. The stipulation screams “McIntyre will win this match,” but it ended up being fun.
But really, the greatest strength of this party is that it was not inhibited by an obstructive stipulation or a silly finish. Ziggler’s character has been weakened by regular losses, but Ziggler, the performer, was on top of his game tonight and did an admirable job of becoming a threat to McIntyre. That said, even after Ziggler hit a celebrity, Zig Zag, and then a Urange on a chair, it was hard to believe that McIntyre was losing the game.
Lots of great places at all times, even when McIntyre ordered the Claymore, but Ziggler hit him with a chair on the leg. At the end of the game, Ziggler called for a Superkick but was countered with a Claymore by the pin. Life is about circularity, you guys.
Rating: 3.75 stars. Super fun party.
Asuka vs. Sasha Banks
Fantastic match with a silly ending. After Asuka accidentally sprayed the referee with green mist, Bayley hit Asuka in the back with one of the Title Tag belts and then, and this is where he gets too dumb, he puts on a referee shirt and counts the pin. . He demands the timekeeper ring the bell, and Bayley and Banks come out with all the gold.
Therefore, we don’t know if Sasha Banks is the champion or not (all the announcers disagreed on this later), making this not an ending. And a bad thing not to end in that.
The game itself was fantastic, with crisp, smooth action. Lots of back and forth, including an excellent series of counters towards the end that ended with Banks playing at the Asuka Lock while Bayley distracted the referee.
Rating: 3.25 stars. Such a fun match to the end.
Seth Rollins ‘takes out’ Rey Mysterio’s eye
Rey Mysterio and Seth Rollins are featured fighters. His Eye for an Eye match had fantastic action. But it was stipulated by the stipulation, which was literally that to win the game you had to take your opponent’s eye out. Since we know that was not going to happen, the party lacked the structure and tension that it should have had. It ended with Seth Rollins squeezing Rey Mysterio’s face into the corner of the ring steps, just like he did on Raw to start this story. Then he threw up later.
The fight had many memorable venues, such as Mysterio finding innovative ways to hit Rollins at the barricade (see above) and, later, Curb Stomping (see also above). Then there were the silly things, where one or the other would try to use a Kendo stick or chair to get an eye out. Rollins at one point received a steel point and tried to stab Mysterio.
It was not only silly, it was also quite distressing to see a man try to murder another man under the auspices of a professional wrestling match. The ending was criticized on Twitter: Mysterio had a lollipop-like eye underneath his mask to make it look like he was ripped out, but honestly, seeing Rollins try to stab Mysterio with a skewer or pen, and finally seeing him force the eye Mysterio’s on the steel steps was no fun. It was unpleasant, and not the good. “I can’t wait to see him get what he deserves.” It just isn’t nice.
Rating: 2 stars. Great action, but completely disappointed by the stipulation. These two would have easily had a 4+ star game without him.
Apollo Crews cannot compete against MVP
Apollo Crews was scheduled to defend his United States Championship against MVP but, due to a Bobby Lashley attack on Raw, he is not authorized to compete. So, MVP claims to be the new champion of the United States, lifting the belt that he had made and that he has been parading on Raw.
Bayley retains the SmackDown Women’s Championship
After a long game (or at least, it felt like a long game), Bayley defeated Nikki Cross to retain her SmackDown Women’s Championship. Sasha Banks distracted the referee, allowing Bayley to punch Cross with brass knuckles, her faceplate finisher, and obtain the pin.
This game was not very fun to watch. Nikki Cross is a popular artist, but her parties and her character really need fan feedback to really work. Bayley is on day 280 of being the SmackDown Women’s Champion, and similarly that story needs fans in the crowd to anticipate her loss to really work. Of course, there are NXT students in the crowd making noise, but it’s not exactly the same.
Bayley and Nikki worked hard, and it certainly wasn’t bad. But it is not one that would do its best to look.
Rating: 2 stars. It probably would have been so much better with a crowd.
Shinsuke Nakamura and Cesaro win Tag Team titles
The main show begins with a SmackDown tag nipple title table match between The New Day and Shinsuke Nakamura. It ended in spectacular fashion, with Cesaro bombarding the turnbuckle Kofi Kingston through two tables stacked on top of each other. It was sweet.
Cesaro and Shinsuke Nakamura, without a doubt, have the feeling of two single boys united as a team because the creatives had nothing else for them, but they absolutely work together. Getting them to win gold is a smart move: The New Day is a credible team, no matter what happens, so the loss doesn’t hurt them, while being champions solidifies Cesaro and Nakamura as a menacing tag team.
After the game, Cesaro goes to the ring and tells Michael Cole that he and Nakamura are fed up with being overlooked. “It is no longer overlooked,” says Michael Cole. We’ll see.
The match went well, punctuated by some exhilarating points like Big E’s terrifying spear at Cesaro through the middle ropes and a huge drop in confidence from Kingston. Ultimately though, despite the impressive ending mentioned above, I couldn’t help but feel that these four talented stars could have had a better combination without the stipulation of the draw.
Rating: 3 stars.
Results of the initial presentation
Kevin Owens catches Murphy with a stunner in a short game.
