WWE Extreme Rules Review - July 14, 2019

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Kickoff Show: Shinsuke Nakamura def. Finn Balor to Win the Intercontinental Championship

I was really surprised this got added to the Extreme Rules Kickoff show hours before the show, simply because their original encounter took place mere days earlier on SmackDown Live and WWE could have easily held off until SummerSlam to do the rematch. Nevertheless, this was a quality contest that could have been better with more time. Balor never got a real run as Intercontinental Champion, but this could be a nice reset for Nakamura if he's on TV more than Balor was. Here's hoping this reign is more memorable than the two he had with the United States Championship.

Kickoff Show: WWE Cruiserweight Champion Drew Gulak def. Tony Nese

The Cruiserweights are back to being a staple on the Kickoff show, and honestly, that might be where they belong at this point because that's when the crowd is at their hottest and they don't have to know their history to enjoy the action. Gulak is from the Philadelphia area, which would explain why he was heavily favored by the fans over Nese here. It wasn't quite on the level of the Stomping Grounds Triple Threat, but it was well wrestled and gave Gulak a good, clean win in his first official title defense.

The Undertaker and Roman Reigns def. Shane McMahon and Drew McIntyre in a No Holds Barred Match

This was the best possible match to kick off the show. Undertaker isn't capable of much at this stage of his career, but he held his own and let Reigns and McIntyre do most of the work. Hell, even Shane wasn't half bad here and the stipulation played to their strengths. Although Undertaker pinned Shane, I doubt this is the last we'll see of Shane on WWE TV. I expect Shane to wrestle at SummerSlam against either Reigns or Kevin Owens, who he's also had issues with recently.

Raw Tag Team Champions The Revival def. The Usos

I was pleasantly surprised by how much time these teams ended up receiving, but the crowd didn't care too much about what they were seeing and it's hard to blame them. WWE hasn't been terribly consistent with this feud over the past two months and thus this felt more like a filler match as opposed to a true blow-off. Don't get me wrong, it was very well wrestled, but it's obvious The Usos and The Revival are capable of more together.

Aleister Black def. Cesaro

I've come to accept Cesaro's status a stepping stone and how WWE will likely never give him a chance higher up on the card. If nothing else, at least he can always be counted on for a quality contest like we saw here. He and Black wrestle very similar styles and this was every bit as hard-hitting as I expected it to be. It was competitive yet Black didn't lose anything from being so evenly matched with Cesaro. That Black Mass looked brutal.

SmackDown Women's Champion Bayley def. Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross in a 2-on-1 Handicap Match

This story lost a lot of luster (at least in my opinion) after Stomping Grounds and it doesn't help that Cross has come across like a more of babyface than Bayley in recent weeks. This was pretty much every Handicap match you've ever seen that would have been more interesting if Bayley was a more beloved babyface. I'm happy she retained the title, but it's time for her to move on to fresh challengers from her own brand. It's worth noting that Bliss and Cross didn't tease tension after being defeated, but we'll see if they remain on the same page on Monday's Raw.

Braun Strowman def. Bobby Lashley in a Last Man Standing Match

Last Man Standing matches have a tendency to drag and this definitely did just that at certain points. This didn't capture the same magic that their Falls Count Anywhere match had on Raw two weeks ago, but I appreciated that they took their fight all around the arena and kept the fans engaged from start to finish. Lashley looked credible in defeat, but I really wish he would have come out on top here. It would have been more of a shock finisher, whereas Strowman's victory had a "been there, done that" type feel to it. Where do both guys go from here?

The New Day def. Daniel Bryan & Rowan and Heavy Machinery in a Triple Threat Tag Team Match to Win the SmackDown Tag Team Championship

SmackDown Live's tag team scene has been heating up over the last month or so and I found myself very excited for this Triple Threat. Although it started out slow, they eventually picked up the pace and got the crowd engaged in the action. Personally, I would have liked to have seen Heavy Machinery win the titles because I don't know if they'll get this type of push again, but New Day wasn't a bad choice, either. Now, every member of New Day is a champion, which is pretty damn cool.

AJ Styles def. Ricochet to Win the United States Championship

You really can't expect anything less than an exciting encounter whenever Styles and Ricochet are sharing the ring and that's exactly what this was. I was glad that the interference from The Club was kept to a minimum yet they were able to factor into the finish and aid Styles to victory. People are going to be upset that Ricochet's reign ended at only three weeks, but I think he'll do even better in chase mode. Plus, The Club feel like much more of a threat now that Styles is a champion again.

Kevin Owens def. Dolph Ziggler

As hot of a babyface as Owens has been so far, this match had no business being a part of an already stacked pay-per-view lineup. By this point in the show, I'm positive the crowd would have sat on their hands for it. Thus, they made the right call by keeping it short and sweet and having Owens hit Ziggler with a Stunner for the quick win. He addressed Shane in his post-match promo, so that's how you know Shane's reign of terror isn't over quite yet.

WWE Champion Kofi Kingston def. Samoa Joe

I think the general consensus coming into this contest was that a majority of fans wanted Joe to become WWE Champion but no one actually expected him to. Sure enough, Kingston went over in decisive fashion, meaning there's virtually no chance he gets another shot at the strap at SummerSlam. Bummer. Props to the two of them for having a perfectly solid wrestling match, but it lacked the intensity and suspense WWE Championship matches should have. In fact, I'd argue that's been a recurring theme with Kingston since he became WWE Champion. WWE has booked him super strong and that's wonderful, but because no one else comes close to being on his level at the moment, his title defenses have suffered.

Universal Champion Seth Rollins and Raw Women's Champion Becky Lynch def. Baron Corbin and Lacey Evans in an Extreme Rules Last Chance Winners Take All Mixed Tag Team Match; Brock Lesnar Cashed in His Money in the Bank Contract on Rollins to Win the Universal Championship

There were so many stipulations attached to this main event it's ridiculous, but despite it all, this didn't feel "extreme" in the slightest. Rollins and Lynch were largely on offense and took turns beating up on Corbin and Evans, but there wasn't any man on woman violence (or vice versa) until the end. I'm not saying that it was absolutely necessary, but more of it would have helped establish that there really were no rules. The biggest pop of the match came when Corbin laid out Lynch with the End of Days and then Rollins went berserk on Corbin. That was easily the best part of this entire thing, but it took 20 minutes to get there. Worse yet, Lesnar is Universal Champion again and we're back to where we started. If he holds the title past SummerSlam, we're doomed.

Overall Show

The main event closed out the show on a flat note for me, and although the WWE Championship clash was slightly underwhelming as well, everything else ranged from good to great. The build to these WWE pay-per-views is rarely ever compelling, but when the time comes for the wrestlers to deliver on the big stages, they do. The four title changes made this a newsworthy night, which I wasn't anticipating with SummerSlam one month away. I was thoroughly entertained for a majority of Extreme Rules and am hopeful that the streak of better-than-expected events can continue with SummerSlam. As for Raw and SmackDown, who knows if they'll improve at all this week.