WWE Extreme Rules Review - July 19, 2020

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Kickoff Show: Kevin Owens def. Murphy

Even before recently, Owens has been at odds with Seth Rollins and Murphy since late last year, so it was nice to have a Kickoff match that both made sense and was enjoyable. Owens and Murphy are terrific and they had a fun little matchup here. Sure, the outcome was never in doubt, but it hardly mattered. It's a shame Owens has lost momentum since his big WrestleMania win over Rollins, but I understand most of that is a result of him suffering an injury and having to miss TV time with everything going on right now.

Shinsuke Nakamura and Cesaro def. The New Day (Kofi Kingston & Big E) in a Tables Match to Win the SmackDown Tag Team Championship

Tables matches aren't typically my cup of tea, but this was fun and I'm glad it was slotted as the opener. The two teams worked well together, there were some suspenseful close calls, and the finish was awesome. I'm all for a title change since New Day have been played out as SmackDown Tag Team Champions, but I was also left wondering where Nakamura and Cesaro go from here. SmackDown's tag team division is depleted and I honestly have no clue who they defend against next aside from New Day again. The Lucha House Party? No thanks. The Miz and John Morrison? They're currently losers. The Forgotten Sons? They've already been forgotten. That division needs some new blood in the worst way.

SmackDown Women's Champion and WWE Women's Tag Team Champion Bayley def. Nikki Cross

From an in-ring standpoint, this was a pretty good match as I expected from Bayley and Cross. The issue was that Cross hardly stood a chance of winning the title, just because all signs point to Bayley vs. Sasha Banks being for the belt eventually.  Thankfully, Bayley retained the title as she should have and it was with help from Banks. Considering Cross has lost at every turn lately, I'm curious what's next for her and if Alexa Bliss betraying her is imminent.

MVP Declared Himself the New United States Champion

Apollo Crews defending his United States Championship against MVP had been advertised for Extreme Rules for weeks, so even if Crews does/did have COVID-19, I'm not sure why this match would remain advertised. Crews is still selling the attack from Lashley from a few weeks ago and it was explained that he wasn't medically cleared to compete. Thus, MVP declared himself the new champion, which he obviously isn't. I'm not bummed we didn't get Crews vs. MVP on this show, but it was still a case of false advertising and there was no announcement made on what the status of the title is when there really should have been.

Seth Rollins def. Rey Mysterio in an eye for an Eye Match

I absolutely loathed the Eye for an Eye stipulation, but to their credit, Rollins and Mysterio put together a hell of a match. It would have been better with nearfalls instead of teases that someone was going to lose their eye, but that was what WWE wanted. The worst part is that they didn't even deliver on the stipulation because no one actually had their eye "gouged" out. There was no CGI as had been rumored (which may have been for the better) and I guess we're supposed to think Mysterio lost an eye, but we never actually saw it, so who knows. The whole thing was stupendously stupid. Rollins puking afterward was awful, too. What a dumb finish to an otherwise entertaining outing.

Raw Women's Champion Asuka vs. WWE Women's Tag Team Champion Sasha Banks Ended in Controversy

The last match Asuka and Banks had against each other two and a half year ago was outstanding and I figured this would be no different. Sure enough, they stole the show here. This was wonderful with both women having stellar showings. It was on its way to being one of the best women's matches all year on the main roster until the overbooked ending that saw Bayley put on the referee's shirt and pretend to make the three count for Banks, who walked away with the Raw Women's Championship belt. No, it isn't official, but WWE could and should have made it clearer that Banks didn't actually become champion. I understand that the idea was for fans to tune into Monday's Raw to find out what happens next, but it screamed Attitude Era nonsense and that's why I hated it. There were way too many shenanigans for my liking. WWE could have still done the rematch on Raw without having to book this crap. Why wouldn't a second referee have come down after the first one got misted?

WWE Champion Drew McIntyre def. Dolph Ziggler

The stipulation that Ziggler selected was that it was Extreme Rules for Ziggler only, meaning that he would have won the championship if McIntyre got himself counted out or disqualified. It was actually a clever stipulation, though it didn't make Ziggler any more of a threat to the title than he was coming into this contest. That said, this was an excellent match. I've said a lot lately that I didn't care much for this feud because of how it felt like filler, but they delivered when it mattered most and that finish looked fantastic. Needless to say, McIntyre holding onto the gold was the right call and I have to assume Randy Orton is next in line for a shot at the strap at SummerSlam.

Universal Champion Braun Strowman and Bray Wyatt Fought in a Swamp Fight (Non-Title)

I've seen mixed reactions to this on social media and I completely understand why. It's a matter of personal preference I think. WWE has done a ton of cinematic matches since WrestleMania 36, and while this wasn't on the same level as the Firefly Fun House match, I enjoyed it as an overall package. I'm definitely in the minority on that, but oh well. If nothing else, it was more bearable than a standard one-on-one matchup would have been between them. Some aspects of this were ridiculous, but that's probably what they were going for. It was essentially a trip down memory lane for fans of the old Bray Wyatt character, so in that respect, it worked. Even the Alexa Bliss thing I didn't mind because I figured it was supposed to represent a fondness he had for her within him that Wyatt used as bait to lure him in. The final shot with The Fiend emerging from the water was well done and sets the stage for Strowman vs. The Fiend for the Universal Championship at SummerSlam.

Overall Show

I didn't have high hopes for this pay-per-view going in because just by looking at what was on tap, I always assumed it was going to be a filler show and that's exactly what it was with only one championship changing hands and not much else of note happening. There was plenty of top-notch wrestling, but the biggest problem people had with the event (and rightfully so) was the questionable booking. The finishes to Rollins vs. Mysterio and Banks vs. Asuka were terrible. Meanwhile, the Swamp Fight wasn't for everyone, Crews vs. MVP never even happened as advertised, and Cross and Ziggler weren't previously positioned as legitimate threats to the titles they contended for. It was nice that they kept the show under three hours, but this was hardly the type of pay-per-view that it is going to get people buzzing about the product, at least for the right reasons. Fingers crossed SummerSlam is an improvement over whatever this show was supposed to be.