Blu-Ray Review: WWE Extreme Rules 2016 - Jericho v Ambrose - Asylum Match

It's been a while since we've had a WWE Home Video review on the site but they're back, as we take a look at the latest release Extreme Rules 2016, which is being released on DVD and Blu-Ray today in the UK. With Chris Jericho, Cesaro, AJ Styles, Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn all on the main card, how would WWE's "most extreme night of the year" turn out? 

Main Feature

The first ever Asylum Match is the main event, as Chris Jericho and Dean Ambrose continue their feud inside a steel cage with various weapons attached to the top, in a mostly dull encounter. The match feels like it goes on forever, and the crowd begin to lose interest after ten minutes of nothingness. Both performers do take nasty bumps and weapon shots, but in the twenty five minute match, there's about five minutes of worthwhile action. 

Roman Reigns defends his WWE World Heavyweight Championship against AJ Styles in a brilliant Extreme Rules match. There's a great mixture of styles spread throughout the match with the pair brawling around the arena, creating big spots and then a boat load of false finishes that have the Chicago crowd going nuts. There's plenty of interference from the pairs respective factions, adding to the drama of the match and producing some sweet moments of their own.

In what is arguably the best match of the show, Cesaro, Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn challenge for the Intercontinental Championship, in a Fatal Four-Way Match also involving title holder, The Miz. The bout twist and turns, all four men being involved in exciting multi-man spots and plenty of well-timed cut offs and breath-taking near falls. A United States Championship bout between Rusev and Kalisto is less exciting, with the two men never quite connecting in what becomes a fairly disjointed class. Natalya and Charlotte's Submission battle over the Women's Championship features some nice wrestling, but never feels like a grudge match, with the finish being a particular cop out. 

Whilst the crowd is reluctant to go with the match, both The Usos and Karl Anderson & Luke Gallows put on strong performances in an enjoyable Tornado tag bout, that does it's job well. A Tag Team Championship match between The New Day's Big E & Xavier Woods and The Vaudevillains is frustratingly brief, but the two tandems manage to squeeze a lot of satisfying action into their short clash. 

Special Features

A No Disqualifcation match between Baron Corbin and Dolph Ziggler (from Extreme Rules 2016 Kick-Off) is a solid enough match for the Kick-Off show, but nothing worth going out of your way to see. 

Blu-Ray Exclusives

Charlotte and Natalya's Contract Signing featuring Shane McMahon and Stephanie McMahon (from Monday Night RAW), features some great work by the Women's Champion on the mic in front of her home state crowd, but gets a bit lost towards the end, shifting focus onto Stephanie and Ric Flair rather than the match. Cesaro teaming with Sami Zayn against Kevin Owens and Intercontinental Champion The Miz (from Thursday Night Smackdown) features some great build for their Four Way bout, showcasing the relationships between character, whilst also having entertaining action in it's own right. World Heavyweight Champion Roman Reigns' match with Luke Gallows (from Thursday Night Smackdown) is a little pedestrian in the ring, but the action on the outside and after the match, involving The Club and The Bloodline picks things up. Dean Ambrose destroying Chris Jericho's light-up jacket (from Monday Night RAW) is a fun segment, helped by Jericho's reactions and Big Cass putting in a star turn.

Finally...

ATPW Scale Blu-Ray Rating - 5.93/10

The main feature is two match PPV, but what a two matches they are. The Fatal Four-Way and Reigns v Styles will both be contenders for WWE's match of 2016 and are definitely worth a watch. The majority of the show's undercard is also pretty easy going, with a couple of tag team matches being especially fun bouts. The main problem with the card is the length of the Asylum match, which takes up about 15 minutes more than it needed to, or had content for, but that match also includes the most "extreme" moments of the entire show. There's nothing that's particularly blow away good in the special features, but the tag bout is a good watch if you missed it on Thursday Night Smackdown. 

Coming out with an above average rating, that's ever so slightly below being good, this certainly wouldn't be a bad addition to your collection. WWEDVD.co.uk is your cheapest option here at £13.99, but you can also find Extreme Rules 2016 at Amazon, Zavvi, Hive, Base.com and Blackwell.

Special thanks to Fetch Publicity and Freemantle International. 

PPV Review: WWE Extreme Rules 2016 - Jericho vs. Ambrose (Asylum), Reigns vs. Styles (Extreme Rules), Owens vs. Cesaro vs. Zayn vs. Miz

On 22nd May 2016, WWE aired Extreme Rules 2016, sponsored by Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows, live on PPV and the WWE Network, from the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, USA. Chris Jericho and Dean Ambrose looked to put their feud to bed in the first ever Asylum Match, Roman Reigns put his WWE World Heavyweight Championship on the line against AJ Styles in an Extreme Rules match and Kevin Owens, Cesaro and Sami Zayn all had a shot at The Miz's WWE Intercontinental Championship...but was it any good? Let's find out! 

extreme rules 2016 match card

Match 1 – Tornado Tag Team 

The Usos: Jey Uso & Jimmy Uso vs. Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson

Match 2 – Singles for WWE United States Championship

“The Bulgarian Brute” Rusev with “The Ravishing Russian” Lana vs. Kalisto ©

Match 3 – Tag Team for WWE Tag Team Championship

The New Day: Big E & Xavier Woods © with Kofi Kingston vs. The Vaudevillains: Aiden English & Simon Gotch

Match 4 – Fatal Four-Way for WWE Intercontinental Championship

Kevin Owens vs. Cesaro vs. Sami Zayn vs. The Miz © with Maryse

Match 5 – Asylum

Chris Jericho vs. Dean Ambrose

Match 6 – Submission for WWE Women's Champion

Natalya vs. Charlotte © (If Ric Flair comes to ringside, Charlotte will forfeit WWE Women's Championship)

Match 7 – Extreme Rules for WWE World Heavyweight Championship

AJ Styles vs. Roman Reigns ©

Commentary

John “Bradshaw” Layfield, Michael Cole & Byron Saxton

fast-forward... Funky Extreme Rules 2016 hype package, with a focus on there being “No Rules”, whilst looking at a handful of matches on the show's card “Tonight we go extreme”...

gallows and anderson defeat the usos 

The show opened with an enjoyable Tornado tag team bout, that utilised the rules of the bout to create a different feel that suited the feud between the two teams. Before the bell had even been rung I was into the bout as The Usos went straight after Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson, as they attempted to get a modicum of revenge on the team that had cost them their place in the WWE Tag Team Championship Tournament a month or so prior. The contest kept up a strong pace, with lots of dives to outside from Jey and Jimmy, whilst Gallows and Anderson brought their powerful, brawling style. I was particularly into the finish where Gallows looked to introduce the ring bell into the match, before a couple of twists and turns allowed the heels to hit their Magic Killer finish and pick up a fairly comprehensive victory. Personally, I'd have liked the bout to go on a little bit longer, but it's clear that WWE was looking to showcase both Gallows and Anderson here, against a recognisable WWE tag team, and this match definitely managed to work towards that aim. Judging by the crowd reaction to them, it's time to freshen up The Usos, perhaps a heel turn or anything that gives them a bit more character development than being "Roman Reigns' cousins" 

rusev defeats kalisto to become wwe united states champion 

I'm not sure I enjoyed this match all that much. I say I'm not sure, because there were parts of it that I thought were really quite cool, but then there were other parts that really ground on me, for just being a bit shit. Obviously, the contest was a Power vs. Speed type affair, so you had Rusev attempting to dominate Kalisto early doors, getting near falls of an elbow drop and a clothesline, before locking a couple of submissions. Bear hug, yeah I'm having some of that, Rusev is a big lad and can squeeze the shit out of Kalisto. Torture Rack, um, nah mate. Whilst The Bulgarian Brute chatting shit whilst having Kalisto in the rack was pretty funny, it just made it harder to buy Kalisto being able to get out of the hold. Kalisto's sleeper hold then looked like a pile of wank stained rags, thus making Rusev look like a burk for having to sell a poorly applied sleeper hold by a smaller man. 

Where the match did work was when Kalisto had the momentum and was scoring a couple of close pinfalls. Rusev provides a solid base for "The King of Flights" aerial offense and he made sure that each of Kalisto's moves looked as good as it possibly could have. With Michael Cole and JBL proclaiming that this was "Fun to watch", the finish of the bout was the most interesting part of the entire contest. Rusev sent Kalisto crashing off the top rope onto the apron, with the commentary team reminding us of the injured back and pentecostal muscles Kalisto had suffered recently, even if the spot itself didn't look all that devastating. The angle with Rusev refusing to let the doctor look as Kalisto and repeatedly attempting to lock in the Accolade, before eventually ignoring the referee and just locking it on was played well and made the Bulgarian Brute look like an utter cumbasket. However, in kayfabe, shouldn't the referee have disqualified Rusev for not letting the ref check over the injured opponent?   

new day defeat the vaudevillains to remain wwe tag team champions 

Despite being disappointingly short, I found a lot to enjoy in this WWE Tag Team Championship bout. Going just over six minutes, the match quickly became a spot-fest, skipping past a brief face-in-peril run from Xavier Woods. One of the best things about The New Day's babyface turn has to be Big E's hot tag, which is always a brilliant watch and Aiden English and Simon Gotch took those bumps like bosses. The finish was done very smoothly, with a number of moving parts, building towards Woods hitting a Shining Wizard for the win, after Big E had nailed his signature spear to the outside and Kofi Kingston taking advantage of a distracted referee with a well-timed Trouble in Paradise. The main talking point heading out of the match has to be having Woods kicks out of the Whirling Dervish, The Vaudevillains finishing move. It allowed for a great near fall, as I don't remember anyone kicking out of the move to this point, but having someone kick out of a teams finish just a few short months after their debut is a rather a strange decision. Perhaps, WWE has a new finish in mind, or perhaps they just wanted to put over the New Day, and especially Woods super strong? Either way, the kick-out added to the match, but could prove to be a mistake over the next few months.

miz defeats cesaro, owens and zayn to remain wwe intercontinental champion 

This was all shades of good. A big fat, bowl of tasty wrestling flakes, covered in sports-entertainment milk (other breakfasts are available). From the opening-bell, I knew that we were in for a treat with this one, as Sami Zayn nailed Kevin Owens with a Helluva Kick. It was a massive surprise, garnering a big pop from the Newark crowd, but made perfect sense. Zayn and Owens have been feuding for some while, and we've seen Zayn's frustrated at not being able to get his revenge for everything Owens has done to him, so why would he take his opportunity to hit him with his finisher from the very beginning! Lovely stuff. The fact that Cesaro then nailed Miz with a running uppercut in the opposite corner, allowing Zayn and Cesaro to go at it for a bit was the icing on the cake.

Fatal Four-Way's can often become fairly systematic, becoming basically a rotating singles match, and whilst there were plenty of opportunities for one on one action throughout the match (Cesaro and Zayn at the start, of course), the match felt like it was really making the most out of having four talents in the ring at the same time. A personal highlight was Owens putting a stop to attempted Tower of Doom spot by the other three men, which got some decent heel heat out of Newark, before Owens himself ended up at the top of a similar spot on the other side of the ring minutes later! A brilliant spot involving Miz going to hit an Exploder Suplex on Zayn, only for Cesaro to hit the WWE Intercontinental Champion with a German Suplex that sent both men flying, also deserves a mention. 

Where the match really took advantage of it's numbers was in it's near falls and false finishes. With a tonne of moments that had the crowd convinced it was over, it was difficult not to get swept up in the action, with Zayn's performance in particular standing out as he fought to get the victory. A wicked sequence of action involving Zayn hitting a Half and Half Suplex on Owens, Cesaro nailing Zayn with a Pop-Up Uppercut, before Miz hit the Skull-Crushing Finale on Cesaro, only for The Swiss Superman to kick out stands out as particularly thrilling string of action, and also gave Cesaro a cushion for when he'd take the pinfall later in the match. Following lots of pinfalls being broken up, the close of the match was again spot-on with Zayn losing his cool with Owens for stoping his pin on Cesaro and Miz taking advantage of Zayn's previous Helluva Kick to Cesaro to pick up the victory. A perfect end for the four characters involved, that gives Zayn and Owens feud some extra fuel (if it needed any) to drive towards the next PPV (and perhaps beyond), whilst strengthening Miz's reign as a heel champion. Also, note the symmetry of having the match begin and end with a Helluva Kick, very nice stuff. 

fast-forward...The Kick-Off Panel of Renee Young, Booker T, Jerry “The King” Lawler & Corey Graves talked about the show so far, including The Miz retaining the WWE Intercontinental Championship, Rusev winning the WWE United States Championship and more...

ambrose defeats jericho 

The debut of the Asylum match...a Steel Cage with various weapons and objects and stuff dangling above it...this match was going to be the shit, right? Right? RIGHT? Umm, well, no. And maybe also yes. I don't know. This match was confusing. I didn't know if I was enjoying it, I didn't know if anyone in the crowd was enjoying it and I don't check Social Media during PPV's so I had no idea if anyone viewing was enjoying it. It was a near half hour of weirdness, taking in a variety of different styles and trying to mash them into one coherent story. 

Let's start with the things I didn't like about this match. It was way, way, way, too long. Over 25 minutes. There was no need for the match to go this long that I can think of. It felt like for a long time that the match didn't progress, the two pulled down a number of weapons and went through the motions with them, but it didn't feel like there was anything that was driving the match. Take away ten minutes and the match actually becomes much more interesting. The pacing would have become tighter and the story would have progressed at a much more satisfying rate. You also wouldn't have had a bored crowd chanting for Seth Rollins! 

I talked about the match trying to mix in a couple of different style above, and the one that I found the most...interesting...was the matches use of comedy. Obviously, Jericho and Ambrose's feud has had a strong comedic streak over the last couple of months, involving talk shows and potted plants, but trying to work that into the match itself proved to be a little difficult and didn't sit well with a match of this length, in my opinion. From the surely unintentionally hilarious "creepy" music that accompanied the cage lowering from the roof, to Ambrose "looking to mop up Jericho here in this match" as Michael Cole described it, followed up by Jericho shouting "You hit me with a mop", "Y2J" pretending that a Kendo Stick was gun on top of the cage and then shouting "You're gonna get it" at the ref for not counting the pinfall and JBL shouting "For the sake of Fozzy, get out of there" when Ambrose introduced the bag of thumbtacks, I got a fair few chuckles out of the match, but those chuckles felt like they were detracting from the match itself and the hatred that was supposedly between the two men. 

Where the match really kicked into gear for me was Ambrose's elbow drop off the top of the cage on Jericho. Following the first big spot of the match things started to get a little more interesting. It wasn't long before the thumbtacks were out and the duo made the most of the fact that this weapon has been seen rarely in WWE over the last few years, by teasing numerous spots before shifting away to something else. After Jericho had patted Ambrose with a Barbed Wire wrapped 2x4, the spot where the thumbtacks got used was very satisfying indeed. Ambrose blocking the Codebreaker before dumping Jericho onto a big pile of tacks. A Dirty Deeds later and the debut of the Asylum match was over. Will we see the match again? Maybe, maybe not. But if it does come back, I hope that it takes the positives mentioned here and empathises them, and shaves at least ten minutes of the length! 

fast-forward...Upcoming WWE Network shows trailer...

charlotte defeats natalya to remain wwe women's champion 

Charlotte and Natalya put on another solid match here, as they have a number of times this year. The two are clearly very talented performers and managed to string together some quality sequences of action, almost on auto-pilot. I couldn't fault the pairs ability Despite that, I couldn't help but feel like the match was missing that special something that could have pushed it to the next level. Perhaps it was an over-reaching narrative or idea to drive the action, as despite there being a couple of story elements involved in the bout, nothing felt like it went anywhere. Charlotte injured her arm was played up for most of the bout, with the Champion selling her arm shoulder well through most of the match, only to forget about it later on and this stands out as a microcosm for the whole match. Lot's of ideas, with very few going anywhere satisfying. 

The Submission part of the match often felt like it was a bit of an after-thought, with the real stipulation of the bout being Ric Flair being unable to appear at ringside with his daughter. This was made completely obvious when Flair's music would hit with Natalya holding Charlotte in the Sharpshooter. Dana Brooke siding with Charlotte was an interesting twist, that I hadn't seen coming, which I suppose is a positive. Charlotte is a strong enough heel that she can use another cheap victory to her advantage but at the same time it means that her feud with Natalya seemingly comes to a rather unsatisfactory conclusion with no one really gaining anything from the two month outing. Side note - Charlotte forgetting to sell her injured arm at the end of the match bugged me a lot! 

reigns defeats styles to remain wwe world heavyweight champion, rollins returns

A world-class main event here, as Roman Reigns and AJ Styles worked hard for each other and the crowd to produce an exciting clash that sprawled around the arena. The first part of the match, with just Styles and Reigns going after each other was great to watch, with the duo heading out into the crowd and making the most of all the areas available to them, including scrapping out by the Kick-Off panels table (which I'm pretty sure has never been done before). A back-body drop from Reigns that sent Styles flying through an adjacent announce table was breath-taking as "The Phenomenal One" was almost sent into orbit by Reigns before crashing back down. Gaining a little of an extra thumbs up from me was Styles beginning to target Reigns' right leg, with the commentary team jumping straight on this by explaining all of Reigns' offense that this would effect, whilst "The Guy" sold the injury well throughout the rest of the match.

The next part of the bout was when Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson arrived to aid Styles, before The Usos were out to help their cousin Reigns. This would produce some brilliantly worked near falls, taking advantage of the number of bodies involved in a similar fashion to that off the Fatal Four-Way earlier in the bout. After both teams had dragged their man into a pinfall, we got my personal favourite moment of the match which was Styles' Styles Clash onto a steel chair, that managed to produce two false finishes that got huge reactions from the Newark crowd. Firstly, the initial cover was stopped when one of the Usos attempted to pull Styles off Reigns, before "The Phenomenal One" went for another cover after kicking Uso away, only for Reigns to kick out at two! 

The finish, for me, didn't quite live up to the rest of the match as after Styles had gone ape-shit with a Steel chair on The Bloodline, Reigns managed to catch Styles in the middle of the Phenomenal Forearm attempt with a Spear for the win. It looked good and would have been a cool way to finish a regular match, but with all the creativity that had gone before, the finish needed to at least match that with a spot that suited the Extreme Rules match-type. However with the pinfall not being the exclamation point on the PPV, maybe it was decided to keep the finish a little more low-key as a way of making the most of the surprise return at the end of the bout? That surprise return was that of Seth Rollins, who has been out injured since last November. The crowd went nuts for Rollins as he nailed Reigns with a pedigree and brought Extreme Rules 2016 to an exciting close. 

finally...

atpw scale rating - 6.42/10

The highest ATPW Scale Rating for a WWE PPV this year. Which is interesting because the overall card probably isn't as strong as the previous PPV, Payback, with a lot of the undercard matches and even the marquee Asylum Match being average (with perhaps the exception of the opening tag bout). The weirdness of the Asylum match definitely dragged the score down and had that match been shuffled around and the time shared between some of the shorter bouts (The tag title match standing out as the most likely candidate) then this show would almost certainly have got an even better rating. 

However, what this PPV had that Payback didn't, was two outstanding, world class matches. The Fatal Four-Way and the WWE World Heavyweight Championship match were both superb encounters, that whilst sharing some similarities, were different enough that both provided excellent viewing throughout their screen time. Both matches are worth checking out this PPV for alone and therefore, Extreme Rules was the best PPV of 2016 so far. 

Retro Review: WWE Extreme Rules 2014

It's a brand new series about old pay-per-views! Get your retro hats and your old-school slippers on and settle in for Retro Review!


Okay, so our time machine's randomiser is a bit shit and we've only gone back just over a year, but hey ho. Let's take a look at Extreme Rules 2014! She Looks So Perfect from Five Seconds of Summer was topping the UK charts, Eastenders was drawing in the biggest TV audiences and Rio 2 was giving it the big ones at the box office. But was WWE hitting a home run with Extreme Rules?


Daniel Bryan defending the WWE World Heavyweight Championship against Kane in a Extreme Rules match is our main event, whilst Evolution, The Shield, Cesaro, Rob Van Dam, Paige and more featured on the undercard. Let's take a look.

Is there a better way to start a PPV than a Paul Heyman promo? Probably not, but this wasn't one of his best. Heyman attempted to use Brock Lesnar's defeat of The Undertaker at the previous month's WrestleMania XXX to garner heat for his newest charge Cesaro and it just doesn't cut the mustard for me. Cesaro was extremely popular following winning the inaugural Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal and the crowd wanted to get behind him. 

Cesaro's opponents in the opening bout were his former Real Americans partner Jack Swagger (with Zeb Colter) and Rob Van Dam (for reasons) and the three combine to produce a decent triple threat elimination bout. Things aren't perhaps as smooth as one would hope with Van Dam struggling to adapt to the three way environment at times. There's also a weird dynamic, due to Cesaro and Swagger both being heels but having just split up as a tag team. Whilst the commentary team of Michael Cole, John Bradshaw Layfield and Jerry "The King" Lawler have absolutely no clue that the bout is elimination, the match really comes to life once Swagger has been eliminated, as Cesaro and Van Dam put together a fun closing sequence involving a trash can.


Winner - Cesaro via pinfall in 12 minutes, 33 seconds.


Next PPV - Cesaro would go on to challenge for Sheamus' United States Championship, whilst Rob Van Dam would face Bad News Barrett with the Intercontinental strap on the line at Payback. Jack Swagger would appear in the Money in the Bank Ladder match a month later.

The push of Alexander Rusev (with Lana) begins here as he squashes as R-Truth and Xavier Woods in a quick encounter, that could easily have happened on Monday Night RAW. 


Next PPV - The forename-less Rusev would take on Big E at Payback, whilst R-Truth and Xavier Woods both wouldn't get another PPV run out until Battleground in an Intercontinental Championship battle royal.

Then Intercontinental Champion Big E is so not over as a babyface that it hurts his defence against Bad News Barrett a lot, as it plays out to almost silence. The early part of the contest does absolutely nothing to try and get the crowd onside as the pair go through the motions for a dull couple of minutes. The action does pick up in the closing stages, but the decent back and forth before Barrett manages to hit the Bullhammer is too little, too late for me. Taking the title off of Big E at this point was almost certainly the right thing to do, it was clear the big man wasn't ready for a push to this level at the time.


Winner - Bad News Barrett via pinfall in 7 minutes, 51 seconds *NEW CHAMPION*


Next PPV - Both men would feature on the following month's Payback with Barrett defending his newly won championship against Rob Van Dam, whilst Big E would be the next victim of Rusev. 

That old intangible big fight feel is present as Evolution (Triple H, Batista and Randy Orton) are made to wait by The Shield before their six man tag team clash. The action beginning before the bell is a superb way kick things off, hinting at the mayhem still to come, whilst also allowing Roman Reigns, Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins to look good by coming out on top of the pre-match exchange between the six men.

This is the best match on the show, by quite some way, as the six performers all work their arses off to create a lively bout that grows as things go on. The early portion of the clash that saw Evolution dictate the pace, through their heely ways, had the crowd going nuts, especially any time Batista was in the ring. Having a crowd that's fully behind the babyfaces and completely against the heels really does do wonders for a match, doesn't it? This early section cleverly negated the nostalgia feels for Evolution (even if this was their trademark tactics of 2002/03), by keeping a measured pace and building even more support for the upcoming members of The Shield.


The second portion of the contest is almost impossible not to get into, with plenty of high-energy from The Shield, whilst the Evolution members work hard to allow Rollins, Ambrose and especially Reigns to look like stars. Reigns is put over strong throughout and ends up taking a Pedigree and an RKO, both of which work as strong false finishes, as does a Triple Powerbomb from The Shield to Batista. The bout desending into an all out brawl war, plays into the hands of the semi-regulars Triple H and Batista, whilst also producing an awe-inspriing moment as Seth Rollins jumps from a platform onto Triple H, Orton and Ambrose whilst the trio are brawling in the crowd. Batista and Reigns are legal men for a long time, as the action goes on around the arena, which leads to a strong closing sequence between the two, before Reigns wins the bout with a Spear for his team.


Winner - The Sheild via pinfall in 19 minutes, 50 seconds.


Next PPV - The trios would meet once again the next month at Payback to settle the score once and for all.

Whilst John Cena's entrance has remained the same for along time, it  was great to watch the full original Wyatt Family head to the ring once again. Having Erick Rowan and Luke Harper escourt him to the ring gave Wyatt an entirely different aura to what (up until recently) we've been seeing out of him as a singles competitor. It's hard to believe watching them head to the ring that WWE ever decided that splitting the trio up was a good idea.

Out of the Bray Wyatt and John Cena trilogy this Steel Cage bout was by far the worse of the three. The whole point of a Steel Cage match is negated as Rowan and Harper spend the entire bout either attacking Cena through the cage or stopping Cena's attempts at escaping over the top. The fact that The Cenation Leader continues to try to get over the top of the cage for almost twenty minutes, despite Rowan and Harper making it clear that he wouldn't be getting down safely, makes this a frustrating watch for the most part. It's not helped that the bout relies on too many moments where it's difficult to suspend your disbelief, like when Wyatt decided to Crab Walk towards the open cage door, instead of just walking out and winning the match.


The story could potentially work, but Cena in the underdog role with a crowd that's clearly behind Wyatt just doesn't sit right with the visual and audio never matching up. Imagine a film score where all the tender moments had tension music and the tense moments had comedy japes playing underneath. There were ways for the match to take into account the fact that Wyatt was clearly the one the fans were behind, and whilst the commentary team attempt to play this into the storyline, the performers in the ring don't and therefore everything that is done suffers. There's a handful of nice moves, like a Sitout Powerbomb from Cena after bringing Wyatt off the ropes, as well as well done Leg Drop Bulldog to Harper (who Cena pulls into the cage for reasons) and the actual wrestling content of the match is fine. I feel that you'll either have loved or hated the finish, that saw a creepy (but rather blinky) child turn up to deny Cena exit from the cage, but for me it doesn't suit a match that's gone over 20 minutes and does very little for Bray Wyatt (or the rest of the family's) credibility. 


Winner - Bray Wyatt via escape in 21 minutes, 13 seconds.


Next PPV - Cena and Wyatt would end their feud at Payback a month later in a Last Man Standing match.

Michael Cole calling Tamina the son of Jimmy Snuka is a sign of things to come for Paige's first WWE PPV bout. With the Diva's Championship on the line, this is a sloppy encounter that fails to win over a crowd that just couldn't care less about what is going on in the ring. There's a handful of nice spots like Paige's victory roll (Tamina kicks out at one to ruin the moment) and Tamina reversing a head scissors attempt on the outside and sending Paige into the barricade, but that's about as good as it gets here. This wasn't the match that the Norwich lass needed in her first PPV encounter. At least she kept the strap with the P.T.O. I suppose.


Winner - Paige via submission in 6 minutes, 16 seconds *STILL CHAMPION*


Next PPV - Whilst Paige would go on to defend her title against Alicia Fox at Payback, Tamina wouldn't get another PPV match for over a year, when she teamed with Naomi to take on the Bella Twins at Payback 2015.

The main event manages to provide this show with a second match that is worth checking out, as Daniel Bryan has his one and only PPV title defence against Kane in an Extreme Rules match. The pair take advantage of the gimmick well, with a host of weapon shots and turn what could be non-starter into an entertaining B show main event. The backstage brawling element of the collision has a real purpose and drive to it, with Bryan really upping the intensity in a style that he was rarely allowed to explore in his WWE run, as the duo get into all kinds of shenanigans with TV monitors and a car. 


The East Rutherford crowd is clearly in love with Daniel Bryan, but perhaps the fact that they don't really hate Kane hurts this one a little, as their indifference towards the Big Red Monster means they can be a little quiet a times. This is seen after the biggest spot of the bout, Bryan hitting a diving headbutt off a forklift truck (yes, a forklift truck) doesn't result in the finish and they continue to wrestle for another three or four minutes, with the crowd clearly burnt out from the big spot and never quite believing that Kane could have the match won. It's strange not to call the real finish, which see's Kane fall through a flaming table, the biggest spot of the match, but the camera angle makes it perfectly clear that the challenger is nowhere near any of the fire (and he's quickly sprayed with fire extinguishers anyway). Still this is a satisfactory watch throughout and is perhaps underrated amongst most fans.


Winner - Bryan via pinfall in 22 minutes, 26 seconds *STILL CHAMPION*


Next PPV - Due to Daniel Bryan's neck injury he would not compete at another PPV until his appearance in the Royal Rumble match in January 2015. Kane however would recieve another shot at the big one at Money in the Bank alongside seven other wrestlers competing in a ladder match for the vacant gold.

Finally...

ATPW Scale Rating - 5.94/10


Despite looking like a three match show heading in, this PPV boils down to one great match and one good match, with the rest floating around between decent and pretty shit. The Shield and Evolution have the match of the show, whilst Bray Wyatt and John Cena offer up the most disappointing bout on the card, with a poor steel cage match, and the Diva's Championship match also drags down the ATPW Scale by a considerable amount also.


The PPV is watchable on the whole, a 5.94 isn't exactly a terrible rating on this scale, but if you're looking for above average action then there's only two bouts on the card that provide that consistently. However, with an Intercontinental title change, the beginning of Rusev's push, Paige's first PPV bout and a rare glimpse of Paul Heyman managing Cesaro, there is at least some reason to check out portions of the undercard just over a year on from this event.

Next time - NWA Bunkhouse Stampede (1988)

The main event see's Arn Anderson, Dusty Rhodes, Ivan Koloff, Lex Luger, Road Warrior Animal, The Barbarian, The Warlord and Tully Blanchard battle it out in a Steel Cage Bunkhouse Stampede match. Ric Flair, Road Warrior Hawk, Bobby Eaton, Barry Windham, Nikita Koloff and more appear on the undercard.

WWE Extreme Rules 2015 DVD Review

WWE Extreme Rules 2015 is out on DVD and Blu-Ray now, available from www.wwedvd.co.uk. Broadcast live on Pay-per-View (and the WWE Network) from the Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Illinois, USA on 26th April 2015, the show features Seth Rollins defending the WWE World Heavyweight Championship in the main event against Randy Orton inside a Steel Cage, as well as six other matches featuring the likes of Cesaro, Dean Ambrose, Dolph Ziggler, Luke Harper and The Big Show, with stipulations including Chicago Street Fight, Kiss Me Arse and Last Man Standing. The disc includes over ten minutes of special features, including one further match. Michael Cole, Jerry Lawler and John "Bradshaw" Layfield provide the commentary.

Dean Ambrose and Luke Harper's Chicago Street Fight starts the show, with plenty of weapon shots and backstage brawling, but falls apart with a weak gimmick. A Kiss Me Arse match between Dolph Ziggler and Sheamus manages to fight through the odd stipulation to produce a quality bout, with both performers working well in-ring to create a solid story. Whilst the post-match shenanigans seem to get a good reaction out of the Allstate Arena, it's not something that particularly appealed to me from a Home Video aspect. Tyson Kidd & Cesaro (accompanied by Natalya) challenge for the New Day's (this time Big E & Kofi Kingston with Xavier Woods at ringside) WWE Tag Team Championships in a stellar slice of tag team action, with both teams complementing each other and producing some great near falls. 

The entrances for Rusev (with Lana at his side) and John Cena's Russian Chain Match over the United States Championship are a little less elaborate than their WrestleMania encounter, and the "Russian Chain" that  Rusev carries to the ring doesn't look particular impressive either. The bout fails to come anywhere close to the pair's bouts at Mania and Fastlane, becoming a plodding affair, with a disappointing finish. A Diva's Championship bout between Nikki Bella (with sister Brie Bella) and Naomi struggles against a heel vs. heel dynamic and whilst there is some decent stuff in the middle of the bout, there's not much to pique the interest here.

Don't write off The Big Show and Roman Reigns' Last Man Standing clash straight away, the contest is probably the most physical of the night. There's a string of quality spots, that build naturally to an exciting climax, and there's certainly plenty to enjoy here in what for me is the Match of the Night. You know when Kane heads to the ring to become "Guardian of the Gate" (or "Keeper of the Keys" whatever name WWE gave him) for the Steel Cage main event, that things perhaps aren't going to have satisfying conclusion. For their part Randy Orton and Seth Rollins put together a fine encounter over the WWE World Heavyweight Championship, that whilst at times is harmed by a lack of logic, also has a number of moments that play nicely into the match's other stipulation of Orton being unable to use the RKO. For me, however, the match will always struggle to overcome the amount of interference from The Big Red Monster, as well as J&J Security, with the final two or three minutes being way too overbooked for what the two performers really needed.

Finally...

As an overall PPV, this isn't one of WWE's strongest outings in 2015 and I wouldn't argue with you if you wanted to say it was their weakest of the year so far. However, there is still a number of bouts that are worth having in your collection, with the Last Man Standing bout being the strongest showing in my opinion and the Tag Team Championship contest doing the best in our Match of the Month polls (coming second to AJ Styles vs. Kota Ibushi from NJPW Invasion Attack), whilst the Kiss Me Arse match is also surprisingly good. Whilst two out of three main event level matches don't deliver on their potential, the Steel Cage match does still provide just enough to make it enjoyable viewing for it's time spent on screen. 

ATPW Scale Rating - 5.12/10

WWE Extreme Rules 2015 Review

WWE's follow up to WrestleMania featured a Steel Cage match, a Last Man Standing match, a Russian Chain match, a Kiss Me Arse match, a Russian Chain match and Bo Dallas, but was it any good?

Steel Cage Match for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship

Seth Rollins (C) 
vs. 
Randy Orton

Before the main event could get underway, there was a number of backstage segments, focused on building the story of the bout. Kicking off with Triple H talking to the "Gatekeeper" for the match, Kane, and Seth Rollins in his flimsy office. A rather long winded segment that didn't provide any new information, rightly receiving "Boring" chants from the Chicago crowd. The build up continued with another backstage segment between Kane and Randy Orton with Orton relaying the history between the two, in an equally dull conversation. Neither of these segments were particularly needed and nothing new was put out there for the match.

The match focused on Rollins' repeated attempts to escape over the top, Orton not being allowed to hit the RKO and Kane being the gatekeeper. Rollins attempts were always foiled by Orton but this lacked the big spot that was required especially when both were fighting on top of the cage. Orton would attempt to use the other big move in his arsenal, the Punt, but of course because that move is legitimately banned Rollins moved out of the way. Orton did however hit the RKO on Kane latter on, which was fine, apparently, as was Rollins hitting Orton with a cutter variation. Kane proved to want to hurt everyone, but still put Rollins on top for the pin, making his entire involvement in the match as irrelevant as the rest of his last three years in WWE. 

When the two were allowed to wrestle, they put together some nice sequences that used the cage well, Orton catching Rollins dive off the ropes into his signature Scoop powerslam stands out, but these were too few and far between. A lack of convincing finishes, mainly down to the shocking amount of over-booking, hurt this match more than anything else, with only Orton's pedigree and Kane's chokeslam spot really standing out as potential match enders. As main events go this was tepid affair that perhaps wouldn't have looked out of place on an episode of Monday Night Raw, but lacked any real drama to justify it's spot closing a PPV.

By this match, it's clear that the pairs feud clearly isn't over yet. We know that they can put together good match, with their WrestleMania bout standing testament to this, so a rematch with less focus on Kane's involvement and more on the animosity between the two wrestlers would be more than welcomed by this reviewer. WWE seemed reluctant to put it's faith in either Orton or Rollins to carry a PPV main event and therefore decided to through all the gimmicks they could possibly think of at the match, which was in the end it's downfall.

Last Man Standing Match

Roman Reigns
vs.
Big Show

This bout received a little build-up before bell time with Renee Young interviewing Roman Reigns. I believe Reigns took inspiration from Chumbawamba's 1997 hit Tubthumping, when he reminding us that he might get knocked down, but he would indeed get up again. I think I would've actually preferred to see Reigns sing the entirety of this banging tune, (with Renee on backing vocals) as seeing the big man belting it out at the top of his lungs would have been a lot more entertaining than this tired promo. I think I am now most angry that this song only ever got to Number Two in the UK charts.

All joking aside this match proved to be the surprise of the night. Mainly focused around the big spots, these built up nicely, with each spot feeling like a natural progression from the next, as the referee's count got closer and closer to ten. The hints at upcoming spots were placing nicely throughout the match as the environment developed throughout, but this never felt contrived as can often be the case, and allowed the match to flow much better than if the pair simply went from one spot set up to the next. Big Show choke slamming Reigns off the apron through a pair of tables was visually impressive, whilst Reigns' samoan drop through another table made The Juggernaut look pretty damn badass himself.

Storytelling wise the last man standing gimmick offered pretty much all that needed to be there, with the gimmick offering itself as a skeleton around which the match could be fleshed out. However, Reigns attempting to knock Show down with his signature Superman Punches but being unable to was a nice addition, although it would have been more effective if we hadn't seen Big Show get chucked around like a ragdoll by Brock Lesnar a few months prior. Show's booking has been inconsistent at best throughout the last two or three years and I found it difficult to suspend my disbelief at points during the match. 

The objective here had to be continuing the attempt to get Roman Reigns' over as a babyface, that the fans can get behind. Whilst there will always be a section of fans (see: John Cena) that will forever be getting on Reigns' back, it seems that Reigns has turned the corner in most fans eyes, actually being helped by not winning the World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania. He looked impressive in a bout against a now limited Big Show and even with the Last Man Standing gimmick offering itself as a crutch of soughts, seemed more than comfortable in another main event-esque match.

Russian Chain Match for the United States ChampionshipJohn Cena (C) vs. Rusev with Lana

Those stupid fucking lights. I suppose the argument for them is that it creates a good visual, but I struggle to get my head around what purpose they actually have. The concept of momentum is entirely subjective, and without it being fully explained pre-match either by the commentary team or even on the Kick-Off show, it for frustrating viewing for the finish of the match, where Rusev was "touching" the corner, whilst Cena was ramming him into it. I can't be the only who considers that if your getting shoved into a turnbuckle then you haven't got any momentum and if you do that means your opponent doesn't have any either. The finish was so weak, with Cena hitting an AA on Rusev to touch the final ringpost, that it moved what had been an enjoyable feud into dangerous territory. 

The action wasn't anything special here and the gimmick wasn't used to it's full potential. Whilst it should have been a brutal conclussion to the feud, it looked like both men simply wanted to touch the turnbuckles as quickly as possible and leave, rather than two guys who wanted to beat the shit into each other and prove that their country was indeed the best. The chain looked flimsy when used a weapon, and the two looked creatively baron when using it for spots, with Rusev using it as a pully system on the outside about all the two could string together. Whilst there were a handful of good reversal sequences, they seemed plucked from their previous outings and had little to do with the match itself.

A real missed opportunity in this one saw Rusev begin to work Cena's ribs, picked up on well by Michael Cole on commentary, including the aforementioned pully spot which saw Rusev laying into Cena's mid-section with some nice kicks. This seemed like it would become the story of the match, but was seemingly dropped in the later stages, with Cena neglecting to sell the ribs and nothing really coming of this earlier good work. The psychological attempt could have added the story telling element that the match craved, with Cena unable to hit signature moves like the AA and having to put in a superhuman effort to pull Rusev around to make it to the turnbuckles. Alas, it was not to be.

Following the bout there was to be even more antics, as Rusev and Lana argued in what I imagine was Russian, before Lana went to talked to The Authority. It was later revealed in a backstage interview with Byron Saxton that Lana had negotiated for an "I Quit" match between the two for May's Payback PPV. This continued WWE's run of announcing a match for the next PPV on PPV's that are included as part of free months on the WWE Network. Personally, I think this feud was feeling tired after WrestleMania so another four weeks or so, could really drag. A third loss in a row to Cena, especially having to say "I Quit" could really harm Rusev going forward.

Kiss Me Arse Match

Sheamus
vs.
Dolph Ziggler

A decent enough match, that saw Sheamus dominating for the majority of the match, allowing The Celtic Warrior to really show off his new antagonistic persona. Whilst Sheamus was busy working the crowd, Ziggler worked well fighting from underneath, selling Sheamus' offence well and able to garner crowd support with quick bursts of offence. The biggest problem this match had was that it was just too short for the story that was being told. The finishing sequence felt more like a transitional sequence building towards something bigger, and when Ziggler got the pinfall it didn't feel like the satisfying finish that the build up had layed the foundation for. A more decisive finish would have made Sheamus' post match reaction even more deplorable.

That reaction, seeing Sheamus first trying to avoid kissing Ziggler's arse and then hitting a low blow and a Brogue Kick to get Zig's to kiss his pale Irish behind, finally made sense of the gimmick that had been randomly plonked on top of the match. Sheamus looked like a nob for not following through with the stipulation he came up with and recieved a decent amount of heat for his dickish reaction. However, again because Ziggler's win came across as a fluke, him then getting battered even more post-match didn't do much for The Show Off, hopefully with Daniel Bryan (who Sheamus would surely have been feuding with heading into the next PPV) currently out injured, we'll get to see some more of this feud and Ziggler get, at least, a modicum of revenge.

Chicago Street Fight

Luke Harper
vs.
Dean Ambrose

Quite literally a match of two halves and from bell-to-bell one of the longest singles matches in WWE history! This one really comes down to one spot, which saw Harper attempting to drive away from the arena, only for Ambrose to dive through the window of the car as Harper drove them both away. It was a make or break spot, that you were either going to love or hate and personally I hated it. I think the idea on paper sounded quite good, but it was poorly executed and didn't really suit the characters in the match. I found it hard to believe that the two had continued fighting and driving around for fourty minutes in between the two sections of their match and this wasn't helped by neither man looking remotely tired or selling anything upon their return. Perhaps some pre-recorded footage of their antics around Chicago would have improved the situation.

The final portion of the match followed pretty much the same pattern as the first, with a couple more spots to finish things off. Whilst the spots were good, and the finish was strong with Ambrose hurling Harper off the top onto a pile of chairs before hitting Dirty Deeds for the win, it felt like there was no real consequence to anything that was going on. Alongside the gimmick of them disapearing for a drive around Chicago mid-match, this bout was let down by nothing looking quite as good as the spots that were used in the build up. We'd seen Ambrose head through a ladder at WrestleMania and then the announce table on Smackdown, and yet neither of those weapons came to play in this match. Not the show stealing performance many had expected.

Tag Team Match for the Tag Team Championship

Cesaro & Tyson Kidd (C) with Natalya
vs.
Big E & Kofi Kingston with Xavier Woods

For the length of the match, I thought the four guys in this match did incredibly well to create an exciting tag match with a number of athletic sequences and worked in a handful of nice false finishes, including Cesaro making the late save for Kidd after Kingston and Big E hit their Midnight Hour finish and Big E saving Kingston when it seemed like Kidd's Sharpshooter was about to get the win. The finish was built well getting all participants involved before Kingston was able to get a school boy roll up on Kidd with a handful of tights to pick up the cheap victory and win his fourth tag title in WWE. The newly heel New Day have a lot of potential and their reaction post-match and in a backstage interview with Renee Young showed promise for this title run going forward. 

Singles Match for the Divas Championship Match

Naomi
vs.
Nikki Bella (C) with Brie Bella

Apart from the out of the blue babyface turn by the Bella Twins and a couple of slip ups early on, I was actually rather impressed by this Diva's Championship match. Given a decent amount of time, Nikki and Naomi put together some decent sequences, with Naomi slipping out a Rack Attack to hit a Full Nelson Bomb being a particular highlight for me. Naomi seemed to trying a little too hard in her new heel role, but I get the feeling she'll settle into it over the next few months, and hey, she's got shoes that change colour! The finish let this one down, as it just didn't make any sense to have the newly babyface Bellas cheat to win, with Nikki's distraction allowing Brie to clatter Naomi with a kick on the outside. A few troubles throughout, but still a promising effort from the two female performers in the ring.

Bo Dallas & Ryback Segment

FILLER CITY, BITCH! Bo Dallas came out and cut a creative, but cheap promo on the city of Chicago, for reasons. Before Ryback came and battered him with a Meat Hook and Shellshock. The only real reason for this seemed to be to make up a bit of time, although giving Ziggler and Sheamus an extra five minutes would have been a much better option.

Miscellaneous 

The WWE Network was heavily pushed throughout the show, with a number of new shows being promoted for the next week, seemingly because the free month of April is about to come to an end. Tough Enough is back soon, as a couple of audition videos were shown, some good and some bad, although it was painfully obvious that this audition process isn't as open as WWE would have the public believe. The Kick-Off panel got their obligatory segment with Byron Saxton, Booker T and Corey Graves chatting about the Chicago Street Fight and Tag Team title match, as well as highlights from Bad News Barrett and Neville's pre show match. The Marine 4: Moving Target is WWE's latest direct-to-DVD offering, this time featuring The Miz and Summer Rae, which is nice. A promo for Payback on 17th May aired, mainly focused on Roman Reigns. MTN Dew is a beverage that can be drunk, it was good to be reminded of this. Live is Jericho returns to the WWE Network following this week's Smackdown with Jericho being joined by Stephanie McMahon. There is a hero in all of us, apparently, which surely removes the point of being an actual hero.

Finally....

Not a good PPV by any stretch of the imagination, but there was enough that kept me entertained throughout the three hours. Big Show and Roman Reigns put on the pick of the three main event level matches, with Rollins vs. Orton and Rusev vs. Cena both being harmed by a lack of creativity and questionable booking. The mid card was hit and miss with both Sheamus vs. Ziggler and Harper vs. Ambrose having their moments, but Sheamus and Ziggler could've done with a bit more and the Chicago Street Fight being harmed by a gimmick that didn't deliver on what it promised. The tag team and Diva's Championship matches made the most of their undercard placings, with the tag team match in particular shining through as a standout match on the show. Not a great follow up to a strong WrestleMania card, WWE will need to dust itself down and try again come May 17th's Payback.