DVD Review: WWE Money in the Bank 2016 - Seth Rollins v Roman Reigns 6

WWE Money in the Bank 2016 is out now on DVD and Blu-Ray, from WWEDVD, Amazon, Base and all reputable home video outlets, priced £12-£23 on DVD. The release features the full Money in the Bank PPV, with around 3 hours of wrestling content, which unfortunately means there is no space for any special features on the disc. However, there is Seth Rollins challenging Roman Reigns for the World Heavyweight Championship, John Cena battling AJ Styles, a Six Man Ladder Match for the eponymous Money in the Bank contract featuring Chris Jericho, Cesaro, Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, Dean Ambrose and Alberto Del Rio and more, so this disc has to be well worth the money from your bank, right? 

The main event has Roman Reigns putting the World Heavyweight Championship on the line against Seth Rollins in a very good contest. The pair work to the crowd, keeping true to their characters, whilst playing towards the mostly anti-Reigns audience, which makes for a much more satisfying story. The action flows well throughout, with a number of big spots and pacy sequences and reversal, as well as a handful of strong false finishes. The show ends with the most sign-posted swerve, as the Money in the Bank winner heads down to ringside (Ummm...if for some reason you didn't want spoilers, sorry about the front cover of the DVD!) 

John Cena and AJ Styles first ever clash, in the semi-main is arguably the match of the night, as the pair wrestle a clever contest. Styles dominates Cena and always appears to have an answer for The Cenation Leader's signature offence, with this becoming the bouts main narrative thread. The finish leaves things open for a future rematch, and with the duo seemingly never breaking into their top gear here, but doing more than enough to get the Las Vegas crowd whipped into a frenzy, that will be something you should be very excited about come the conclusion of the match. 

Rounding off the upper-card, Chris Jericho, Cesaro, Sami Zayn, Alberto Del Rio, Kevin Owens and Dean Ambrose battle in a Six Man Ladder Match, with the Money in the Bank contract on the line in a fun spot-laden contest. The best spots of the match comes from rivals Zayn and Owens who get to continue their feud with some nasty moments, whilst Cesaro puts in the contest's strongest performance. The final few minutes felt a little anti-climactic, with a construction of ladders never quite living up to the initial excitement, meaning that the finish seemed to be missing something. 

The mid-card is highlighted by a stellar Fatal Four-Way Tag Team match, that sees Enzo & Cass, The Vaudevillains and Gallows & Anderson all going after The New Day's Tag Team Championship. After Enzo & Cass and The New Day cut comedic promos, the match keeps a good pace, with some sterling booking and featuring a variety of exciting sequence and spots, involving all eight men. Baron Corbin taking on Dolph Ziggler has some lovely moments where the two appear to be clicking, but also features some slip ups and an awkward ending. Things aren't help by the audience, who whilst beginning to warm in the final stages, are mostly silent for the first two thirds of the bout, apart from a mild "Boring" chant a few minutes in. 

Natalya and Becky Lynch team against Women's Champion Charlotte and protege Dana Brooke in a decent bout, but it's the post-match shenanigans that are the most interesting part. It takes a while Sheamus and Apollo Crews to get going in their bout, but the match develops into a hard-hitting scrap that features some big spots and a sweet finish. Rusev defending the United States Championship against Titus O'Neil, starts off well with a brawl on the outside, but it quickly becomes clear that O'Neil is out of his depth as he struggles to keep up the pace in what is the worst match on the card. 

Finally...

ATPW Home Video Rating - 6.51/10 

This is a good supercard offering from WWE, with all three of the marquee bouts delivering enjoyable and entertaining outings, whilst the Tag Team Championship match provides the under-card's best action. As far as WWE B-Shows go, this one is probably the most worthy of your DVD shelves, as not only does it contains good quality action, but there's also two World Heavyweight Championship changes and it's also the final supercard before RAW and Smackdown were split in the WWE Draft and numerous new titles began to be added. Although there's no special features, which means we miss The Golden Truth going over Breezango and The Lucha Dragons getting the best of The Dudley Boyz from the Kick-Off show, the disc doesn't really miss them 

Words - James Marston 
Special Thanks to - FreemantleMedia International and Fetch Publicity

TV Review: WWE Monday Night RAW #1208 - Cena, Amore, Cass & The New Day v The Club & Wyatt Family

It was the night before the first Draft in five years and the final Monday Night RAW before Battleground 2016 on 24th July, so WWE had a lot to build and promote. How would they go about it? Would it be an action packed show or would it just be Michael Cole should the words "WWE Draft" over and over? 

In what was arguably the biggest match on the show, The Club (AJ Styles, Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson) & The Wyatt Family (Braun Strowman, Bray Wyatt & Erick Rowan) defeated Big Cass, Enzo Amore, John Cena & Tag Team Champions The New Day (Big E, Kofi Kingston & Xavier Woods) after Styles pinned Amore [Styles Clash] in a thrilling twelve men tag team match. With so many bodies involved, this was always going to be a bout that kept the action coming and the final moments of the bout certainly provided that. Guys were in and out of the ring, hitting big moves, with momentum swinging one way and then the other. When things got down to the nitty gritty, The New Day and The Wyatt Family brawled to the back, keeping both teams on a level playing field heading into Battleground, leaving The Club with their opponents for the PPV. The finish was cleverly booked but poorly executed, as Amore would end up hitting Cena with a horrible clothesline after Styles had ducked out of the way, leading to The Club getting the victory. It felt a tad contrived and was probably the only thing that didn't work throughout the match. 

The meat and potatoes of the match was put together nicely, playing of the strengths of everyone involved and making sure that fresh combinations and stories were being showcased throughout the match. The crowd's reaction to Cass and Strowman ending up in the ring together was brilliant and aided by a number of factors. First Amore's attempt to take down Strowman got the crowd hyped and onside with creative. The tease of scrap was denied when everyone else in the match began brawling, leading to Cass and Strowman being left alone in the ring again and even bigger reaction. It was a simple of piece of booking that presented something, made the fans realise they actually wanted to see it, took it away and then gave it back again. Lovely stuff. Throw in plenty of interaction between the two heel stables, as Kingston and then Cena worked the face in peril role and you've got an extremely enjoyable TV bout. 

Talking of extremely enjoyable, the segment that came before the match may have been even more so than the match itself. Cena's interplay with Enzo & Cass, put over the idea that the trio aren't quite a cohesive unit much better than the finish of the match, whilst Amore was on blistering form with a pun filled that insulted all three of the Club members. Then you had The Club, who have got a different style to pretty much any other act on the roster when delivering promos, funny, but annoyingly arrogant, entertaining but in a way that makes you want to see them get kicked in knees a bit. Then by golly gosh, out came the New Day to tie a Pokemon Go shaped bow on the whole thing. The crowd ate it up as they made sneaky jokes about masturbation and began to list various pocket monsters. Wyatt Family would act as the spoilers to lead to the break. Lots of fun here, it actually looked more fun to be a part of, than it was to watch (and it was really fun to watch!). 

Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose would square off in the show's final segment, with the WWE Championship on the line, just days before they will be joined by Roman Reigns at Battleground. It'd be difficult for these two to have a bad match at this point, having previously gone at it ten times on WWE programming (add a further five from FCW, plus many more on live events) and teamed up before that, they seemingly know each other inside out. That was so very clear throughout this, as they flew through the match, swapping holds and big moves with an ease that only comes with familiarity. A personal favourite sequence was Rollins having a suicide dive attempt blocked by an Ambrose elbow, before getting clotheslined over the top rope on the other side and getting crashed into by Ambrose hitting a dive of his own. Whilst not being their greatest encounter, the regular tropes of today's big PPV matches were there with both kicking out of each others finisher, with a loud and surprisingly split crowd, this was easily in the top five matches on RAW this year.

The first WWE Championship match on RAW since January, Ambrose and Rollins' title clash would end in controversy after a top rope superplex by Rollins and a small package reversal by Ambrose would result in a double pinfall. The finish was probably what stopped me calling this the best match on RAW this year, as it felt all a little bit messy. The double pinfall was clearly not a double pinfall, even without a reply and there was also a weird ref bump thrown in there. The show finished with Rollins holding the belt aloft after "The Man" had been proclaimed the winner by RAW Commissioner Stephanie McMahon. It all felt a bit too contrived in it's set-up, an shoe-horned way of pushing the "brand rivalry" set to begin the following night. It didn't leave me wanting to see the Draft any more or after the title changed twice in a night at the last PPV all that interested in who was actually considered the champion, as I suppose was the aim. Twenty five minutes worth of action deserved a much better finish than this. 

The show began with RAW Commissioner Stephanie McMahon revealing 3 time WWF World Heavyweight Champion Mick Foley (Cactus Jack/Mankind/Dude Love) are the new General Manager of her show, whilst Smackdown Commissioner Shane McMahon announced 3 time WWE (World) Heavyweight Champion Daniel Bryan as his GM. Two interesting picks here, for sure. Foley should take away the sharp edges of the Stephanie McMahon character, giving a good cop, bad cop partnership that has proved to be pretty entertaining in the past. It should also mean that WWE is stearing clear of the overbearing in heel in control of the show, which has grown more than tired over the last ten years. With Bryan the fans were clearly not ready to say goodbye to his character during his retirement speech in March and two lengthy spells on the sideline he never really got the prolonged time in the spotlight that his WrestleMania XXX performance deserved. Whilst he might not be in the ring anymore, there's certainly some space for him to get involved in storylines and interact with the roster. 

Whilst it was head and shoulders above the close to last week's RAW when Shane and Stephanie were given their respective brands by Vince McMahon, it did feel a little bit long for the amount of legitimate content. Shane and Steph throwing insults each others way about having or not having testicles or having shag wrestlers to remain relevant got good reactions out of the crowd and were well timed within the make-up of the promo, but I'll be happy to see the back of them being on the same show every week! Bryan probably could've done a massive shit in the ring and thrown it into the front row and still got the crowd to do a "Yes!" chant at the end of his promo. He's hardly the most charismatic guy in the world, but they hung on his every word here. Truth be told, Foley looked a little bit lost in the mix. I'm not sure what was happening during his promo, but Stephanie kept talking to him off microphone, which was bloody weird to say the least. "The Hardcore Legend" then became "The Hardcore Gooseberry" as he stood about whilst the McMahons and Bryan's got on with the promo. The segment wasn't the best you'll ever see, but it did it's job and leaves us with two interesting partnerships on each shows. 

The opening match saw Sami Zayn and Cesaro defeat Chris Jericho & Kevin Owens, after Zayn got the pin on Jericho [Small package] in a solid TV tag bout. The match played out attractively with the four talented performers slotting together well and telling a fun story with their characters, and barely putting a foot wrong doing so. Zayn and Owens' feud was obviously at the core of the bout, with the pair getting to brawl with each other on numerous occasions, include duking it out in the middle of the ring towards the end of the contest. A clever sequence would set up elements for the finish as Jericho tagged himself in on Owens as Zayn went for the Helluva Kick, then as Y2J celebrated his genius, Zayn tagged in Cesaro for a diving crossbody near fall. The finish would give "The Underdog from The Underground" some huge momentum heading into the Draft on Tuesday and Battleground on Sunday, as he was able to reverse Jericho's sneaky roll-up attempt (Zayn was busy laying into Owens at the time) and turn it into a small package for a big win. A lot of fun to be had here with a reminder of Zayn and Owens match on the PPV without going over the top with a segment the pair clearly don't need at this stage.

Another tag team match would see United States Champion Rusev get Dolph Ziggler to tap [The Accolade] in bout that also involved "The Bulgarian Brute"'s former League of Nations buddy, Sheamus and Zack Ryder, who will challenge for the US title on Sunday. The contest didn't do a whole lot for me. It was basic stuff with Ryder's road to the US title continuing to be a weird one as he played the face in peril role and got battered about by both Rusev and Sheamus for the majority of the match. Everyone seemed to just go through the motions, with guys like Ziggler and Sheamus currently just floating about WWE without a whole lot of purpose, you can hardly blame them. "The Bulgarian Brute" shouting at Sheamus to tag him in after "The Celtic Warrior" and "The Long Island Iced Z" had nailed each other with clotheslines was probably the best thing about the entire match. The whole Rusev v Ryder storyline has been completely bizarre, with Ryder being put across as a bit of loser, whilst Rusev is Machkaing former World Heavyweight Champions with ease! 

Yet another tag team match was on the card this week, although it didn't get a chance to get going as Natalya attacked Becky Lynch three minutes into Lynch teaming with Sasha Banks against Women's Champion Charlotte and Dana Brooke. The action before the attack was nothing more than treading water with not a massive amount going on. Charlotte and Brooke would then pick apart Banks inside the ring, including a sweet Natural Selection from the Women's Champion. I suppose it was a decent way of continuing both women's feuds heading into the PPV without actually having to give the whole division much more than five minutes on the air!  

Darren Young would pick up a huge squash victory over Alberto Del Rio [O'Connor Roll] after Intercontinental Champion The Miz would attempt to get involved. Baron Corbin was handed a swift victory over Sin Cara, before also swatting Kalisto aside when he attempted to make the save for his former Lucha Dragons pal.

Results 

Tag Team Match: Cesaro & Sami Zayn def. "Y2J" Chris Jericho & Kevin Owens in 11 minutes, 56 seconds 

Singles Match: Darren Young (with Bob Backlund) def. Alberto Del Rio in 2 minutes, 23 seconds 

Twelve Man Tag Team Match: The Club - AJ Styles, Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson & The Wyatt Family - Braun Strowman, Bray Wyatt & Erick Rowan def. Big Cass, Enzo Amore, John Cena and Tag Team Champions The New Day - Big E, Kofi Kingston & Xavier Woods in 19 minutes

Singles Match: Baron Corbin def. Sin Cara in 1 minute, 18 seconds 

Tag Team Match: Becky Lynch & Sasha Banks def. Women's Champion Charlotte & Dana Brooke by DQ in 2 minutes, 20 seconds 

Tag Team Match: United States Champion "The Bulgarian Brute" Rusev & "The Celtic Warrior" Sheamus def. Dolph Ziggler & Zack Ryder in 3 minutes, 48 seconds 

WWE Championship Match: Dean Ambrose (C) v Seth Rollins - Double Pin after 24 minutes, 16 seconds

Finally...

ATPW Scale Rating - 5.85/10 

RAW gets it's best ATPW Scale Rating for quite some time this week. This is mainly thanks to the two top matches on the show, with the brilliant segment that came before the Twelve Man Tag also having a major effect on this week's score. Two different matches in major slots on the show, that felt like they had a purpose going forward, whilst also remaining entertaining throughout. The show was held back by an undercard that lacked creativity in it's booking and at points lacked any logic at all (Yes, Zack Ryder's United States Championship storyline, I'm talking about you!)

After weeks of treading water, it was nice to see WWE finally produce something that felt meaningful a week before Battleground, with the top half of the card all being good viewing. Before we get to Battleground though, there's the small matter of the WWE Draft to be dealing with on Smackdown LIVE! 

Article text by James Marston.

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. 

TV Review: WWE Monday Night RAW #1206 - Team USA v Team Multi-National Alliance (James Marston)

It was 4th July, which is a big day before Americans, apparently. However, just because 4th July landed on a Monday, WWE wasn't going to go over the top with the patriotism, were they? Nah, surely not...

MAIN EVENT IS TEAM USA BEAT TEAM MULTI-NATIONAL ALLIANCE IN A SIXTEEN MAN ELIMINATION TAG TEAM MATCH...Oh. Okay then... First things first, whoever came up with the name "Team Multi-National Alliance" should be fired. Although, it does sound like something Vince would come up with, so...! What's wrong with Team Rest of the World or Team International? I guess they couldn't recycle League of Nations after they fucked that gimmick up in about three months. MULTI-NATIONAL ALLIANCE IT IS! Man, then you have everyone coming out their national anthems, instead of their themes, which was very odd, especially when it meant rivals like Alberto Del Rio and the Lucha Dragons or Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn having to come down to the ring with each other. It just felt very out of date with what WWE's current worldwide product is or perhaps, should be. Then let's talk about who were chosen to main event...The Dudley Boyz and Jack Swagger haven't wrestled on RAW for about a month, it's been three months for Big Show, four months for Mark Henry. The only regular guys on Team USA were Zack Ryder (who is without a win on the show since before WrestleMania) and Apollo Crews. Team Foreigner was a real star-studded line up in comparison with Alberto Del Rio, Cesaro, Chris Jericho, The Lucha Dragons, Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn & Sheamus all involved.

Wrestling is built on investment of the fans. If I'm not invested in the outcome of the match, then it doesn't matter what kind of story the performers tell or what they actually do in the ring, I still won't give a fuck. Of course, you could probably see where the twenty plus minutes of action were going to go as the wrestlers made their way to the ring. Team USA would end up at a disadvantage, and then come firing back because they are like the underdogs that we all know America is! MURICA! Weirdly, the match concluded with The Big Show and Zack Ryder having to overcome the almighty power of Sheamus on his own. The rest of the match had it's moments, because you had some good workers in there, but it booked to look like a complete mess at points. Even the Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn feud ended up looking like a sack of shit here, when the pair got into before Owens would hit Zayn with a chair, somehow getting himself disqualified, before Kane would grab the chair and hit Owens and also get disqualified. The commentary team ripped into it, pointing out that Owens had hit a member of his own team, whilst Kane had hit someone who wasn't even in the match. State of your main event, WWE. 

With sixteen guys in the main event, it meant that Dolph Ziggler, a wrestler who hasn't won a major match since the middle of May, was drafted in to face WWE Championship contender, Seth Rollins. The reason given by the commentary team was that Ziggler had requested the match because of the upcoming brand split. With Ziggler's positioning within the company recently, it has to be said that this was incredibly weak semi-main for the flagship show. Ziggler is, of course, a premier in-ring talent, who when motivated has produce some outstanding work inside the ring. In comparison to last week's show where Rollins squared off with John Cena, already a bigger match, plus with the added stipulation of Cena joining 24th July's WWE Championship bout, the bout really didn't stand up in it's position on the card.

Of course, because Rollins and Ziggler are both top tier workers, the match itself was pretty decent watch, with the action being kept pacy and exciting throughout, making the most of the ten minutes or so of time they received. The duo ran through a fairly basic structure, both taking on their roles nicely. The match was clearly booked with a knowledge of how Ziggler had been positioned previously as most of his near falls were from flash style cover, this worked well drawing in those in attendance, with a section of action where "The Show Off" would turn a Pedigree into a pinfall, before hitting a big superkick for another one straight after. However, I straight up hated the finish where Ziggler hit his big jumping DDT on Rollins, who then staggered towards the ropes, blocked a Zig Zag and nailed a Pedigree for the win. No. What's the point of hitting the DDT if it's not going to be sold? I'd expect better of these two. (After the match, Dean Ambrose would get his heat back on Rollins by hitting Dirty Deeds on the Spanish announce table)

The strongest part of the show for me was the continuation of John Cena's feud with AJ Styles and The Club, which got some solid story advancement as well as a match confirmed for 24th July. The first portion of the segment was pretty much more of the same from John Cena, praising AJ Styles as a wrestler, but criticising his choices and actions with The Club, whilst also chatting a bit about it being Independence Day, because Murica. It wasn't a bad promo, but not a memorable one either. Luckily, the best was saved for Styles, Gallows and Anderson, who put in some of their best work on the microphone since joining WWE. They planted the seeds that nobody wanted to help Cena, whilst running through a series of holidays, saying they'd like celebrate by beating up The Leader of the Cenation. It was funny and menacing all at the same time, especially with Cena alone in the ring. 

Obviously, this would lead to the trio heading down to the ring and beating the shit out of Cena. I think most of the audience had worked out that someone was about to come out to make the save for Cena, but I couldn't quite work out who it would be. I considered The Usos the obvious choice, because of their previous feud with The Club, and they've also been tagging with Cena against the group on recent house shows runs. However, I was more than pleasantly surprised when Enzo & Cass' music hit and the duo sped down the ramp to make a well timed save. Whilst the trio of Cena, Enzo & Cass haven't been seen on WWE TV together, there's a mix of real life here with the fiction as it was Cena who initially championed the pair when he took a trip to Full Sail. It would be nice to see that play into the next two week's of storyline, before the trio team against The Club at Battleground.

WWE Champion Dean Ambrose was also in action this week, pinning Intercontinental Champion The Miz, in a decent bout. Similar to my point about Ziggler facing Rollins, Miz wasn't a viable opponent for Ambrose at the moment, as after a month off TV, Miz lost to Kane (who'd been out even longer) by countout last week. Even with WWE pushing the Champion vs. Champion gimmick, it didn't feel at all special, because the title has suffered from being absent for a month, just like it's holder. There was nothing wrong with the match itself, it told a simple story of Miz targeting Ambrose's knee in order to lock in the Figure Four, with Ambrose selling it well. The Lunatic Fringe would get some nice near falls, by reversing a couple of Miz's signature holds into pin attempts before eventually getting the victory with a Dirty Deeds. A clean loss for a champion is never a good thing, why they didn't get Maryse involved in the finish to save cushion "The A-Lister" just a little I'm not sure. 

The opening match of the night saw Titus O'Neil submit to Rusev's Accolade as the Bulgarian retained the United States Championship in a match. Christ on a unicycle, O'Neil came out dressed as Uncle Sam. This is supposed to be a big feud ending match, you've been trying to batter Rusev for the last two weeks because he looked at your kids or something. And you come out in anything other than your wrestling gear. Get to fuck, Titus. Or whoever decided that was a good idea...probably Vince. The match was okay, I guess. O'Neil got a false finish when Rusev kicked out of Clash of the Titus (which JBL called Clash of the Champions). Then it was over in a couple of minutes. I guess that's the end of O'Neil's push, back to Superstars for you. Or maybe he'll get released, you know, because he's shit. Also roid belly. 

Along with saving John Cena, Enzo and Cass got a little run out in the tag division, as they picked up a swift victory over The Social Outcast's Bo Dallas and Curtis Axel. I have to admit to being a bit disappointed that the lads had dropped the Mexican Wave gimmick they did last week, because it would've been pretty cool if it had got over. Pretty much a straight squash match for Enzo and Cass here, with Social Outcasts dressed as some old timey American dudes...I think. The main highlight was learning that Enzo can list off all the presidents of the USA. Also big credit to Heath Slater for coming up with a ridiculous amount of gimmicks on him to sell going through a table in the food fight (more on that in a mo)

For the time they were given, The New Day and The Wyatt Family put a whole lot of work into their promos here. Mixed in with their catch phrases, the Tag Team Champions would throw accusations that Wyatt Family were perhaps into a bit of incest, which was nice. It is a bit weird how Wyatt does keep going on about Sister Abigail. With New Day in the ring, Wyatt Family would deliver their reply on the screen in the form of a pre-taped promo. This was some of the darkest stuff we've seen from the threesome, with Wyatt especially looking like a creepy ass motherfucker. With Kofi Kingston and Big E ready to head down to the barn next week, there was an interesting development where Xavier Woods seemed to be completely terrified of the group and walked out on his partners. This has been a different type of storytelling from WWE, with Woods bringing just enough grounding to keep the bizzareness from going over board.

Another short but effective non-wrestling segment involved Women's Champion Charlotte, Dana Brooke and Sasha Banks with both Charlotte and Banks cutting strong and believable promos. "The Dirtiest Woman in the Game" kicked things of with a story about how "jealousy is the strongest human emotion" and how even though the fans chanted for Banks, "chants don't pay bills, championships do". It was well-written and performed with enough malice to draw in the viewer and make them want to see someone knock Charlotte off her championship perch. With Banks interrupt Charlotte upped the ante, claiming she was the real "Legit Boss", which lead into the #1 Contender firing into a wonderful rant about what being a boss really meant. The crowd lapped it up, with Banks going on to gain the upperhand in a scrap between her, Charlotte and Brooke with "The Genetically Superior Athelete" having to be saved by her "Total Diva" protege. 

Mates, where do you even begin to review a WWE food fight? Yes indeedy, the show began with a good old fashion 4th of July grub chuck, as most of the roster chucked their chow at each other, because that's what Murica wants. It was utterly mental and completely stupid and really really pointless. But, there were a few stars turns, where guys need to be praised for taking a horrible idea and just having a load of fun with it. Cesaro and Apollo Crews just sat their in an arm wrestling stalemate throughout, Sami Zayn ran around saying the beans were contaminated, Chris Jericho ate a plaster, Heath Slater got chokeslammed by Big Show and Kane threw a table and Kevin Owens sat under a table until the very end, only to emerge and have someone throw a pie in his face. Credit to all those guys for making the most of it, here's hoping their willingness to just go with stupid ideas is rewarded down the line. 

Somehow managing to find itself below a food fight in our highlights, we have Becky Lynch's submission victory over Summer Rae, in a truly horrible match. I remember Rae being not half bad back in her NXT days, but she's definitely more than half bad now. Lynch was seemingly having to oversell Rae's offence, because it was so weak, which made the match completely lose any flow or momentum. Then there was the nasty botch where "The Lass Kicker" was seemingly about to turn a Rae suplex attempt into a small package, only something went wrong and Rae dropped Lynch straight on her head. Like true indy darlings, they repeated the spot a few steps later. I was glad when "Maiden Ireland" got the quick tap out victory with the Disarmer, here's hoping her 24th July match with Natalya is a damn sight better than this. 

Elsewhere, The Golden Truth squashed The Vaudevillains (yes) and Vickie Guerrero returned to offer her services as COO of Smackdown.

Finally...

ATPW Scale Rating - 4.08/10 

In my opinion, this week's Monday Night RAW was rescued from being an utter shambles, by three strong non-wrestling segments. John Cena being save from The Club by Enzo and Cass, The Wyatt Family inviting The New Day to come to their yard and Sasha Banks and Charlotte's in-ring showdown. The rest was filler, place-holder stuff until some else coming around. At least last week when playing for time we got Dean Ambrose vs. AJ Styles and Seth Rollins vs. John Cena with implications for the next PPV. This week we got Ambrose vs. The Miz and Rollins vs. Dolph Ziggler. Neither were bad matches, but neither gave the viewer a reason to stay around and neither match ever had any doubt about their outcome. The fact that the main event was an inconsequential elimination tag involving guys who haven't been on the show in months really didn't help matters, and that's without even considering that the show started cold with a food fight and one of the weakest women's match in recent RAW history. 

The sooner the draft comes the better, because it's clear WWE is just wasting time until it happens...without actually weaving the upcoming idea into it's story-telling very well, at all. Just two more episodes guys!

PPV Review: WWE Money in the Bank 2016 (James Marston)

Sup homeslice. Here's ATPW's look at Money in the Bank 2016, fresh for your eyeholes. We've switched back to the MOTD format, because...just because. Let us know what you think about what we think in the comments or social media. Oh look, here's Dean Ambrose. Hi Dean Ambrose. 

So, we had two new WWE World Heavyweight Champions crowned in one night, for the first time since...erm...November last year...okay that's not really that impressive, is it? How about the first time we'd have three WWE World Heavyweight Champions in one PPV since SummerSlam 2013 in August of that year. That's a bit better, isn't it? The first time someone's won a Money in the Bank briefcase and cashed it on the same night against a new champion? Hmmm, that's probably the best we're going to get here. (And more on Dean Ambrose's Money in the Bank Ladder match victory later on in the review) Let's be honest, these kind of occurrences have become pretty common place in WWE since 2005, but that didn't seem to effect the reaction that Dean Ambrose got from the T-Mobile Arena when he headed down to the ring and grabbed WWE's main prize from Seth Rollins' hands after hitting Dirty Deeds for the victory. It was a fairly straight-forward "shock" finish to the show, that I'd guess many had predicted and leaves some interesting option heading out of the show, even more so with the WWE Draft less than a month away.

So I've covered the aftermath, which was always going to be the biggest talking point, but how did Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins do with their main event contest. For me, the former Shield duo, both put in credible performances, that managed to work with the crowd reactions and play up certain aspects of their game in order to do that. Reigns' early period of dominance was a clever piece of booking, as it almost saw the two swap roles and allowing the crowd to be involved in the contest, without trying to fight against them. We had Reigns mouthing off to Rollins, questioning whether he was ready, before throwing over the announce table table, there was a definite shift in presentation here, similar to Reigns' previous matches with AJ Styles. 

There's also perhaps comparisons to be made with Seth Rollins' series of matches with John Cena last summer, where we got to see Rollins employ a much flashier offence, one you'd expect from a babyface. His comeback was highlighted with a suicide dive, which was quickly followed up by a tope conhilo, not some usually associated with your main event "heel". Following Rollins' quick and pacy comeback sequence, the pair settled into a back and forth contest, trading near falls and working some pretty neat transitions. Perhaps the biggest marker of their back and forth section was Reigns nailing Rollins with a Superman Punch directly after being thrown into the turnbuckle with Rollins' signature Buckle Bomb. During this period I felt that both men's facial expressions managed to hold the match together, where at times the running times almost felt a bit flabby. 

With both men getting solid near falls, including a well-timed Pedigree from Rollins as a reversal to Reigns' spear, it was perhaps surprising to see Rollins pick up a clean victory as he hit another Pedigree to win the title. I think this is especially surprising as WWE was planning to have Dean Ambrose come out immediately afterwards to take the title away from Rollins. Did it effect the reaction Ambrose got? Probably not. And with Reigns being protected somewhat by having the match won a few minutes earlier after hitting a Spear with the referee down, this kind of finish does perhaps lend itself more to a continued feud between the three heading into the Summer. I've also got a feeling that WWE will be turn Rollins babyface over the next few months, as this seemed the plan for him prior to his injury last year, so having him win the title cleanly will only help that turn when it happens. 

After years of appearing on everyone's WWE vs. TNA dream cards, John Cena vs. AJ Styles had a lot of hype to live up to. It was always going to be difficult to separate the match from the years and years of build up, but Cena and Styles managed to deliver a very good match indeed. The pair kept things relatively simple inside the ring, but did things well, telling a strong, coherent story throughout the match and flowing from one moment to the next relatively easily. 

From the opening exchanges it was made clear what direction the match was heading, with both the commentary and the performers making this clear as mud. The story, especially early doors hinged on the fact that Cena was having his first televised match since December and hasn't wrestled regularly since October. This played out in the ring as Styles dominated the early proceedings. The part that really caught my eye was Cena's regular comeback sequence being cut of by Styles at various points throughout the match, in different ways. This created a different feel to the match, with Cena constantly gaining momentum, only for Styles to cut him off almost immediately.

Yes, the match had a couple of cool false finishes and the transition into the Calf Crusher was quality, but I can't review this match without talking about talking. As someone with so much experience as Cena has, I shouldn't be able to hear him call anything during the match, let alone every single spot. It's shoddy work that let's down the creativity of any spot that the two did, because most of the time I knew exactly what they were going to do, because Cena had told me! Also interesting to note that Cena lead the match, I'm sure many will have something to say about that. 

The finish was, in my opinion, exactly what the match needed. With Cena inadvertently knocking down the referee, Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson would strike, hitting Magic Killer on the Cenation Leader, giving Styles the victory. For me, this cheap victory was needed to cement Styles as a top heel in the company. A rematch between Cena and Styles is a bigger, more personal match because of the result and also gives the company months of material to play with on Raw and Smackdown. There's more to come from Styles and Cena, but this match laid the foundation for what should be a massive feud this summer. 

Money in the Bank ladder matches are all about the spots, aren't they? Loads of blokes chucking other blokes onto bits of metal. This years match had plenty of cool spots and moments, with all six men putting in fine displays, both delivering out the punishment and being on the receiving end of it. Perhaps, the match lacked a defining moment or any really mind blowing, but the action was kept fairly fast with lots going on. These types of matches are usually very easy on the eye, without asking an audience all that much, this clash was no different. It was good to see everyone looking relatively safe throughout the bout.

The contest felt very split across the two major feuds that were involved in the match, with Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens continuing their story, whilst Chris Jericho looked to gain a measure of revenge on Dean Ambrose. Zayn and Owens' action stood out amongst the pack, with Zayn's Michonoku Driver onto a ladder on it's side and Owens powerbomb onto a ladder spanning the turnbuckle and an upright ladder, being among the matches most notable moments. At times it felt like Cesaro and Alberto Del Rio were there to fill the spots, but both guys made sure they didn't fade into the background, especially in the first two thirds of the contest.

I have to say I thought the finish ended up feeling a little bit flat, not because Dean Ambrose won the match, but down to how the ladder structure that was set up was used. With two ladder joining a turnbuckle to the main ladder, it felt like we were about to see something truly spectacular and whilst the ladder "bridges" were used, there was nothing that could be described as spectacular. The moment where also six men where on the ladder, and the follow up spot with ADR and Cesaro bringing in their own ladder seemed poised to offer up the "Holy Shit" moment the match needed but it never came with the tension slowly petering out. I would talk about Ambrose's potential with the Money in the Bank briefcase, but as we know, he'd already be WWE World Heavyweight Champion by the end of the show, so there's nothing to actually talk about! 

Leading the under card was a busy Fatal Four-Way tag team match, involving Enzo & Cass, The Vaudevillians and Gallows & Anderson challenging for The New Day's WWE Tag Team Championship. These matches have become pretty common place on WWE PPV's over the last few years, but this bout was perhaps the strongest looking line-up for a while, with all three teams having legitimate claims to the title. This was played up nicely by some strong near falls, with all three of the challengers hitting their finish and getting solid reactions from it. Gallows and Anderson's Magic Killer on Aiden English was probably the strongest part of the bout. 

I did feel however that parts of the match weren't as smooth as they could have been, perhaps because certain parts felt very rushed. The teams never quite seemed to find a rhythm to settle into and I think this was fairly obvious by the finish, which felt clunky as Big E and Kofi Kingston went for the Midnight Hour on Karl Anderson, whilst waiting for Big Cass to take out Luke Gallows with a Cactus Big Boot. Kingston would then go on to pin English a couple of minutes after taking the Magic Killer. had this match just been a bit tighter on it's timings, slowing down at points and speeding up at others, it could have been a real triumph for the tag team division, however what we ended up with was a good bout, that should have been better.

Elsewhere, Baron Corbin went over Dolph Ziggler in a solid match, that failed to capture the crowd. The two guys have struggled to get their programme over, despite starting it the night after WrestleMania in April. The duo have had five matches on TV since then and it was clear to everyone that feud had outstayed it's welcome as they contested their sixth match (the first on PPV), as the T-Mobile Arena showered them in either "Boring" chants or complete silence. 

To be fair to Corbin and Ziggler, the pair did work hard for each throughout the match, showing flashes of chemistry with some decent sequences peppered throughout the bout. Had the pair managed to pull out a match like this a few months back and then both moved onto to something else I feel it would have benefited both men, a lot more than the current structure of their feud. Despite this, I thought that the finish was incredibly weak, as the pair fannied around in the corner, which lead to nothing, before Corbin hit End of Days for the victory. Marking Corbin's fourth victory over Ziggler in a row, here's hoping that this feud is finally over.

 
Further down the card, we had a women's tag team match, because, why would you put a Women's Championship match on PPV, stupid idiot? A complete nothing match here, as Charlotte and Dana Brooke went over Becky Lynch and Natalya, in a match that happened. The Women's Champion and Brooke did some decent heel work, using underhanded tactics to keep control of the match, but beyond that I haven't got much to say. If the bout had taken place on Monday Night RAW or even Thursday Night Smackdown, it wouldn't have looked out of place, but it definitely didn't merit a spot on PPV. Natalya's turn on Lynch after the match was the most noteworthy occurrence, which in my opinion could be the best thing for Natalya who looks incredibly awkward and cringe-worthy as a babyface. (Yes, she unfollowed us on Twitter for saying that) 

Apollo Crews' first WWE PPV appearance saw him put a decent bout with Sheamus, en route to picking up the biggest victory of his 6 year career. The crowd was very timid at the start of the contest, but it felt like Crews was beginning to win them over, as he got his first real chance to show what he can do since being promoted from NXT. His moonsault off the apron to the outside looked extremely pretty and felt like the turning point in winning the crowd over. The reaction to Crews kicking out of a Super White Noise was a big one and I think had the pair had another five minutes to really kick on they could have potentially stole the show. A highlight of the undercard that showed potential in a talent who has struggled to connect with the crowd as of yet, there's more to come from Crews and Sheamus, as they both try to find their place on the current programming. 

Down at the bottom of the pile, we have Rusev retaining the WWE United States Championship over Titus O'Neil in a match. There was some storyline here with O'Neil's kids being at ringside and it being Father's Day, but it didn't really do a whole lot for me. I found myself quickly zoning out because I'm neither guy has got me invested over the last few weeks in their storyline and they didn't show much else here either. The Bulgarian Brute joking about with O'Neil's kids after the match and shouting "Happy Father's Day" got a good chuckle out of me though. 

Finally...

ATPW Scale Rating - 6.04/10 

This show was promoted as the "Greatest Money in the Bank PPV of all time" and it wasn't. It was always going to struggle to live up to the billing, considering that Money in the Bank 2011 is considered one of the greatest PPV's off all time. However, I thought the top matches did manage to deliver plenty of entertainment, with Styles vs. Cena, the WWE World Heavyweight Championship bout and the Money in the Bank ladder match all being high quality contests. My personal match of the night would be Styles and Cena, as I thought they created a compelling contest that built nicely throughout, whilst also leaving something extra for a future rematch, that will be a bigger match because of this. 

Elsewhere, I thought the undercard was particularly weak with the Women's tag, Corbin vs. Ziggler and the United States Championship match bringing very little to the PPV. The Tag Championship match and Sheamus vs. Crews showed promise at points, but were held back through booking and a couple of slip ups. 

With this being the last show before the WWE Draft, it felt like a few of the performers were holding back just a little bit, when they should have been going all out to show that they deserved a major spot on either Raw or Smackdown. 
  

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.