Results, Recap, Review of WWE Extreme Rules 2017
Tonight was the annual WWE Extreme Rules pay-per-view and things got taken to the extreme. Every match seemed like a marquee and important on the where the Raw brand is headed. Before I begin with how extreme tonight got here are the results of tonight’s show:
-Preshow: Kalisto defeated Apollo Crews
-The Miz defeated Dean Ambrose to become the new Intercontinental Champion
-Rich Swann and Sasha Banks defeated Noam Dar and Alicia Fox in a Mixed Tag Match
-Alexa Bliss defeated Bayley to retain the Raw Women’s Championship
-Sheamus and Cesaro defeated The Hardy Boys to win the Raw Tag Team Championships in a Steel Cage Match
-Neville defeated Austin Aries in a Submission Match to retain the WWE Cruiserweight Championship
The opening match was the Intercontinental Championship between Dean Ambrose and The Miz in a match where if Dean lost by DQ or Count-out he would lost the title. This brought a ton of great psychology to the match. The match was a really great match which is what an Intercontinental Championship match should be. After all The Miz’s attempts to get Ambrose DQ’d he finally got the win and became Intercontinental Champion for the 7th time. The only person who has held the title more is Chris Jericho. We go from a classic title match to a mixed tag match involving the women’s and cruiserweight division. You know 205 Live is struggling when they have to add women to try and boost the show. Nothing against Alicia Fox and Sasha Banks but they should be involved with the Raw Women’s Title scene and not with the cruiserweights.
They followed up the misuse of two women to a very lackluster Raw Women’s Championship match. That match made Bayley look very week and really made it seem like they have no direction for the Women’s Division on Raw. They need to take a page out of Smackdown’s book and get all the women involved around the title. One thing that Raw does great is the tag team division. Their tag divsion is loaded with talent and tonight showed it The Hardy’s and Sheasaro in a Steel Cage. The Hardy’s are obviously legendary but Sheamus and Cesaro have come together quite well since the ending of their Best of 7 series. I honestly didn’t think the team would last this long but they proven a lot of people wrong. I really hope with The Hardy’s losing the belts that they finally go back to their “Broken” gimmick.
One match I was amp’d up for is the Submission Match between Austin Aries and Neville for the Cruiserweight Championship. It was a great submission match for the Cruiserweight Title but I am severely disappointed that Neville has defeated Aries for a third straight pay per view. Neville has had a great title run but it’s Aries time. The people are behind Aries and he might be the person to get 205 Live the momentum they need. The Main Event was the Fatal Five Way Extreme Rules match where the winner faces Brock Lesnar at Great Balls of Fire. Yes you read it right. Jerry Lee Lewis’ famous hit is now the name of a WWE pay per view. All five men brought some major intensity to the match. I truly believe all 5 men deserve a title shot but only won could win. In the end, Samoa Joe ended up beating 4 of the best that WWE has to offer. I cannot wait to see Samoa Joe versus Brock Lesnar. Joe is not going to be rag-dolled like many other Lesnar opponents. I really enjoyed Extreme Rules and I thought it was great for what Raw has been doing. I was disappointed with the involvement of the women and the cruiserweights but the other matches were awesome. I am going to give Extreme Rules an 8 out of 10. We go from extreme to balls of fire and the road to Great Balls of Fire is going to be hot.
