Things started off with a quick, solid match on the pre-show, as the Miz defeated Cody Rhodes to retain the Intercontinental Championship. Just quick notes on this match; because it seems as if WWE writers don’t quite know what to do with the Miz. He’s very skilled on the microphone, and has greatly improved in the ring. It would be a shame for them to waste him. I’m not sure how I feel about him as a face, but he could have some solid mid to upper-mid card matches. This is the company’s chance to make the Intercontinental title relevant again.
The next match was for the the United States Title. As I predicted, Dean Ambrose defeated Kofi Kingston. This match was probably the weakest of all of them. It had a number of botched moves. Ambrose clearly wasn’t on page with Kingston. I would imagine we will see a rematch of this very soon.
The Mark Henry and Sheamus strap match was next. I was probably looking forward to this match least of all. That is really because, Sheamus does nothing for me. Pretty much, everyone in the arena knew he would win, which he did. Both men worked well together in the strap-match, as they were tied together by a leather strap.
Alberto Del Rio and Jack Swagger was probably the most surprising match of the night. It turned out to be a solid match. Swagger’s manager, Zeb Colter cut a pretty serious promo before the match. It grabbed a lot of heat from the audience. It was a very solid job by Colter, in garnering a solid negative reaction from the crowd. The only negative with this match was the constant questioning of the wrestlers by the referee. Every time they were put in a hold, he would ask them if they wanted to quit. Overall, though, a very solid wrestling match by the men.
The loudest pop of the night came in the next match, as Randy Orton entered the ring to face the big show in an extreme rules match. This was one of the top matches of the night, if not the number one match. Orton played to the crowd, better than he has in months. I’ve been waiting for The Viper to re-appear, and he finally has. I hope he can keep this momentum up and get back into the title picture. Seeing Big Show up close is a mind-blowing thing. The man is absolutely gigantic. Another thing about Orton, the fact that he went to his head-kick to end the match, could signal a heel-turn. That’s really where Orton is at his best. Let’s hope that it happens.
The main event was the match I had been looking forward to all night. Triple H against Brock Lesnar ended the show. I was very worried that Triple H was going to get the win, which would not have been the smart thing to do. Having Lesnar win in such a violent way, sledgehammer to the head, was the right way to go. This will build him up as more of an unstoppable monster, while Triple H can go back to his office job, running the company. Seeing Lesnar up close is also very impressive. He is a large man, to say the least.
Granted, it may have been different to see in person, but I would give Extreme Rules an 8.5 out of 10.
For more info on Extreme Rules, and for pictures and results, visit WWE.com.
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