Extreme Rules Alkaline grades the Extreme Rules matches

[Stopspot]

Yeah title says it all. I'm gonna grade the matches as I watch them.

Jericho vs Fandango was okay. Nothing that surprised outside of the end but both wrestlers performed as expected. It followed a pretty predictable formula up until the end. Weak 3 out of 5 stars.

Dean Ambrose vs Kofi Kingston was good. Best singles match from Ambrose on the main roster so far. He seemed much more comfortable than he did previously. He still seemed to not know what to do at times when he wasn't on the offensive and I am not a fan of all his faces when selling but he and Kofi did a good job together and had some chemistry. As previously said he was more comfortable than before so that obviously helped bring out the best in him. 3 out of 5 stars.

Mark Henry vs Sheamus in a strap match was not a match I enjoyed. I usually like Sheamus in matches with bigger men but this did nothing for me. Bad psycholgoy and in ring build up leading to an outcome I was not a fan of. Giving 2 stars for Henry.

Swagger vs Del Rio in an I quit match was good. Both guys are really good in the ring and have chemistry with each other so that was hardly a surprise.Evenly matched up match with both guys getting offence in. And with the finish we got I can easily see them keeping Swagger relevant so they can do the ladder match at one point. 3.5/5

Team Hell No vs the Shield in a Tornado tag: Now this is a match. I really enjoyed this match. Two teams who work so well together. Both Roman and Seth and Daniel and Kane knew exactly where they had each other and it showed. They were so much in sync. Three top class competitors and one who is going to be very soon made for an excelent match. Great team work, great individual work and they paced, set up and directed this match well. Another plus being that they made it seem like chaos in the ring without there being any. The only downside was time since I think they could have gone a bit longer. 4 out of 5. Shield has been very impressive this ppv.

Orton vs Big Show in an Extreme Rules match was a good match but a bad Extreme rules one. Not much Extreme about this except for a ladder spot, some chair swinging and a kendo stick. Otherwise it followed a typical match set up. Some nice false finishes and the return of the punt kick sealed the deal. 3 out of five. Nothing other than average and the punt kick doesn't do it enough for me to raise the score. Sorry Randy.

Last man standing for the WWE title was an average match. It started off pretty standard and it seems like Cena and Ryback has some chemistry so that speaks well for future matches between the two.It involved some nice spots with the table and Ryback beating Cena with the wall (Maximum impact, zero pain. You're welcome for the plug pepsi). I didn't understand the spot with the fire extinquisher since Ryback due to how his character has been booked as pain resistant should have been able to just rush through the cloud and pummel Cena. Cena also no sold Ryback way too often (popping up almost directly after the table spot etc which will hurt Ryback going forward I fear). Finish was okay I guess but Cena apparently got off the stretcher during the post show to show the kids that he was okay. So much for a broken fricking neck.

2 out of 5.

The Cage match wasn't that great but it was an okay match. It just felt like the cage brought nothing and we have seen these guys do better before. Lesnar was good at selling the knee throughout but HHH got too many "Look at me, I am Tripl H" spots. 2 out of five.

Just like at mania the undercard is what delivers. The stars of the ppv were the shield without a doubt. Best singles match on the main roster from Ambrose yet and the tag match being really, really good.

Averages out at an average of 3 out of 5 stars from me.

 

[Stopspot]

Quick in between match note. Was that Tamina eating a banana? Not sure if racist type casting due to her being from the pacific islands or slightly erotic :notsure:

 

[Stopspot]

Well, there's what I have to say.

 

[Farooq]

Quick in between match note. Was that Tamina eating a banana? Not sure if racist type casting due to her being from the pacific islands or slightly erotic :notsure:

Why not both? :ksi:

 

[Aaron]

Nice post, I'm yet to watch it...will be watching after work today. I may do something similar.

 

[Snowman1]

Nice review Alk. Serious, informative. short, sexy.
Hope that smiley sticks around. Love it. Cena's even no-selling being an image.

 

[Rysenberg]

I enjoyed Jericho/Fandango to be honest. Fandango, for me, came out of this one looking better than the 'Mania one. He got more offence in, and tbh his win at WM looked like a complete fluke anyway. The match not being dominated by Jericho made it more enjoyable than their 'Mania bout, and the ending was unpredictable and not botched like their last match. Solid opener **1/2

Ambrose/Kofi was a really good undercard match as well. Ambrose was fantastic, playing up to the whole 'unorthodox style' thing they always go on about. I much rather see moves like the chicken wing as rest holds than a headlock for two minutes. Marked hard for the butterfly suplex as well. Kofi was good, as usual, no better and no worse, and for about the 3 millionth time in his career, he's away to get a match rated 3 stars by somebody. ***

Sheamus/Henry sucked. God knows why they had to make it a Texas bullrope match. Why couldn't they have just made it an all out brawl? It could have been fantastic, but the ending and the stipulation completely ruined this match in my eyes. *1/2

The I quit match was ashley pretty good until that god awful finish. What was with this throwing in the towel stuff? And why the hell would the ref call off the match when Ricardo was telling him to do otherwise. And why, as JBL pointed out, would they suddenly start using video replays? WHAT WAS THAT SHIT? *1/2

The Shield vs Hell No would have been match of the night, had they just given it another five minutes? Completely bemuses me why they cut this match so short. Still, great news is it meant we could watch Ryback and Cena lie down longer :yay:

All guys in this match did their job really well, they all complemented each other brilliantly. Both teams were using original double team moves, and there was a lot of believable near falls. The finish genuinely surprised me as I was expecting and sort of hoping Kane and D-Bry would win, but still marked nonetheless. Their rematch needs to be a ladder match.

***1/4

Orton/Big Show - Yeah I totally watched this :urm:

Cena/Ryback was a fucking atrocity. Honestly stunned at the amount of people that enjoyed that, thought it was pitiful. I've already moaned about this elsewhere, but what really was it? Just power moves from Ryback before Cena laid down for a while, and then vice versa. Don't like last man standing matches, and as soon as this stipulation was introduced you knew it was just gonna give Ryback an excuse to take long breaks. Oh and the ending was tacky as well. I'll give it a rather generous *

Brock/HHH didn't really watch so can't give my thought on it, although Brock's selling was awesome. HHH didn't win and the fued is over, so I guess that's a good thing.

By the way that John Cena smiley is hilarious