Extreme Rules! Finally Raw will have an answer to the No. 1 contender for Brock Lesnar’s title. You know Brock, right? The guy who hasn’t been on the air since the day after WrestleMania.
WWE comes to us live from Baltimore, Maryland tonight.
Samoa Joe at the conclusion of Extreme Rules. Photo by Bill Otten, B&B Productions.
Match 1 — Intercontinental Championship — The Miz vs. Dean Ambrose (c)
So why are there count outs at a PPV called “Extreme Rules”? And the ref not allowing a chair shot? Just saying. It just seems like in a PPV like this anything should be allowed. Enough of me on my soapbox for the night, though.
Dean goes for an elbow drop outside of the ring and gets Miz back into the ring after an eight count. A fisherman’s suplex gets a two-count, but not the win.
A swinging neckbreaker can’t get the win and now Miz goes to work on Dean’s left knee. It’s time for the Figure Four. Dean gets to the rope to cause the break.
Ambrose goes to the top rope but gets caught by Miz, setting him up for the superplex. Dean counters, goes for a powerbomb but realizes that the top padding was knocked off, meaning it would be a disqualification. Last time, I promise, but in Extreme Rules shouldn’t this be allowed?
Miz goes for a few Yes Kicks but Ambrose catches him in his own Figure Four. Miz gets to the ropes to force the break.
Miz almost runs into his wife and tells her to slap him to I guess force a disqualification. The ref doesn’t buy it and throws Maryse out of the match.
That distraction allows Miz to shove Ambrose into the ref. The ref questions Dean if this was intentional. Dean denies it, allowing Miz to hit the Skull Crushing Finale for the win. Miz is now a 7x Intercontinental Champion.
Winner by pinfall … The Miz. (Rating 3/5)
Now the Huggable One. Bayley gets to talk. She says she’s ready for this match and gives a shoutout to Steve Blackman of all people. She says she’s willing to do whatever it takes to get back at Alexa Bliss to get back the Raw Women’s Championship.
Match 2 — Mixed Tag — Alicia Fox and Noam Dar vs. Sasha Banks and Rich Swann
Corey Graves says he’s not sure if Banks and Swann will make a good team. I wonder if this is a premonition for the ending of the match. So we have a Fox, a Swann, a Boss and a Dar. Yeah. One of these is not like the other.
Fox goes for a front kick and misses, she may have tweaked her leg in the process. That brings out the men. Swann goes for a pin but Noam counters to a pinning combination of his own. Swann drops Dar with a kick of his own. While neither are legal, this brings out Sasha and Alicia. Foxx gets knocked out of the ring, Sasha looks outside but Dar prevents Sasha from hitting Fox with an outside drop. That doesn’t matter as the Boss simply hits Dar with a dropping knee. This allows Swann to pick up the scraps and get the pinfall victory.
Winner by pinfall … Sasha Banks and RIch Swann (Rating 2/5)
We are “treated” to the Drifter Elias Sampson and his singing performance. I honestly have nothing to say about his segment other than I want Omar Little and/or anybody else from The Wire to deal with him.
Match 3 — Kendo Stick on a Pole Match for the Raw Women’s Championship — Bayley vs. Alexa Bliss (c)
Finally time for our first hardcore match of the night.
And after watching the promo for this match, I kind of think Alexa is the face in this match as Bayley just seems like sore loser.
Bliss starts out by mocking Bayley and telling her to simply grab the Kendo Stick. The two battle for the Kendo Stick but it gets knocked down and neither has a grip on it. This I guess means it’s still fair game for either to grab. This leads to Bayley getting the stick and Alexa looks scared.
Bayley doesn’t get a shot in as Alexa avoids the shot, grabs the stick and goes to down on Bayley.
Bayley finally hits a Baley-to-Belly. It doesn’t amount to much as Alexa hits a DDT for the pinfall win.
Winner by pinfall and STILL WWE Raw Women’s Champion … Alexa Bliss (Rating 2/5)
Match 4 — Steel Cage match for the WWE Raw Tag Team Championships — Sheamus and Cesaro vs. Matt and Jeff Hardy (c)
So we have a slightly different wrinkle for this match. No pinfalls. No submissions. The winner is simply the team that can exit the cage with both feet touching the ground. Meaning both members of a team have to escape for the win.
The instant the bell rings, Sheamus and Cesaro try to escape cage.That doesn’t bode well. However, the challengers get on the offensive but once they try to escape the Hardys change the pace. Crowd gets it’s DELETE chant in and Jeff hits poetry in motion.
The brothers try to escape on separate sides of the cage but Sheamus and Cesaro catch the champions. Matt and Cesaro start to fight at the top of the cage. Matt hits a rolling senton on Cesaro.
Following a lots of confusion, Jeff Hardy escapes the cage, which means Matt still needs to escape for the Hardys to retain. Matt hits a Side Effect and starts to climb the cage.
Jeff tries to help pull his brother over the cage but Cesaro and Sheamus prevent this. This is going to get nasty. Jeff tries to get back into the cage but a Brogue Kick from Sheamus knocks Jeff out.
Matt hits a Twist of Fate and starts to climb again. Cesaro catches Matt and hits him with a European Uppercut.
The duo of Sheamus and Cesaro hit Matt with White Noise from the top turnbuckle. Jeff returns to the cage and goes for a Whisper in the Wind from the top of the cage, taking out both Sheamus and Cesaro.
Sheamus and Cesaro try to climb the cage while the Hardy brothers go for the easier route of escaping the cage. It’s a photo finish, but Sheamus and Cesaro get out a few moments before the Hardys.
Winners and NEW Raw Tag Team Champions … Sheamus and Cesaro (Rating 3/5)
After seeing the replay, it’s clear the right call was made. the Hardys were about two seconds too late to retain the titles.
Match 5 — Submission match for the WWE Cruiserweight Championship — Austin Aries vs. Neville (c)
A great video package to show that Neville “beat” Austin Aries in two matches, but not really.
Right off the bat Neville targets Aries’ leg. Aries escapes and starts to work on wearing down Neville before the champ escapes to get a breather.
Aries goes to town on Neville including a shinbreaker, slaps to the chest, a dragonscrew and an elbow to the face.
Aries goes outside the ring and Neville catches him with a kick. Neville goes outside and starts to work on the arm of Aries.
Neville goes to the top rope but gets caught by Aries and it put into a Figure Four. Neville rolls through and gets to the ropes to force a break.
Aries gets Neville and goes for a neckbreaker. After hitting it using the ropes for extra damage, Aries goes for a dive from the top turnbuckle, he gets caught in the Rings of Saturn. Aries reaches the ropes but the damage has clearly been done.
Or maybe not as Aries catches Neville in the Rings of Saturn. Neville tries to get DQ’ed by grabbing the official. Aries lets go to tell the official he doesn’t want the match to end this way. That results him him getting hit with a superkick. Neville puts Aries up on the turnbuckle. This allows Aries to counter with a sunset flip into a Last Chancery.
Neville escapes the ring but the Last Chancery is still locked in. Neville taps out but with both men outside of the ring, the tapout doesn’t count. Aries brings Neville back into the ring and goes for a suicide dive. Neville either passes out or avoids the dive but Aries missed the attack. This allows Neville to hit the Red Arrow and then the Rings of Saturn for the submission victory.
Winner by submission … and STILL the Cruiserweight Champion Neville (Rating 4/5)
It’s Main Event time. Who will challenge Brock Lesnar for the Universal Championship at the next WWE Raw PPV?
Extreme Rules Fatal-Five Way — Samoa Joe vs. Finn Balor, Bray Wyatt, Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns
So Finn is not using his Demon paint job and entrance. I guess he won’t be leaving with a chance for the strap.
We get our first face-up of Bray vs. Roman. Roman knocks Bray out of the ring but Samoa Joe get in. That doesn’t go well as Roman knocks Joe out. This brings Finn into the ring. Again, not good for Finn. Now we get Rollins but this is only a tease as Joe and Bray team up against Roman.
This leads to Seth saving his brother temporarily. Joe goes for a suicide dive on Rollins but Seth avoids it. Finn starts going to town on literally everyone as he just stomps away and hits a dive to take out everyone but Roman.
Balor is driven into the barrier by Bray and then Bray and Roman. Before Roman can hit a diving move Samoa Joe grabs Roman out of the air. Bray and Joe start to doubleteam Roman.
The duo grabs the ring steps and starts to use them as a battering ram, knocking down the other three men in order.
The duo now starts to work on Finn Balor and for the time being it looks like if this alliance continues it’s going to come down to Bray and Joe.
Finn tries to fight back but that doesn’t bode well. Joe looks for a cover but decides against it while Bray is still in ring. We all know these two are going to eventually stab each other in the back, the question is simply when that’s going to take place.
Rollins interjects himself in the match. Big mistake as Bray clocks him and then DDTs Rollins on the steel steps.
Joe goes for his submission on Finn but Finn counter it. Bray then remembers there are no disqualification and brings a steel chair into the ring and unloads on everyone but Samoa Joe.
Bray then allows Joe to go to town on Finn and both men hit sentons on Balor.
The chair is now set up on the ringpost and Joe eats it while going for a running move. Now Reigns gets a drive-by but can’t get a pinfall victory. Reigns hits a clothesline on Bray and Joe rejoins the fight. That doesn’t end well as Roman clears the house.
Samoa Joe doesn’t let Roman go for the Superman Punch and drags Reigns out of the ring. This allows Bray to hit a chokeslam on Reigns on the announce table. The table doesn’t break, but the damage has been done.
Rollins then gets some offense in on Bray but Joe cuts him off. It looks like the alliance has come to a conclusion as Bray shoves Joe into his path and then starts to work on Seth Rollins.
However, Rollins hits a Falcon Arrow but can’t get the three-count.
Rollings goes for a diving move but Bray grabs him and hits Sister Abagail. Bray can’t get the fall as Joe breaks it up. And now we have Joe vs. Bray as these hosses start to tear each other apart.
Bray tries to get Sister Abigail but Joe avoids it. This leads to Finn hitting both men with a chair shot and he starts to get extreme on everyone but Rollins.
Finn then grabs Bray and slams his head into the announce table multiple times and lays him on the table. Before Finn can do anything, Joe grabs Finn in a submission but Reigns spears both men through the barrier. Rollins starts to stir, gets to the top of the turnbuckle and nails Bray with a Frog Splash through the table.
Seth and Roman make their way into the ring now and it looks like the two Shield members are going to settle this.
With the blood staring to spill little bit, the ref has pulled out the gloves. A Superman Punch by Reigns doesn’t result in a win but it looks like Roman is ready for a spear. That doesn’t happen as Seth counters it and hits a superkick. He then goes to the top of the turnbuckle and hits another frog splash.
Bray comes back in and eats a spear for his efforts. Rollins misses a knee on Reigns. Seth goes for a bucklebomb but Reigns hits him with a Superman Punch. Finn eats a Superman Punch as well when he gets into the ring.
Roman calls for a spear but get hits with a Sling Blade and a Coup de Gras. This allows Joe to sneak in and get a Coquina Clutch. Balor doesn’t submit, but he is rendered unconscious, giving Joe the win.
Winner by submission … and your NEW No. 1 Contender Samoa Joe (Rating 4/5)
So now we have a match I never thought I would see … Brock Lesnar vs. Samoa Joe in five weeks at … ugh … Great Balls of Fire.
Show rating 3/5