*This PPV is available on the WWE Network*
WWE Extreme Rules 2014
East Rutherford, New Jersey 5/4/14
Pre-Show
1.) WeeLC Match - El Torito (with Los Matadores) vs. Hornswoggle (with 3MB): ***1/4
Hornswoggle recently joined 3MB and has been feuding with El Torito. Both guys are accompanied by their respective groups. For this match, we also have a...."special" announce team: Micro Cole, Jerry "The Mini-King" Smaller, and WeeBL. Yep, this actually happened. Anyway, didn't know what to expect coming into this, but it was A LOT of fun. Seriously, this was just incredibly awesome. Tons of crazy bumps, from everyone, and the crowd was loving it. This really felt CHIKARAesque, in the sense that it was just so much fun. El Torito scores the win.
Main Show/PPV
1.) Triple Threat Elimination Match - Cesaro (with Paul Heyman) vs. Rob Van Dam vs. Jack Swagger (with Zeb Colter): ***1/2
Before Cesaro comes out, Paul Heyman cuts one of his awesome promos. This match came about after the break up of the Real Americans and some shenanigans involving RVD during the Intercontinental Title #1 Contender's Tournament. It's also a Triple Threat Elimination Match, a callback of sorts to the Three Way Dances of ECW. This was a really entertaining opener. Just a ton of fun action throughout. Swagger would end up getting eliminated first, then Cesaro would finally eliminate RVD to win the match.
2.) Handicap Match - Alexander Rusev (with Lana) vs. R-Truth & Xavier Woods: *1/2
Rusev recently made the move up to the main roster from NXT. It was fine for what it was. More of a way to get Rusev (and Lana) over more than anything else. Some might say that R-Truth got a little too much offense in, but I didn't mind it, personally. Rusev wins this one.
3.) WWE Intercontinental Title - Big E vs. Bad News Barrett: ***1/4
Barrett won a #1 Contender's Tournament that took place over a few weeks on RAW to earn this title shot. On paper, some people might not like this match, but I think it actually turned out pretty well. This was a very solid big man match. It had a lot of action, and it didn't overstay its welcome. One of the better spots of the match involved Big E spearing Barrett to the outside! That was pretty cool. Eventually, Barrett was able to put away Big E with the Bull Hammer to score the win & capture the Intercontinental Title.
4.) Six Man Tag Team Match - Evolution vs. The Shield: ****3/4
This came about after The Shield came to Daniel Bryan's defense on RAW the night after WrestleMania, fully cementing The Shield's face turn. This match was just so awesome on so many levels. If anyone doubts The Shield is one of the greatest stables to come around in years, this should put them to rest. They've had two bonafide Match Of The Year Contenders (this one and vs. The Wyatt Family at Elimination Chamber) and they've been stellar ever since their debut. Their match here with Evolution is just awesome. They made The Shield look like a dominate force, with each member getting the chance to shine. The second half of this match was especially awesome, highlighted by Seth Rollins doing a New Jack Style dive off of a balcony! Reigns is eventually able to pin Batista and gets the win for The Shield!!
5.) Steel Cage Match - John Cena vs. Bray Wyatt (with The Wyatt Family): *
Kind of strange that their second match is a Steel Cage Match. You'd think this type of match would be better saved as the eventual blowoff. This was just a mess of a match. It was not good at all. The match was going decently well, but then we got tons of overbooking, which included The Wyatt Family interfering (isn't the whole point of doing a Steel Cage Match meant to prevent interference?), a little kid coming out and singing to Cena in a dubbed Satanic voice, it was just a mess. Plus, Cena didn't lose clean, which, if he did, was something that could have helped Wyatt a ton. Just a train wreck of a match that killed the crowd. Probably one of the worst Steel Cage Matches we've seen in WWE in a long time.
6.) WWE Diva's Title - Paige vs. Tamina Snuka: **1/4
Paige made her main roster debut on RAW the night after WrestleMania, and shocked the world when she defeated AJ Lee to win the Diva's Title. She's making her first defense on PPV against AJ Lee's former bodyguard, Tamina Snuka. This was a decent women's match. Paige has been awesome on NXT. Snuka has the look & size to be a good women's wrestler, but she's still a little sloppy in the ring. Still, it was fine for what it was, though the crowd was pretty quiet for most of it after the crap we just got done watching in that Steel Cage Match.
7.) WWE World Heavyweight Title - Extreme Rules Match - Daniel Bryan vs. Kane: ***3/4
After being Corporate Kane for a few months, Stephanie McMahon turned the monster switch back on and Kane was back to wearing a mask and destroying people. Not the best choice for a first defense for Daniel Bryan, but given the extensive history between the two (their initial feud and their successful partnership as Team Hell No) I didn't totally mind it. They had a really good Extreme Rules Match here. We pretty much saw everything but the kitchen sink in this one. There were kendo sticks, backstage brawling, Bryan using a forklift to drive Kane back to the ring, and even hitting a flying headbutt from the top of the forklift! We eventually got Kane chokeslam Bryan through the announce table. Kane then got a regular table and lit on fire, but Bryan turned things around and put Kane through the table while it was on fire!! He then put Kane back in and hit the running knee for the win. Just a very good Extreme Rules Match. Fun & enjoyable. Actually kind of felt like an Attitude Era-esque Main Event in a lot of ways.
Daniel Bryan celebrates his win, but Kane sits up as Bryan exits. So we might be getting more of this? Ugh....
Overall: 7.75/10
I was really torn with how to rate this show. There was a lot of good stuff on this show. You had a couple of good matches (Triple Threat Elimination Match & Big E/Barrett for the Intercontinental Title), a match on the pre-show that was so entertaining and surpassed everyone's expectations, a very good Main Event in Daniel Bryan vs. Kane, and a MOTYC in The Shield vs. Evolution that everyone needs to go out of there way to see. But that horrid Steel Cage Match between John Cena & Bray Wyatt that just drug the show down a great deal. Without that, this could have been a fantastic show, even with the Rusev squash match. At the end of the day, if you're going to watch this show, just skip the Steel Cage Match. Everything else is pretty good, or at least fine for what its purpose was.
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