WWE Extreme Rules (June 2017)

Original Airdate: June 4, 2017

From Baltimore, Maryland; Your Hosts are Michael Cole, Corey Graves, and Booker T

Opening WWE Intercontinental Title Match: Dean Ambrose v Miz: The belt can change hands via DQ here. Feeling out process to start, as the announcers have some of the most inane conversation you will ever hear. Dean dominates, so Miz starts trying to sucker him into getting himself disqualified, but the referee gives them a wide berth, and Ambrose clotheslines his challenger over the top. Dean follows out with a tope, then sends Miz into the side of the ring before grabbing a chair, but the referee threatens disqualification. How extreme! The referee's protests allow Miz to hit a DDT on the apron for two, and he slaps on a chinlock, as Maryse paces. Dean slugs free, but Miz counters the rebound clothesline with an inverted facelock backbreaker into a neckbreaker for two. Straddling ropechoke follows, and he keeps on the neck with a cravat. Dean slugs free again, but a headbutt proves to be foolish, and Miz shines his wizard for two. Series of three cross corner dropkicks connect, and a cross corner clothesline follows to setup a flying axehandle, but Ambrose nails him. Dirty Deeds, so Miz counters to the Skull Crushing Finale, but Ambrose blocks, and knocks the challenger over the top. Dean dives after him with a flying elbowsmash, then back in for a series of clotheslines, as he makes his comeback. Fisherman's suplex gets two, but Miz blocks a bulldog - only to have another shining wizard countered with a schoolboy for two. Ambrose follows up with a quick swinging neckbreaker for two, but twists his knee while trying to avoid a charging challenger, and Miz goes to town on the leg in the corner. Dean tries a sunset flip, but Miz counters into a figure four, and Ambrose is in trouble! He manages to get into the ropes to save himself, but the knee is battered, and he can't follow-up. Back to the figure four, but Ambrose manages an inside cradle for two, and he drags himself to the top rope, but the knee is slowing him down, and Miz is able to crotch him up there. Superplex, but Ambrose uses a series of headbutts to block, so Miz hits a jumping kneesmash for two. Maryse is doing a brilliant job of selling the drama at ringside, the way a great manager should. Miz delivers a series of kicks, but Ambrose is able to catch the leg ahead of the final blow, and he sweeps the challenger into his own figure four. Miz has the ropes, but Dean counters the Finale with a victory cradle for two, and this time hits the rebound clothesline. Dirty Deeds brings Maryse onto the apron, and she slaps Miz to try and convince the referee that she's turning on him, but the official doesn't go for it, and doesn't call for the DQ - instead ejecting her from ringside! That was a great bit! Ambrose grabs a distracted Miz with a rollup for two, but Maryse is still at ringside protesting her ejection, so Miz throws Ambrose into the distracted official to try and trigger another DQ. He nearly gets it, but Dean is able to talk his way out of it - only to eat the Finale while distracted at 20:01! Great finish there, and a great ending sequence in general. *** ¼

Mixed Tag Team Match: Rich Swann and Sasha Banks v Noam Dar and Alicia Fox: Poor Sasha is really slumming it with this crew. I almost feel like going back down to NXT to feud with Asuka would have been less of a demotion. Actually, it probably would have been pretty awesome, come to think of it. The ladies start, and Foxy is quick to hide in the ropes and tag after getting a shot in. Swann pounds Dar, and a rana hits, but Noam tags out before Rich can hit a dive off the top. Sasha is quick to lock on the Bank Statement, but Noam helps Fox into the ropes to save. That allows Alicia a big boot for two, and she adds a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker for two. Attack in the corner misses, however, and Swann gets the tag. He hits Noam with a headscissors and a somersault leg cutter for two, but Dar hooks a victory cradle for two. Reversal sequence ends in Swann superkicking him, and the match just totally falls apart as everyone goes at it on the outside. Swann takes Dar in for the Phoenix Splash at 6:17. As I always note when they book these, PG-era mixed matches don't do it for me, since you can't build heat when a tag automatically necessitates a tag on the other side as well. ½*

WWE Raw Women's Title Kendo Stick on a Pole Match: Alexa Bliss v Bayley: Alexa tells her to be her guest and grab the stick, with Bayley stupid enough to actually fall for it, and get pounded. Dummy had it coming. Bliss climbs, but Bayley pulls her down, and hits a bodyslam. She climbs, but Bliss pulls her down, and dumps her to the outside. Bliss climbs, but Bayley follows, and they slug it out on the top rope - the stick getting knocked loose, but both girls falling off the top. Alexa dives for the stick, but Bayley cuts her off, and rams her into the barricade on the outside, then saito suplexes her on the floor. Bayley gets hold of the stick, but Alexa begs off, and leads her through a chase around ringside. Bliss trips, and it looks like Bayley is finally going to exact some revenge, but then takes too long thinking about it, and Alexa spears it out of her hands. Bliss grabs the stick and doesn't hesitate - going to town on poor Bayley with shot after shot. The challenger finally blocks a swing with the Bayley-to-Belly, but Alexa barely sells it. Bayley goes for the stick, but Bliss shoves her into the corner to stop that effort, then DDTs her to retain at 5:09. Wow, Bayley didn't even get a single lick in with the stick, after weeks of attacks from Alexa. This was just a complete and total slaughter. I have no idea why they even bothered letting Bayley kill Charlotte's pay per view winning streak (which itself was built by repeatedly sacrificing Sasha) if this is what they're doing with her. She's deader than disco at this point - I don't know where they can even go from here with the character. DUD

WWE Raw Tag Team Title Cage Match: The Hardy Boyz v Sheamus and Cesaro: Some dudes at ringside that are dressed as Money Inc and Virgil have officially entertained me more than the last two matches combined, so thanks guys! No tags required in this one. The challengers immediately go for the exit, but get cut off. Why do guys always try that? Like, your opponent(s) are three feet away from you, and fresh. What do you think is going to happen? I mean, even someone who has never seen a cage match before would probably find that silly. The Boyz hammer away on them, but Jeff Hardy runs into a scrapbuster across the knee from Sheamus, and then gets tossed into the cage. Matt Hardy takes a trip into the steel as well, and the challengers climb again. Well, at least this time they waited until their opponents were down. The Hardy's stop the effort, and a fight on the top rope ends with both challengers crotched. The Boyz go a'bashin', and leave both challengers against the cage for stereo baseball slides. Poetry in Motion on both challengers, and they climb, but Sheamus powerbombs both Jeff and his own partner off the top - Matt then coming onto poor Cesaro with a flying elbowdrop. This match is not connecting, like, at all. Sheamus tries a Brogue Kick on Jeff, but ends up taking a tornado DDT from Matt instead, and everyone is down. The Boyz are up first, and they climb, but the challengers are hot on their tails. Jeff manages to shake Cesaro off long enough to escape, but now Matt is alone. He hits a Side Effect on both, but fails to escape, and eats a tandem crucifix powerbomb. Cesaro goes for the door, but Jeff slams it into his face, so Sheamus Brogue Kicks it back into his! He tries to go out the door, but Matt is a tenacious little ankle biter, and stops him. Sheamus responds with the White Noise, but Hardy is able to counter with a cutter, and he slams Cesaro off the top to prevent an escape. Why? Sheamus is down. Let Cesaro go, while you run out the door! Matt climbs, but ends up taking a White Noise off the top rope, as Jeff activates his super powers by taking off his t-shirt. He climbs to the top of the cage and dives onto both challengers with a flying corkscrew senton, but he seems to take more damage from it than they do, and Matt has to drag him towards the door as Sheamus and Cesaro climb. Matt gets out, but the challengers hit the floor before he's able to pull Jeff out, and we have new champions at 14:58. Is that all? Because this felt like it went on forever. Sucks for them that I just happened to watch the Blonds/Hombres tag cage match from Slamboree '93 the other day, because it makes this one look all the more boring by comparison. * ¼

WWE Cruiserweight Title Submission Match: Neville v Austin Aries: Neville tries throwing a kick in the corner, but that triggers a series of them from Austin, and the champ has to force it into the ropes to stop the assault. They feel each other out, as I realize for the first time that they even switch to purple WWE logos on the turnbuckle pads for these matches. What a ridiculous waste of time and money. Neville tries to backdrop him over the top, but Aries lands on the apron, and hits a slingshot somersault senton splash. He goes right into the Last Chancery, but Neville blocks, and they spill to the outside - Austin whipping him into the barricade a few times out there, then dropping him into the LED ring apron. Aries dives with a flying elbowsmash, but jams his knee on the landing, and Neville kicks at it on the way back in. Hey, where have I seen this before? Neville with a dragon corkscrew legwhip, and he grounds his challenger in a toehold. Hey, nice to see that they've seemingly done away with those full screen replays that so annoyed me during the last PPV. Austin puts him down with a clothesline, and a three-alarm no-release kneebreaker follows. He hits his own corkscrew legwhip, but Neville blocks a hold, so Austin tries a neckbreaker across the middle rope, but Neville dropkicks the knee to knock him to the floor. Neville follows out and starts working the arm now, and continues to do so in rather dull fashion on the way back in. Neville with a flying dropkick, but Aries catches him on the way down (kinda) and slaps on a figure four. Neville gets the ropes, so Austin gives him that neckbreaker across the middle, then comes off the top with a missile dropkick, but the champ dodges! He immediately pounces with the rings of saturn, but Aries makes the ropes. Austin is spent, however, so Neville tries for the rings again, but this time gets reversed! He escapes and hits a superkick, but a superplex is blocked, when Aries grabs a front-facelock on the top rope! That wears Neville down for a sunset bomb, and Aries hangs on into the Last Chancery! Neville manages to roll out of the ring while still in the hold, and though that doesn't get him out of trouble, it does save him from having to submit, since it doesn't count on the outside. Aries whacks him with the Discus Fivearm out there, then dives with a tope, but wipes out. Why is the referee giving them a count? Neville goes up with the Red Arrow on the way back in, and the rings retain at 17:58. This was alright for the most part, but kind of flat, and overlong. ** ¼

Main Event: #1 Contender's Extreme Rules Fatal Five-Way Match: Roman Reigns v Seth Rollins v Bray Wyatt v Finn Balor v Samoa Joe: First fall wins it. Reigns just kinda hangs out while the other four slug it out, and he hilariously stretches in the ring when they spill to the outside for a brawl. Wyatt takes out Balor and heads in to deal with Reigns, but Roman drops him like a Samoan. That gets Joe's attention, so he tries attacking Reigns from behind, but also gets dropped like a Samoan Joe. They decide to gang up on Roman, but Rollins saves, and hammers Joe. Seth hits a tope on Joe, as Finn comes in with a dropkick on Bray. Balor cleans house and hits a somersault tope suicida on everyone but Reigns - who promptly comes over and tosses Finn into the barricade. Booking Reigns like to act like he's above everyone else is a weird way to try and get a guy over as a top babyface. Roman tries a Drive-By, but ends up getting whipped into the steps by Joe and Bray, and they then take said steps on a tour around ringside - mowing down anyone who crosses their path. They take Balor in as their designated whipping boy until Rollins saves, and he blasts Wyatt with a dropkick, then hits a reverse STO into the buckles on Joe. Tope for Bray, but Wyatt punches him to block the dive, then delivers a DDT on the steps. Inside, Finn slugs at Joe, but gets caught in the Coquina Clutch! He manages to counter to a double-stomp, but Wyatt takes him out with a chair, then lays it across his carcass for Joe to senton splash onto. Joe returns the favor by setting up the chair for Bray to senton onto, and they decide to avalanche Finn in the corner with the weapon, but it backfires. That allows Reigns to pop in with a Drive-By on Wyatt, and he schoolboys Balor for two, then up into a powerbomb. Jumping clothesline for Joe, followed by a big boot. Clothesline for Wyatt - Romanmania running wild! I hate that the commentators refer to stuff as ‘stiff,’ as in a 'stiff clothesline.’ No no. Superman Punch looks to finish Bray, but Joe pulls Reigns out of the ring to save, and Wyatt slams him onto an announce table. Seth returns to the land of the living with a plancha on Wyatt, and a springboard forearm gets two on the way back in. In comes Joe, so Rollins hits them both with a 2^nd rope flying somersault neckbreaker for two on Wyatt. Both bail, so Seth starts throwing topes, with Wyatt making sure Joe takes them both. Well, he is a cult leader, I wouldn't expect less. Inside, Seth hits Wyatt with a falcon arrow for two, but another springboard is countered with the Sister Abigail - only for Joe to break up the count at two! And there goes the alliance! Wyatt looks so much like Big Hoss on Pawn Stars, especially since Corey lost some weight and grew a beard. Like, you wouldn't mistake them for twins, but you'd definitely believe they were cousins. Abigail on Joe, but he counters to the Clutch - getting it on, but Balor saving with a chair. He goes to town, then pays Wyatt back with a chair assisted double-stomp. Baseball slide takes out a recovering Reigns, and both Bray and Joe eat running dropkicks against the barricade! Finn sets Wyatt up on a table, but Joe grabs him with the Clutch before he can put him through it - only for Reigns to rush over and spear them both through the barricade! That allows Rollins to finish Finn's thought by putting Wyatt through the announce table with a flying frogsplash, and everyone is down! This is pretty awesome! Reigns and Rollins get the better of the car crashes, and they drag themselves into the ring to faceoff. Rollins peppers him with punches, and an enzuigiri sets up a powerbomb, but Reigns counters with the Superman for two. Spear, but Seth counters with a schoolboy for two, and a superkick is worth two. Flying frogsplash gets two, so a frustrated Rollins tries the phoenix splash, but misses. That would have been more impressive had we not already seen it several times tonight in earlier matches. That brings Bray in to capitalize on Rollins with Abigail, but Reigns saves. Seth thanks him with a powerbomb into the turnbuckles, but Roman rebounds with a Superman! In comes Balor, but Reigns clocks him with a Superman as well! Spear, but Finn counters with a sling blade, and a corner dropkick sets up a flying double-stomp - only for Joe to pull him off at two, applying the Clutch! And with everyone else down, there is no one to save - Joe winning it at 28:52! That was quite the main event! This was like a big summer blockbuster that delivered big time – long, action packed, and lots of carnage. **** ¼

BUExperience: Two good matches sandwiching a whole lot of nothing does not a good show make, but the main event is definitely worth a look.

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