EXTREME RULES
LIKED: WRESTLING!
DIDN'T LIKE: DUCT TAPE :(
Photo - WWE.com
In fact, I really don't need to do a full review for this. The wrestling was great, Rey/Punk had me hook, line and sinker for the whole thing (thinking that Punk was going to lose), until I finally realized the awesomeness of their feud (well, I always knew how awesome it was, but I finally got it). Rey beat Punk when the only stip was Rey joining the SES. Punk beat Rey when the only stip was Punk shaving his head. Now they need a rubber match with both stipulations in play. Awesome.
Edge/Jericho was fantastic and ended with a vicious beatdown that stays in line with Edge's character, especially following last night's RAW when he attacked Orton. The springboard Codebreaker was badass, as was Jericho hanging on the outside of the cage with his wrists tangled up in the steel supports of the cage.
Triple H/Sheamus was totally surprising and had the crowd the whole way through. Having Sheamus attack Triple H right at the start of the PPV was fantastic, as it led to Triple H selling the shit out of his arm for the entire match.
I could go on and on (Orton/Swagger was awesome with Swagger going over squeaky clean, Tag Gauntlet was fun and the Hart Dynasty are over the fucking moon, Cena/Batista delivered some serious table spots and got more exciting as the match went on), but I think I've made my point. This PPV was all about the wrestling.
The only real sour points for me were the following:
The Divas' match was good, but I just wasn't digging the whole makeup crap. It was weird seeing two totally talented and tough female wrestlers in wrestling gear suddenly bringing campy, sexist shit into their match. It made a ton of sense for the Good Housekeeping match, because that was the story. But this just seemed a little silly. I would've liked it more if it was straight up "loser gets a makeover from their opponent" to rectify what happened to Beth on Smackdown. Woulda made more sense to me, and probably would've got a big pop. Ah well.
And the main event. I really liked most of it. The start was pretty shaky for me, but then they finally caught their stride and everything picked up. But what really felt weird was the finish (which I'm sure everyone else has been talking about).
It's just bizarre that John Cena needed to find a loophole in the rules of the match to beat Batista, by taping him to the ring post. In fact, I'm not even sure it IS a loophole, since the rule states that you win when your opponent "cannot ANSWER the count of ten." The referee could've definitely used discretion and been like... well... he can answer the count, so the match should technically continue.
But overall, even with the questionable finish, I enjoyed the match and the pay-per-view the whole way through.
I apologize for this review being pretty tame. I've been sick today. That's no excuse though. The Miz would reprimand me if he heard me say that.
