4 factors that made Extreme Rules one of the best WWE pay-per-views of 2019 so far

WWE Extreme Rules 2019 is in the books and what a show it was! It may not have been as "extreme" as we might have wanted, with only three matches offering anything along those lines, but overall the pay-per-view was a success. Going into the show, fans were split on whether Extreme Rules would be good or not ,and with ten matches and two more on the Kickoff Show, it could have been a cluttered mess.

But WWE proved to us once again that they know how to produce good pay-per-views, as they have shown throughout this year already. Extreme Rules has only served to intensify the optimism for the "Heyman-Bischoff Era", which is supposedly due to begin this week. The company did really well with the heavy card, giving us another enjoyable three to four hours of wrestling.

Here are four factors that made Extreme Rules one of the best WWE main roster pay-per-views of the year.

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#4 A clean slate for Heyman and Bischoff

The regime begins this week.

Ever since WWE hired Paul Heyman and Eric Bischoff to become executive directors of Raw and Smackdown, respectively, fans have been buzzing about possible changes to the product and how WWE will improve. We got a little taste of Paul Heyman's Raw a couple of weeks ago, while Eric Bischoff is set to commence his duties this week. It will be exciting to see what is in store for us.

Everything planned for SummerSlam became subject to change and Extreme Rules did a good job at ending various stories, providing WWE with a clean slate. While some matches for SummerSlam could be forecasted, most of the card remains a mystery. This would allow Heyman and Bischoff free reign to mold their rosters and, hopefully, come up with a bunch of exciting matches for the Biggest Party of the Summer.

#3 The Undertaker redeemed himself

Taker still has a run in him.

When the Undertaker wrestled Goldberg in the main event of Super Showdown, nearly the entire WWE universe called for the Deadman to hang up his boots and spare himself from "further humiliation". However, little did they know that Taker was still good to go. Everything during that match went against him and Goldberg, from the concussion to the crowd, to the heat (literally). When he returned on Raw three weeks ago, it really seemed like he wanted redemption from that unfortunate performance in Jeddah.

He teamed with Roman Reigns to take on Shane McMahon and Drew McIntyre to open the main card of Extreme Rules. The match was a fun one, albeit slightly less extreme than what one would have expected. The Undertaker played his part well enough, doing all of his signature moves pretty much without a hitch. He even received chants of "You still got it" from the Philly crowd . Extreme Rules must be lauded as the show where the Deadman exterminated the bad memories of his match with Goldberg. This was also the Undertaker's first pre-scheduled pay-per-view match in North America since WrestleMania 33.

#2 The chaotic ending

What a moment this was.

When Seth Rollins and Becky Lynch vs Baron Corbin and Lacey Evans was announced for Extreme Rules, fans groaned. Both feuds had gone on too long and became stale, even when clubbed together. However, it turned out to be a semi-enjoyable main event. There were some interesting spots involving chair duels, double chokeslams and double jumping table breaks. But the most memorable part of this mixed tag team main event came at its climax.

Baron Corbin hit Becky Lynch with the End of Days, sending Seth Rollins into a rage. After going berserk on Corbin with a kendo stick and a steel chair, Rollins hit the Lone Wolf with three Stomps to pick up the victory. Immediately after that, Brock Lesnar came out and cashed in his Money in the Bank briefcase. A minute later, we have a new Universal Champion. Say what you will about Lesnar holding the title again, but the last ten minutes of Extreme Rules were pretty exciting and chaotic. That is exactly how our wrestling should be.

#1 Excellent card structure

There wasn't a single bad match.

Extreme Rules had ten matches and every single one of them delivered effectively. Let us quickly run them down.

1. The opener was fun, showcased a rejuvenated Undertaker and saw Shane McMahon receive his much-awaited comeuppance.
2. The Usos vs Revival match was classic tag team wrestling from the two best teams in the world.
3. Aleister Black vs Cesaro was excellent and put both guys over.
4. Bayley was booked pretty strongly against Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross.
5. Braun Strowman and Bobby Lashley had a proper hoss brawl all over the place and the finish was great.
6. The Smackdown tag title match was brilliant and all three teams shone in the spotlight.
7. Ricochet vs AJ Styles was world class, as expected from two of the best in the ring.
8. Kevin Owens squashing Dolph Ziggler put him over huge and he cut another great promo afterwards
9. The WWE Championship match was decent and had a good story, if a little abrupt.
10. The mixed tag main event was eventful and the final stretch was pretty great, as mentioned previously.

So, as you can see, pretty much every moment on the show clicked. That is a very rare happening, considering there were ten matches on the card. It just shows how good the action was, along with the storytelling. A couple of matches towards the end suffered from a fatigued crowd, but there was nothing bad on the entire card. There were a couple of questionable booking decisions, but it was otherwise very strong. Even the 15-second match was booked to perfection. Every other match was decent at worst and excellent at best.

For all the bashing fans give WWE, they knocked it out of the park this time. Hopefully, this leads to a string of consistently good programming on Raw and Smackdown. WWE Extreme Rules 2019 genuinely was the best non-big four/five pay-per-view since probably Evolution from last October. These are exciting times for WWE fans.