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The Horror Show at Extreme Rules was set to deliver some top matches with added stipulations to settle some of the biggest rivalries in WWE this year.
Dolph Ziggler challenged Drew McIntyre for the WWE Championship, while SmackDown’s Sasha Banks had her eyes on the RAW Women’s Champion Asuka’s title.
The New Day defended their WWE SmackDown Tag Team Championships in a Tables Match against the heel team of Cesaro and Shinsuke Nakamura, while Nikki Cross looked to win her first SmackDown Women’s Championship against Bayley.
Seth Rollins and Rey Mysterio were scheduled to compete in an Eye-for-an-Eye match at the event, and the WWE United States Championship was on the line between Apollo Crews and MVP.
The final match of the night saw the Universal Champion Braun Strowman face his former leader Bray Wyatt in a non-title Wyatt Swamp Fight.
Check out some of the most bizarre and extreme matches before diving into this article.
With such a stacked card, there were a few matches that delivered well and make up the 5 things WWE got right at this year’s Extreme Rules.
#5 The Eye for an Eye match
This was arguably the most bizarre match that was booked for the night and had a lot of history and story behind it. Seth Rollins and his Disciples had already taken out Rey Mysterio a few times and Rollins had tried to poke his eye out with the help of the corner of the steel steps earlier. But this match required the WWE Superstars to go after each other’s eye from the opening bell.
Rollins reminded Mysterio that he wouldn’t be in such a position had he listened to The Messiah, and used several weapons to try and take out the eye of the future Hall of Famer.
Mysterio, on the other hand, continued his usual offense tactics and at times it felt like he kept forgetting that the only way to win was to go after Rollins’ eye.
One of my favorite moments from the match was seeing Mysterio delivering the Stomp to Rollins. Mysterio never usually uses his opponent’s moves, and this made it look like things were a bit too personal between the two men.
While some moments from this match gave us goosebumps (for all the wrong reasons), Rollins completed the job by driving Mysterio’s face into the steps and the referee called for the bell as we saw Mysterio’s eye popping-out.
This was the most extreme match from this year's WWE Extreme Rules
The Messiah vomited and headed to the back as the referees helped The Master of the 619 and his eyeball to the locker room.
This was a decent match that did what it had to do and established Rollins as the most unforgiving heel in the entire WWE even though he couldn’t stand the sight of what he’d done. This most likely sets up Dominick’s debut and we will see the young man try to avenge his father in the weeks to come.
#4 Bayley retains her WWE SmackDown Women’s Championship
While Bayley was confident that she’d be able to defend her SmackDown Women’s Championship against Nikki Cross, the initial phase of the match got her on the back foot.
Cross showed why she was the #1 contender for the title by going after the Champion early, and pulling off some great moves early on to keep Bayley down for as long as possible.
The Role Model gained control after sending Cross crashing into the plexiglass outside the ring and then worked on her to ensure that she wouldn’t be able to make a comeback.
However, Cross managed to get back into the contest and applied the crossface to the Champion who fought out of it and delivered a Bayley-to-Belly.
The heels decided to resort to some illegal means at WWE Extreme Rules
Sasha Banks started feeling the frustration of her best friend from ringside and asked her to pull it together. After she saw that her friend would end up losing the SmackDown Women’s Championship, she distracted the referee and slid Bayley her knuckle ring to use on Cross. Bayley then followed up the illegal maneuver with a face plant and pinned Cross to retain her title.
This was a good match that allowed Cross to shine bright, but the heels managed to overcome the babyfaces once again. While Cross is a great choice to become a future Champion, she still needs to work a bit more on her character and mic skills before she can become the face of the SmackDown women’s division. Therefore, it was the right decision to keep the title on Bayley once again.
#3 The new WWE SmackDown Tag Team Champions
Cesaro and Shinsuke Nakamura have been on a golden run in recent weeks, and they finally got their opportunity to become Champions together for the first time.
However, the SmackDown Tag Team Champions The New Day were looking to avenge the beatdown they received from the heels over the past couple of weeks and started red-hot in the match.
A Spear from Big E to Cesaro through the ropes ignited the match and Kofi Kingston took the fight to Nakamura from thereon.
The challengers managed to counter one of Kofi’s big spots and take him out of the match for long enough to take the fight to Big E and wear him down.
Even though Kofi managed to return in the match and drive the heels through the table, Cesaro caught him in a hurricanrana and drove him through a stack of tables to pick up the victory and the SmackDown Tag Team titles.
Cesaro and Nakamura needed to win at WWE Extreme Rules
This was a good match to kick off Extreme Rules after the pre-show and was arguably one of the most fun matches of the night. With The Usos out, The Forgotten Sons forgotten, Heavy Machinery busy with the briefcase, and The Miz and John Morrison already getting the chance, it was a good move to have Cesaro and Nakamura rise to the top and win the titles.
#2 Dolph Ziggler’s lopsided Extreme Rules stipulation
Dolph Ziggler did not reveal what the stipulation of his match against Drew McIntyre for the WWE Championship would be until the last moment. He finally revealed that the match will be fought under Extreme Rules, only for himself, while McIntyre would lose if he used any dirty tactics or was counted out or disqualified.
While the stipulation was different, it helped establish the fact that Ziggler walked into the match knowing that he couldn’t defeat McIntyre all by himself, and needed some assistance to go over The Scottish Psychopath.
McIntyre started strong and showed just how good he is, but a Claymore Kick attempt was countered by a steel chair to the knee by The Showoff to turn the tables.
Ziggler used the Extreme Rules stipulation smartly
Ziggler tried everything from thereon, including keeping McIntyre out of the ring to pick up a count-out victory, but McIntyre refused to let go so easily. He finally delivered the Claymore to pick up a resilient win, one that was required to make his WWE Championship run seem even better.
This was the right way to go for McIntyre after his defense against Bobby Lashley as he has shown that he can defend his title under any situation. He could likely get into a rivalry with Randy Orton with the WWE Championship on the line for SummerSlam.
#1 Bray Wyatt does something no one has dared to do before
After delivering a Firefly Fun House match, Bray Wyatt decided it was time to go one step further and deliver another cinematic match, this time at The Wyatt Swamp at WWE Extreme Rules.
The non-title match saw WWE Universal Champion Braun Strowman pull up to the swamp in his truck and come face-to-face with Wyatt.
Things went all over the place from there on as Strowman was kidnapped and bitten by a snake. He was then tempted by Alexa Bliss in the form of Sister Abigail. Things were not in The Monster Among Men’s favor as Wyatt knew his swamp better than anybody and continued to play mind games with the Universal Champion.
After a few more interesting spots, Strowman kicked Wyatt into the swamp but was pulled down by the maniac into the water and drowned. The Fiend emerged from the dark swamp as Wyatt’s haunting laugh ended the show.
Wyatt tried something different once again at WWE Extreme Rules
While many fans in the WWE Universe will call this match ridiculous, it showed Wyatt’s creativity once again and his dedication to putting everything on the line to give the fans something they’ve never seen before. It’s this creativity that can help WWE head into a new direction, especially during shows without an audience, and make things completely different for them to watch at home.
