Opinion: The biggest winners and losers of Extreme Rules 2019

Extreme Rules was, for the most part, a very good answer to All Elite Wrestling's Fight for the Fallen pay per view. The difference in production value was obvious, and most of the matches did what they needed to do, in contrast to most of All Elite's, which dragged on for longer than they should have. In many ways, it was WWE's most consistent show of 2019.

But then WWE did what it does best and dropped the ball with a "swerve" nobody wanted to see. It just handed its competition a talking point ahead of the coming fall television deal.

Unfortunately, this pay per view is going to be remembered for having one of the worst endings of all time. We'll get into that later.

Aside from WWE itself, who got the most and least out of this show?

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Winner: Shinsuke Nakamura

Sucks for Finn Balor. He was a total afterthought during his Intercontinental Championship reign thanks to the noxious "wild card" rule, but Shinsuke Nakamura arguably gained even more than Finn Balor lost.

Invisible for months, even more so than Balor, Shinsuke Nakamura was fast on the road to nowhere in WWE, having been in a 50/50 feud with Rusev over the United States Championship before teaming with him in a jumbled together tag team and then disappearing entirely.

This is a dramatic rise back to relevance of some kind. Perhaps it's his reward for signing a new contract with the company.

Just how relevant Shinsuke Nakamura will be as Intercontinental Champion remains to be seen. Balor's reign took a backseat to "wild card" idiocy and we all remember Nakamura's reign last summer as United States Champion.

Still, compared to anything he was doing, this was a dramatic turnaround in fortune.

Winner: Aleister Black

This was exactly the re-introduction that Aleister Black needed. "Wild card" though it may technically be, Cesaro was a good choice of opponent. This turned into a slugfest as both men traded hard strikes with one another. It looked incredibly stiff.

Striking is what Aleister Black does best though and he hit the Black Mass from nowhere to score the victory, as expected.

The follow-up remains the most crucial thing, but for now, Aleister Black has vaulted himself into a much better position on SmackDown.

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Loser: Nikki Cross

Nikki Cross took the pinfall in this match. Even though Alexa Bliss was battling an illness, we again expected that. Unfortunately, there was no follow up to her taking the loss. This could have been an opportune time to break up her alliance with Bliss after the loss, particularly when she appeared delighted to be wearing an Alexa Bliss shirt.

None of it happened though, and with Bliss out of the title picture for a while, the opportunity might not come again.

As it stands, Nikki Cross is just the latest in a long line of women acting as heavies for Alexa Bliss for no reason.

Winner: Braun Strowman

This was the Braun Strowman we fell in love with two years ago, the Braun Strowman that breaks things and people. Bobby Lashley served as a good dance partner in this car wreck.

To my delight, the usual tropes of last man standing matches were avoided and the company got truly creative here. That's what made the difference. These monsters battled all over the arena and the match ended with a powerslam from an upper deck into an area on a lower one.

Then Braun Strowman broke through the wall like a scene from a horror movie.

It was easily the night's best match and it puts Strowman back on the map, if the company wants him to be there.

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Winners: The New Day

Heavy Machinery were actually the stars of this match, but the New Day prevailed to become six time tag team champions. Bryan taking the pin was surprising here. Could this feud be over or could it develop into a team on team feud for SummerSlam, as I still expect.

Either way, with Kofi Kingston's retention of the WWE Championship later in the night, the New Day rules SmackDown. We'll have to see what "the power of positivity" brings on the road to SummerSlam.

Loser: Ricochet

Unfortunately, Ricochet became the latest in a long line of hot shotted United States Champions last night, when going over AJ Styles to retain the title could have made him a much bigger star. Instead, he fell to 50/50 purgatory.

Granted, he didn't fall cleanly, and with this new faction having formed with Gallows and Anderson, Styles arguably couldn't lose. Styles' allies made themselves felt in the finish, so Ricochet has reason for a rematch at SummerSlam.

Going over there cleanly would still work wonders for him, but that remains to be seen. The reverse last night wasn't fatal, but it does put him in the danger zone.

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Winner: Kevin Owens

Sure, this is a pale, derivative imitation of CM Punk, but it's working, and it explains the presence of the otherwise inexplicable Kevin Owens vs. Dolph Ziggler match on the card. Owens won easily and ripped into Shane McMahon again.

There is a danger here. We saw this feud start two years ago and go way longer than it should have. Granted, the roles are now reversed, but we don't really need to see it again.

We'll just have to see how it goes, but this new act is getting Owens over as a babyface.

Loser: Monday Night Raw

Same old crap, week in, week out, year in, year out.

Put blankly, Brock Lesnar winning the Universal Championship does nothing for anyone. He is just a drag on the company. Whatever good the "Lesnar rub" could have given anyone was exhausted long ago. WrestleMania 34 was probably the last chance. No one is better off for Lesnar being champion.

And now we're back in the same holding pattern we were before. The show doesn't progress and the same content gets played on loop, over and over again.

If Vince McMahon wanted to advertise All Elite Wrestling's coming fall television show, he couldn't have picked a better option than having Brock Lesnar win the Money in the Bank briefcase and the Universal Championship again.

He even passed on the slightly more creative option of having Brock Lesnar on SmackDown feuding with Kofi Kingston.

It's just the same old stuff, again and again.