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The 2018 WWE Extreme Rules pay-per-view took place in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on Sunday.
Twelve matches were on the stacked card, including AJ Styles vs. Rusev (WWE Championship), The Bludgeon Brothers vs. Team Hell No (SmackDown Tag Team Championships), Dolph Ziggler vs. Seth Rollins (Intercontinental Championship Iron Man match) and Roman Reigns vs. Bobby Lashley.
Both women’s divisions were also represented, with Alexa Bliss facing Nia Jax (Raw Women’s Championship Extreme Rules match) and Carmella taking on Asuka (SmackDown Women’s Championship match with James Ellsworth in a shark cage).
Elsewhere on the show, Jeff Hardy faced Shinsuke Nakamura (United States Championship), The B-Team challenged The Deleters of Worlds (Raw Tag Team Championships), and Baron Corbin went one-on-one with Finn Balor.
Braun Strowman was also in action, taking on Kevin Owens in a steel cage match, while The New Day vs. SAnitY (tables match) and Andrade “Cien” Almas vs. Sin Cara were on the kickoff show.
In this article, let’s break down every match and decide what was good and bad about this year’s Extreme Rules event.
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#1 Kickoff show: Andrade “Cien” Almas def. Sin Cara
Match: Sin Cara was in control for much of the contest until Zelina Vega distracted the referee when Andrade “Cien” Almas looked in trouble after being hit with a frog splash. The former NXT champion then connected with a double knee strike into the corner before picking up the win with a Hammerlock DDT.
Verdict: We mentioned in a recent article how it’s about time WWE started putting more than one match on kickoff shows, so it was good to see this SmackDown Live rematch start the pre-show broadcast. That said, while the match was of high quality, the outcome was the most obvious of the night, so it’s difficult to grade this any higher than a C+.
Grade: C+
#2 Kickoff show: SAnitY def. The New Day (tables match)
Match: The New Day survived an early scare when Alexander Wolfe and Eric Young looked perilously close to putting Big E through a table. Despite impressive New Day moments, including a top-rope double-stomp by Kofi Kingston on Wolfe and Young, it was SAnitY who got the win after Wolfe bit Kofi on the ring apron and Young sent him crashing through a ringside table with an elbow drop.
Verdict: Okay, so our pre-PPV prediction of this being a potential show-stealer was wildly inaccurate, but this was still a fun match for the kickoff show. It looked at times as if either team could get the win, which is exactly what fans want from PPV matches. As far as SAnitY goes, this was a much-needed victory after some early main-roster defeats.
Grade: C+
#3 The B-Team def. The Deleters of Worlds (Raw Tag Team Championships)
Match: Just when The Deleters of Worlds looked set to retain their titles, Matt Hardy inadvertently knocked Bray Wyatt out of the ring and Bo Dallas capitalized by planting Matt with a neckbreaker from the top rope. Then, to the astonishment of the Pittsburgh crowd, Bo pinned Matt 1-2-3 to win the titles for The B-Team.
Verdict: The majority of this main-show opening contest felt like a standard match you would expect to see on Raw, with the added attraction of real-life brothers Bo and Bray going head-to-head, but then one of the most surprising finishes of the year happened. The new champs deserve this win for their good work over the last few months. Go B-Team!
Grade: B-
#4 Finn Balor def. Baron Corbin
Match: Baron Corbin was in control for almost the entire match, keeping Finn Balor in a chinlock for over a minute early on before landing with a heavy right forearm. Then, after preventing Balor from hitting his finisher on two occasions, the “Constable” tried to connect with the End of Days but his opponent rolled him up to get a sneaky pinfall win.
Verdict: This was the least meaningful match of the night, so it made sense for it to go on early in the event. Like Andrade "Cien" Almas vs. Sin Cara on the kickoff show, this was of decent quality and both guys did a good job, but was this underwhelming rivalry really worthy of a spot on an overcrowded PPV card? Probably not.
Grade: C
#5 Carmella def. Asuka (SmackDown Women’s Championship w/James Ellsworth in a shark cage)
Match: Having made his presence felt right from the start, James Ellsworth was left dangling by his foot in the middle of the ring after unsuccessfully trying to escape the shark cage. Asuka treated him as a punchbag for the next couple of minutes, only for Carmella to slam her against the cage before stealing a 1-2-3 win. Following the match, “The Empress of Tomorrow” continued to attack Ellsworth after Carmella escaped with the title.
Verdict: The shenanigan-heavy finish to Carmella’s win over Asuka at Money In The Bank was acceptable – we hadn’t seen Ellsworth in a while and the story was only just starting – but this rematch was bad. Very bad. If it was against anybody else in the SmackDown women’s division, it would have been fine, but Asuka is legitimately one of the best performers on the roster and she deserves better than this.
Grade: D
#6 Shinsuke Nakamura def. Jeff Hardy (United States Championship)
Match: With the referee’s back turned before the match, Shinsuke Nakamura struck Jeff Hardy with a low-blow. After a short delay, Jeff told the official he was ready to start, and Nakamura took full advantage by winning the title in just six seconds after a Kinshasa.
Following the match, Randy Orton made a surprise return and, just when it looked like he was set to target the new US champ, he kicked Jeff in the groin in the middle of the ring before walking to the back.
Verdict: Six-second match? Check. Title change? Check. Unexpected return? Check. Heel turn? Check. Considering this was one of the least anticipated matches of the night, it certainly packed a lot of stories into one short segment. It’s difficult to grade a match this short, but fair play to WWE for leaving us all wondering what’s going to happen next!
Grade: B
#7 Kevin Owens def. Braun Strowman (steel cage match)
Match: Braun Strowman survived some early offence from Kevin Owens, including a variation of a Stone Cold Stunner, and was the favourite to get the win when he escaped some handcuffs and climbed to the top of the cage ahead of KO. However, Braun then shoved his opponent through a ringside announce desk from the top of the cage, meaning the victory went to Owens.
Verdict: Wow! This wasn’t one of the main matches that people were talking about heading into Extreme Rules, but it’ll definitely grab a few headlines in the days to come. The match was full of action from the very start and the finish makes it worthy of an A grade. Huge credit to Owens for taking a giant fall for the second PPV in a row.
Grade: A
#8 The Bludgeon Brothers def. Team Hell No (SmackDown Tag Team Championships)
Match: The Bludgeon Brothers attacked Team Hell No backstage earlier in the night, meaning a wounded Kane was only able to join the match in the closing stages. He was unable to guide his team to victory, though, as Harper pinned Daniel Bryan following a top-rope double-team clothesline.
Verdict: Not good. Fans were genuinely looking forward to seeing Team Hell No reunite at Extreme Rules to challenge for the titles, but all we got was a glorified handicap match. If this happened on SmackDown Live, it’d be underwhelming but understandable. However, this was on PPV after three weeks of heavily promoted build-up. Really, WWE?!
Grade: D
#9 Bobby Lashley def. Roman Reigns
Match: Bobby Lashley executed plenty of impressive power moves, including a belly-to-belly suplex and his trademark stalling suplex, before launching Roman Reigns over the announce desk with another suplex. The finish to the match came when Lashley survived a Superman Punch before intercepting a spear with a spear of his own to pick up the 1-2-3.
Verdict: First of all, why did Reigns try to use the steel steps?! This wasn’t a No DQ match! Aside from that, and if you ignore the “Rusev Day” and “Boring” crowd chants, this was much better than expected. Lashley was especially impressive, although he received a mixed reception when he tried to play to the crowd, and he now looks set to face Brock Lesnar at SummerSlam.
Grade: B+
#10 Alexa Bliss def. Nia Jax (Raw Women’s Championship Extreme Rules match w/Ronda Rousey in the front row)
Match: The match began with Nia Jax (accompanied by Natalya) throwing weapons into the ring after thwarting numerous failed attacks from Alexa Bliss (accompanied by Mickie James). Once Alexa and Mickie began to double-team Natalya, Ronda Rousey tried to help her friend but ended up getting taken out with a kendo stick by Mickie. Alexa then planted Nia with a DDT to retain her title.
Verdict: This first-ever women’s Extreme Rules match was okay but nothing special. As a storyline, everything made sense to continue the build to Alexa vs. Ronda at SummerSlam. But, as a match that lasted less than eight minutes, it felt rushed and the only real positive was that the title didn’t change hands again.
Grade: C+
#11 AJ Styles def. Rusev (WWE Championship)
Match: This back-and-forth contest was going Rusev’s way after he connected with a Machka Kick on AJ Styles following a distraction from Aiden English. However, in the end, English proved more of a hindrance than a help, as his decision to remove a turnbuckle led to Rusev being thrown into it. Moments later, Styles landed a top-rope 450 splash and a Phenomenal Forearm to retain his title.
Verdict: It seemed obvious before the match that Styles would emerge with the victory, so both guys did a good job to make it seem like Rusev really could get the win on a couple of occasions. Moving forward, it looks like “The Bulgarian Brute” and English will go their separate ways, while Styles will require a more credible challenger at SummerSlam.
Grade: B+
#12 Dolph Ziggler def. Seth Rollins (Intercontinental Championship 30-minute Iron Man match)
Match (first 15 mins): Within the first 10 minutes, Seth Rollins was 3-0 up after a cradle pinfall, a Curb Stomp and an attack from Drew McIntyre, which led to the Scot being ejected from ringside. Struggling to recover, Rollins suffered four pinfall losses in as many minutes, meaning Dolph Ziggler took a 4-3 lead.
Match (last 15 mins): With three minutes to go, Rollins levelled the scores following a slingshot into the ring post, but he was unable to make it 5-4 after failing to pin Ziggler quickly enough with one second to go after a superkick.
Match (overtime): Just when Ziggler thought he’d retained with a 4-4 draw, Kurt Angle demanded there be a winner and restarted the match. Seconds later, McIntyre caused a distraction on the ring apron and Ziggler hit Rollins with a Zig Zag to win the match 5-4.
Verdict: Fans pay a lot of money to be in attendance at PPVs, so they have the right to count down from 10 to 1 every single minute of a 30-minute Iron Man match if they want, but their antics definitely ruined this brilliantly executed, blink-and-you’ll-miss-it main event for the people watching at home. Credit to WWE for being bold enough to close the show with this match, but will they make similar decisions in the future after the reaction of this crowd? Probably not.
Grade: A-
