July 15, 2018 was the date of the Extreme Rules Pay Per view show In Pittsburgh.
With Summerslam right around the corner, will this show live up to it’s name or just be another day in the WWE calendar?
The Kickoff show.
Andrade “Cien” Almas def. Sin Cara via Hammerlock DDT
The Extreme Rules pre show started with a match from the Smackdown brand. In what looked like a match that had Sin Cara setup to pin Almas. Zelina Vega distracted the ref on the apron allowing Almas to hit his DDT for the win.
Sanity def. New Day in a tables match
The closing match of the Kickoff show was a pretty good one as Sanity faced New Day in a tables match. Lots of tables propped out in anticipation but only one was needed for Eric Young as he hit a clothesline off the top rope on Kofi Kingston to put him through one to win the match for Sanity.
Deleter’s vs The B-Team. Balor vs Corbin. Empress vs Money Mella.
The B-Team defeated the Deleter of Worlds to become new Raw Tag Team champions
The main show of Extreme Rules started out with a match that would’ve been an upset if you hadn’t seen Raw over the past month as Bo Dallas hit his elevated neck-breaker on Matt Hardy for win.
This changing of titles hopefully for the B-team will extend past Summerslam but it is great to see the duo who essentially where job squad bodies for The Miz have something else to add to their WWE resume.
Finn Balor defeated Baron Corbin via inside cradle.
In what felt like a faster match then what they have been working previously saw Finn Balor counter Constable Corbin’s End of Days finisher with an inside cradle. Pretty solid back and forth between these two as Corbin looked better than usual in this one.
Carmella defeated Asuka to retain the Smackdown Women’s Title.
In what should be the last shark cage match ever, Carmella is still champ after the aide and distraction provided by her sidekick James Ell[tps_title][/tps_title]sworth. Ring workers even weren’t ready for Asuka. As she attacked them as well as Ellsworth who was caught upside down trying to leave the cage. This debacle ended as Carmella from behind ran Asuka’s face into the low-lying cage for the pin.
Record time title win. Death from above. Scrappy performance.
Shinsuke Nakamura def. Jeff Hardy to become the new U.S. Champion
Shinsuke hit Jeff Hardy with a low-blow while the referee’s back was turned before the match started. Hardy got back to feet to fight through it and once the bell rang, Nakamura hit the Kinsasha and 6 seconds later, the belt is now his. This did setup a match with Randy Orton as he came out just as Nakamura was about to celebrate and attacked Jeff Hardy as well.
Kevin Owens escapes Braun Stroman painfully in a Steel Cage Match
In what was the highlight of the night. Kevin Owens won after Braun Stroman chokeslammed him off the top of the cage onto the announce table. This match featured a lot of trash talking by both as well as a DX “Suck It” chop by Owens as he tried to evade Stroman who proceeded to catch him and eventually tossing Owens off the top.
Bludgeon Brothers retain as they beat Team Hell No
The Bludgeon Brothers finished what they started earlier in the night by pinning Daniel Bryan with their clothesline off the top rope.
This match essentially was a 2 on 1 handicap match as they Brothers attacked backstage Bryan and Kane, making Kane limited and had him limping down to the ring well into the match.
New yard owner. A Blissfully planed outcome. A Phenomenal Day.
Bobby Lashley defeated Roman Reigns via spear
The usual crowd chants of “Rusev Day”, “Roman sucks” and other crowd indifference were present from the folks at PPG Arena for this one in what was a slow but solid physical match. What is interesting about this one is the fact that Lashley hit his own spear on Reigns after Roman claimed it was “his yard”.
In a WWE Universe that was bizarrely mum when Lashley’s hand was raised makes me believe that match at Summerslam for Lesnar’s title is going to a 3 way of some fashion.
Alexa Bliss defeats Nia Jax to remain Raw Women’s Champion
In an No Disqualification, Extreme Rules match (Why they refuse to use the word “Hardcore” is beyond me). Bliss hit Nia with a DDT onto a steel chair for the win to retain. Lots of interference throughout this match. Rhonda Rousey had a front row ticket. Rhonda used this to violate that ticket agreement by jumping the rail to attack Bliss and Mickie James. Both who were attacking her friend Natalya on the outside. Leave it to WWE to find a trash can lid without a handle on it to be used in combat.
AJ Styles defeated Rusev via Phenomenal Forearm to remain Smackdown champ
In what was a knock down match. AJ is still the champion after some unintentional help from Aiden English. Styles was able to hit the Phenomenal Forearm on Rusev. After the Bulgarian Brute hit his head on an exposed turnbuckle. Plenty of good back and forth as Rusev and Styles spent the match selling leg injuries throughout.
Sudden Death Iron Man match.
To close out, Dolph Ziggler defeats Seth Rollins 5-4 in a 30 minute Ironman match
Ziggler ends the interference loaded pay per view with some of his own from Drew McIntyre. He helped Dolph get behind early 3-0 lead before he railed back. This was a solid match. It was tied at 4-4 at the end of the 30-minute mark. Dolph was about to run out with the title via draw.
Kurt Angle stepped in for the sudden death overtime restart. This was short lived however as Drew interfered which caused Dolph to hit the Zig-Zag on Seth for the win.
That wraps up Extreme Rules from Pittsburgh. Summerslam in Brooklyn is up next!
