Review for WWE Extreme Rules 2016

There are some times when watching WWE can be hard and this is one of them. Extreme Rules is one of those PPVs that could have been great and had all the makings of being great, but just tripped at the final hurdle.

Of the eight matches I would never have thought that the one I would be calling Match of the Night would be the one that featured The Miz?Remember this is a PPV that includes AJ Styles, Dean Ambrose and a Women's Submission match?

Something wrong must have happened somewhere.

Firstly the Kickoff No DQ match between Baron Corbin and Dolph Ziggler was a mess. All those who think that Ziggler is on the up really need to see just how bad he can be. As for Corbin? I still think it was too soon for him and maybe he should go back to NXT for a bit. This is followed by Andrews/Gallows vs. The Usos in a Tornado Tag Match.

This match did not work. In fact, I was surprised The Club would be booked like this when they are such an important part of the AJ Styles storyline? This is followed by an average match between Kalisto and Rusev for the US Title which was fine and hopefully will get Rusev back on track that he's been derailed from for the past year and anytime I get to see more of Lana is a good thing.

The New Day against The Vaudevillains could have been a great tag match for the belts. Instead it was a blink and miss it mess. It could have been a great way to elevate this new team and give The New Day something to do and something to hunt for. But no. Instead we get a match that is less than seven minutes long?

Match of the Night is undoubtedly the Fatal 4-Way match for the Intercontinental Championship. Featuring Cesaro, Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn trying take The Miz's belt away from him. This match was just amazing. usually I'm not a fan of multi-man matches, but this one worked. It also doesn't hurt that The Miz has Maryse with him and it is
always great to see her. I found this match almost a throwback to the 1990s when the IC belt was the workhorse belt that always brought the best matches. This is definitely a match I will watch again.

The Asylum Match between Dean Ambrose and Chris Jericho is really a Steel Cage match (with weapons suspended above the cage) where victory can only be obtained by pinfall or submission. This was a good match and really my only issue is that it felt too good to just be another match and that's what it felt like. Maybe if this had been built a bit more it could have meant more.

This is not the Women's Revolution I have been watching. In fact if I had been a part of this match in any way I would have been embarrassed. Charlotte's heel turn was so obvious in regards to her using Ric Flair and her feud with Natalya should have been great and really there is no reason why it shouldn't have been.

This match? This submissions match should have been a lengthy, wonderful, five star, match of the year contender. Instead this was the kind of match I would have expected from Summer Rae and Eva Marie not two of the best women in the business. I am shocked and I hope that the return of Sasha Banks will improve this as it really can't get any worse??

Finally we have a very good match between Roman Reigns and AJ Styles. I think this was better than the match from last month and I am glad that WWE didn't just drop the ball on Styles. The match was exactly what I expected from an 'extreme' match and I enjoyed every minute of it. The inclusion of The Club and The Usos worked and I didn't think it could get any better... until the end and the return of Seth Rollins.

Of course, if you missed the PPV or are watching this later on, this isn't a surprise as it's plastered all over the front of the cover. I understand that we watch this, based on the idea that we all watched it live a few months ago, but it does spoil the replay nature of the PPV. That being said, that is one amazing moment and a great way to end the PPV.

Extreme Rules 2016 was a mixbag of a PPV, the Fatal 4-Way, Asylum and Main Event matches were all worth watching again. Everything else? Not so much. It is such a shame that such a weak lower card would take this from a 'must watch' item, to one that you might wait until the 'Best of' will be definitely include the Fatal 4-Way (I hope) and is a match everyone should watch.