| Company | WWE |
| Event | Extreme Rules 2018 |
| Series | Extreme Rules |
| Edition | 10 |
| Format | Pay-Per-View |
| Date | Sunday July 15 2018 |
| Venue | PPG Paints Arena |
| Location | Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA |
| Attendance | 14,739 |
WWE Extreme Rules 2018
WWE Extreme Rules 2018 marked the one night of the year when WWE goes “extreme”, though the match stipulations suggested otherwise. There were some fun gimmick bouts to be found, but overall this felt like just another PPV, not helped by the fans doing their best to spoil the main event. I should mention that during the Kick-Off Show, WWE officially confirmed that Hulk Hogan had been welcomed back into the WWE family following his 2015 scandal and subsequent firing. I can’t imagine that we’ll see a tremendous amount of Hogan on WWE television, but his fans are rejoicing that their hero has been forgiven (by the company at least), so I guess it’s only a matter of time before we hear Real American on Raw or SmackDown again (probably Raw).
WHAT HAPPENED AT THE PREVIOUS TV SHOWS? READ OUR PRE-PPV REVIEWS OF RAW & SMACKDOWN!
Kick-Off Show
Andrade “Cien” Almas vs. Sin Cara
Andrade “Cien” Almas seems to be following the same path as Alberto Del Rio on the main roster, that being to immediately target a masked Mexican high-flyer because, well, he’s Mexican too, and that makes sense, right? Either way, Andrade had a decent bout with Sin Cara, who is suddenly more relevant than he has been in ages despite this still being a low-card spot (hence its pre-show setting). And of course Andrade picked up the win with the Hammerlock DDT, which will give him the bounce to scale the SmackDown roster, while Cara is bound to continue falling.
Tables Match
The New Day vs. Sanity
The other pre-show bout saw Sanity, also SmackDown arrivals courtesy of NXT, squaring off against The New Day, who of course have been long-established on the main roster. Though Eric Young’s army has already looked a bit weak on Tuesday nights, having taken the fall in a recent six-man tag team bout, this was a chance for the faction to garner some attention at the expense of a very popular act. And that they did in this fun stunt match, which ended when Young elbow-dropped Kofi Kingston through a table in an impressive visual. Can Sanity keep it up and dominate the blue brand? We’ll have to wait and see.
WHAT HAPPENED AT THE PREVIOUS EDITION? READ OUR WWE EXTREME RULES 2017 REVIEW!
Main Show
WWE Raw Tag Team Championship Match
Matt Hardy & Bray Wyatt (C) vs. The B-Team
Kicking off the actual PPV, the surprising surge in popularity for Bo Dallas and Curtis Axel led them to earn a title opportunity against Matt Hardy and Bray Wyatt. The Woken One and The Eater Of Worlds have lost the spark that made them a potential highlight of Raw back in April, and now they simply come across as another missed opportunity for WWE. Here, their applause of the challengers was the only notable spot, and the bout itself was TV-level at best. That’s even when taking into account the ending, which saw The B-Team earn a major upset as Dallas pinned Matt to capture the Raw Tag Team Titles for himself and Axel. It’s a cool achievement for The B-Team, but for Matt and Bray, can they sink any lower than this defeat?
WHAT HAPPENED AT THE PREVIOUS PPV? READ OUR WWE MONEY IN THE BANK 2018 REVIEW!
Finn Balor vs. Baron Corbin
If you’re a tall heel and you like bullying smaller guys, you’ll target one such performer. That sums up this feud, as Raw’s “Constable” Baron Corbin decided to go after Finn Balor, leading to this match. This was decent enough but nothing special, and on a show like Extreme Rules, this is one bout that really could have benefitted from a special stipulation, even if it had just been a basic rule change like Falls Count Anywhere. Finn scored the pin to at least put the Constable in his place, though it feels like these two might not be done with one another.
WHAT HAPPENED AT THE FIRST EDITION? READ OUR WWE EXTREME RULES 2009 REVIEW!
WWE SmackDown Women’s Championship Match
Carmella (C) vs. Asuka
Next up, we had the official demise of Asuka’s aura as a dangerous threat within the women’s ranks. Her defeat to Charlotte Flair at WrestleMania 34 could be justified, and you could even chalk up her defeat to the credibility-challenged Carmella at Money In The Bank. But here, with James Ellsworth in a shark cage above the ring, Asuka simply looked like an imbecile as she dominated Carmella but instead focused on Ellsworth which included after he had found an unorthodox way to escape the structure (as seen above), allowing Carmella to pin Asuka (who had been undefeated for over 30 months, remember) by simply shoving her head into the side of the shark cage’s base. Totally dumb booking here, and arguably WWE’s worst booking of the entire year, because Asuka has gone from a difference-maker to a failed experiment within four months on the main roster.
WWE United States Championship Match
Jeff Hardy (C) vs. Shinsuke Nakamura
If Extreme Rules had seemed underwhelming so far, then this didn’t help. A potential show-stealer between Hardy and Nakamura ended up seeing Shinsuke pin Jeff in just six seconds when he struck him with a low blow before the bell, followed by a Kinshasa after the bell rang with Jeff suggesting that he could compete (nice one, Brother Nero). More memorable was the surprise return of Randy Orton after the match, who slowly marched to the ring and then added to Hardy’s woes by kicking him in the balls while he was laying on the canvas, essentially turning heel. A villainous Randy is usually preferable to a bland babyface Viper, so this should give an extra jolt to SmackDown for the coming weeks and months, and the prospect of a continuing Orton-Hardy rivalry could be intriguing too.
Steel Cage Match
Braun Strowman vs. Kevin Owens
In our fifth match of the PPV, Braun Strowman and Kevin Owens looked to settle their one-sided conflict inside a Steel Cage. KO spent much of the match trying to avoid Strowman at all costs, while The Monster Among Men enjoyed the prospect of tossing KO around the ring like a ragdoll, given that the steel walls made it hard for Owens to escape. And when Owens did manage to lose Strowman’s grip, it came in dramatic fashion: with both men on top of the Cage, Strowman grabbed a terrified Owens and hurled him all the way down through one of the ringside announcer’s tables in a jaw-dropping moment. KO had won the match by virtue of this, but he didn’t look (nor probably feel) like the victor as he was being stretchered backstage. This was an incredible high-spot, one that I assume was designed to commemorate the 20th anniversary of The Undertaker vs. Mankind at King Of The Ring 1998, but I suspect that die-hards will forget about this when analysing the show as a whole and simply dismiss this as “forgettable”. As I will explain, the card as a whole might be, but this bump definitely wasn’t.
WHAT HAPPENED AT THE LATEST EDITION? READ OUR WWE EXTREME RULES 2019 REVIEW!
WWE SmackDown Tag Team Championship Match
The Bludgeon Brothers (C) vs. Team Hell No
If you’d have said in January 2018 that we would get a Team Hell No reunion six months later, fans would have thought you were dreaming. Not only was Daniel Bryan still retired, but Kane’s own schedule has become limited enough that any major PPV match could be the last for the Big Red Machine. That’s got what we got, though, as a buffer while we wait for WWE to officially green-light the long-awaited resumption of Bryan’s rivalry with The Miz. The match itself was alright but nothing particularly memorable, and I get the feeling that this wasn’t planned as recently as a month ago, hence the quick turnaround of this mini-feud and the sudden reunion of one of the best odd-couple tag teams in WWE history. The fairytale outcome would have seen Bryan and Kane regain Tag Team gold (or silver) five years after they lost similar belts at the same PPV, but instead they fell to Rowan and Harper, and surprisingly enough it was Daniel, and not the more expendable Kane, that took the loss. Bryan’s comeback hasn’t gone swimmingly so far, but if he starts his feud proper with Miz (maybe as soon as SmackDown), his fortunes should greatly improve.
Roman Reigns vs. Bobby Lashley
WWE had originally suggested a multi-man #1 contender’s match here to determine who would face Brock Lesnar at SummerSlam for the Universal Championship, but presumably as part of a storyline to make Lesnar look like an ingrate, the bout was cancelled. Instead, we got a minor dream match as Reigns and Lashley collided, and I enjoyed this brawl. Two big hosses knocking the crap out of each other is always a treat, and that’s what we got. Because WWE fans apparently see Roman Reigns as some sort of evil dictator figure nowadays, the Pittsburgh audience tried to spoil the bout as best they could, but it wasn’t quite as bad as the Chicago crowd during Reigns vs. Jinder Mahal at Money In The Bank, meaning that one could still appreciate the efforts of both combatants here. On a night of surprising outcomes, this contest may have had the biggest shock, as Bobby managed to pin Reigns with a Spear (once a Lashley finisher, but more commonly known as Roman’s offensive weapon of choice nowadays), which leads to speculation that we might not get Lesnar vs. Reigns again at SummerSlam as assumed, and instead it’s possible that we see Lashley challenge Lesnar instead. Raw on Monday night should give us all the answers (or some of them anyway).
WHAT HAPPENED AT THE FOLLOWING PPV? READ OUR WWE SUMMERSLAM 2018 REVIEW!
WWE Raw Women’s Championship Extreme Rules Match
Alexa Bliss (C) vs. Nia Jax
It feels like the Alexa vs. Nia feud peaked around WrestleMania time, so another rematch between the two here (after Alexa cashed in MITB on Jax last month) seemed unnecessary, even with the added excitement of an Extreme Rules stipulation. It actually seemed to exist to promote the storyline-suspended Ronda Rousey, who was sat in the front row scowling at Alexa, who cost her the chance to become Raw Women’s Champion at MITB. The bout itself was instantly forgettable, save for Ronda losing her rag and climbing over the barricade to get Alexa; Bliss avoided an attack, but her associate Mickie James didn’t, as Rousey beat the hell out of her at ringside. In the meantime, Alexa struck Nia with a Bliss DDT on a steel chair to retain her prize. Alexa vs. Ronda at SummerSlam seems inevitable, while we’re surely past the Alexa-Nia storyline now.
WWE Championship Match
AJ Styles (C) vs. Rusev
It was well and truly Rusev Day here as the Bulgarian Brute got his much-wanted WWE Title shot against The Phenomenal One. The prospect of Styles losing the gold here to Rusev seemed unlikely, but the challenger put forth a tremendous effort, and the upshot was that this was a low-key awesome title match, one that the fans were slow to appreciate at first but then truly embraced as the near-falls cranked up. Rusev almost submitted AJ with the Accolade, but he managed to escape; the WWE Champion’s spectacular 450-degree splash also failed to snatch the victory. But a Phenomenal Forearm managed to do the job, as AJ continued his long reign as WWE Champion, while Rusev will probably dip down the card again after this defeat. At least he’s able to say that the incredible popularity of his Rusev Day gimmick took him all the way to his first World Title opportunity on Pay-Per-View.
WHAT HAPPENED AT THE FOLLOWING EDITION? READ OUR WWE EXTREME RULES 2019 REVIEW!
WWE Intercontinental Championship Iron Man Match
Dolph Ziggler (C) vs. Seth Rollins
For the first time since SummerSlam 1992 (yes, it was that long ago), an Intercontinental Title match headlined a WWE PPV. Ziggler and Rollins have torn it up many times before, so a 30-minute Iron Man clash between the two, while slightly odd in the headline spot, was bound to be a great contest. And as an athletic exhibition, it was very impressive. Unfortunately, the Pittsburgh fans decided to spoil the match for everyone: the clock was shown on the big screen throughout, and every time we reached another minute, the fans did a mocking version of the Royal Rumble countdown, complete with “hilarious” buzzer noise. Once or twice would have been amusing; however, they kept doing it, and it became so noticeable that WWE pulled the clock off the screen. Problem solved, right? No, not in the smark era. Fans decided to start doing it at random parts of the bout, making it even more distracting to the viewer (and surely to the combatants) until WWE finally relented and put the clock back on the screen to at least control it to some degree. I hope these fans realise that as much as they want to complain about the WWE product, their own asshole behaviour is just as much of an issue, and is playing a key role in making major matches on major shows unbearable. It’s even harder to justify here because you had indie darling Seth Rollins and one-time die-hard hero Dolph Ziggler in a pure wrestling bout, rather than usual punching bag Reigns.
All of that sadly overshadowed the strong in-ring action, as Rollins once again delivered an excellent performance, while Ziggler was able to shine brighter than he has at any point since his 2016 feud with The Miz. In terms of the falls in this Iron Man bout, Seth scored the first two pinfalls, before Drew McIntyre attacked Rollins at ringside to cause a DQ that put the champion up 3-0. Though Drew was ejected by the referee, he did drill Seth with a Claymore Kick, which allowed Dolph to bring it back to 3-1. Using the momentum caused by Drew’s involvement, Ziggler took it to 3-2, 3-3 and ultimately 4-3, meaning that he pulled off a comeback akin to Newcastle United against Arsenal (yes, I’m aware that Arsenal were 4-0 up that day rather than 3-0, and I’m also aware that some readers might not know what I’m on about with that reference). Rollins did manage to get it back to 4-4 which led to overtime, but while it seemed like Seth was on the verge of scoring that one decisive fall to regain the IC Title, another McIntyre appearance distracted Seth long enough for Dolph to hit a match-winning Zig Zag. A slightly anticlimactic end to the bout, then, but far worse were the audience, who took what could have been a Match Of The Year contender and totally ruined it for anyone who doesn’t want to hear a bunch of smarks verbally “showing off” for half an hour.
WHAT HAPPENED AT THE FOLLOWING TV SHOWS? READ OUR POST-PPV REVIEWS OF RAW & SMACKDOWN!
WWE Extreme Rules 2018 was a real mixed bag of a show, with the negative outweighing the positive. In my mind, AJ vs. Rusev is the only truly must-see match from the event, with Ziggler vs. Rollins being very good but adversely affected by the audience. Otherwise, Reigns vs. Lashley was worthwhile, and the very high spot of Strowman hurling Owens off the Steel Cage was a great visual. But the rest of the event ranged from forgettable to terribly-booked, and while there are several headlines coming out of the event (Hulk Hogan being back in the fold, the KO bump, the potential change of plans for the Universal Title match at SummerSlam), this feels like a card that will be skipped over when fans look back on 2018. So, while the live crowd certainly didn’t help, the booking also made it that Extreme Rules 2018 was a meandering presentation in totality.
WANT TO RELIVE WWE EXTREME RULES 2018? WATCH IT RIGHT NOW ON WWE NETWORK!
