WWE Extreme Rules PPV Evaluation
By Nathan Kyght, PWTorch PPV specialist

BEST MATCH – JOHN CENA VS. BROCK LESNAR

Going in, people hoped it would be something special, and was it ever. Arguments can be made for several matches on the show as "The Best" of the night, but, in my opinion, this was (near) perfect. For years, we have all seen what I’ll refer to as a "WWE-style main event," and it has produced classics. But, this match was unlike anything seen before. Maybe ever. Yes, it felt that fresh. From the brutality of the opening salvo of elbows that bloodied Cena, through the sheer physicality of the match, this was an absolute spectacle. I thought this was just awesome. Then, the finish came. It wasn’t enough to ruin it for me, but you have to question the judgment. We’ll get to that later. Still, this was one for the ages.

WORST MATCH – RYBACK VS. AARON RELIC & JAY HATTON

I almost wrote "Ryback vs. Some Guys," but, hey, they made it to the Big Show, so good for them. This was obviously designed to fill time, and it didn’t really let anyone down (it wasn’t even advertised, in fact), so this is more of a default worst match on a great night of action.

BIGGEST SURPRISE – CENA WINS!

All of that hype, all of the potential storylines, and Lesnar loses his first match back. Wow. It seemed to me the payday would be Brock running through Cena, Triple H, Undertaker, and then maybe The Rock returns to face him at WrestleMania to oppose what fans have been sold as an unstoppable monster. Instead, it looks like Brock vs. Triple H at SummerSlam. And, my money is on Triple H. Baffling booking.

BIGGEST LETDOWN – NONE

For the first time since last year’s Money In The Bank, I thought WWE produced a really special show. Great job, WWE.

BEST QUOTE – THE CHICAGO FANS

When the fans chanted "Goldberg" during Ryback’s match, there had to be a few cringes in the backstage area.

BEST MOVE – C.M. PUNK

The visual of Brock Lesnar driving what appeared to be legit elbows into Cena’s forehead was certainly the most jarring to watch. But, C.M. Punk dropping a top-rope elbow on to a prone Chris Jericho to drive both men through a table at ringside was my "Extreme Rules" moment for the highlight reel.

BEST MATCH FINISH – BIG SHOW VS. CODY RHODES

Big Show loses his footing and steps through a ringside table. It slowly dawns on him (and Show’s face-acting was awesome), and the ref figures out what this means and rings the bell. Yeah, some people couldn’t stand this, but I thought it was great and it’s my column. So there.

OTHER THOUGHTS

- Daniel Bryan and Sheamus more than made up for their WrestleMania "match" in what was a superb Best-two-out-of-three falls match. I thought the finish to fall one where Bryan was disqualified for kicking Sheamus was very clever, as it was done to injure Sheamus moving forward in the match. It made sense. The ending fell flat (although it was clearly a tip of the hat to the Mania finish), but, all in all, this was bell-to-bell excellent. Daniel Bryan is my favorite performer in = WWE at the moment.

- Brodus Clay and Dolph Ziggler had a decent-enough match, and it was nice to see Clay go a little longer. Side note: Dolph Ziggler always makes his opponents look like the proverbial million bucks.

- Layla! Well, they could have perhaps drawn out her return a little, but it was a nice surprise.

- Kane and Randy Orton had a heck of an opening Falls Count Anywhere match, and it was good to see they were given the time to tell more of a story. This was much better than their WrestleMania match.

- C.M. Punk and Chris Jericho had another very good match (although a tad too long, but maybe that’s just me) and I thought this was another Mania re-match that eclipsed its predecessor.

WHAT IT’LL BE REMEMBERED FOR

Obviously the "loss heard ‘round the World (Wrestling. Entertainment.)," but this was a very memorable night for WWE. All of the WrestleMania re-matches improved on the originals, there were several good-to-great matches, and the main event, regardless of how you felt about the finish, was an all-time classic, in my opinion. It felt like such a throwback; go out of your way if you haven’t had a chance to see it yet. Great show.

UPDATED 2012 PPV EVALUATION RANKINGS

1 - WWE EXTREME RULES (2012-04-29)
2 - WWE WRESTLEMANIA XXVIII (2012-04-01)
3 - WWE ELIMINATION CHAMBER (2012-02-19)
4 - WWE ROYAL RUMBLE (2012-1-29)
5 - TNA VICTORY ROAD (2012-03-18)
6 - TNA LOCKDOWN (2012-04-15)
6 - TNA GENESIS (2012-01-08)
6 – TNA AGAINST ALL ODDS (2012-02-12)

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