WrestlingNerd Presents: WWE Extreme Rules 2012 Review

What up wrestling fans, I'm the WrestlingNerd bringing you another written review. Today, we take a look at WWE Extreme Rules 2012. How do things stack up with the WWE going Extreme? Let's find out and start the review. 

Match #1: Randy Orton vs Kane; Falls Count Anywhere match

We open up with the Mr. Double Mask and the Viper. Before I talk about this match, some people probably want me to address the pre-show. I won't go deeply into this, but I will say a couple of things. Santino defended his US Championship against the Miz. The match wasn't anything special, but it's a nice distraction. Miz ended up making a mistake when me missed that jumping clothesline he does towards turnbuckle. Santino hit the Cobra and keeps his championship. Miz better hope for a move to Smackdown or else this type of thing can continue. They also spun the roulette wheel to determine what match will take place between Big Show and Cody Rhodes. Teddy Long is wearing a giant name tag. It was one of those things that said, "Hello, my name is ______". It reminded me of the Eugene days. If they wanted to make Teddy look more like a tool, they should've spelled his name, "Tedy". Anyway, it's time to spin the wheel. Wheel of ridiculous matches, Turn turn turn. Tell us how we will embarrass Cody Rhodes today? It will be a Tables match. Now that I got that out of the way, let's begin……again…..for real…..ah, screw it. 

I thought this was a pretty good match between Randy and Kane. It wasn't amazing and it didn't get as brutal as it should've, but it was still a nice starter for the PPV. This match mostly took place outside the ring. The two brawled in the audience, the entrance ramp, backstage, and the ring itself. Did anyone remember the spot Kane and Randy were fighting near the trash can? I was just thinking to myself for someone to use it. Not because I wanted to see it being used, but I wanted to shout the line, "Time to take out the trash". Unfortunately, nobody took out the trash. Awwww!!! As they brawl to the back, Zack Ryder arrives and attacks Kane. I understand Ryder's need for revenge, but he literally attacks, watches the fight continue, then leaves. What, did Ryder just give up? Was he already content with that little attack? I'm sorry, but if a guy jacked up my hospital bill for months, I wouldn't really be content with 3-4 punches. Anyway, Randy and Kane are back in the ring for the finish. Amazing how most FCA matches finish in the ring. I guess it's luck……or wrestling logic. The finish comes when Kane hits the Chokeslam, but only gets a two count. He has a chair set up on the ground and is about to go for the Tombstone Piledriver. Randy is able to counter into an RKO off the chair and he wins the match. This match wasn't as brutal as what it should've been, but there's a reason for that. I still think this was a nice way to start off the PPV. The rivalry wasn't for everyone, but I found it more interesting after WM than during WM. Despite interest going up for this, this rivalry is most likely over. 

Winner via pinfall: Randy Orton

Backstage with John Laurinaitis and Eve. When Teddy delivers the alcohol (Which was funded by Chris Jericho Enterprises), she gloats about how Teddy used to have a good job and how she has an amazing job. The wine party is interrupted when Johnny gets a phone call from Triple H. He ends up leaving to go take care of the call…..

Match #2: Brodus Clay vs Dolph Ziggler

Michael Cole claims to be a dinosaur expert. I thought Jeff Goldblum was? Anyway, this was one of the rare Brodus matches where the opponent actually did some damage. Thanks to Jack "Biff Tannen" Swagger, Dolph was able to attack. The finish comes when Brodus taps into his inner Pokemon and does a headbutt attack. He follows it up with Funk It and wins the match. Remember when Dolph was the #1 Contender to the world title? Neither do I. In all seriousness, I feel really bad for Dolph. What, did he kick a baby to deserve this punishment?

Winner via pinfall: Brodus Clay

Match #3: Big Show vs Cody Rhodes; Tables match for IC Championship

Did Booker T seriously talk about a 100-yard dash match? Wouldn't that be Match of the Year material? Cody and Show, in a race towards the finish line. Well, the wheel denied us, so we will have to settle for the Tables match. Oh, darn. Show was pretty much dominating this match. The finish comes when Show is heading back towards the ring. He walks around a table (Which is very important) and gets on top of the apron. Cody kicks Show in the leg and Show ends up stepping his foot through the table. Since Show technically went "through" a table, we have a new IC Champion. Pretty anti-climatic, don't you think? Cody has been getting killed and embarrassed for a month, but is able to spring this victory because of some luck? I guess WWE wanted Show to have his WM moment, but didn't want it to last too long. From a storyline standpoint, Cody winning the title doesn't really add up. At the same time, I was laughing at how it happened. Cody wins the title and it was all like…..

….to the WWE Universe. The internet is probably gonna tear this a new one, but I got a laugh out of it. Besides, I was glad to see the IC title off of Show. It just looked like Show was gonna eat the IC title since he would think it's made of Reese's chocolate. After the match, Show ends up Chokeslamming Cody through a table. The crowd chants for one more, so Show military presses Cody and throws him through another table on the outside of the ring. Officials check up on Cody, but Cody ends up walking out of his own power. Well, at least Cody had ONE redeeming quality after his "victory".

Winner and NEW IC Champion: Cody Rhodes

Match #4: Sheamus vs Daniel Bryan; Two out of three falls match for WHC

Chicago gave Bryan an interesting response. They chanted "Yes", but they were also chanting "No". And there was the good old, "Daniel Bryan" chants. It was a pro-Bryan crowd since they didn't seem interested in Sheamus. That's two PPVs in a row that Sheamus hasn't been the favorite. Hmmm. During Bryan's interview, Bryan says Matt Striker is asking stupid questions and talks about how he has a manly beard and gets more chicks than Sheamus. A manly beard? Okay, this is freakin' funny. I love it when Bryan is over-the-top. When the interview is over, AJ is watching from a distance. You would think this is important for tonight's match, but AJ was a non-factor for the rest of the night. I guess it was foreshadowing to what AJ might do on WWE programming. Sheamus is wearing a "18 seconds" T-shirt. You would think this is a reference to the WM match, but I got some inside information. It turns out that the WWE Divas gave Sheamus that T-shirt. Unfortunately, I don't Sheamus has quite figured out why they gave this to him. It really makes me feel bad for the guy. The match is finally underway and……we are past 18 seconds?

This match was given a lot of time. I thought this was a great match. It was well done by two great athletes and they told a great story. The story was Sheamus wouldn't be able to keep up with Bryan's technical side since it was a fluke victory. Sure enough, that's exactly what happened. Sheamus was tired during the first fall of this match and Bryan was mostly in control throughout this contest. I liked that they made Bryan look really good tonight. Maybe WWE is starting to embrace Mr. Yes Man and allow him to show-off what he can do? The first fall ended when Bryan refused to listen to the referee when he delivered a series of……Yes Kicks? Yeah, I guess that's what we can call. At this point, why not? The referee DQs Bryan and Sheamus takes the first fall. You would think Bryan would get pissed off by this, but he's smiling since this seems to be part of his strategy. The second fall didn't take too long from the first one. Oh man. Bryan is going for the YES Lock…….no, Sheamus counters. Oh man, Bryan is going for it AGAIN…..no, Sheamus counters. Bryan is finally gonna get the YES Lock…..no, Sheamus counters again. Well, after a bunch of teases, Bryan finally applies the YES Lock. Sheamus can't reach the ropes, but refuses to tap out. The ref eventually hands the second fall to Bryan since Sheamus ended up passing out to the YES Lock. After the second fall, the medics arrive to check up on Sheamus. The officials tell Sheamus to call it a night, but Sheamus wants to continue. In seconds, Sheamus hits the Brogue Kick on Bryan, but took way too long to make the cover. Bryan ends up kicking out at two. The match continues for a while. The finish comes when Bryan ends up walking into another Brogue Kick and Sheamus retains his championship. I love this match. It was well done and told a great story. You really got the feeling that Sheamus was running out of gas in this match since Bryan came up with a brilliant strategy, but Sheamus was able to dig down deep and pull off the victory. It also made Bryan look like a cocky heel, but a cocky heel with some skills. At the end of the day, Bryan had a great chance of winning his match, but his arrogance was his worst enemy. I highly recommend checking out this match. 

Winner and still WHC: Sheamus

Match #5: Ryback vs two local jobbers

Lately, I have been very disappointed with these spots. Not because of Ryback's presence, but the names of these jobbers. I demand for goofier names to be given to these guys. I believe the names of the jobbers were Aaron Relic and Jay Hatton. The jobbers keep saying two is greater than one. Well, not if you're the Goddamn Batman. I gotta give it to King. The "one and a half men" joke was pretty funny. Ryback kills both guys and wins with the Muscle Buster. There was some "Goldberg" chants during this match. Well, I have stated that Ryback is the mad experiment of Goldberg and RVD for a while now. It's somehow fitting.

Winner via pinfall: Ryback

Match #6: CM Punk vs Chris Jericho; Chicago Street Fight for WWE Championship

In terms of a street fight, this match didn't live up to the gimmick. Now, did it make it a bad match? Not at all. In fact, this was a great match. I having a hard time determining which was my favorite match of the night, but this match did contend with Bryan/Sheamus and one other match for that spot. One thing I haven't really talked about is the audience. Chicago once again shows some great energy. I really helps the whole show. I always look forward to a wrestling even that takes place in Chicago since they are one of the better cities to hold a wrestling event. Punk's sister was in the audience to watch this match. Genetics treated her well, if you know what I'm saying? Anyway, Punk and Jericho are fighting in street clothes. Only a few weapons were involved. Just a kendo stick, chair, and a fire extinguisher. There was a point Jericho started to beat up Punk in front of Punk's sister. Jericho is such an asshole that he thinks about laying a hand on her after she slaps him. It's pretty bad when Punk's sister delivers a more convincing slap than half of the WWE Diva roster. Punk instantly flips out and the match continues. Jericho pours a beer all over Punk. What, Pepsi wasn't available? I really enjoyed the wrestling aspect of their match at WM 28, but you knew this would be more of a fight than a wrestling match. Still, Punk and Jericho still show off their wrestling abilities. I thought it was a great match, but I can see why some people didn't like it. I get it. Calling it a street fight is somewhat unnecessary. There's a lot of near falls in this match. I liked the spot Punk used a fire extinguisher on Jericho. Punk just smoked your ass. This has been a great match, but something's missing. What is it? 

Aww Yes!!! The Spanish announce table being destroyed. How I missed you. Despite hitting that flying elbow, Jericho still kicks out at two. The finish comes when Jericho goes for Punk's GTS, but Punk is able to counter and hits the GTS for the victory. This was a very well done match. Both Punk and Jericho left it in the ring and told a good story in the process. So far, both world title matches have been the highlight of this PPV. The storyline was set up for Punk to defeat Jericho and his demons, so this doesn't come as a shock to me. Punk will either move on to a new opponent or they will milk one more match between these two. Then again, I doubt we will see another Punk/Jericho match for sometime. 

Winner via pinfall and still WWE Champion: CM Punk

Match #7: Nikki Bella vs Layla; Divas Championship

There was a backstage scene where Beth Phoenix was determined to win her championship, even if it's on one leg. Eve arrives and says Beth hasn't been medically cleared, so she will not be able to compete tonight. Once Beth leaves, Eve says Nikki will defend her title against a surprise opponent. Bellas are a little uneasy when Eve says this, but she assures them that it's not Kharma. I'm kinda glad it wasn't Kharma. The internet will throw a temper tantrum for not being "smark enough" to figure out WWE's plans, but I want Kharma's return to be more of a surprise. The surprise element was gone the second the Bellas took the Divas title back, so I'm fine with waiting. Besides, it has been a long time since we seen Layla compete in a match. The match was very basic. The finish comes when the Bellas do the switch-out, but it fails as Layla hits a neckbreaker on Brie for the victory. Since Layla didn't pin Nikki, chances are they will use this as a plotpoint for tomorrow's Raw. That's my theory and I'm sticking to it. 

Winner via pinfall and NEW Divas Champion: Layla

Backstage with Johnny. He tells us that Triple H will be on the show tomorrow *suspense music*. 

Match #8: John Cena vs Brock Lesnar; Extreme Rules match

Brock was wearing a version of his UFC gear, but he did have some boots on. Wow……just, wow. Remember when I said some of the earlier matches could've been brutal, but didn't go too far? Well, this match would be the reason for that. This match was brutal and physical. Within seconds, Brock got an elbow strike on Cena's head and was busted open. There was a quite a bit of blood for this match. Cena was busted open from all over his head. Even Brock got busted open during the match. Some of these strikes were brutal. I haven't seen the WWE air so much blood since…..well, since we weren't in the PG Era. The medics had to attend to Cena twice to close up the cuts. The match told a great story. Notice how the audience was against Cena at first? Well, that changed by the time this was over. I think it was Cena's toughness that got people to support him. That, and Brock was just a complete a-hole. Brock was in-control for most of the match. Cena tried to use his chain early, but Brock continued to beat the hell out of him. Not once, but twice the referee was taken down during the match. Hey, the man gave himself a free pass from getting a fine, so I doubt Johnny will grow some balls to punish him now. Lesnar hits the F5, but the ref got taken out in the process. Brock had the match, but no ref to make the count. A backup ref makes the count, but only a two count. Brock takes out this ref as well. Yeah, Brock just does whatever the hell he wants. Brock brought in some steel steps and locked in the Kimura lock. Cena did sell the move very well, but maybe there isn't much selling if Brock is this wrecking machine. Yeah, Cena seems to be in trouble. There's only one thing for Cena to try…..

The finish comes when Cena clocks Lesnar with that chained-up fist. He hits AA on the steel steps and is able to sneak away the victory. Man, I would hate to be Brock's next opponent. After the match, Cena thanks Chicago for being a great audience and is glad he can do this in front of a wrestling audience. He also says that he will be going home for a while. It was reported on WWE.com that Cena has a torn rotator cuff. This is probably a kayfabe injury to take Cena off of TV for a while, but it can also be real. Yeah, I kinda dug myself a hole when I talked about Beth's "injury", so I'm gonna stay neutral on this one. 

Winner via pinfall: John Cena

Okay, so a lot to go over here. I thought the match told a good story. Yeah, I've been saying that phrase a lot tonight, but that's the best way of putting it. Now, because of the booking decision, there's gonna a lot of people complaining about this spot. Yes, I know a lot of the internet fans wanted Cena to lose. I know people will say it's bs that Cena won the match in two moves (Two moves that involved a weapon, so let's be fair) and overcomes the odds once again. I know people will bring up how they are sick of Cena's booking. I know people just want to see Cena turn into a bad guy and stop with the smiling Cena act. Believe me, I understand where you're coming from. In fact, I've voiced my frustrations with Cena's character in the past. Despite this, I'm pretty content with this decision. Cena was up against a wall and unlike the regular Super Cena act, this one actually looked good. Some will say that Brock looks weak at the end of the day. Brock looks weak? He busted open Cena and dominated most of the match. Brock looked fine in his match. He looked like what they were billing him to be, a destructive force. Cena needed weapons to defeat Brock. Lesnar mainly relied in his fist to do the job, so I don't buy the notion that Brock is weak after tonight. If anything, Brock was too confidant tonight. He could've ended this match a lot sooner, but he wanted to hurt Cena some more. In fact, you can say Brock costed himself the match since he underestimated his opponent. Now, I need to say this or else I'm gonna get a lot of angry comments. I know people are upset with the booking, but I wan to say this. When I watch wrestling, I not only want to see the quality of a wrestling match, but I want a good storyline in the process. If wrestling tells me a good story and keeps me entertained, I can give a flying rats-ass about booking. Then again, people do have to right to complain about some of the booking spots. I get your frustrations, but with a brutal match and a good story being told, I'm fine with how this match turned out. Then again, if Brock had won the match, I'm sure people would've complained about that. The IWC can really be the hardest audience to please. Then again, I have crossed that bridge a couple of times since becoming the WrestlingNerd. Yeah, you gotta watch that first step……and second…..and third…….Yeah, just bring some lumber and nails while you're at it. I may be the minority on Cena winning, but that's how it goes. Things do look different after tonight. It appears that Cena will be leaving for some time. How long that is, I have no idea, but at least one of my theories partially came true. WWE can use this time off to tweak Cena's character. As for Brock, he's gonna be pissed off for losing, but he also proved his point. He flat out doesn't like anyone and is only there to beat people up. 

Overall Impression:

So, how does this compare to WM 28? Pretty damn well, if I say so myself. I enjoyed WM 28 for different reasons, but something about ER really seemed to shine. The PPV got off to a fair start with the Kane/Randy match. I get that match wasn't for everyone, but it was a nice starter for the PPV. The PPV really picked up when the WHC match. It was a very good match and Sheamus and Bryan should be proud of what they did. Punk and Jericho was also great and told a great story. I know I keep coming back to telling a story in the ring, but that's very important in wrestling. It can mean the difference of your match standing out and the match dragging. I can see why some people didn't like this PPV, and it mostly has to do with the booking of the main event. I know a lot of people are gonna complain since they wanted Cena to lose or turn heel. I understand all of that and if you are upset with Cena winning, that's perfectly fine with me. Then again, just because Cena won DOESN'T make this a bad PPV. I try to look for something different when watching wrestling. I want to be entertained, have fun, see good action, and witness good storytelling in the process. Extreme Rules did all of that and then some. I liked what WM 28 brought to the table, but I think I like ER a lot better at the end of the day. If I have to give Extreme Rules 2012 a score between 1-10, I have to give it this PPV a 8 out of 10. Remember, I don't do decimal point scoring since I don't like it. I haven't given a score that high since SummerSlam, but what can I say? I really enjoyed this PPV. While the under-card was nothing special, some of it was decent at times. What really sold ER was the world title matches and the overall main event. These three matches were awesome and I think they were well worth the asking price. I realize a lot of people aren't gonna like the score I gave ER, but I see a lot of interesting things going on in WWE. With Cena taking time off and Brock still around, what will happen? What happens to Punk after he defeated Jericho. What does Bryan do next now that Sheamus had defeated him again? I think there's some interesting things going around and I think it can make for an interesting summer of WWE programming. Then again, maybe I'm in the minority after tonight. Well, if that's the case, you can't accuse me of thinking differently. That's gonna do it for the review and I hope you enjoyed it. As always, tell me what you thought of my review or tonight's show. If you enjoyed my non-sense, go back and check out my other articles. I will see you guys and girls on the next WrestlingNerd show. See you next time. 

WSNerd's PPV Scoring System:

1-3: Run!!! Run, for the love of God!!! RUN AWAY!!!

4-6: Slightly below average to slightly above average

7-9: A really great showing

10: It's perfect.....and it will blow your freakin' mind

WrestlingNerd's Official Score of WWE Extreme Rules 2012: 8 out of 10