Taken to the Extreme

Firstly, I'm glad that the WWE Championship Steel Cage Match wasn't the main event, because on paper I still think Batista is a douche and the WHC Ladder Match was always going to steal the show. And Now we know why it was only 7 minutes long, because Batista got injuried even before he set foot in the ring. Taking that into account I still think they could have put on a better match, I was rubbish for a WWE Championship match and not even taking into account it was a Steel Cage Match. I think that the Steel Cage match Cody Rhodes and Batista made last Monday was better than the one yesterday. There was one shade of hope for me in this match, when Randy Orton tried to crawl out of the cage door and got both hands on the floor, it looked like Randy was reaching for something underneath the ring that he could use as a weapon, but he didn't so that was another disappointment. At other points in the match I thought they did alright and that included using the steel, I just thought that this match and especially the ending was very weak for a championship match. The moment when Randy could have easily escaped but he didn't and tried for the punt, was stupid because he could have escaped, retained, got a couple of weapons and along with Legacy destroy him, then punt him, so he could go and have surgery on Tuesday with no questions asked, so it will be interesting to see how they write the injury into the storyline. Anyway, I'm getting ahead of myself, lets go back to the start of the PPV, and the Fatal-Four Way Match for the United States Championship. This match on paper could have been good and was an alright start to the PPV, but there were too many botches in this one for me and it didn't actually get extreme at anytime. Except when Regal slammed Kofi down to the mat from the top turnbuckle, at first I thought that Kofi had seriously injured his neck, but from another angle it looked like nothing happened. This match was solid with the normal spots and situations that triple threat or fatal four way matches always posses. The end was rather out of nowhere, but thats Kofi Kingston for you, and I think that he's the worthy winner. MVP is rumored to be ready for a main event push sometime in the not to distant future, and he can't do that with US Title. I don't know what's on the horizon of Matt Hardy and William Regal, I don't think that Regal is going to get too far above his station on Raw and Matt has a great future, but unluckily for him, that should be now, he's come out worse of the Hardy vs Hardy feud, including a broken hand. Next up was the "No Holds Barred Match" for the Intercontinental Championship, this was a great match, not all that Extreme, I was shouting at Chris Jericho to get a chair earlier, but I forgive them for that, after putting on a fantastic match, worthy to be a bit higher up the card then the Hog Pen Match. When Jericho's music hit and he didn't come out I thought that Rey had already got to him, but when he was at the stall with the WWE merchandise it was déjà vu to his feud with Cena and yet again he gave a spotless promo, yeah it might have included all the same stuff, but it when to a different level this time, and please don't tell me that people really hate this guy, telling the crowd to stop touching him including one woman that looked like she would have punched him 10 times in the face and kicked him once in the balls. Highlighting that he is one of the best heels of his generation, anyway back to the match. This match was a great match with all the back and forth you wanted and all the theatre that wrestling doesn't get anymore. And by the time Jericho hit the Codebreaker and Rey in mid-air I was calling for more, which I don't normally do. The one thing that I thought wasn't good (and it wasn't the wrestlers thought) was whilst Jericho tried to rip Rey's mask off first time, and the camera looked right in on it and gave you a clear shot of Rey's face, not good production. The ending was one of the best of the night, Rey Mysterio's dropkick onto the chair that Jericho was holding was great, it just looked massive. The counter into the Walls of Jericho, I thought was every clever and his struggle to get the chair and fold it up was strangely good theatre. I loved the very end when Jericho somehow whilst in mid-619 he removed Rey's mask (how did he do that clean and off in one) and then rolled him up whilst Rey tried to cover up his shame and face. I was surprised that Chris Jericho became the new Intercontinental Champion but after a match and a finish like that, I can see why. Still can't believe that Rey got unmasked! Up next was the Samoan Strap Match after Punk and Umaga's epic battle on Friday, I thought that this was going to be a good match, even if it did have a strange gimmick, and in it didn't totally disappoint, yes it might have been a slow match but it worked and the ending was good and the best you could expect with the strap on (I still wanted to see CM Punk lock in the Anaconda Vice with the strap rapped round Umaga's neck). I can't really put that much past this match, I think this feud is over now after this match and their match on Friday Night Smackdown. Next was the Hardcore Triple Threat Match for the ECW Championship. Before the match Gregory Helms had an interview with "Captain Charisma" which was interrupted by Tommy Dreamer, and when Jack Swagger came in they just walked away, which I thought was good. This match was much better than the Fatal-Four Way for earlier in the night, illustrating that you can have a good gimmick match with more than two people. This match was a good hardcore match and when it ended, even though I was over the moon for the result, it didn't feel like the end of the match. And please no more trash cans, use a chair or table. I'm pretty sure i heard "WE WANT TABLES" chants coming from the crowd, give them tables, its a night of extreme and a hardcore match for the most "extreme" championship in the WWE. I just think that WWE think that kendo sticks and trash cans are the only extreme thing under the ring, and don't get me wrong they are, but bring some other stuff in, obviously they wouldn't have used ladders and I've got nothing against that. I enjoyed when Christian impersonated Tommy Dreamer doing the E-C-W Chant, rather heel-ish. Yeah, I'm glad that Tommy won, but if your going to hit Jack Swagger, actually hit him first time and not have to make up for it by breaking the whole bloody thing. Anyway, this should mean that Tommy Dreamer stays on at WWE, good, I wonder when they decided that Tommy should win the title and not leave the WWE. Next was the "Miss WrestleMania" Hog Pen Match, I'm not even going to bother with this, Santina won, Chavo and Vickie fell out, End of. (And also Edge and Vickie are apparently getting divorced.) Okay, I've gone over the WWE Championship Steel Cage Match. So up next is Raw's Main Event, Big Show vs John Cena in a Submission Match. At this point in the UK it was later than 3 Monday morning, so this was the only match that I drifted in and out of. But even after that I could see that this match was much better than the WWE Championship Match. In short terms it was a squash match with John Cena using the ropes to win (you don't get many opportunities to say that). The one thing I did pick up on is that when John Cena put Big Show's leg in the ropes so he could do the STF(U), I swear his foot slipped out before the camera moved away from that view and they didn't show his foot at all, or was that just me? I had predicted that they would have Cena overcoming the odds and I'm not sure if I mind that or not, It was a good match anyway, so it doesn't bother me that much. What I did enjoy was that every time Cena did a big move he couldn't just go for the cover that he had to find some way to get this giant to tap, it added good theatre and even surprised the audience into remembering that he can just hit the Attitude Adjustor and then call it a day. The Main Event (and rightfully so) was the Ladder Match for the World Heavyweight Championship, between two of the best ladder match competitors in history. This match stole the show. It was one of the best one-on-one ladder matches of all time, the last one was at No Mercy between Shawn Michaels and Chris Jericho, also two greats to the ladder match, and I think that at Extreme Rules Edge and Hardy one up'd that match. All the spots where perfect and lived up to the hype, keeping you on the edge of your sheets at all times and got everyone in the arena on their feet. Their use of the Ladders as weapons was expert, even if some of the ladders weren't up to it. I really enjoyed the Sharpshooter around the ladder, something you wouldn't expect from any else but Edge. Jeff dropkicking Edge and the ladder down the the mat from the top rope was strangely one of the smaller spots. Ohh, and the faceplant-suplex onto the upside down ladder must of hurt. When Hardy was hanging onto the title reminded me of one of the TLC or Triangle Ladder Matches that they had at a Wrestlemania when Edge speared him from over 15 feet in the air! Whisper in the wind using the ladder, that's cool. What you don't see lots of in ladder matches is big spots on the outside using the ladders and jeff and edge didn't disappoint, by both crashing and burning into the ladder that was set up across from the ring to the security wall. By this time, I didn't want the match to end, because it was so extreme and highflying, nicely illustrated by Jim Ross saying "Jeff Hardy's a human thrill ride". After that I couldn't believe that Edge (or Jeff for that matter) would ever be able to get back up. The ending was fantastic and got the whole arena on their feet, I couldn't believe how far Jeff pulled Edge through the ladder, how did he ever get out of the ladder. And just as Jim Ross is going to interview the new World Heavyweight Champion, a certain Money in the Bank Briefcase holder had to come to the ring and hit the GTS twice and ruin Jeff Hardy's celebration and leave Jeff Hardy's first World Heavyweight Championship Reign at a couple of minutes. CM Punk cashing in the briefcase was a surprise once you had really come to grips with what had just happened. And didn't half dampen the mood in the Arena and around the world. This is shocking considering Jeff is apparently is on the way out and this is a massive U-Turn for Creative. So along with the WWE Championship situation, does anyone know what WWE is going to do next with their top championship, well shouldn't it be that way in the first place. In conclusion, an alright-to-good-to-great PPV, it definitely wasn't what anyone was expecting, good.

And please watch this video of Tommy Dreamer reacting to winning the ECW Championship, here.