WWE Extreme Rules 2020: The Horror Show

WWE Extreme Rules 2020: The Horror Show

Orlando, FL - July 2020

CHAMPIONSHIP RUNDOWN: Coming into tonight's show, the WWE Champion was Drew McIntyre, the Universal Champion was Braun Strowman, the Intercontinental Champion was AJ Styles, the United States Champion was Apollo Crews, the RAW Women's Champion was Asuka, the SmackDown Women's Champion was Bayley, the RAW Tag Team Champions were The Street Profits, the SmackDown Champions were The New Day, and the Women's Tag Team Champions Bayley and Sasha Banks. Finally, the 24/7 Champion was R-Truth.

The official title of this show was "The Horror Show At Extreme Rules," a title that seemed to be baiting the audience a bit after a string of wrestlers and crew members came up positive for Covid-19 earlier in the month. 

Opening things up in a Tables Match were The New Day and Nakamura and Cesaro. I had mildly high expectations for this largely because Cesaro is almost always excellent in tags and The New Day, even if I'm a bit tired of the gimmick, also have one of the highest batting averages for good matches of any tag team in history (a remarkable feat considering they've been going since 2014!). This being a Tables match, though, meant that it wasn't fought under conventional tag rules. Early on, Kofi hit the heels with dropkicks into the barricade and steps that looked nasty and allowed Big E to set up a table on the outside of the ring. There were some good "table teases" (what else would you call them?) throughout, giving the match suspense and some excellent other spots as well, including Big E propelling Kofi into the air for a splash only for him to hit a table like a wall (but not go through it) and Big E's ever-thrilling spear to the outside. In front of a live crowd, one would imagine that this would've been a huge hit and that the finish, which saw Cesaro powerbomb Kingston through TWO tables on the outside, would've drawn a huge response. I wouldn't quite call this "must see," but it was one of the better in-studio matches I've seen since the WWE has been stuck in the Performance Center. (3.5/5)

After getting hyped up by Asuka, Alexa Bliss, and Kairi Sane, Nikki Cross challenged Bayley for the SmackDown Women's Championship. This one didn't have any crazy spots or any "This Is Awesome"-inducing sequences, but I enjoyed it quite a bit. It felt like a real fight, Cross showing a ton of urgency and following up every one of her big offensive maneuvers with a pinfall attempt. The things that hurt this match were all tangential; the constant jump cuts were nauseating at times and Corey Graves is not nearly as good as he thinks he is. The finish was classic heel shtick with Sasha sneaking Bayley her Boss knucks and Bayley utilizing them with the ref's back turned. Simple-but-effective match that made both competitors look tough and motivated and made the SmackDown Championship feel like a big deal - something that it hasn't always felt like (especially in 2018/2019 when the entire Women's Division seemed to revolve around Ronda Rousey). (3/5)

Bray Wyatt appeared next from his Haunted House Laboratory and hyped his Swamp Match against Braun Strowman later in the match. When we came back to the Horror Show, it was announced that Apollo Crews was unable to defend his US Championship due to injury. Instead, MVP made his way down the aisle (accompanied by Bobby Lashley) and announced that, due to forfeit, he was the rightful United States Champion. This was an "unofficial" title change, as the commentators noted. Nothing to really rate here. 

The Eye-for-an-Eye Match between Seth Rollins and Rey Mysterio Jr. was next. The stipulation of the match was an albatross here as Mysterio was forced to wrestle considerably out-of-character and two guys whose greatest strengths are their agility had to build everything around eye gouges, weaponry, and headfirst drops into posts, tables, and aprons. All while not being allowed to actually draw any blood, mind you. Conceptual flaws aside, this one held my attention and there were some cool moments. Unsurprisingly, Rollins shined as a heel - but in the history of wrestling, has there even been anyone easier to play off of than Rey Mysterio? Against Rey, Rollins could bust out absolutely any move he wanted (included a reverse powerbomb and a Falcon Arrow on the edge of the ring) and look like a bully doing it, something that doesn't come across as strongly when he's busting out the same moves against heavyweights. Mysterio's offense wasn't too shabby either, at one point busting out a pair of sick sunset flip powerbombs that sent Rollins back-first into the barricade and, later, delivering a Curb Stomp to the Monday Night Messiah. Mysterio also broke a kendo stick in half and drove it into Rollins' eye and even drove Rollins' eye-first into the steps (a callback to how this whole feud started), but none of this was enough to end the match (despite them being seemingly reasonable finishes). A mule kick to the balls saved Rollins, who then hit Mysterio with a devastating kick into the barricade and then a Curb Stomp as the "fans" booed. Rollins then grounded Rey's previously-damaged left e Iye into the steps again and the bell was rung, Rollins proceeded to puke in disgust of what he himself did. There were rumors that there would be a "CGI eye-gouging," but things didn't get that graphic (pun intended). In fact, the very quick glimpse we did see of a fake eye in Mysterio's mask was so brief, I missed it entirely and didn't actually see it until it was posted on Twitter. After Rey was helped to the back, the "fans" continued to boo and Rollins made his way to the back, seemingly sick with himself. Considering the rumors going into this one, I thought this was pretty darn good - though it may have been better had they just called it a Last Man Standing match or a No DQ match or an Unsanctioned Street Fight and had it end with a "ref stoppage" the same way. Not a "must see," but not bad at all. (3.5/5)

After a quick word from the commentators, Bayley cut a great little heel promo mocking Rey Mysterio and then introduced her tag team partner, Sasha Banks. This was followed by another bizzare, B-movie video package hyping tonight's Swamp Match. 

Asuka vs. Sasha Banks for Asuka's RAW Women's Championship was next. The start of this match suffered a bit from the high-stakes suspense of the previous bout, these two putting on a straight-up title match built around technical wrestling coming off as quite a change of pace from the brutality of what came before it. Babyface Asuka is also not my favorite iteration of her character, though, its not like her offense is any less devastating. There were some terrific sequences in this match - double-knees all over, counters, submissions, stiff backhands, release belly-to-back suplexes, moments of "real" struggle, just good wrestling. At one point, Banks countered a weird-looking super german suplex and then tried to follow it up with a splash from the second rope but tweaked her knee in a way that seemed like a botch, but maybe wasn't? Again, it was in these moments that the match felt like a real competition and not a sequence of rehearsed maneuvers, the realism shining through. While Bayley took out Kairi on the outside, Asuka and Sasha fought on, Banks even tapping to the Asuka Lock (with the referee's back turned). Bayley tried to get involved but got knocked out in the chaos by a big kick to the head. Her interference still played into the finish, though, as Banks grabbed a title belt, got into the ref, and Asuka ended up spitting her mist directly into the official's eyes. With the official out, Bayley came in and knocked Asuka out, stripped the ref of his shirt, put it on, and made the count herself. I doubt that finish will stand but Bayley and Asuka left with all the gold. A very deflating ending that was also hurt by the fact that it was the second time on the very same show that the title "changed hands" despite not really changing hands. With a better finish, this could've been something special, maybe even a Match of the Year contender for the company (in a pretty slow year, to be honest), but with such a bizarre ending, its hard to recommend it as a whole. (3/5)

The next match was for the WWE Championship, Drew McIntyre defending against Dolph Ziggler - who got to select the stipulation, but would not unveil it until moments before the match begun. After announcing the participants, Ziggler unveiled the stipulation - that the match would be fought under "Extreme Rules" for Dolph Ziggler only and that the title could change hands on DQ or countout. Even with that stipulation, this one should've gone under 2 minutes with McIntyre landing a Claymore early and thoroughly demolishing his former tag team champion. Instead, Ziggler took quite a beating but managed to sneak to the outside at every turn, eventually even taking control of the match by running McIntyre face-first into the post. But McIntyre recovered moments later and seemingly had Ziggler beaten - until he basically allowed Dolph to kick him in the balls and grab another weapon. This match being fought even remotely 50/50 did nothing for nobody. Ziggler came off as weak for not being able to defeat McIntyre even after leveling him with a half-dozen chair shots (and a Zig-Zag and an elbow drop through a table later on) and McIntyre, who should be an absolute ass kicker that is presented as being a top tier guy, came off "just another guy." For what this was, it was a fine - a good version of a match that shouldn't exist. Ziggler is too crisp and too good of a bumper to have a truly bad match, but with zero credibility, the finish was never in question (even with the odds ridiculously stacked against Drew). This same match against someone with actual momentum - Andrade after an undefeated streak on RAW or the Sami Zayn we saw with Cesaro and Nak as his back-up earlier this year - and this would've been 75% less tedious. Again, the work of both guys, the execution of several great spots, was too good for this match to ever be described as "bad," but its far from essential viewing or quality booking. (2.5/5)

Main event time - Bray Wyatt vs. Braun Strowman in the first-ever Swamp Fight. As a segment, this would've been somewhat okay, but as a match, it was a misfire. The Boneyard Match worked because it was over-the-top ridiculous and played tongue-in-cheek - from the instantly quotable trash talk to the Walker, Texas Ranger-esque fight sequences. It was a spectacle that fit the Undertaker's decades-old iconography. The John Cena/Bray Wyatt cinematic match (also from this past year's WrestleMania) worked because it was absolutely bonkers, a non-linear acid trip through the life and times of John Cena (another guy with enough history to support such a wildly symbolic presentation). Braun Strowman is a one-note monster as evident by the first set piece of the "match" - Braun getting attacked by his former self, who, aside from wearing a sheep mask and slightly different tank top, looked the exact same as he does now. This match hinged on Bray Wyatt wanting Strowman to revert back to his Wyatt Family days but has he actually changed in any way since then? Basing a months-long storyline on the premise that Wyatt once ruled the WWE with Strowman as his puppet would make much more sense if that actually happened, which it didn't. It would've also helped if Strowman had the ability to emote beyond heavy breathing, which really should've been muted a bit during post. On the other side of things, Bray Wyatt is a bit like a supernatural Dolph Ziggler. No matter what guise or gimmick or re-packaging they develop for him (and the creation of The Fiend was, initially, inspired work), his motivations are never clear and he's never all that dominant or clever. His performance here, returning as his least interesting and most exposed gimmick, was as muddled as ever. Speaking of muddled, unlike the surprisingly brightly-lit Boneyard Match, which featured several simple-but-effective set pieces, the "Swamp Fight" was not just too dark, it lacked any scope at all. If the idea was that they were brawling (which there was barely any of) through a nebulous bog, well, again, they bent space and time much better in the Cena match. The lone bright spot was the callback to Braun's brief alliance with Alexa Bliss (we finally "saw" Sister Abigail and she was seemingly a shapeshifter), but, oddly enough, even this felt a bit lazy - like they couldn't connect-the-dots to Braun's lengthy feud with Roman Reigns and Sami Zayn or tagging up with a 7 year-old, all of which were storylines of far greater consequence than his partnership with Bliss. I'm not saying bringing that history into this match would've been easy (or even made much sense), but somehow John Cena cosplaying as Hollywood Hogan worked in April. As a segment on an episode of SmackDown, this would've been too long but arguably interesting. As a main event of a Network special, it stunk. (0.5/5)

Don't let the middle-of-the-road 2.66-out-of-5 Kwang Score fool ya', WWE Extreme Rules 2020: The Horror Show was an aptly-titled disappointment. Most frustrating was that several matches were quite good...until it came to wrap them up and the writers opted for maddening anti-climactic finishes and, to make matters worse, repeated them. It was bad enough to see MVP award himself the United States Championship when Apollo Crews was unable to compete, but to see the same unofficial title change happen in the Sasha/Asuka match? The finish to the Mysterio/Rollins match was underwhelming, another example of the WWE booking themselves into a corner weeks ago and stubbornly refusing to adjust course once they realized that gouging someone's eye out on TV was probably not something they could execute well. The main event was the worst of the multiple Cinematic Matches the WWE has put on since WrestleMania, nearly impossible to follow, lacking in imagination, and serving as nothing more than a reminder of how weak and one-dimensional the original Bray Wyatt character was. Like most modern WWE shows, the level of wrestling is too high for this show to be completely devoid of any quality - I mean, any show featuring Cesaro, Rey Mysterio, and Asuka is bound to have at least a few awesome moments - but it still left too bitter a taste in my mouth for me to ever recommend a full viewing.

FINAL RATING - High Risk Maneuver