WRESTLING REVIEW: Extreme Rules XIII

With all the support that Liv Morgan has been receiving online, it comes off as surprising that her match with Carmella was delegated to the kickoff show.
Carmella, a woman who since her NXT days has evolved into a workhorse for the WWE brand was back in the hated heel role again, touting around her physical assets that are subject to varied judgment. While Liv Morgan was short on talk and went straight for her opponent before the bell even rung.

If only this would have been an Extreme Rules match, then that would not have been a problem. But, since only certain matches have stipulations, and this was billed as a regular match, that was one disappointment from the gate from a pay per view that hasn’t exactly had the best track record with the WWE Universe over the years.

The next misstep was Carmella running her mouth for what felt like five minutes as she went on and on about her looks to a level of obnoxiousness where only she could take it. But Carmella is already over as a heel. There was no need but filler for her to cut this quick promo prior to the match.
That time could have been spent to show off more spots within the ring, which were sorely needed from Carmella’s corner since she super-kicked her way through the match like spamming Shawn Michaels on “SvR” with little small package roll-ups, and not much else.

Liv on the other hand had a plethora of moves to offer and truly showed off her arsenal on the pre-show. Bouncing her opponent off the table, running her into the turnbuckle, and pulling off spots with double-stomps and beating out Carmella in short melee match-ups, it was clear who won the battle of the blondes.
With the constant jibes from commentary about the upcoming Draft, it will be nice to see Liv become a Raw transplant and get put in a championship contention position instead of being placed on another pre-show over the premise of a vanity contest.

To truly open the show was a traditional six man tag match, which appeared oddly booked since both the current WWE champ and the former were put in contention, along with former champs in AJ Styles & Kofi Kingston who jobbed for a majority of the match saving the biggest spots for the ubiquitous big men. Though, both the outliers in Xavier Woods & Omas provided a draw unlike any other through their dark horse energy : Woods with his crazy acrobatics and poise and Omas with his impossibly intimidating physical frame.

Much time was spent watching Kingston & Styles job, but as the action began to break down, Big E began to shine and truly show why he deserves to hold the big gold at this time. Having the heels fall to ego leading to their dissension was the best decision, falling in line with rumors of Lashely turning face. But though I am not a Lashley supporter, I am not remiss to see that he performs strongest as a heel; and I think it would be a good time to have him play mid-card for a bit, as Big E continues to enjoy and show-out in his hard fought spotlight.

It’s silly to book two tag matches in a row, but Usos vs. Street Profits were up next. Dawkins got very technical pulling off corkscrews’ into neck breakers’, as Ford was able to conduct a tribute to the recovering Triple H with a Suck It Blockbuster from the top rope ! But, all the technical skill was no match for the typical tactics of the Usos which essentially amounts to pure exploitation of weak spots : specifically Ford’s taped up ribs. Ford got beat to a pulp taking double Samoan drops and kicks to the face in tandem. It was a slaughter that was uninspiring, especially with the struggle of Ford and Dawkins reaching out for each other at the top of the match like a Michelangelo painting. That image epitomized the match and the Profits quest for the gold. But once more, the Usos retained through pure brutality in another match with no crazy stipulations on a PPV called “Extreme Rules” where even the crowd chanted (begged) for tables (the most tame of props) in the middle of this match that easily could have been contested at a house show.

Ohio was starving for real action at this point to live up to the pay per view’s name. They didn’t get it as the only foreign object within the next match was a doll.
The second blonde vs. blonde match of the night, at least Flair had the since to switch up her hairstyle for once. Commentary did Bliss a disservice, not even mentioning once that she was the hometown hero in Columbus, which explained why she was cheered during and after her losing effort. Yes Flair was right, the doll (as was this storyline) is and will forever be stupid. After Flair ran through Bliss without much effort, her loss in her hometown should not be for nothing and should instead serve as a complete revamp for her character.

Bliss still isn’t as talented as the rest of the roster, but at least she was able to roll through a “Natural Selection”, and that’s something in what only amounted to a glorified squash match; strictly because Columbus was what the competitor once called home. Richochet and Mustafa Ali easily could have replaced the vets in Hardy and Sheamus during the U.S. title match, another match that made more sense in a house match slot, despite the caliber of the competitors featured.
It’s sad to see veterans become enhancement talent at a PPV when other guys in the locker room have the skill to build up their name, and yet wrestlers like Ali & Richochet are still used as just Battle Royale fodder. There were some close calls and way too much showboating from already established stars, but Priest walked away champ, which was the right move even though the Ohio crowd wanted the same old same old as Hardy received a majority of the adoration throughout the run of the underwhelming triple threat program. Finally, it was time for what should have been the main event with Bianca Belair in the chase to regain the title she lost in under a minute at SummerSlam over a rookie mistake.

Throughout the promo package on to the start of the match, the rookie mistake of the “handshake” was played up, but Belair wrestled as the pro she is.
Becky on the other hand, showed ring rust and ended up defaulting to leg drops like she was Hulk Hogan and this was her early Smackdown days. This wasn’t that time and as far as I know, Becky never trained in Hollywood. Belair once again carried a majority of the match just as she carried Becky to bust out of the devastating “Dis-armHer”. And then Belair was robbed for the second PPV in a row, but it was welcome this time around – because Sasha Banks decided to return in a tight silver and blue one-piece while decimating both champion & challenger, promising to see her fellow Horsewoman Friday in an attempt to get a championship opportunity and successfully drum up excitement for the upcoming live show.

For a disappointing pay-per view that didn’t have much to expect in the first place, Bank’s return was the highlight of the show and once again, despite this being one of the worst Belair & Becky matches I have seen (namely because of Becky’s ring rust), the Smackdown Women’s title match has once more become the best fight on the card in retrospect, because of the present action and the ignition of the aftermath onward to future stories. And even though Belair & Becky have showed no sense of chemistry yet; perhaps a triple threat in the coming weeks with the unbeatable charisma of Banks added to the fray can turn things around for Belair’s rivalry with the fourth and final horsewoman.

Adrenaline from Banks’ unexpected return carried the audience into the billed main event where Roman Reigns went head to head with the Demon. And though the Demon ressurected himself and ended up hitting Reigns with several kendo sticks at once, the final apparition lost his mystique and the match in a fight that even with it’s stipulations, could have easily (once again) found itself at a house show.

With the crowd screaming for Lesnar and that match being scheduled against Reigns for the next Crown Jewel, Reigns closed out the show as champ, familiarly, and there was nothing special here as Extreme Rules ’21 fizzled out. With TLC looming as one of the worse yearly pay-per views, at this point Extreme Rules, a pay-per view featuring only ONE extreme match, takes the cake as the worst WWE event of the year. At least Hell In A Cell broke it’s curse this summer, so better luck the next 365 Extreme Rules. Better luck next time.

SCORE : 1.5/5