Welcome to another edition of Triple Threat from Smark Out Moment, where three of us get together to discuss three questions based on one big topic going down in the week of professional wrestling.
This week, Dallas Allsopp, Greg Coleman and Tony Mango review WWE Extreme Rules 2021.
Extreme Rules 2021 was billed as anything but extreme, with WWE deciding to wait until the eleventh hour before announcing an Extreme Rules match. But was the show a hit or a bust?
Question 1: Which match was your favourite of the night? Which was the worst?
ALLSOPP: The Usos vs The Street Profits was a perfect example of how well both teams perform when given the opportunity to shine. Montez Ford is an absolute treasure, and he was easily the MVP of this stunning contest. The worst match of the night was easily Charlotte Flair vs Alexa Bliss. Bliss has officially entered the realm of Wrestlecrap, and their match was a steaming pile of garbage!
COLEMAN: My favourite, and clearly the best match of the night, was The Usos vs The Street Profits. Those two teams put on a show, and the false finishes in the match were excellent. I would be happy with these two teams feuding over the SmackDown Tag Team Championship again in the future.
The match I enjoyed the least was Charlotte Flair vs Alexa Bliss. All the character work that has been done by Bliss to make her a supernatural threat, just to have her lose to Flair clean, is a real disappointment. Add in the Alka Seltzer tablet not dissolving, and you get the worst match on the card.
MANGO: The opening six-man tag or the SmackDown Tag Team Championship match were my two favorite of the night. They were fundamentally solid matches. Liv Morgan vs Carmella takes the worst spot. That served no real purpose and proved why it was on the kickoff.
Question 2: Was Sasha Banks getting involved in the SmackDown Women’s Championship match a smart decision? Who should be her first challenger upon her in-ring return?
COLEMAN: This is a situation where the decision being smart or not will ultimately be based on the outcome of Sasha Banks returning, and being injected into the Smackdown Women’s Championship feud. It’s never a bad idea to have the best women in the world in a high profile spot, and a Triple Threat between Becky Lynch, Bianca Belair, and Banks will be must see.
However, if the outcome of this is Lynch beating both Belair and Banks and adding to a resume that doesn’t need anymore accolades, whilst further cooling down Belair, then it’s bad. But if Belair ultimately comes out of the feud as the winner and Smackdown Women’s Champion at the end of it all, it will be a great way to help her get back on the path she was on before SummerSlam.
MANGO: I can see why they did it, but I still think it's a cop-out. This just drags out this feud an extra few weeks and it didn't need to go down like that. I would have had The Boss return prior to Extreme Rules and made this a Triple Threat match (with, you know, an extreme element to it). That way, Belair could have lost with Banks tapping or being pinned. You pretty much need to do that now that she's back but there wasn't a need to do it on television, nor Crown Jewel.
ALLSOPP: I’m not sure it was a smart decision, as Becky Lynch and Bianca Belair needed some form of closure for their feud. Lynch has now secured two tainted victories over Belair, which only serves to benefit her current heel persona. Belair doesn’t really benefit from this, as I foresee Sasha Banks will defeat her before moving onto a SmackDown Women’s Championship match with The Man.
Question 3: Did the WWE Universal Championship match use the Extreme Rules stipulation well? Was the match finish stupid or inventive?
MANGO: I'm a big fan of them actually doing SOMETHING to make The Demon King act like a different, special character. The heartbeat revival element was great and once they did that, they needed something to end this in a weird way to protect both Balor and Reigns. This wasn't quite "extreme" enough for my tastes as the one and only gimmick on the show, but it would have been fine had at least 2 other matches fit the bill. The finale with the rope break wouldn't have been how I would have done it, but at least they tried, which is more than WWE is willing to do lately.
ALLSOPP: Overall, this was a superb match, with a frankly questionable finish. The contest itself was paced well, with The Demon looking believable in his challenge for the title. In terms of the finish, I can only compare this to the finish to AEW’s Exploding Barbed Wire Death Match. Both were intended to be inventive and cool spectacles, but both failed in their execution. At least this finish somewhat protected The Demon.
COLEMAN: Roman Reigns and Finn Balor did the best they could to make their Extreme Rules match live up to the standards of WWE. They were severely behind the eight ball because the match didn’t warrant the Extreme Rules stipulation, as the rivalry has not been a long one where there was genuine bad blood. This match was made an Extreme Rules match because Vince McMahon looked up and said "God damn, it’s Extreme Rules and we don’t have an Extreme Rules match!” The match was really good, even though there was no reason The Demon had to be sacrificed at the altar of Reigns.
The finish was dumb on so many levels. We just saw a tag team title match where guys bigger than Balor climbed the ropes and jumped off with no issue ever being made or mentioned about weak ropes. The Demon used the top rope for a Coup de Grace earlier in the match, and again, no issue. But WWE wants us to believe that The Demon, with the weight of his resurrection, was just too much for that top rope. This doesn’t protect The Demon at all because he lost by pinfall. The finish was insanely stupid, and Balor and his Demon persona deserved better!
Those are our thoughts on the issue, but where do you stand?
Let us know your answers to these questions in the comments below!
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