WWE Extreme Rules 2010

For the original predictions page that this page is replacing, click here.

Good news for WWE - The RAW brand had made it back to America this past Wednesday night after being stuck in Europe due to volcanic activity in Iceland. Thus ensuring that the Extreme Rules PPV will continue as advertised.

Bad news for WWE - They lost a potential buyer of their PPV... alright, so I was never planning on buying the PPV, but man, that would have made for a fun time if half the PPV had to be scrapped on the fly due to the RAW crew being stuck in Europe due to additional volcanic activity or something.

In any case, here are my thoughts on this show. (Along with some 2018 notes for posterity.)


The show begins with Sheamus beating up on HHH backstage with a lead pipe while the entrance music is being played. The match is seemingly scrubbed for the moment. Oh well... so long, Sheamus. It's been nice knowing you.

There's a tag-team gauntlet where Big Show and Miz fight off three tag-teams. They beat R-Truth and John Morrison first, then they beat MVP and Mark Henry, and then finally they fall to the Hart kids in ridiculously quick fashion to earn a future title shot. I had to look that up, by the way, because of how much of a clusterfuck this match turned out to be... and it's only eight people!

CM Punk defeated Rey Mysterio with the assistance of a masked fellow in a match that if he were to lose, he'd half to cut his Jesus hair. Can't ever imagine a day when CM Punk has that oily mane chopped off and I won't have to for now. In any event, I really liked this match perhaps moreso than their Wrestlemania match since it was a little longer and had more room to breathe.

JTG defeated Shad Gaspard in a "Cryme Tyme Explodes" strap match. Cryme Tyme had some funny moments, but beyond that, they were never a hot team vying for titles or anything like that and once that team was caput, I had no reason to care and the strap match stipulation doesn't help matters either.

World Heavyweight Champion Jack Swagger... "how the fuck did that happen" is a question that pops up in my mind and I still have no good answer. (Not even in 2018.) But in any event, World Heavyweight Champion Jack Swagger defeated Randy Orton in a No Holds Barred match to retain the title. And then Randy RKOs Swagger for good measure because it's Randy Orton. Hey, you know what? This Swagger kid might actually have a decent future in this business if this match is anything to go by. It wasn't anything flashy or stylish; it was a pretty straightforward and entertaining little wrestling match of the no holds barred variety.

Sheamus defeated HHH in a street fight... which is quite the surprise considering HHH's dominance over the Irishman at Mania. This began a bit on the boring side, but once they got weapons involved, it became a hell of a lot more interesting. And if Sheamus is getting a win over HHH in a somewhat dominating fashion - something I wish they had done at Mania instead of a nothing show like this - maybe he might have a bright future ahead.

(Sheamus turned out fine.)

Beth Phoenix defeated Women's champion Michelle McCool in an Extreme Makeover match (a weapons match, essentially) to win the title. This was your lightweight comedy spot where we use lady-like items of destruction and make fun of Vickie because of course they do.
(Hindsight makes this match slightly better than watching it live when the Divas division felt so bland and worthless that nothing they did was worth caring about. Which is a shame because both girls deserved better... even Michelle McCool.)

Edge defeated Chris Jericho in a steel cage match. Perfectly acceptable little cage match and I'm happy to see Edge win this one and build on his resume. Jericho can afford to bite it every now and then since he's just that good.

WWE Champion John Cena defeated Batista in a Last Man Standing match to retain the title. Cena uses Duct Tape to tie big Dave's feet to the ring post, thus preventing him from standing and equally thus retaining the title. With the benefit of hindsight, it's a pretty inventive finish and a pretty good way for Dave to go out on if this turns out to be his last match. (He'd leave on the next PPV and the world would be a much sadder place.) A pity, though. I'd much rather more of this Batista than I would Cena at the moment since he's the more interesting of the two.

Extreme Rules 2010 was a fun little show with some pretty decent matches (and one cluster of a gauntlet match... and the strap match.)