WWE Extreme Rules 2020: Results, Grades & Opinion

A.K.A. The One That Was The Weirdest Show Of The Year

Results:

• Kevin Owens def. Buddy Murphy – Kickoff Show
• Shinsuke Nakamura & Cesaro def. New Day (c) in a Tables match to become SmackDown Tag Team Champions
• Bayley (c) def. Nikki Cross to retain the SmackDown Women’s Championship
• Apollo Crews versus MVP doesn’t happen due to Crews having an injury
• Seth Rollins def. Rey Mysterio in an Eye for an Eye Match
• Sasha Banks def. Asuka (c) to win the Raw Women’s Championship
• Drew McIntyre (c) def. Dolph Ziggler to retain the WWE Championship
• Bray Wyatt & Braun Strowman’s Swamp Fight has no clear winner

Three Thoughts:

Swamp Fight Mind Games

The Swamp Fight between Braun Strowman and Bray Wyatt was another chapter in the cinematic era for WWE, and it was another weird one. Wyatt had a ton of mind tricks in store for Strowman. He had Strowman face himself somehow, and he had Strowman come face-to-face with a mysterious woman. That woman – a vision of Alexa Bliss, pulling from their time as tag partners in the Mixed Match Challenge. It was all very strange and ended with both men in the swamp. Fiend emerged from the swamp, so I guess he won? This match deserves a couple of re-watches to catch everything that happened.

Is … is that you, @AlexaBliss_WWE?#ExtremeRules #SwampFight pic.twitter.com/xYK32RsXn6

— WWE Universe (@WWEUniverse) July 20, 2020

Two-Woman Power Trip

Bayley Dos Straps is now joined by Two Belts Banks. There was a lot of confusion and Bayley interference in Banks’ match with Asuka. Eventually Asuka misted the ref and Bayley stole the shirt off his back. Banks used a belt shot and Bayley counted the pin for her best friend. Will it stand on Monday? Somehow Asuka will get another shot at the title. For now though, two friends hold all the gold in WWE’s Women’s division. The finish was bad, but the match itself was great.

Officially taking over the whole company! Jajajajjajajajajajajajjajajajajajja #2beltzbanks #ExtremeRules pic.twitter.com/TO5cjTmwNJ

— $asha Banks (@SashaBanksWWE) July 20, 2020

Rollins, Vomit, & The One-Eyed Rey

Before we get to the wildness of the stipulation and finish, this was a good match. The end of this match had Rollins push the eye of Mysterio into the corner of the stairs again and Rey’s eye came out. We only saw a glimpse of the eye, but it did not look good. It looked like a cheap Halloween prop. Rollins then vomited after seeing what he had done. This is part of the trend of the night: good matches, bad finishes.

Rey Mysterio's eye sharing the rarefied air that only the likes of Mae Young's hand breathes. #ExtremeRules pic.twitter.com/ntsGm165AT

— Alex McCarthy (@AlexM_talkSPORT) July 20, 2020

Grade: C+

This was a show marred by the bad finishes. Most of the action was good, but the finishes just didn’t land the way they wanted them to. Without the in-ring work of Asuka-Banks and McIntyre-Ziggler, this show would have an even lower grade.

One More Thing:

Dolph Ziggler’s stipulation choice was to give himself extreme rules, and McIntyre no extreme rules and no champion’s advantage. The deck was fully stacked against McIntyre, but he pulled it out. This was a fun match and now it’s time for McIntyre to move on to a challenger with a better shot at dethroning him.