WWE Extreme Rules: Top 10 Matches of All Time
By Tim Sherry
credit: wwe.com
5. Sheamus vs Daniel Bryan – Extreme Rules 2012
4 weeks before the 2012 Extreme Rules pay per view, Sheamus and Daniel Bryan had a match at Wrestlemania 28. The result? Sheamus defeated Bryan for the World Heavyweight Championship in a whopping 18 seconds. It was one of the worst booking decisions in Wrestlemania history and was a flat out insult to two of the best young workers in the company. To put it in perspective, Maria Menounos, got a 6-minute match on the same card. What a disgrace.
So when the rematch was booked for Extreme Rules, it almost seemed like the two men had something to prove to the world. And prove they did. Over the course of 23 minutes, a legitimate amount of time to contest a world title, Bryan and Sheamus battled in a scintillating war of attrition where both men were stretched to their limits. Although this was the Extreme Rules show, this match was contested in a 2 out of 3 falls match. Not exactly the violent setting for many E.R. matches. But the two young guns wrestled a clean yet punishing match that was very easily one of 2012’s best matches.
This was the type of match that Bryan and Sheamus should’ve had Mania’ to prove to everyone that the future of the WWE was bright. Instead, The Rock and John Cena got 30 minutes and these two warriors didn’t even get one. But they made up for that booking mistake in a big way at Extreme Rules and showed the world what could happen when you give the most talented people on the roster time to work. This was by far the best performance of Sheamus’ career and for Bryan, this was just the beginning.