WWE Extreme Rules 2018: Live Review, Results, Highlights, and Grades

Photo Source: WWE.com

Steel Cage Match

Braun Strowman vs. Kevin Owens

Result: Kevin Owens defeated Braun Strowman by “escaping” the steel cage

Rating: 3.25 out of 5 stars

After the first two matches on WWE Extreme Rules 2018 were pretty good (and the Kickoff matches were also good), Carmella vs. Asuka and Nakamura vs. Hardy brought things screeching to a halt. For the show to get back on track, “Extreme Rules” was going to need something extreme.

Enter Braun “I swear I’m not a sociopath” Strowman, and Kevin “I’ll do anything to pop the crowd” Owens. Good god, if this is what happens when I complain about Braun getting too “cartoony,” I take it all back. I don’t want blood on my hands from when he finally just kills someone.

Before the chaos, things were actually a little funky. Owens has gotten on Kurt Angle’s bad side by seemingly skirting fights. But once inside the steel cage, a much more dangerous environment than any of the other fights he’s been avoiding, now he wants to throw down with Braun? Weird.

But Strowman kept getting the upper hand, and Owens was constantly in trouble. Attempts to exit the cage failed. So Owens tried to even the odds with a pair of handcuffs. It would have been a great idea — but he locked Strowman up in front of the door. Big mistake, Kev.

The toss from the top of the cage to the floor was definitely something to pop the crowd, but I question the judgement of it. When I was 15, watching Mankind get tossed from the top of Hell in a Cell was awesome because I was a dumb teenager who didn’t think about anything. As a 35 year old man, I don’t necessarily want to see guys take stupid risks like that, as cool as it may look on a highlight video.