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

Team Hell No reunite for WWE Extreme Rules 2018. Photo Source: WWE.com

Follow along with our live review of WWE Extreme Rules 2018. Will it be a happy Rusev Day? Who is Raw’s Iron Man? All that and more awaits the WWE Universe in Pittsburgh.

WWE Extreme Rules 2018 is upon us at last. The superstars of Raw and SmackDown get a chance to go wild in Pittsburgh without so many cumbersome regulations. There’s a dozen matches set for the night — you can check out the full card and how to watch the show here.

Sure to be one of the highlights of the night is the WWE Championship match. Rusev finally gets a shot at the top prize in the company at Extreme Rules; he’ll face AJ Styles for the title. The Lion of Bulgaria has already promised it to be the happiest of Rusev Days. But will Styles prove to be too phenomenal?

How about the 30-Minute Iron Man Match for the Intercontinental Championship? Dolph Ziggler surprised everyone when he defeated Seth Rollins for the title a month ago. And thanks to Drew McIntyre, he managed to retain in a fantastic rematch. At WWE Extreme Rules 2018, one flukey fall won’t be enough. Who’s got the endurance and will to survive this match?

It wouldn’t be “Extreme Rules” if at least one match featured that stipulation. This year, it’s the Raw Women’s Championship match, pitting champ Alexa Bliss against challenger Nia Jax. Bliss cashed in her Money in the Bank contract on the night she won it to become champ yet again, earning the ire of both Jax and Ronda Rousey. While Rousey has been suspended for how she responded to the situation, she’ll be at ringside as a “fan” for this big rematch.

And finally, Roman Reigns faces Bobby Lashley.

Related Story: WWE Extreme Rules 2018 Predictions

Be sure to join us at Daily DDT right here once the show gets underway. WWE Extreme Rules 2018 begins at 7 p.m. ET on the WWE Network, with a one hour Kickoff Show at 6 p.m. ET.

Photo Source: WWE.com via Twitter

Sin Cara vs. Andrade “Cien” Almas (w/ Zelina Vega)

Result: Andrade “Cien” Almas defeated Sin Cara via pinfall

Rating: 2.75 out of 5 stars

Watching these two superstars face each other is like watching Gordon Ramsay in the kitchen. It’s more than just wrestling; it’s art. The speed, the fluidity, the apparent ease with which moves are performed — the only knock on the match is a predictable one, in that it was way too short.

Almas is clearly one of the biggest future stars in WWE. The ill-advised run as a happy-go-lucky babyface in NXT seems like it was a lifetime ago. And considering Almas is only 28 years old, how anything is a “lifetime ago” is kind of unbelievable. But here he is, looking like one of the most vicious superstars in the world.

You can’t discount Sin Cara, either. Since taking over the gimmick, the current Sin Cara has gone from an enhancement talent to NXT Tag Team Champion to forgotten superstar to next major Mexican star to disappeared. But watching this match tonight, as well as the Almas match on last week’s SmackDown, makes you realize Sin Cara can still go, too.

The crowd was a little dead, probably because half of them were still finding their way into the building. And one crazy spot with the Volador Spiral that almost went awry aside, everything was crisp. Overall, a great way to start the show.

Photo Source: WWE.com

Tables Match

The New Day (Xavier Woods, Kofi Kingston, & Big E) vs. SAnitY (Alexander Wolfe, Killian Dain, & Eric Young)

Result: SAnity defeated The New Day

Rating: 3.0 out of 5 stars

Well, things didn’t take long to get extreme, huh?

https://twitter.com/WWEUniverse/status/1018626971742318592

The tornado tag stipulation that’s understood in a match like this makes it so much better than even a standard six man/trios match. Just the addition of sheer chaos from bodies flying around the ring and ringside area elevates a match so much. The types of innovative moves teams can perform also expand thanks to everyone being a legal match participant at the same time.

Look at the New Day triple teaming Wolfe and Young with a twist on the Tower of Doom spot. You can’t pull that off in a standard match without either an incompetent referee or a complete disregard of rules of combat. But here, with no tags necessary, all it takes is incapacitating the third man — Dain — long enough to pull off the move.

Of course, being a tables match, you gotta have tables around ringside. There were plenty of teases as to how someone would go through a table, but that’s the one way that being on the Kickoff Show hurt the match — time. You knew that one of those teases could have been the match ender, because there just simply wasn’t enough time to do more with the match.

It was perfectly fine, and exciting, and the crowd seemed to like it. SAnitY gets that much needed first main roster win, and New Day is going to be fine even after the loss.

Photo Source: WWE.com via Twitter

The Best of the Rest

Lots of stuff went down on the Kickoff Show besides the two matches and video packages. Here’s some highlights:

• Charly Caruso not only announced Hulk Hogan’s reinstatement to the WWE Hall of Fame, but she confirmed he was backstage at Extreme Rules. *sigh* The less I have to talk about this, the better.

• Finn Bálor joined the panel of Renee Young, Sam Roberts, Booker T, and David Otunga to hype his match against Baron Corbin. Oh, sorry — “Constable” Baron Corbin. Interestingly, Bálor brought up that “to get what you want out of this business, you have to make enemies.” Finn also said that not only is he okay with Corbin being his enemy, he doesn’t care if Stephanie McMahon considers him an enemy either. Could this build to an eventual Triple H return?

• Shinsuke Nakamura is delightful. Although, I’d prefer someone claiming “mic difficulties” and a “bad connection” when Peter Rosenberg is asking questions. Nakamura is really good at pulling off this goofball jerk character.

https://twitter.com/WWEUniverse/status/1018626350637150209

• Dolph Ziggler and Drew McIntyre popped into the panel to proclaim their status as the main event, no matter what spot on the card they have. I mean, he’s not getting any arguments from me. (We all know what the “official” main event is going to be, and it ain’t this.)

Photo Source: WWE.com

Raw Tag Team Championship Match

Matt Hardy & Bray Wyatt (c) vs. The B-Team (Bo Dallas & Curtis Axel)

Result: The B-Team defeated Matt Hardy & Bray Wyatt via pinfall to become the NEW Raw Tag Team Champions

Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars

WWE Extreme Rules 2018 proper got under way with the Raw Tag Titles on the line. Momentum belonged to the B-Team after a bunch of singles match victories over Matt Hardy. But with championship gold up for grabs, there was no monkey business from Dallas and Axel. Role playing went out the window, which honestly is both refreshing and depressing.

You can tell Wyatt is still a little under the weather after his car accident. His first foray into the ring left him wincing as he tagged out, and he didn’t really absorb much offense. Not a fan of him doing headbutts (I’m not really a fan of anyone doing headbutts, to be fair), but whatever. It’s his brain.

It was a decent little tag match with a somewhat surprising finish. I really didn’t think there was any chance of Dallas and Axel leaving with the titles. But hey, it was a clean win, hard fought, and we got to see the Axe Man floss again.

Of course, we got to hear Axel butcher the English language for the thousandth time in his career first. And I really wanted Dallas to say he was going to Disney World like he did when he won the NXT Championship. But this is the best timeline.

Ultimatum for Lesnar

Kurt Angle announced a decision he should have made like six months ago — if Brock Lesnar doesn’t come to Raw tomorrow or agree to defend the Universal Championship EVER, he’ll be stripped of the title. The cheers from the crowd should tell you what the WWE Universe wants.

Photo Source: WWE.com

Finn Bálor vs. Constable Baron Corbin

Result: Finn Bálor defeated Constable Baron Corbin via pinfall

Rating: 2.75 out of 5 stars

Our own Randy Wentworth called for Baron Corbin to get a big push in his first “WWE Hot Takes of the Week” feature. And I wholeheartedly agree — Corbin has turned a corner since becoming Constable and cutting his hair. It’s like a reverse Samson from the Bible.

But the Constable (sorry, Stephanie McMahon’s personally appointed Constable) is like a new man. Even his matches seem better. Maybe it’s just who he’s been facing, maybe he’s got a new fire lit under his butt, but he’s on top of his game like never before.

The story told throughout the match was a pretty simple one. Corey Graves kept bringing up the concept of weight classes, which I get but don’t necessarily agree with, as a way to put over Bálor’s toughness. If Finn can withstand the assault from a guy twice his size, it’s a testament to his will even more than his ability.

The match was very one sided for the majority, which is exactly what it needed to be. Corbin needed to wear down Bálor to assert dominance. Every time Finn started rolling, Corbin shut him down. Corbin hit the Deep Six, but going for the End of Days proved to be his end. Bálor’s technique overcame the power and size advantage by reversing Corbin’s big critical into a small package — how fitting — for a shock victory.

It was basically a perfect layout, and a perfect finish. Kudos to everyone involved for telling a great story.

Photo Source: WWE.com

SmackDown Women’s Championship, James Ellsworth Suspended Above the Ring in a Shark Cage

Carmella (c) vs. Asuka

Result: Carmella defeated Asuka via pinfall

Rating: 2.25 out of 5 stars

Before the match got under way, cameras cut to the back for a limited skirmish between the Bludgeon Brothers and Team Hell No. It ended with Harper and Rowan decimating both Kane and Daniel Bryan, including smashing Kane’s leg inside a door with a sledgehammer.

As far as the Women’s Championship match, I think everyone knows how I feel about shark cage stipulations. I also think everyone knows how I feel about the current booking of Asuka. So for WWE to basically acknowledge all of these shortcomings early on in the match is the most self aware the company has been in years.

Within about 45 seconds, Ellsworth did the one thing you knew he would do inside a shark cage — pass a weapon on to Carmella. It’s like going to a James Bond movie for the quips and romance, and getting it in the opening montage. After that, you can actually pay attention to the movie. Same here — you know Ellsworth is going to interfere, so let him do it insanely early.

But it’s unsuccessful, because everyone on the planet knew he would interfere, including Asuka. So she foils the master plan, and beats up Carmella. And how do you top one weapons pass? By immediately doing a second one.

Of course, that one doesn’t work, either, so it’s like a rerun until Ellsworth does the only other thing in his arsenal — he picks the lock and escapes. Well, kinda, since he got caught under the cage like a piñata for Asuka to wail away on.

Trope subversion is always a good thing, but the bigger problem with it is that Asuka is feuding more with James Ellsworth than her actual opponent Carmella. Who, by the way, was the smartest person in the ring tonight, since all she did was bide her time for a cheap win. So Asuka loses again, it’s Ellsworth’s fault again, and Carmella retains again.

Photo Source: WWE.com

United States Championship

Jeff Hardy (c) vs. Shinsuke Nakamura

Result: Shinsuke Nakamura defeated Jeff Hardy via pinfall to become the NEW United States Champion

Rating: DUD

Jeez, I had just finished typing in the heading for this slide when the bell rang, and then the match was over. So let’s make some sense out of this.

Jeff Hardy recently said in an interview that his back is all jacked up. He hasn’t been doing the Swanton Bomb at live events because he’s trying to protect it for as long as he can. And it’s no secret that in the matches Hardy’s been having on SmackDown as of late, he’s moving a bit slowly and gingerly. So a quick match to drop the title makes some sense.

https://twitter.com/WWEUniverse/status/1018647218536869888

Nakamura, for all intents and purposes, should probably be the WWE Champion right now. If it weren’t for AJ Styles being on the cover of WWE 2K19, that would be the case. Instead, he slid over to challenge Jeff Hardy (possibly in place of Andrade Almas, if that story is to be believed).

But a low blow before the bell behind the official’s back? And Hardy gutting it out just to take a Kinshasa as the bell rang? Seems a little much. And when Randy Bore-ton — sorry, Randy ORTON’s music hit, my eyes rolled back so hard I could see behind me.

So when Randy attacked Hardy with a low blow of his own, nothing made sense. I’m guessing tuning into SmackDown on Tuesday will be essential to figure this out. Personally, if Nakamura and Orton don’t team up as The Ball Busters after this, I give up.

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.

Photo Source: WWE.com

SmackDown Tag Team Championship

The Bludgeon Brothers (Harper & Rowan) (c) vs. Team Hell No (Daniel Bryan & Kane)

Result: The Bludgeon Brothers defeated Team Hell No via pinfall

Rating: 2.75 out of 5 stars

After the backstage attack earlier in the evening, Kane was nowhere to be found at the start of the match. Bryan pulled a Braun Strowman (not the attempted murder stuff, the going for tag title solo thing) against the SmackDown Tag Team Champions, which doesn’t seem advised.

Of course, because I’m an idiot, my first thought was that The Miz — not booked on this pay per view for some reason — would be the one to come down and be Bryan’s partner. It would be brilliant, because you know that Miz would just hold that over Bryan’s head. “Hey, Dan, remember when you won the SmackDown Tag Team Titles because your NXT Pro had to save you? I’M BETTER THAN YOU, DANIEL!”

But instead, Kane came down mid-match in a walking boot. So much for dreams. The Big Red Machine actually did some work for about 30 seconds on one leg, which was impressive. But Bryan, despite basically wrestling a handicapped match, tagged himself back in and fell victim to a blind tag to seal the deal and keep the titles on The Bludgeon Brothers.

It was a decent little match, but my problem with it is that it doesn’t finish anything to me. Harper and Rowan won because they weakened their opponents beforehand. It wasn’t a fair fight, and you can’t end a program like that. But it has to end, because Kane needs to be done for his mayoral campaign — plus, his leg is kayfabe shot. So where does this go next?

Photo Source: WWE.com

Roman Reigns vs. Bobby Lashley

Result: Bobby Lashley defeated Roman Reigns via pinfall

Rating: 3.25 out of 5 stars

Color me surprised that this isn’t the last match of the night. Not only did it seem like the WWE thing to do, and not only did it seem like it was a de facto number one contender’s match for the Universal Championship, Monday’s episode of Raw seemed to position this as the match.

Reigns got a bit of a pep talk from the B-Team backstage, and it must have resonated because he spent most of the match in command. The match started veeeeeery slow — like, 1980s WWF main event slow. I’m also not sure how Lashley survived this match without a concussion (maybe he didn’t).

But as slow as this was at the beginning, things pickled up at the end. The last five minutes or so of the match definitely made up for the first portion. I mean, Roman just up and threw Lashley out of the ring, hard. He did that nasty looking leg drop as Lashley was trying to get back into the ring. And the Big Dog took a big overhead suplex onto the announce table, which looked like it hurt.

In the surprise of the night, Lashley picked up a 100% squeaky clean victory over Reigns via the spear. Like, who saw that coming? When was the last time Roman got beaten clean like that? We gotta be talking pre-Intercontinental Championship reign, right? I’m very curious to see where this goes next, because now I’m confused. But it was a lot better than many were anticipating, even with the slow start.

Photo Source: WWE.com

Raw Women’s Championship Extreme Rules Match

Alexa Bliss (c) vs. Nia Jax

Result: Alexa Bliss defeated Nia Jax via pinfall

Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars

This was a star-making match no matter how you slice it. But the star coming out of this is Ronda Rousey, who wasn’t even booked in the match. Not sure how I feel about booking a division around a single person, regardless of that person’s involvement in the match.

Don’t get me wrong, Ronda is doing great work in her young career. And it’s abundantly clear the crowd loves her. But if there’s a multitude of complaints about Roman Reigns always being the center of attention, then that same focus needs to be placed on criticizing how Rousey is handled, fair or not.

To get Rousey over like WWE did tonight, the match turned into a giant overbooked mess. The extreme rules stipulation definitely came into play, which is nice. And Nia Jax’s power allows for the stipulation to be utilized in a way unique to the women’s division. The press slam onto the garbage can? Great idea, because no one else in the division would be able to really pull that off.

Of course, there’s a lot wrong with this whole situation. Why are these superstars allied with each other? What do Nia Jax and Natalya have in common? Why did Natalya even bother to come out to ringside if she was going to be less than ineffective? Where was security when Rousey hopped the guardrail?

It was obvious what the end game was in the match, but the steps to get there were poorly thought out. Just because you get to your destination doesn’t mean it was a smooth journey.

Photo Source: WWE.com

WWE Championship Match

AJ Styles (c) vs. Rusev

Result: AJ Styles defeated Rusev via pinfall

Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars

Much like the Reigns/Lashley match, the WWE Championship match felt like it started really slow. But there was one big difference: Reigns and Lashley were slow for the sake of being slow, with no real limb targeting or game plan. Styles and Rusev each focused on a particular body part to soften the other up for a possible submission finish.

Throughout the entire opening, Styles focused his attack on Rusev’s left leg — the target of his Calf Crusher. Makes sense for a few reasons: Rusev is much larger than Styles, so the odds of hitting a Styles Clash were low, plus wearing down the leg negates Rusev’s kicks.

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Rusev, on the other hand, worked the back — bear hugs, suplexes, and the like. Again, it’s perfect strategy, because the Accolade wrenches the back. If you want to make someone give up, you attack an injured body part.

And that strategy from both superstars really made the match. Once the initial feeling out/wearing down process was done, and the pace picked up, it was an easy pick for match of the night to this point.

Even better, all that work trying to set up body parts for submissions proved futile for both men, and they had to adjust on the fly. Rusev sucked up the pain for a couple of Machka Kicks, and Styles won via springboard 450 and Phenomenal Forearm.

A-plus effort all around leads to great matches.

Photo Source: WWE.com

Intercontinental Championship 30-Minute Iron Man Match

Dolph Ziggler (c) vs. Seth Rollins

Result: Dolph Ziggler defeated Seth Rollins in overtime (4-4 after 30 minutes)

Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars

Somewhat surprisingly, but much appreciated, was the Iron Man Match getting the main event slot of WWE Extreme Rules 2018. When Reigns and Lashley went on earlier in the show, I figured (like I’m sure many of you did) Styles and Rusev would close the show. But no, Ziggler and Rollins get the nod, proving that the Intercontinental Championship is the most prestigious title in the company.

In just under five minutes, Rollins took a 1-0 lead with a La Magistral cradle. To me, that should indicate the high-scoring affair I’ve always wanted in an Iron Man Match. Less than four minutes later, Rollins hit the Blackout for a 2-0 lead, which was followed quickly by a 3-0 lead via DQ when Drew McIntyre interfered.

It’s actually brilliant strategy if you think about it. The amount of damage inflicted by McIntyre’s rampage may have cost Ziggler a fall, but he pretty quickly took advantage to draw to 3-2. It was like a sacrifice bunt in baseball. (Shut up, SABR nerds, it’s a perfectly acceptable strategic move!)

After a quick pin immediately after the Claymore Kick, Ziggler followed with a superkick to get back to down one with 19 minutes to go. And a Zig Zag tied things at 3 with just under 18 minutes left. So even though Drew was tossed from ringside following his assault, he paid tremendous dividends.

The Show Off started bending the rules a bit midway through the match, as Dolph took a 4-3 lead by scoring a pinfall with his feet on the ropes for leverage. Of course, the fans didn’t really care — all they cared about was counting down with the clock and making the Royal Rumble buzzer sound every. Damn. Minute.

It’s incredibly aggravating when fans whine and complain about “always getting the same main events,” and wanting new guys pushed, then when those new guys get pushed and go on in the main event, no one pays attention to the match. The WWE Universe is the worst sometimes. Remember when Kevin Owens had to get on the mic during a Raw commercial break to chastise fans for doing the wave?

Throughout all that, though, Rollins began his comeback, which looked like it was going to be all for naught. Ziggler kicked out after a suicide dive, a frog splash, and the superplex/Falcon Arrow combo Rollins does so well. Finally, with a little more than three minutes left, Rollins tied it up.

The last two minutes were booked kind of stupidly. Rollins went for a few submission holds, but there was way too much time left for it to be dramatic enough. Then Ziggler rolled outside the ring with a minute left, and the announcers said he was trying to escape with a tie. BUT WHY WOULDN’T THE REF JUST COUNT HIM OUT AND MAKE HIM GO DOWN 5-4? There’s no logic anywhere in that.

Rollins hit a Blackout with five seconds left, but couldn’t make the pin in time. So it’s a draw — until incompetent Kurt Angle orders sudden death overtime. A wild Drew McIntyre appears — it’s super effective! — and Ziggler wins in the first four seconds of overtime.

After having such high hopes for this match — which was really good, don’t get me wrong — the last two and a half minutes of regulation and the entirety of overtime just killed it dead. It’s WWE in a nutshell, you know?

Next: Extreme Rules: Hype Rankings

So what did you think of WWE Extreme Rules 2018?