Extreme Rules 2021: 3 things that went right on the PPV

While not as bad as last year’s Horror Show at Extreme Rules, the 2021 edition of the pay-per-view (sans-the Horror Show title) could end up being the worst WWE “super”card of the year, much like how most fans viewed its predecessor in 2020.

At this point, it’s what fans have come to expect from most WWE PPVs, but that doesn’t mean that this show was 100 percent bad. In fact, there were certain points where Extreme Rules seemed headed down the “show with an underwhelming build over-delivers” path.

So, where were these supposed bright spots? Well, that’s what we’re here to discuss today.

These are the three things that went right at Extreme Rules 2021.

Montez Ford shows superstar flashes again

Extreme Rules featured a SmackDown Tag Team Championship match between The Usos and The Street Profits. Unsurprisingly, the two duos meshed well, arguably producing the best match of the night (or, at least, the one that created the fewest headaches) and, finally, a conclusive result that leaves some room for a rematch (but not much).

That said, the biggest takeaway from this one wasn’t the Usos retaining their title. Rather, it was Montez Ford’s second showcase performance in three nights.

By now, most fans recognize that Ford will be a huge singles star sooner rather than later. This tag match showed more glimpses of why that ceiling is so high, particularly the sequence where Ford dove over the ring post to take out both Usos, rolled Jey Uso back in the ring, and hit a Frog Splash for a scintillating nearfall.

Yep, Ford’s time is coming.

Bobby Lashley vs. Big E booked for Raw

Following The New Day’s victory over Bobby Lashley, A.J. Styles, and Omos, WWE did something we don’t often see on their PPVs: Promote a match for their upcoming TV shows.

Between the matches, we saw two respective promos from Lashley and Big E where Lashley changed Big E to a WWE Championship match on the Sept. 27 episode of Raw, and Big E accepted after channeling Stanley from The Office.

Given that WWE gave no indication that Big E would defend his title on this show, putting him and Lashley in a tag match on the PPV (albeit an unadvertised one, which also isn’t smart) and taking some time to promote the big match for Raw is the best it could do to dig out of the hole the promotion dug for itself.

Now, let’s hope that match ends with a real finish.

Damian Priest retains the United States Championship

Despite how much the Colombus, OH crowd clamored to see Jeff Hardy win the United States Championship in this triple threat match with incumbent champ Damian Priest and former champ Sheamus, WWE made the right decision to have “The Archer of Infamy” remain the US Champ.

Surprisingly, WWE didn’t book Hardy to eat the pin in this match, which seemed like the safe bet. Instead, Priest rolled up his archrival, Sheamus, to keep the title in his camp. In that sense, it was nice to see WWE go against their usual booking tropes without jeopardizing Priest’s push.

Side Note: Hardy was very over in this match, which shows that WWE should protect him a bit better (like they did in this match) so that wins over him actually elevate the talent they want to push.