BRM Reviews WWE Extreme Rules 2022

[Big Red Machine]

WWE Extreme Rules 2022 (10/8/2022)- Philadelphia, PA


OPENING VIDEO PACKAGE- I’m sorry, but any kid that age who can’t spell the word “extreme” off the top of their head- never mind needing it defined for them- is an idiot.

Michael Cole and Corey Graves announced that they will be the only PPV announce team going forward. Why not Vic and Barrett?

A WHITE RABBIT THING HAPPENS DURING AN ENTRANCE- They don’t do a good job of making these things feel like someone hacking the feed.

OLD-FASHIONED DONNYBROOK MATCH: Brawling Brutes vs. Imperium- 8.5/10
This is a No DQs match with some barrels and barstools around ringside. I had really hoped Vince being gone meant no more “thematic props provided” gimmick matches. They CUT AWAY from the first big chop of the match as contact was about to be made, just to show us people celebrating. Can we please fire Kevn Dunn now?
This was an excellent weapons brawl. Some of the big face-off spots were too cutesy for my liking, but the match was hard-hitting and exciting throughout. Sheamus got to put WALTER down, but wound up pinning someone else, showing us that Sheamus deserves another title shot (especially after he was cheated on Smackdown) without having to have the champ do a job.

THE MIZ LEAVES AN INTERVIEW WITH MEGAN MORANT TO GO INTERACT WITH GRITTY- The Miz was mean to Gritty, as everyone should be. Flyers suck.

EXTREME RULES MATCH FOR THE WWE SMACKDOWN WOMEN’S TITLE: Liv Morgan(c) vs. Ronda Rousey- 7/10
I thought this was shockingly good early on, but as it went on, things seemed to get sloppier, with their impacts looking worse and Liv not selling her leg anywhere near as much as she should have after those bat shots. What will stick with me the most about this match, though, is how ingeniously laid out it was. It worked perfectly well for your rooting interest no matter whether you were one of one of the people who finds Liv very likable and Ronda not, and were thus hoping to see Liv prove herself, or if- like me- you found Liv’s behavior after SummerSlam to be so smarmy and dishonest that rooting for Ronda became the only option, and you were hoping to see Ronda prove that Liv isn’t in her league (and took delight in Ronda mocking Liv’s fans).
After the match, they focused on Liv oddly smiling, both while lying in the ring and with a replay of her doing it when the bell rang. That’s obviously going somewhere. Hopefully it’s worth it, but I’m not optimistic.

STRAP MATCH: Drew McIntyre vs. Karrion Kross (w/Scarlett)- 6.75/10
They beat each other up a lot, then Scarlett pepper-sprayed Drew to help Kross win, so nothing was resolved. It was very frustrating, and not in a way that gets me upset at the heel.

GRITTY MOCKS THE MIZ LIKE AN ANNOYING YOUNGER SIBLING- Even Michael Cole declared Gritty to be annoying here, and he even took a shot at the Flyers as well. I knew that guy had a good head on his shoulders.

LADDER MATCH FOR THE WWE RAW WOMEN’S TITLE: Bianca Belair(c) vs. Bayley- 7.5/10
Ladder match stuff happened. Bianca overcame some interference and won. As I’ve said before, all Ladder matches have started to blend together for me unless you have a real focus on story.

I QUIT MATCH: Edge vs. Finn Balor- 8.5/10
They had a good, long, grueling fight all over the building, both refusing to quit. When they made it back to the ring, the interferences started; Judgement Day for Balor, and Rey Mysterio and Beth Phoenix for Edge. Eventually Beth got knocked out with brass knuckles, and the male Judgement Day members help Edge while Rhea threatened to concuss Beth with a Con-Chair-To. Edge, of course, quit at that point, and Rhea, of course, did it anyway. Edge’s promo on Raw pretty much gave this finish away, but the journey to get there was quite good. The finish got very good heat.

CHARLOTTE FLAIR VIDEO PACKAGE- long, but good
That being said, I was expecting a return date to announced.

MIZ ASSAULTS GRITTY, THEN GETS CHOKED OUT BY DEXTER LUMIS- Then Gritty kicked Miz was while was down. How is that a babyface thing to do?

FIGHT PIT MATCH WITH DAIEL CORMIER AS SPECIAL GUEST REFEREE: Matt Riddle vs. Seth Rollins- 7/10
I was a big fan of the first two Fight Pit matches, but this one didn’t do it for me. It was worked like a Hell in a Cell match with no pinfalls or weapons rather than with the submission-focus and intensity that the NXT Fight Pit matches had. It was certainly very good as a match, but it was nowhere near the level of special that the others were.

BRAY WYATT RETURNS- Am I being punished for something?
There were people in costumes of the puppets and all of a sudden there was mask on the announce desk that Graves and Cole were scared of. Someone with long robes and a Fiend mask was by the barricade… and then we went over to this area of the set that I guess we just hadn’t been looking at before. It was a life-size version of the Firefly Funhouse. The TV went on magically. Ole Anderson’s Black Scorpion voice cut a promo as a new character (I think). A door opened. The lights went off. A dude walked through a door. I guess it’s Bray in a new mask. Fans chanted “HOLY SH*T!” because they were apparently surprised by this thing that pretty much everyone saw coming. So the stupid sh*t that went nowhere for years and did nothing but kill babyfaces is back. Yay! What’s next? Will Tony Khan hire Delirious to book ROH? Will TNA bring back Vince Russo? Uch.


This was a mostly good show from WWE, despite the major downer of the end. You’re generally not in a bad spot when even the worst stuff on your PPV is merely disappointing but still PPV quality, and this show was that, but I do feel the need to throw up a caution flag that some of the stuff on the show (particularly Drew vs. Kross, but also the Raw Women’s Title match) didn’t feel as important as it should have. Next month is Survivor Series, which I will be watching for the first time I years because the dumb Raw vs. Smackdown stuff is gone. I just hope Bray Wyatt doesn’t make me regret that decision.