4/26 Extreme Rules: Average effort from WWE

Adam Martin gives his review of WWE Extreme Rules for 4/26/15

WWE Extreme Rules PPV Review
April 26, 2015
By: Adam Martin of Wrestleview.com

WWE’s task of keeping you interested in the product has become another chore post-WrestleMania. It was even a chore pre-WrestleMania and even as far back as last fall. Extreme Rules was another attempt by WWE to keep the train rolling and it felt like an extremely (no pun intended) average effort by the company.

The company is filled with compelling acts. Neville’s main roster debut has been handled very well. Dean Ambrose seems to be reconnecting with the audience again. Sheamus as a heel act has been phenomonal. The feud between John Cena and Rusev has continued to sustain itself. Seth Rollins as the heel who always finds a way to win works. Yet, I find the overall storytelling aspect of this company to be taxing on the brain.

WWE, please make us care.

Feedback we received on Sunday night:

@LennyStarkNJ: “Wasn’t great. Barely good. It was okay. Cena/Rusev was really good. Cage was good for what it was. LMS=Yawn. #ExtremeRules”

@DustinHolland84: “Overall it was just ok. Nothing that made me say Whoa! but it had its moments. The main event was great. @WWEKane made it pop.”

Tim Kempter (via Facebook): “A bit predictable, but I thought the show delivered”

Seth Rollins remains WWE World Heavyweight Champion

Yes, we all knew this was a bit predictable heading in. Why even remotely attempt to go down that path when everyone was thinking the same. I kept thinking back to how hot of an act Randy Orton was becoming rebelling against The Authority last year and now we have arrived here. Pro wrestling is pretty simple and when you don’t strike while the iron is hot, you often find yourself in discussions of what could or may have happened. Granted, the Orton disappearance from television was calculated and planned for business reasons (even racking up another injury aside). That’s when you call the audible. The influence of Kane helped the storytelling and it’s obviously far too early to drop the Rollins as champion act. It’s just kind of a match that happened and won’t be a PPV main event that gets much of a second thought during the end of 2015 reflection.

Roman Reigns stands tall in Chicago

I still really want to find myself getting behind the Roman Reigns act, even post-WrestleMania. It’s just hard. Really hard. You have all the mechanics in place for what has the potential to be a fun act. Then you watch it. He’s not really doing anything “wrong” necessarily. The in-ring offense is fine and the crowd got really into the back and forth between Reigns and Big Show tonight. Underwhelming promo work aside (which has started to improve when he isn’t overly scripted), I’m again left wondering why I should be rooting for this character to succeed. He stood on top of a table and beat the Big Show. Cool. Now give me a good reason to care.

USA vs. Russia headed for one final act

I’ve really enjoyed this series between John Cena and Rusev. The visual of Rusev making his entrance on Sunday night with the chain around his neck was really well done. Rusev kicking Lana to the back after getting high praise from the Chicago fans was another great presentation. Rusev and Cena continue to have really good in-ring chemistry and the story writes itself. I quite enjoyed the stipulation this evening and thought it added to the physicality of the match presentation. The “I Quit” match in a few weeks at Payback should be fun.

Quick Hits

Loved the kickoff opener with Neville and Barrett.

Really good call to halt the Ambrose/Harper Street Fight and pick it up later.

The New Day winning the tag titles creates another fun tag series with Cesaro and Kidd.

Sheamus continues to be one of the most compelling acts in WWE today since his return.

Nikki Bella and Naomi worked hard tonight.

Daniel Bryan was missed.

Overall Impression

Nothing stood out as being really that bad. A show happened and it happened to be in Chicago. That’s really the best way to describe tonight. Here’s hoping creative has some fun things planned in the coming months or this could be a really rough summer for WWE programming.

Agree? Disagree? You’re in luck. We now have a new comments area down below where you can share your thoughts about Extreme Rules.

Follow me on Twitter: @adamwrestleview

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