Extreme Rules First Thoughts SPOILERS

OK, so Extreme Rules is over and overall I enjoyed the show.

The event started with Punk v Orton. This told me early on that a) it was an unimportant match to the WWE and b) that Orton was a cert to win... regardless of the importance of otherwise of the match I don't think it was the right one to start the event as it was a slow paced affair and something quicker paced would have helped get everything off to a bang.

I missed the ending to this as my feed died by I am reliably informed by the great folks at www.straightedgereport.com that a top rope RKO did for Punk. Once again a disappointing end to a match between these two with the RKO used to finish things. While I had hoped that Punk would win an Orton victory should have been with a better ending than that and the match was too short to be much more than an after thought. It is disappointing because in a feud between two supposed main eventers Punk has been buried and didn't win a match at a PPV against Orton. Is he going to leave the company then?

The second match was one of two surprises on the calendar and was a table match between Sheamus and Kofi Kingston. It would have been nice if it had had a bit more of a build up and to be fair didn't feel tremendously more than a RAW/SD match. That said there were a couple of good spots and a decent finish of a Kingston leg drop through Sheamus, through a table. Still not one of my favourite match types but they did OK with it.

Third came the first drinks break - sorry, I mean country whipping match - between Cole/Swagger and JR/King. To be honest it wasn't too bad. Cole came out wrapped in bubble wrap, which was reasonably funny and the straps didn't take up too much of the match element. To be fair to JR he didn't do too badly in there and it was passable even with the King spending the latter stages outside the ring. JR locked a good ankle lock on Swagger before Michael Cole got a roll-up for a victory.

Fourth was the falls count anywhere match between Cody and Rey. The match was OK but I was hoping for something a bit better. A fair proportion of the match was taken up with the fight through the crowd to the backstage area... a part where you can never really see anything happen or care about the spots that they put in. The backstage stuff was good and there was an interesting finish with Rey spitting liquid in the face of Cody Tijiri style before a 619 and springboard splash for the victory. To be fair to the booking it did give Rey a victory to end the feud while the use of the liquid has kept Cody quite strong.

Fifth was the divas match between Layla and Michelle McCool (aka second drinks break). Before the bout we see Layla apologising to the other divas for being a cow before and them saying it is OK because they hate McCool even more. The action begins and there are some reasonable moves - it is hardly the Bellas v Eve here. All credit should go to Laycool for having solid in-ring skills. That said I couldn't enjoy it (despite Layla looking great as usual) because in the back of my mind I remembered that Michelle is pregnant. Now not wishing to be some kind of chauvanistic male about this, but I don't believe that she should have been competing given this and every bump I was worried for the health of her and her unborn child... I was really uncomfortable at the whole thing. Layla won with a crucifix pin and after she left Kharma debuted and walked (waddled) slowly to the ring. McCool did a great job selling the fear of Kharma who delivered a double underhook facebuster to her as a signal of her presence in the WWE. Divas v Kharma it looks to be.

Up sixth was the World Heavyweight title match between Christian and ADR. In my opinion this match should have been last (esp given the result) and it really lived up to expectations. Sometimes a multi-way ladder match can be better and have more spots in it but this had a great mixture and you can tell that these are to excellent ring pros who were able to deliver the right balance between bumps and ring craft. Hornswoggle's ladder got used quite a lot as well. To be fair to him ADR took two impressive bumps that I wasn't expecting him to do and there wasn't the feeling of Christian being the stunt man for the match. Everything was shared quite evenly and the ending was special. Christian was about to grab the title when Brodus interfered and knocked him down, then ADR climbed the ladder only to be interrupted by Edge tooting the horn of his Jeep... Christian pushed the ladder and ADR feel into Brodus and the little guy in the suit. Christian climbs ladder, gets title and massive pop with E&C celebrating together and then Christian getting enough time to celebrate alone.

The seventh match was the third rest break of the evening as Show & Kane defended the tag titles against Zeke & Barrett in a lumberjack match... sigh. Anyway it was fairly short lived. Zeke was booked really strong and Barret got pined before Zeke walked away. Can see him as a breakaway star now and think that he could have fulfilled the Mark Henry role as well - but isn't. Not much else to write about.

The final match was the John Cena special... I'm sorry, the WWE title match. I didn't think it should have gone on last but it did and was better than I thought. Unlike the ladder match Morrison was just there to be the spot monkey though Miz did take a very nasty looking double superplex... seemed to land on the back of his neck and the commentators seemed genuinely worried for a bit. Thankfully he seemed to be OK afterwards. There were plenty of dragbacks as you expect in a cage match which, unfortunately seemed to detract from much of the actual wrestling. The balance that ADR & Christian got these three didn't. That said I can hardly blame them, three way matches never tend to have a great dynamic to them and neither do cage matches.

There were a number of near escapes before Truth interfered to KO Morrison from the match leaving Cena and Miz. Miz tried to escape, Cena stopped him, Miz tried a top rope SCF but Cena reversed into a top rope AA leading to the 1,2,3. In hindsight and given the lack of time to OTL I am not surprised as it gives an easy rematch for them to have, plus it was a reasonable finishing spot that kept Miz reasonably strong.

Overall it was a good event though I would mention the following:

• I thought the order was wrong
  The opening match wasn't great
  Falls count anywhere matches can be dull if 60% of the match is moving from one area to another
  Christian and ADR are two of the best in-ring guys that the WWE have. If this is the end for Miz-Cena after OTL I would really like to see Cena v ADR with a potential submission match in future (not that ADR would have a hope of winning that mind)
  I didn't like to see a pregnant woman wrestling - it wasn't good
  The Corre is over now, right? If it was a puppy you would do the right thing by it
  Last minute matches feel, well, last minute
  A whole evening of gimmick matches doesn't work
  Gimmick matches feel restrictive unless they are booked in the right way
  The opening match should be a high paced, fun encounter - a last man standing match offers nothing like this
  Punk is either leaving the WWE or has seriously annoyed management somehow
  If that was Trent Barreta's final appearance on WWE television it will be a good way to go

Randy Orton/CM Punk
Great Match disapponting outcome if this was always the outcome they should have had Punk win at WM

Kofi Kingston/Sheamus
A decent match, and i absolutly hate Kofi

Michael Cole & Jack Swagger/Jerry Lawler & Jim Ross
Boring, suprised Cole got the win though

Rey Mysterio/Cody Rhodes
Another good match

Layla/Michelle McCool
Meh, obvious outcome, was thinking Kharma would debut tonight

Christian/Alberto Del Rio
Best match of the night with a couple of decent spots

Kane & Big Show/Wade Barrett & Ezekiel Jackson
Just there for a filler and give most guys getting Fe'd their last bit of TV time i think.

John Cena/The Miz/John Morrison
Decent tought the Miz would retain after R Truth entered the cage was class beatdown on JoMo.

It was quality from start to finish and it amazes me that they can go from what was such a poor Mania IMO to this in a month.
JoMo made a Cena v Miz match watchable which Rock couldn't do.
Awesome Kong aka Kharma finally made her debut with the diva division looking on in shock
Rey & Cody continued to make their feud the best in WWE at present
Sheamus & Kingston really worked well together with Kingston actually getting some of his spots on.
Would have been nice for Punk to beat Orton but if he is leaving then it doesnt make sense to give him the win
Tag match was used to build the Corre breakup, Zeke looked a beast and lifted Big Show at one point
Strap match didnt last as long as the one at Mania which was a relief

And then Christian v ADR ladder match.
He finally gets the belt, he steals the show, he actually got what was a shocking crowd (especially as the wrestlers were putting on a decent show) on their feet, surely Vince you finally see what the IWC have for years?

Christian for me has been one of the top 3 faces in the company since his return, I just hope ratings on SD don't nose dive

It'll be interesting to see who they bring into a feud with him. Hopefully it's Jack Swagger, they worked well together on ECW and Swagger is due to get back into the ME scene for reward for being the company guy in the Cole storyline.
I want them to keep Orton away from the title scene as long as possible but I imagine if ratings slip he'll be brought into the mix.

Not a good night to be a heel then. The only one to pick up a win is not even a wrestler!

It was to be expected after WM ending on a heel win.
Tonight is going to be one big USA show with Cena as champ and Osama dead.

News from ewrestling regarding Christian's win:

After Christian won the World Title at Extreme Rules last night, he got very emotional as seen live on the PPV. According to a backstage source, when he returned to the backstage area, he approached Vince McMahon in the gorilla position, hugged him, and said "Thank You" with tears in his eyes. He also embraced in a long hug with Edge and other WWE talents near the gorilla position after the match. He was genuinely emotional about winning the World title. Very cool stuff as he deserves it and has waited a long time for his opportunity. He's also well-liked backstage.

It was obvious that Cena would win the title as soon as Rock was confirmed, I'm glad Miz has dropped the belt, I'm intrested to see how he develops as a genuine challenger now

Great stuff Maccs, hopefully Vince will let his heart rule his head and give him a few months with the strap

Although I was peeved last night when Mis lost I need to remember that his reign was one of the longest in the last few weeks. In all honesty who really thought when he won the strap be would go beyond Mania? I certainly didn't.

Loved the fact Christian won, I must admit I marked like a 6 yer old getting Nohn Cena's tshirt.

Does anyone else feel that, despite holding the title for a decent length of time, Miz has been booked as one of the weakest champs in a long time? He looked weak against Lawler. He looked weak against Orton. He was an afterthought at Mania against Cena because of the Rock.

I can't honestly think of him getting one reign defining win. I know he may have been booked as a heel that got out of tight spots to retain the title...but it just doesn't feel like a proper title reign for me.

On a side note...I'm absolutely delighted that Christian is champ. Let's see what WWE do from here.

I got so many predictions right!

Orton to beat Punk - he did.
An impromptu match between Sheamus and Kofi with Kofi taking the US Title to Raw - he did.
Cole and Swagger to win - they did.
Mysterio to beat Rhodes - he did.
Layla to beat McCool - she did.
Christian to beat Del Rio and keep the World Title on Smackdown - he did.
Kharma to debut (albeit after a Diva's Title match) - she did.
Didn't know about no god damn Tag Title match...
Miz to retain the WWE Title...

I hate you John Cena! You ruined my predictions! You Sumbitch! Bah!

First ppv I have missed this year and it sounds like the beat one so far.
Story wise it's just a pity about the results, rey, cena don't need the wins and punk barely got a win against orton or cena as leader of new nexus. Miz has been champ for ages but never looked strong and had no clean win at any ppv.

I was hoping for miz to drop the strap against anyone but cena in some convoluted scheme to ensure he main events mania with rock and cena, by having MItb or winning the rumble.

Will be interesting to see what's next for orton, punk, miz

I would expect Orton to go on to feud with Christian. Not sure how they will do it with them both being faces though.

Miz will cash in his rematch clause and have a feud with Cena.

Not sure about punk to be honest. I'd quite like him to go after Cena...but he doesn't exactly have massive momentum to justify a jump to the title.

I would disagree that Rey and Cena didn't need the victories - established stars still need victories somewhere and Cody especially was still booked strong. It is the difference with Cody and Punk though, had Punk won at Mania most would have accepted him losing now but as it is he has been whitewashed (again) by a leading face.

Miz needed to lose the belt at sometime, though it will be interesting to see how the likely rematch goes. If it is booked that he re-gains the title at OTL and then retains at Capitol Punishment then it will be great for him and would set up a really strong summer feud with HHH for example. If he falls back into the midcard (esp with ADR now on Raw) then I am not sure where he will go from here.

I agree that he has been booked fairly weak... its a bit like Kurt Angle's first title run at the back end of 2000 where he hardly looked convincing. If they want to go that way then I am sure that Cena is enough of a company man to be prepared to go over Miz fairly cleanly.

I would also say that it is more of a concern as to where ADR will go from here. Yes he had a great match but that is 0-2 in title matches and is now over onRaw where he has no momentum to go forward. Will be be pushed back into the midcard?

David, I understand what you mean about a defining win but you can overlook the importance of Miz winning the main event of WrestleMania against John Cena, he became only the second heel in history to win the main event World Title match

Which is extremely significant. No doubt about it Gaffer.

But I think I'm more likely to look back and think "He won it because Cena was screwed over by Rock" rather than "Hey he was only the second heel to win a Mania main event".

I know WWE can't exactly highlight that fact...but if you hadn't pointed that out to me, I wouldn't have known. Which is the position most fans will find themselves in. He just looked like a weak champion.

Rey has been dominant on sd and cena has been superman destroying the whole raw roster, both are huge faces and multiple time world champions, cena already has the biggest feud in a decade and the biggest wm main in years lined up for next year, he also won the ec.

Miz has been in the wwe six years and done the hard yards to get there, ADR has been there a year I think?

ADR will prob feud with cena for the title now.

But yes with ziggler, miz, punk, ADR and now r truth heel someones nose will be out of joint.

It certainly is odd that Raw are stacked with so many mid and upper level heels at the moment. It is equally bizarre considering we have just had the draft so either the WWE didn't realise this or chose for this to be the situation. It would seem that either someone is going to turn face out of:

Miz
ADR
CM Punk
Swagger
Ziggler
R Truth

Or someone is going to find a way to move over to Smackdown. I wouldn't be surprised if they managed to get Miz onto SD as I think that he would be able to work well there as the No. 1 heel role. Could even be Cena v Miz at OTL with the stipulation that Miz leaves Raw if he loses.

This would pair up Miz and ARi again (not sure if this is a good move) so could be their thinking. Aside from that I think that ADR will be the No. 1 heel on Raw with Swagger number 2 and the rest mainly in the midcard.

Miz moving would give Orton and Christian as faces and Miz and Sheamus as heels... The more I think about it the more sensible it sounds though that doesn't mean it will happen!

With Zigglers "Generic CAW" look - he'll turn face. He'll ditch Ms. "Excuse me!" and become a fan favourite.

David, again I'd agree with your sentiment but screwed over or not beating Cena in the World Title Main Event of WrestleMania has to be considered huge, when Jericho talks about being the 1st undisputed champ no-one mentions it being a screwy finish

the-gaffer wrote:David, again I'd agree with your sentiment but screwed over or not beating Cena in the World Title Main Event of WrestleMania has to be considered huge, when Jericho talks about being the 1st undisputed champ no-one mentions it being a screwy finish

Another fair point.

I just can't help feeling that it was a weak title reign. Regardless of being only the second heel to win a Mania main event. Despite the fact it was Superman Cena that he beat to do it.

It was a defining win...in some respects. I just personally think they could have given him at least 1 decent feud without outside interference in the title match to add a little credability to it.

For the ages and the iwc it may be huge but to the casual fan and in reality he was an afterthought to set up cena vs the rock.

I mean have cena win by pinning jomo and centre a storyline on that but with miz unable to regain the title or something.

Noticed on WWE.com today that they are stating (and making a big point of by stating a few times) that this is Christians "first ever world championship"

Y2James wrote:Noticed on WWE.com today that they are stating (and making a big point of by stating a few times) that this is Christians "first ever world championship"

Didn't he win the ECW belt or has that been expunged from the records now?! That won't be good for Matt "ah wuz tha eh-see-dubya whorld champion and it does count" Hardy.

Yeah he did win the ECW but they are also discounting the number of world championships for the other side! all im trying to point out is that surely while not making a song and dance about it they surely could have respected the guys prior accomplishments by just not putting it in about this being his first ever world reign.

Definitely agree, unfortunately though that seems to be the only way the WWE want to book heel champions these days, even Randy Orton whe was an established star had constant help from Legacy in his last heeltrun with the Gold

the-gaffer wrote:Definitely agree, unfortunately though that seems to be the only way the WWE want to book heel champions these days, even Randy Orton whe was an established star had constant help from Legacy in his last heeltrun with the Gold

Strange, can't argue with cena winning and he is going to beat the rock. After all he is 33, committed and a cash cow. I dunno him squashing everyone every week (including stables) just makes it not matter. Rock got it handed to him when he was a much bigger star than cena and it made it better when he eventually turned it round.

It's a good way of pushing the fact they are heels. Always relying on help from outside influence, or cheating to get the win helps push the "bad guy" traits.

Saying that...a reign should not be entirely about that in my eyes. They should be able to have at least one clean win to prove that they are justified in having the title.

There are countless examples of them booking like this though. I probably remember JBL's reign the most in this example though.

Ent wrote:For the ages and the iwc it may be huge but to the casual fan and in reality he was an afterthought to set up cena vs the rock.

I mean have cena win by pinning jomo and centre a storyline on that but with miz unable to regain the title or something.

again I'd agree Miz and the title was an after thought but despite that i'd still consider it huge and something he should boast about, as for JoMo doing the job instead of Miz, i've never been a fan of the title changing hands without the champ doing the job

David Tails wrote:It's a good way of pushing the fact they are heels. Always relying on help from outside influence, or cheating to get the win helps push the "bad guy" traits.

Saying that...a reign should not be entirely about that in my eyes. They should be able to have at least one clean win to prove that they are justified in having the title.

There are countless examples of them booking like this though. I probably remember JBL's reign the most in this example though.

I agree. That was the point about HHH's reign early 2000's. Yes he had his faction behind him but he was able to legitimately go over Mick Foley to give his reign some legitimacy as well.

Sounds like a good PPV. Have the buried both Barrett and Punk? Surely that has to be the end of the whole Nexus/Corre storylines!

Does anyone feel that they got their moneys worth?

They should have had Nexus run out and hold Orton down for the 10 count. That would have brought them major heat!

the-gaffer wrote:

Ent wrote:For the ages and the iwc it may be huge but to the casual fan and in reality he was an afterthought to set up cena vs the rock.

I mean have cena win by pinning jomo and centre a storyline on that but with miz unable to regain the title or something.

again I'd agree Miz and the title was an after thought but despite that i'd still consider it huge and something he should boast about, as for JoMo doing the job instead of Miz, i've never been a fan of the title changing hands without the champ doing the job

That is true, but contrast miz's heel win to austins, everyone came out of that looking strong, after wm only the rock did.

What I was thinking of was cena beating him clean after but miz boasting how cena never beat him as champ and how he won on the greatest stage of them all. Not to be but it will be interesting to see where miz goes now, he needs someone with mic skills to go up against.

AberdeenSteve wrote:Sounds like a good PPV. Have the buried both Barrett and Punk? Surely that has to be the end of the whole Nexus/Corre storylines!

Does anyone feel that they got their moneys worth?

Me, i loved it Ste. Some great spots in the Orton, Christian & the cage match.
It was much better than Mania, but it makes you wonder why WWE didnt do this at Mania?

Ent wrote:

the-gaffer wrote:

Ent wrote:For the ages and the iwc it may be huge but to the casual fan and in reality he was an afterthought to set up cena vs the rock.

I mean have cena win by pinning jomo and centre a storyline on that but with miz unable to regain the title or something.

again I'd agree Miz and the title was an after thought but despite that i'd still consider it huge and something he should boast about, as for JoMo doing the job instead of Miz, i've never been a fan of the title changing hands without the champ doing the job

That is true, but contrast miz's heel win to austins, everyone came out of that looking strong, after wm only the rock did.

What I was thinking of was cena beating him clean after but miz boasting how cena never beat him as champ and how he won on the greatest stage of them all. Not to be but it will be interesting to see where miz goes now, he needs someone with mic skills to go up against.

He'll have his rematch and then feud with JoMo - You cost me the title, etc. The perfect guy for a good verbal feud

I agree with you on that one DT.
Just watched the match and it isn't great. Punk had been buried.

I am not happy


So which have the feuds have been truly sorted and where do we go for Over The Limit?

I guess Orton buried him because they are now split. Let the face win the feud and move on.

I just think that if Cena was allowed to use duct tape that Punk should have been able to use his faction. Would have generated amazing heat and set him up with a bit of momentum to take on someone else.

They did have a great match the raw after the rumble (miz won clean). So might not be awful, but Morrison and r truth are fueding.

I guess what I'm saying is that if miz had been made credible e.g. Taking rock put with the belt and scf at wm, then exchanged the strap with cena until ss and got MItb/RR and engineered a triple threat with cena and rock he'd be a star and cena could get a real superman push without diminishing the rock too much.

Just hope it's interesting, only back into wwe the last 6 months and miz has been a big attraction, hope he doesn't go into obscurity

Its just lazy booking

Watched the PPV now and I actually quite enjoyed it. The CM Punk match was awful, I really don't blame Punk for wanting to go away for a bit. He has been completely buried. He should go away for a bit so I can mark out like crazy when his music hits at the Royal Rumble.

Rest of the night was pretty good, the undercard matches between Rhode/Rey and Sheamus/Kingston were very good and hats off to the guys. The tag/diva matches were pretty poor but I am glad that Zeke looked strong as I would love him to go on a monster heel run now and get a match with Christian as I felt they worked well together when they feuded over the ECW title a few years back.

Now for the best moment of the night, Christian finally winning the big one. I marked out like crazy even though I know he had already won it. His moment with Edge was great too. I just hope that Vinnie gives him the run that he deserves.

Randy Orton vs CM Punk
Great Match was hoping for a punk win though.

Kofi Kingston vs Sheamus
Better match than I expected there was some decent spots

Michael Cole & Jack Swagger vs Jerry Lawler & Jim Ross
Didn't really pay any attention too this,terrible match.

Rey Mysterio vs Cody Rhodes
Another brilliant match.Highlight of it Rey using green mist on Rhodes.


Layla vs Michelle McCool
Heard that McCool was going to retire so wasn't a big surprise in this.

Christian vs Alberto Del Rio
Best match of the night easily Christian pulled of some brilliant moves and glad he won the world title.

Kane & Big Show vs Wade Barrett & Ezekiel Jackson
Dull match just put in too make up time.

John Cena vs The Miz vs John Morrison
Cena won the title no big surprise ends a excellent title run for Miz hope he doesn't now slip down the radar.

Yeah I've just watched the Christian match. Absolutely delighted that he's won it.

As said by someone else though...either Brodus doesn't know how to take a ladder shot...or he doesn't know how to blade. How messed up was he??

Here's a brief write up by Ryan Clark from eWrestling:

I just came back from the Extreme Rules Event from Tampa, FL and thought I would give some observations.

Crowd was hot and excited all night.

Sin Cara got a good response from the crowd for his dark match with Tyson Kidd. Sin Cara hit the his trampoline entrance perfectly so hopefully he's lost a lot of the nerves he's had from his debut.

Christian received the loudest reaction of the night when he grabbed the World Heavyweight Title to win the championship and received a great reaction when celebrating his win with Edge.

R-Truth was heavily booed during his interference in the Triple Threat Cage match and crowd gave him the "What" treatment during his backstage promo.

Decent Reaction for Kharma. It seemed like people were shocked at her size.

Crowd was about 60/40 for Cena.

After winning the WWE Championship and the show went off the air, Cena celebrated with the crowd and went towards the back, then came back out and stood on the announce table and stated that while winning the WWE Championship was big, that there was something bigger that happened and that Osama Bin Laden was killed, to which the crowd chanted USA.

overall I really enjoyed this PPV - more so than I thought.

CM Punk v Orton - firstly I was surprised this match opened the card but nevertheless it was a good match. Both men took some hard looking shots and bumps with the welts very visible on Punk's back. I thought the back drop onto the barrier and the RKO onto the commentary desk were excellent, the backdrop looking particularly painful; Punk dominated for much of the match (as I expected after his Mania performance) and it was good to see Punk look strong. I thought Orton having his head put in the chair and thrown against the ring post looked very painful. However I was slightly disappointed that Punk lost to Orton - for the second time in a row! Overall Orton has been booked way too resiliently for me. I understand he has just moved brands and the WWE may want him to go into SD looking strong but he has effectively buried the New Nexus and Punk since the EC, which I don't think is fair. Punk hasn't had a big win at PPV in what seems like forever now and despite his excellent peformances he really needs a win now. That being said the way Orton finished the match was very impressive with the crazy kendo stick shots to the back followed by the RKO off of the second rope, in all realism I don't think Punk could of kicked out of a pin after that.

Rey v Rhodes - I missed this match as I was having lunch but I'm glad from all accounts that Rhodes was still made to look strong.

ADR v Christian - WHC

This match started slowly imo but progressed nicely as the match went on. Del Rio took some bumps I didn't expect him to take and was very impressed by his willingness to take some big hits such as jumping off of the turnbuckle onto the ladder. When Christian finally won I thought it was genuinely emotional considering the road he's travelled to become world champion. However where on earth did all that blood come from on Brodus after he was knocked out of the ring? He looked badly cut!

Miz v JoMo v Cena - WWE title

I really enjoyed this cage match and was dissappointed when Cena won because ironically if Miz had retained he would have really looked like a champion overcoming the odds. He took a nasty looking double suplex off of the top rope and there were plenty of spots, mostly courtesy of JoMo. I fully expected the interference from R-Truth and hope he gets a slot in the Fatal Fourway PPV. The reason I was disappointed with a Cena win was not the fact that its Cena (although I really don't like him) but rather timing. We all know Cena has several more title reigns left in him before he passes on the torch to the next WWE poster boy but the timing seemed odd to me. If Miz had retained he would have looked strong and as WWE are big on Miz I thought they would have kept the belt on him for another month or two. Now either Cena is going to have a near year long title reign until next Mania against the Rock or (and I think this is more likely) he will lose it again before then and then win it back before Mania 28! Which means Cena will be an 11X champ going into Mania 28!

Enjoyed it far more than Wrestlemania, almost all of the matches were given a decent length and there weren't any daft backstage skits that I can think of to eat up time (apart from John Morrison's homoerotic limbering up on the stairs).



Highlights were the cage match, where I felt all three looked strong, and it was a good run-in from R-Truth even though we knew it was coming. The ladder match was excellent, although if I'm being picky there were far too many momentum changes in the match it made my head hurt! Great to see Christian win the big one but a real shame it has to come off the back of Edge retiring, the WWE couldn't even let Christian have that moment by himself but once again, Edge had to be there to steal the limelight! That won't matter now though if Christian is booked as a strong champion taking on all-comers.



Only downside I feel was the burial once again of Wade Barrett, I can't think of a single time he's been allowed to get some individual hits in against Big Show, he has to stand there like a moron getting beat down. Barrett proved a couple of months back on Smackdown that he can lift Big Show for Wasteland so I've no idea why the WWE won't give him that big PPV moment of hoisting The Giant onto his shoulders. I can only assume they prefer to have him built as the cowardly heel, rather than a monster heel - which is a shame, in my opinion.