WWE Extreme Rules (2022) -- Results & Afterthoughts

Six-man Tag Team Good Old Fashioned Donnybrook Match

The Brawling Brutes (Sheamus, Ridge Holland, and Butch) defeated Imperium (Gunther, Ludwig Kaiser, and Giovanni Vinci) by pinfall

Hard-hitting opener with a ton of brutal looking spots inside and outside of the ring. Surprised the hell out of me to see WALTER tossed like a lawn chair through that commentary table by Sheamus with that Celtic Cross powerbomb. I thought that Sheamus was dealing with back issues? If so, he's definitely making that look like a non-issue. I thought the finish was a nice touch where the Brutes all systematically took down Imperium as they needed a much needed win here. Imperium can and will easily bounce back from this so this loss here was fine.

Extreme Rules match for the WWE SmackDown! Women's Championship

Ronda Rousey defeated Liv Morgan (c) by technical submission

This wasn't neither Ronda nor Liv's best outings as they were trying to do spots and holds and they weren't gelling well together like in their previous matches. I understood what they were trying to do at points, but the execution needed a lot of work. That being said, I can't say that I agree with taking the belt off of Liv Morgan here. I can understand why they went with the title change as Liv has no business beating Ronda three times in a row as that kills Ronda's legitimacy credibility, but at the same, they shouldn't have put themselves in this situation in the first place if they had to do a finish where they protected both women. Liv passed out in Ronda's hold and didn't submit, even smiling after the fact (obviously hinting at possible change for her character going forward), so there's that too if they want to run this back - again - down the road for a fourth match.

Liv Morgan has improved a lot over the last few years and I thought what she did as SmackDown! Women's Champion was good for what it was worth. I think they could have gotten more mileage out of this than they did with Nikki A.S.H. the other year though, but that's just my opinion.

Sidenote: I loved Liv Morgan's Harley Quinn inspired ring gear for this match with the purple and green (Joker) motif going for it.

Strap Match

Karrion Kross (with Scarlett) defeated Drew McIntyre by pinfall

I have said this several times in the past, but I'm going to repeat myself here again since Kross has returned to the company. His ring work doesn't do anything for me. It's not bad - it's just pretty average and doesn't look "devastating" for what a bigger guy and alleged "monster"/hitman should be expected to inflict on his opponents. It didn't help that it came across that him and Drew McIntyre were having a clash of styles at points of this match too.

Fortunately, Scarlett saved this match from the moment that she walked out on stage wearing that killer outfit tonight. She definitely adds a much needed layer of depth to his game with her repeated involvement in this match. In the end, Kross got the much needed win here and that's all what mattered.

Ladder Match for the WWE Raw Women's Championship

Bianca Belair (c) defeated Bayley

Truth be told, I have not been keeping up with the Damage CTRL stuff that Bayley has been doing since returning with Iyo Sky (formerly Io Shirai) and Dakota Kai as her partners in crime. Bayley and Bianca tried to keep this interesting for the most part, but I felt that a lot of this was pretty dull. That's not to their own detriment either, but it's more to blame that I'm personally burnt out on the overexposure to these ladder matches that I feel like almost every company does every other week that it feels like is booked at times.

I was VERY surprised to hear Sasha Banks mentioned on commentary by Michael Cole at the start of this match, along with the fact that Bianca's ring gear looked like something Sasha would wear. That made me think that Sasha Banks and Naomi were on the verge of returning to the company (in this match no less) to help even the odds against Damage CTRL. Nope, not at all. Bianca fought off Iyo and Dakota on her own - even hitting them both with a stacked KOD.

What puzzled me even more was the fact that Bianca retained her championship by the time this was all said and done. I guess they want to drag this feud out a little more before the title change but it just felt off that Bianca retained - not that I'm complaining in the least. Bayley and the rest of Damage CTRL could use the shot in the arm to keep this thing interesting since it's not winning over any fans from what I have been hearing from weekly reactions to the programs that they have been appearing on.

"I Quit" Match

Finn Bálor defeated Edge

This was another match, much like Drew/Kross that didn't do much for me until the ladies (Rhea and Beth) got involved. For the vast majority of this match until the interferences started piling on, it felt like a standard match on Monday Night RAW or one of Edge's tried and true hardcore matches of old. I found myself zoning out at points until the interferences started occurring more frequently and I was like "Great, we're finally going to the races with this thing" and it finally got interesting. Commentary played up the story well about Beth Phoenix not being in attendance and Edge telling her to stay home for her safety, but low and behold, Beth came out to support her man otherwise.

And good Lord, listen to that pop when Rhea Ripley and Beth Phoenix stared down at one point of this match. If this company doesn't have them face off 1v1 at some point down the road, then these people are leaving easy money on the table. Beth getting involved and freeing Edge from being handcuffed to the ring ends up being a costly mistake as Rhea lays her out. Then Edge is held at bay by Dominik Mysterio and Damien Priest while Finn Balor taunts him with the sight of Rhea ready to serve Beth with a Con-Chair-to until he reluctantly says "I Quit" to spare Beth from that fate. That is until Rhea does it anyway and Beth sells that Con-Chair-to like death. Hand that woman an Emmy for that performance because good God on the storytelling there.

Judgment Day and Finn Balor desperately needed a big win here and they got one with this win over Edge. As of this posting (10/12/22), they confronted AJ Styles about joining their group only to be horrified that Styles has allied himself back with the returning Karl Anderson (current NJPW NEVER Openweight Champion showing up on RAW no less) and Luke Gallows to stand up against them. That should be VERY interesting going forward.

Fight Pit Match

Daniel Cormier served as the special guest referee.

Matt Riddle defeated Seth "Freakin" Rollins by submission

While I have enjoyed the Fight Pit matches in NXT, I thought this one was a little awkward for the most part. At this point of the show, it felt like they were rushing at various points of this match for time when I'm saying to myself, "They are on the Network/Peacock AKA their own streaming platform, so they shouldn't be rushed for time.."

As the match went on, I kept getting worried as I looked at how it seemed like the Fight Pit here looked SOOO much bigger than the one from NXT. Maybe it was just me, but it seemed massive in comparison. When Rollins and Riddle went up to the top of the structure, I had more reason for my concerns and fears as they kept doing spots up there and Daniel Cormier kept looking up there going like "They didn't pay me enough to climb up there!" while Rollins was playing it up that he's going to kick Cormier's ass if he doesn't get up there and count. Riddle hits a RKO from up there and Rollins sells it slowly climbing down the side of the cage and back down to the ring. Riddle jumps off of the structure and hits a Diving Senton/Diving BROton on Rollins in the middle of the ring that looks like it shattered Riddle's lower spine or broke his tail bone with the landing for sure. If he wasn't hurt off that then that was a miracle from God. That was so scary to watch live. He had to be hurt afterwards as they rushed to the finish and ended the match from here in an awkward manner.

I don't have a problem with Riddle winning in "his" match type, so that was another much-needed win to add to the list of many up and down this card. When this was over, I was more concerned with the condition of Rollins and Riddle above all else though.