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Richard Reacts To WWE Extreme Rules 2009

Date Added: June 08, 2009
Story By: Richard Gray

WWE held their Extreme Rules pay-per-view last night from the New Orleans Arena in New Orleans, Louisiana. What many considered to be a throwaway gimmick pay-per-view turned into one of the most news worthy shows of the year with four out of five titles changing hands. WWE creative pulled a swerve and had CM Punk "cash in" his title shot to win the World Heavyweight Championship. Below are my thoughts on last night's show on a segment by segment basis.

Kofi Kingston beat Matt Hardy, William Regal and MVP in a Fatal-Four Way Match to retain the United States Championship
This match was a basic opener that Kofi Kingston ran away with. His work was better than anyone in the bout and I completely agree with him retaining the title. I personally feel the show would have been better off opening with Chris Jericho vs. Rey Mysterio and this match going second. There was nothing notably bad about the match or anything that really popped out at me other than the work of Kofi. His agility makes him one of the best in-ring workers on the Raw brand. He hit a great standing dropkick that many of the workers could learn from.

Chris Jericho beat Rey Mysterio in a No Holds Barred Match to win the Intercontinental Championship
Chris Jericho started with a great heel promo from the concourse. I'm usually against talking on pay-per-views but Jericho cut such a good promo I thought it was effective. I also like how Jericho cut the promo while on his way to ringside so it didn't waste a lot of in-ring time. The match was very well done and as I already mentioned, would have been better served as the show's opener. I like how Jericho ripped Mysterio's mask off him to continue the heat he has been getting but it's still hard to have a No Holds Barred match without adding color. The lack of blood on this pay-per-view really hurt how believable it was. Jericho winning the Intercontinental Championship was no surprise to me as I was told a month ago there was talk about Mysterio dropping the belt.

CM Punk beat Umaga in a Samoan Strap Match
I'm not a fan of strap matches because of the limited mobility it gives the workers. This was no different as it came across pretty bad. I like how agile Umaga is for a big guy as he hit a stellar heel kick for a guy his size. Punk had to go over to build him up for the swerve later in the night. I absolutely hated the stipulation where they had to touch all four corners of the ring. Like I said in my coverage last night, this was a goofy stip match.

Tommy Dreamer beat Christian & Jack Swagger in a Triple-Threat Hardcore Rules Match to win the ECW Championship
This match suffered without the use of blood. It's hard for a bout such as this to appear believable when people are getting smacked in the head with trash can lids, only not to bleed. The crowd wanted tables and they didn't get them. There wasn't anything bad about the work but with the gimmick and no blood, it weakened the bout. I was surprised to see Dreamer go over but apparently he will be signing a new WWE contract. I must admit it was emotional for me to see Dreamer tear up in the ring and celebrate in the crowd afterwards. He's worked hard and deserves a chance to prove himself as ECW Champion.

Santina Marella beat Vickie Guerrero & Chavo in a Hog Pen Handicap Match to win the Miss WrestleMania crown
My oh my, these were the words I used in my coverage analysis last night. This was terrible and a complete waste of pay-per-view time. They scrapped bra and panties matches for this. Don't get me wrong, I still think Santino or Satina is the man (or the woman) but this came across very bad and wasn't funny. I'm not even sure a 12-year-old would find this humorous.

Batista beat Randy Orton in a Steel Cage Match to win the WWE Championship
This was a short bout, obviously due to Batista's injury. I found out this morning that Batista is not suffering from a torn triceps but is injured to the point where he is scheduled to undergo surgery tomorrow. You can get the full scoop at this link. Orton worked all the high spots and I was very surprised to see Batista go over. Obviously WWE wanted to keep everyone guessing but I would have rather seen Orton retain.

John Cena beat Big Show in a Submission Match
This was one of the worst matches of the night next to the Hog Pen Match. This bout went on what seemed like forever and was dry and boring. They lost the crowd several times throughout. The booking was horrendous as Show was booked to be dominant but somehow, some way, Cena was able to defy the odds and make Big Show tap out in the STF. As I noted in the analysis in my coverage last night, it's impressive watching Cena hit the Attitude Adjustment on Big Show but he can't rely on that to save every one of their matches. This was virtually the same bout we saw at Judgment Day. No wonder Cena draws so many haters as anyone with any intelligence at all will tell you this was very unrealistic.

Jeff Hardy beat Edge in a Ladder Match to win the World Heavyweight Championship
The Ladder Match main event was well done. There were a lot of crazy spots and I guarantee you both Jeff Hardy and Edge are feeling this one this morning. I like the utilization of so many ladders and really appreciate both Edge and Hardy risking it all to put on an entertaining contest. The crowd ate this match up and it came across very good on pay-per-view. Jeff Hardy hit a crazy mid-air Twist of Fate off a ladder and ended up winning the World Heavyweight Championship.

CM Punk beat Jeff Hardy to win the World Heavyweight Championship after cashing in his Money in the Bank title shot
After the Ladder Match main event I knew something was up when Jim Ross was in the ring past 10:50 PM. CM Punk's music hit and he came out with a referee. Punk hit GTS once, Hardy kicked out. Punk rolled him up again and Hardy kicked out. He hit one more Go to Sleep and pinned Hardy to win the World Heavyweight Championship. I'm glad they gave Jeff the respect of letting him kick out but I think it's an eye rolling call to have Punk reign as champ again this summer. Jeff's future with WWE seems to be unclear but I'd rather see him get a short run with the belt rather than another failed CM Punk reign. It will be interesting to see if they plan on turning Punk heel or if they just had him go over Hardy to execute the swerve. I would think if they wanted Punk to continue as a babyface they would have had him go over Edge, but we'll see.

WWE Extreme Rules 2009 was certainly a newsworthy show and you pretty much have to watch it if you want to know what is going on. There were some good matches, no classics, but there were some entertaining bouts. The Hog Pen Match was terrible and John Cena defying the odds to make Big Show submit just didn't do it for me. Everything else was pretty solid expect for the weird call to have Orton drop the title to an injured Batista. Maybe this will lead to Triple H's return on Raw? We'll see as WWE is certainly hoping the title change will help their ratings tonight.

Richard can be contacted at richard [at] grayinternet.com

Richard Gray is a professional wrestling journalist and frequent contributor to ProWrestling.com. He has been covering the world of professional wrestling since 1999 and has had the opportunity to cover ground breaking stories such as the demise of ECW, the WCW buyout, the Benoit tragedy, Bobby Lashley leaving WWE, and more. For more on Richard check out his web site, Wrestling News World.

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