The WK's LIVE Extreme Rules 2017 PPV Coverage!!!

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WWE Intercontinental Championship
(If Ambrose is DQ'ed, he loses the title)
Dean Ambrose (c) vs. The Miz w/ Maryse

RESULT: NEWWWWW CHAMPION The Miz wins via pinfall; Miz pinned Ambrose following a Skull-Crushing Finale.

TIME: 20:02

THOUGHTS: Not a bad opener for Extreme Rules; the intensity between Miz and Ambrose grew as the match went on, exchanging holds and submissions, and Miz even busted out Bryan's Knee Plus for a close near fall, which drew a nice response from the audience. I especially liked that they went with a relatively clean finish rather than any of the DQ tactics Miz and Maryse used.

Speaking of which, those same tactics are what I felt took away from what was an overall solid, intense opener. It felt too much like filler, what with Miz trying to draw a DQ every couple minutes. If they had kept those tactics few and far between, it would've made for a overall better and more streamlined match.

WK KING OF PPV
Julie - 1/7
Ken - 2/7 (LOCK)
Mikhail - 0/7
Greg - 1/7
Nick - 0/7

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Mixed Tag Team Match
Sasha Banks & Rich Swann vs. Noam Dar & Alicia Fox

RESULT: Swann & Banks win via pinfall; Swann pinned Dar following a Phoenix Splash.

TIME: 6:20

THOUGHTS: The cool-down match from the opener, this was a fun little excahnge, with a fiery catfight between Sasha and Alicia, Swann shucking and jiving and...DIVING all over Dar, and a nice spot with Sasha hitting her double knee senton on Dar, followed by Swann's crisp-looking Pheonix Splash. A bit of harmless fun following the intense Miz-Ambrose match to tone things back down.

WK KING OF PPV
Julie - 2/7
Ken - 3/7
Mikhail - 0/7
Greg - 2/7
Nick - 0/7

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RAW Women's Championship
Kendo Stick on A Pole Match
Alexa Bliss (c) vs. Bayley

RESULT: Alexa Bliss wins via pinfall; Bliss pinned Bayley following a kendo stick shot and a snap DDT.

TIME: 5:12

THOUGHTS: This was awfully one-sided in favor of the champion, with Bayley only getting a modicum of offense and a tease of getting the kendo stick before falling victim to a series of shots and the snap DDT (much like her idol Tommy Dreamer falling victim to Raven many a time, ironically enough) and losing out on her rematch.

It's pretty clear that either WWE is high on Bliss as a performer, or sour on Bayley for one reason or another, as she was never really made out to be a threat to Bliss at any point in their feud leading up to this. Also surprising is the lack of Nia Jax's presence, as her bogarting Alexa and the Women's Title could have been a way to transition Bayley into a non-title feud following her loss.

WK KING OF PPV
Julie - 4/7 (LOCK)
Ken - 4/7
Mikhail - 0/7
Greg - 3/7
Nick - 0/7

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WWE RAW Tag Team Championship
Steel Cage Match
The Hardy Boyz (c) vs. Sheamus & Cesaro
 

RESULT: NEWWWWW CHAMPIONS Sheamus & Cesaro win via escaping the cage; Sheamus and Cesaro made it over the cage and to the floor before Matt and Jeff could get through the door.

TIME: 15:02

THOUGHTS: A decent cage match between these two teams that was hard-hitting and had the kind of risk-taking you've come to expect from the Hardys. However, it lacked any serious intensity; it felt like too much focus was made on escaping the cage, which I know was the point of the match, but it doesn't mean you make it the meat of the match instead of having a solid back-and-forth between two teams that have a pretty good in-ring chemistry.

I'm guessing that Jeff coming back into the cage (via Whisper In The Wind, natch) meant that he was back in the match, as Matt exited before the European duo, but he couldn't pull Jeff out before Cesaro and Sheamus' feet touched the floor. I think the escape clause took away from this encounter; if pinfall and submission had been stipulated in the match, I honestly think the match could've been mapped out better than it was.

WK KING OF PPV
Julie - 5/7
Ken - 5/7
Mikhail - 0/7
Greg - 4/7
Nick - 0/7

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WWE Crusierweight Championship
Submission Match
"King" Neville (c) vs. Austin Aries

RESULT: Neville wins via submission; Nevile hit a Red Arrow splash to Aries' back before locking in the Rings of Saturn for the submission.

TIME: 17:28

THOUGHTS: Another fun, intense match between Aries and Neville, this time based around their respective submission finishers. I liked that they teased their finishing moves at the beginning, then transitioned into using other holds and grapples like the hammerlock and the Figure Four. This did a good job of showing that each man is not a one-hit wonder in terms of submissions, but know many versatile holds that can wear an opponent down in different ways before going for a signature move.

Neville got the definitive, no-doubt win here over Aries, which to me most likely means he's moving on to other opposition; what that means for Aries remains to be seen, but there's the underlying tease of dissension between Neville and TJP, which could very transition into Neville's next title feud. Given the silent, but steady build of Tozawa through his feud and win over a former Cruiserweight Champion in Kendrick, we could see Akira face Neville down the line as well.

WK KING OF PPV
Julie - 6/7
Ken - 5/7
Mikhail - 1/7
Greg - 6/7 (LOCK)
Nick - 0/7

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Fatal 5-Way Extreme Rules Match
(Winner faces Brock Lesnar for Universal Championship)
Samoa Joe vs. Seth Rollins vs. Roman Reigns vs. Finn Balor vs. Bray Wyatt

RESULT: Samoa Joe wins via submission; Joe locked in the Coquina Clutch on Finn Balor for the submission victory.

TIME: 29:10

THOUGHTS: This was a great main event from these five performers. The match format was a bit obvious at times, in terms of the one in-one out formula WWE is prone to fall into with multi-man matches, but everyone involved put their best foot forward. The crowd never lost pace with the action, there were plenty of unforgettable moments from Rollins, Reigns and Balor's big rally segments, and even the finish was a pleasant surprise with Joe putting a sudden stop to Balor's near moment of victory and punching his ticket to facing Brock Lesnar.

With that match in mind, we need to understand the expectations going into the hard-hitting, balls-to-the-wall potential of Brock Lesnar versus Samoa Joe. Joe has been steadily and efficiently booked as an underrated monster on the RAW roster; if there's any time Joe should be pitted versus Lesnar, it would have to be now. Joe's been good, but we know this isn't the same Joe that tore through the TNA Impact roster in the early to mid 2000s. Age is a factor, and if WWE wants fans to have any sort of glimpse at the kind of brutality cum technical mastery that Joe can be capable of, Lesnar is the perfect foil for that scenario, as he can be equally as nasty and physical as Joe can.

With any luck, this won't be a steamroll by Lesnar, but rather a 8-10 minute brutal back-and-forth that sees Lesnar pushed to the brink by Joe. Even in the loss, this will boost Joe's monster credibility, he being someone in a full-time roster role that can say they took Lesnar to the absolute limit in a straight-up fight.

WK KING OF PPV
Julie - 6/7
Ken - 5/7
Mikhail - 1/7
Greg - 6/7
Nick - 2/7

MAIN EVENT "TIME-BREAKER"
FATAL 5-WAY MATCH
Time - 29:10

Julie - 45:00
Greg - 19:54 (WINNER)

Due to the ruling, Greg winning the King of PPV title means that the Big 4 PPV title defers to the second place winner, Julie.

NEWWWWW WK King of PPV Champion...
GREG DOLAN!

NEWWWWW WK Big 4 PPV Champion...
MISS JULIE ANTRIASIAN!

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