EXTREME RULES '19

Drew McIntyre & Shane McMahon vs. Roman Reigns & The Undertaker

This was a lot of fun. Taker looked pretty damn good & so did all the others involved. The Elias interference added a lot to the thing too, as I feel like that's when it kicked into another gear. ***1/4

The Revival vs. The Usos

These teams have such natural chemistry with one another. They can tell good stories with their very different in-ring styles, and that's exactly what they did here. Jey's whole FIP bit ruled, as the Revival are very compelling working the heat on him. The hot tag fakeout w/ the ref not seeing it was awesome. Good match. ***1/4

Aleister Black vs. Cesaro

A very enjoyable sub-10 minute smackfest with good psychology around Aleister's kicks & his attack on Cesaro's leg. The finishing sequence was pretty amazing. ***1/4

Alexa Bliss & Nikki Cross vs. Bayley

It's not like a very good match or anything, but it's perfectly fine & probably better than it looked on paper. Pretty good action from start to finish. **1/2

Bobby Lashley vs. Braun Strowman

They fight all over the place, making good use of the LMS & extreme rules gimmicks. And it's real good stuff! It gets better as it goes on, the finish is awesome & I enjoyed the psychology with Lashley targeting Braun's hurt mid-section to gain control throughout. Definitely a good one. ***

Daniel Bryan & Rowan vs. Heavy Machinery vs. The New Day

What a terrific way to end the short, yet awesome tag title reign of Bryan & Rowan. The Bryan vs. Xavier battle in the beginning rules so much - Xavier becomes the FIP & it's great. Rowan just manhandles him in compelling fashion & Bryan is of course great; loved him yelling "OH THATS RIGHT, NO DQS!" when he was cranking Xavier's nose, which lead to him doing it even more viciously, and then also raking his eyes. What an absolute BASTARD. I love it. Otis was a really good hot tag too, doing his wacky shtick while running through Bryan w/ his power moves. Then the highlight of the whole thing was the entire ending stretch with Bryan going against Big E; E getting fired up by Bryan's lethal kicks & that slap was AWESOME, and that lariat was a great follow-up, because nobody bumps for those lariats like D-Bry. The finish was so, so, SO fantastic too with Big E catching Bryan straight to the Midnight Hour position as Bryan went for his backflip. Great, great tag team wrestling bell-to-bell. Easy MOTN. Bryan is the clear wrestler of the year 2019 at this point in my eyes, with so many great matches & performances. That's not to say that it's impossible to overtake him, but it's not gonna be easy. Best in the world baby. ****

AJ Styles vs. Ricochet

Styles as the heel made for a fun dynamic of him slowing Ricochet & his flippy stuff down with his vicious control, and it definitely was a joy to watch. Those hard irish whips into the corner, that vintage backbreaker of his & then that inverted Styles Clash finish - all around this was very good! ***1/2

Kofi Kingston vs. Samoa Joe

Really enjoyed this one. Joe controlled most of it, which is probably why I liked it so much, because I'll never get tired watching him be the dominant force that he is, menacingly talking trash all the way through. Him going after Kofi's finger because of their awesome SmackDown segment was absolutely awesome. They kept the thing really tight too with it clocking in at just under 10 minutes, too. Quality stuff. ***1/2

Baron Corbin & Lacey Evans vs. Becky Lynch & Seth Rollins

This was WAY better than I expected it to be. I was sports entertained through & through. Fun, carnage'ish action from start to finish with good use of the weapon gimmicks; chairs & then especially kendo sticks and tables. The finishing run with Baron doing the End of Days on Becky was really awesome too, followed by Rollins' complete destruction of him. Good match! ***1/4