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It is Brock Lesnar… again.
WWE Extreme Rules was a fun night of wrestling. You had multiple titles changes, surprising squash matches, Undertaker in a opening match, inter gender wrestling and a Money in the Bank cash-in. It set up the WWE well for an exciting Summerslam in August.
As I am still figuring out why Baron Corbin and Lacey Evans were still a part of a second straight WWE pay-per-view main event, I will try to distract myself and present my list of the top five most surprising moments of WWE Extreme Rules 2019:
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#5 Bayley Wins The 2 on 1 Handicap Match Clean
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Remember when Bayley wasn’t booked properly in the previous two years?
Bayley became a very badly booked joke when she couldn’t hit Alexa Bliss with a kendo stick at Extreme Rules two years ago. It has taken a very long time but Bayley is finally being booked as a credible champion again in 2019. All it took was actually have her win matches and take her feuds seriously. She isn't the child Bayley, she is simply a serious wrestler again. Wrestling can be really simple sometimes if you do it properly.
It is also pretty rare to see a 2 on 1 handicap match end with a clean win for the babyface wrestler. It didn’t even require any miscommunication between Nikki Cross and Alexa Bliss. That team worked well together in this match. Bayley simply out wrestled both of them at Extreme Rules. Here is hoping this surprising strong booking for Bayley continues. She certainly deserves it after the last few years in the WWE.
See WWE Extreme Rules Results, Highlights of event, & more on WWE Extreme Rules Results page
#4 AJ Styles Wins The WWE United States Championship
Ricochet sure had a very brief title reign.
A lot of people were excited about the possibility of a Ricochet-AJ Styles feud when it was initially teased at WWE Stomping Grounds. We had a few brief matches on Raw but the chance of a lengthy pay-per-view match was exciting. The match was decent but was surprisingly derailed by a lot of outside interference.
It does get AJ Styles over as a heel but is it smart to end Ricochet’s first major singles reign at a month? When he won the title it was portrayed as a big deal. To see that major event ended so quickly because of some cheating seems a strange choice. But it seems brief title reigns are pretty common in today’s WWE.
#3 New Day Holds Multiple Titles
It is amazing to see any wrestling group still be so successful after being together for nearly five years. New Day is constantly finding ways to keep themselves fresh in a pro wrestling world that is constantly changing. But to see all three members holding titles in 2019 is still a very surprising sight.
Kofi Kingston has been booked really strong since winning the WWE Championship. He simply doesn’t lose a meaningful match. We shouldn't be too surprised, but to see him take out Samoa Joe with one Trouble in Paradise in under ten minutes is still surprising. Kofi Kingston has been made a truly credible champion.
The other surprise was seeing Xavier Woods and Big E take the tag titles again. Big E looked like a real threat as he withstood the kicks and slaps from Daniel Bryan. It is amazing to see New Day constantly deliver and get so many titles as a team five years later.
#2 Baron Corbin Hits The End of Days on Becky Lynch
There has been a lot of debate about inter gender wrestling in the professional wrestling world. Is it acceptable to see men attack women in 2019 in the WWE? It can be problematic for many clear reasons. So imagine the surprise when Baron Corbin hit his finishing move on Becky Lynch at Extreme Rules.
It certainly was shocking in a way fans didn’t expect. The match itself was exactly what you would expect involving two average workers in Baron Corbin and Lacey Evans. Seth Rollins and Becky Lynch worked really hard with their two more inexperienced colleagues. But to have Corbin take Lynch out of the match and get Seth Rollins’ violent reaction was a very surprising way to end the show.
Or so we thought.
#1 Brock Lesnar Wins the Universal Championship
I think we are stuck in an infinite time loop.
Brock Lesnar, the part-timer, is now a three-time WWE Universal Champion. You certainly knew that Brock would be successful after he captured Money in the Bank but it is still surprising to see him show up at a minor pay-per-view. The Philly crowd was shocked to see him despite Paul Heyman’s clear warning. You cannot deny the Money in the Bank cash-in always gets a response.
It is surprising to see Brock Lesnar as Universal Champion again. You think the WWE would learn having a part-time champion is not a good thing for the Raw brand. Sure the ratings haven’t been great under Seth Rollins but you can’t really argue that Brock was helping the ratings as champion either. Here is hoping for some really good twists heading into SummerSlam.
