WWE Extreme Rules: 5 biggest mistakes WWE made at the pay-per-view

Extreme Rules did just what the name of the event suggests, and gave us some extreme matches during a star-studded night.

While Braun Strowman and Bobby Lashley were busy destroying half the arena and mounting up the repair bills, there were many matches which were technically perfect and gave fans a good show.

While Aleister Black and Cesaro stole the show with their wrestling abilities, Finn Balor and Shinsuke Nakamura were not too far behind. Even Roman Reigns and The Undertaker made a good team who finally took down the villainous faction of Shane McMahon, Drew McIntyre, and Elias.

Even though there were a lot of positives during the night, WWE still committed some very major mistakes which made a lot of segments largely forgettable.

In this article, we will look at the 5 biggest mistakes WWE made at the pay-per-view, and how they have impacted many storylines.

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#5 Bayley’s win, Cross’ loss

What does WWE have in store for these two women?

While Bayley has been nowhere as hyped up as Becky Lynch, she was put in a 2-on-1 Handicap match against Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross.

For weeks WWE had been building up to this match and showing signs of how Bliss was manipulating and using Cross in her favor. Fans were expecting a massive turn or surprise during the match.

However, they got a fairly good match with nothing special and Cross taking the pinfall for the loss instead of Bliss. This was a big mistake as WWE could have used the story of Bliss taking the pinfall loss instead and given Cross a chance to break out of Bliss’ spell and go on the hunt for the title herself.

It was surprising that even Bliss wasn’t upset about Cross taking the pin to lose the match and embraced the superstar rather than showing her evil side and abandoning her in the process.

See WWE Extreme Rules Results, Highlights of event, & more on WWE Extreme Rules Results page

#4 Six-time Tag Team Champions

New Day is the better team, but Heavy Machinery could have done much more with the titles

Who doesn’t want an hour of New Day every day on television? While the New Day is by far the most successful and popular faction in WWE today, they should not have gone on to win the SmackDown Tag Team Championship at Extreme Rules.

The reason for that is simple - they already have enough popularity and spotlight at the moment with Kofi Kingston being the WWE Champion, and the belts could have helped Heavy Machinery rise to prominence or Daniel Bryan and Rowan stay relevant.

Instead, WWE gave New Day the opportunity to complete the set and made all three members champions to ensure that their merchandise sales remain on top.

With so many new tag teams coming in and WWE forging some alliances together, they should have given the spotlight to one of the newer teams and gotten them over before giving New Day a chance to hold the titles once again.

#3 Similar scripts

Joe lost his WWE Championship opportunity once again

Aleister Black and Cesaro tore the house down with an incredible match which saw Cesaro’s best heel side come out, while Black managed to keep his never-say-die attitude alive.

In the end, Cesaro took control and almost took the victory before a Black Mass out of nowhere helped Black pick up a return victory.

Fast forward to the WWE Championship match, and we saw something similar happen between Samoa Joe and Kofi Kingston. Joe proved to be as ruthless as Cesaro, but Kofi kept fighting on just like Black.

In the end, Joe took control and almost won his first WWE Championship before a Trouble in Paradise out of nowhere helped Kofi pick up the win.

Not only was the ending of the match a bit of a repeat, but it was also underwhelming as Joe could have been Kofi’s biggest threat to date. With that, we might have seen Joe lose yet another chance to win a major title, and we’ll see him get lost in the mid-card once again just like he did after taking on AJ Styles.

#2 The Kick-Off Show

Balor and Nakamura know how to put on a show

In a company filled with the most talented superstars in the world, it gets difficult figuring out who stands where. WWE faced a similar task as two world-renowned main eventers Finn Balor and Shinsuke Nakamura battled for the Intercontinental Championship on the Extreme Rules kick-off show instead on top of the card.

While it was somewhat a first for Balor, Nakamura has faced similar treatment in the past as he has fought for the US Championship on kick-off shows a few times.

Not only was the match announced last minute, but it also did not have enough story and hype behind it. Yet, these two stellar performers managed to make it one of the best matches of the night and leaves one wondering why two stars with such a huge fan base fight for the mid-card championship on the kick-off show.

Whatever the reason may be, we hope that this is just the beginning to their rivalry which will continue to give us the best matches of the year.

#1 The (Un)Expected Cash-In

Brock Lesnar became a three-time Universal Champion

Nothing speaks louder in the world of entertainment than money. This was proven yet again as Brock Lesnar showed up once again for merely 15 seconds and took home the biggest prize in WWE today.

Was it Vince McMahon’s way of giving Lesnar a birthday gift? Whatever it may be, it made little to no sense on a night when Seth Rollins and Becky Lynch were giving Baron Corbin and Lacey Evans their last shot at Raw’s biggest championships.

For months we’ve seen Rollins and Corbin go at each other, and just when we thought Crobin was finally out of the picture and we’d see other heels compete with Rollins in the coming weeks for the Universal Championship, the creatives decided to take it away from him.

What was the point of making clear that it was Baron Corbin’s last chance at the championship that Rollins held after the two had a number of matches when Rollins was going to lose the championship to Lesnar?