Lesnar and Heyman during their 'invasion'. Photo credit: WWE.com
WWE Champion John Cena kicked things off by stating that he will be able to defend his title at Extreme Rules against Ryback, he also made a series of lame jokes, with Lawler as usual cackling from the desk. Finally Cena got serious again towards the end of his speech when Vickie Guerrero joined him and called out Ryback to determine the kind of match they'll have over the WWE Title.
Unfortunately the champ then resorted to going back to making childish and unfunny jokes regarding Ryback's voice and Vickie wearing "Grandma pants" even though she'd just given him a fair chance to choose what kind of bout he'll have. Ryback retorted by claiming that he knew that despite his injured ankle, Cena's ego would cause him to still defend the title, and then logically chose a Last Man Standing match for Extreme Rules. It was a pretty weak start to the show.
Randy Orton pinned Damien Sandow in a fair outing. As with their match on last Friday's SmackDown, the wrestling from both men was solid enough but the bout was just lacking in excitement. The most entertaining thing about this was actually Sandow's very funny version of Orton's theme he sung on the way to the ring (check out an edited version here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=kgWUlU6N7f0). Afterwards Big Show then KO'd Orton with a punch as he was about to enter the back.
Chris Jericho brought out Tons of Funk (Tensai and Brodus Clay) to help critique the performance of Fandango in his following match up.
R-Truth won via count out versus Fandango after he'd had enough and decided to leave with his dance partner. The match itself wasn't anything special, and the judging didn't really add anything to it either. In fact, you can safely skip all of this. Before the match Michael Cole gushed that Truth is a man that "can sing and dance!" Clearly Cole has some hearing and seeing difficulties.
Alberto Del Rio won via disqualification versus Dolph Ziggler in an exciting back and fourth contest. Both men gave great displays, despite a few minor mistakes. The DQ came after Big E Langston dragged Del Rio out of the ring and threw him into Swagger (who'd come down during the bout with Zeb Colter who provided guest commentary).
Swagger then exacted his revenge by taking out Langston by forcing him into a ringpost, then Ricardo Rodriguez, Del Rio and Ziggler with a ladder. This was by far the strongest segment (including the bout) promoting the Triple Threat Ladder match at Extreme Rules so far.
The Shield (Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns) bested Kofi Kingston and Jimmy and Jay Uso in a decent six-man tag bout. Certainly far from their most exciting match, The Shield still delivered here with worthy efforts, as did their three opponents. Worth a watch.
Antonio Cesaro pinned Zack Ryder in a match the Swiss dominated. The action wasn't anything outstanding, but Cesaro as usual looked stellar. Afterwards Antonio questioned the level of competition he was receiving, and added that no one in the WWE could touch him when it came to ability in the ring. It was very well delivered, and you could believe each word he was saying. Now WWE should build on this and have him beat Orton on Main Event on Wednesday, maybe with Big Show making an appearance.
Via satellite Paul Heyman presented his self-recorded footage of his client Brock Lesnar's little trip to WWE's Headquarters in Stamford, Connecticut, where he made his way up to COO Triple H's office and trashed it. It was a fun watch, and witnessing Lesnar intimidate the employees and destroy Trip's belongings didn't get old. There was also an interesting moment where Brock paused to observe a poster featuring The Rock for the Royal Rumble, a feud with those two could be potentially interesting if Rocky returns.
Heyman then explained that after being Pedigreed on last week's Raw he was now going to stop holding back and instead encourage Lesnar in his attacks, and especially in maiming 'The Game' in their Steel Cage match. Triple H then came out and accused Heyman of knowing full well that he wouldn't be in his office that day, and called the ring his other office and dared Lesnar to enter it with him and try and do what he did to his other one in Stamford. It was a strong segment on the whole, from Heyman's superb promo work to Lesnar just being Lesnar.
Kaitlyn, Cameron and Naomi beat AJ Lee and the Bella twins in a mediocre and forgettable tag match. There was just no interest to be found here, plus couple that with some of the clumsy wrestling and you get the idea of the quality of this affair.
Mark Henry presented footage of his attacks on Sheamus over the last month and then challenged him to a match at Extreme Rules, so the Irishman joined him and also showed footage of his attacks on Henry recently and decided to challenge him right there and then to a fight. The two were about to square off until Wade Barrett made his way out for his scheduled contest with Sheamus.
Sheamus pinned Wade Barrett in a largely pedestrian encounter. I feel a lesser wrestler than Barrett would've been a better choice for this match, it did no favours to the IC Champion (almost forgot about that, didn't you?) that he was overshadowed by the feud with Henry and fairly easily beaten here. The bout wasn't terrible but there was nothing remarkable about it.
Afterwards Henry gave a convincing beat down on Sheamus after the 'Celtic Warrior' had taunted him by pretending he was going to chuck Barrett into him during their bout. Henry had grabbed a leather belt from an official at ringside and began whipping Sheamus, finally finishing him off by World's Strongest Slamming him.
Ryback beat Kane in a rather average main event. It may have just been me but Kane looked like he was struggling a little at parts here. I wasn't expecting much here and didn't receive it, both men did okay but I just failed to engage in it at all. The match came about after Ryback refused a match with Daniel Bryan due to his attack from The Shield, so Kane stepped up to take his tag partner's place.
After the main event The Shield made an appearance, so Daniel Bryan and John Cena raced out to repel them. As Ryback looked as though he was then helping, he attacked the WWE Champion with a few chair shots to end the show. Maybe that'll stop Cena's lame jokes about him.
Overall it was a passable Raw for the majority, with Del Rio versus Ziggler (plus the subsequent attack), The Shield's six-man tag bout and Lesnar's invasion of the WWE Headquarters being the highlights and helping make the show worth watching. The other match ups were average or forgettable for the most part, and I'm still not that interested in the Cena and Ryback feud. But at least Extreme Rules is looking to be an enjoyable event.
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