Extreme Rules Outlook – Seems Somewhat Bland

This year’s One Night Stand, which has been preposterously renamed to “Extreme Rules,” seems to feature a bunch of matches with extra stipulations under the cover of an “Extreme” labeling (although nothing was worse than renaming John Cena’s “FU” to the “Attitude Adjustment”).

The matches include WWE Champion Randy Orton vs. Batista in a steel cage, Intercontinental Champion Rey Mysterio vs. Chris Jericho in a no holds barred match, World Heavyweight Champion Edge vs. Jeff Hardy in a ladder match, Miss Wrestlemania Santina Marella vs. Vickie Guererro in a hog pen match, John Cena vs. Big Show in a submission match, CM Punk vs. Umaga in a Samoan strap match, and ECW Champion Christian vs. Jack Swagger, vs. Tommy Dreamer in a triple threat hardcore rules match.

Of all these matches, only no holds barred and the hardcore triple threat are truly extreme. I think in honor of Tommy Dreamer the latter ought to be the main event of the night. I doubt it will be though. I also am not too happy with the send-off for Dreamer being a triple threat. Let the guy go toe-to-toe with one man for his final bout. If you want to create real drama, have it be against another good guy… Christian (like Ric Flair’s final match against Shawn Michaels).

If you want to get old ECW fans interested (because I doubt they’ll truly ever be won over), don’t cop out of going over the edge with a bunch of rare matchup stipulations being held under an old ECW card. Oh well.

Two Hardys and a Hardass!

How about those three champions in the WWE! On ECW we have Matt Hardy holding the ECW Championship. This guy had been jobbing pretty hard perhaps a year, and then some, or so ago on Smackdown before MVP made his debut and they began their feud and Tag Team Championship reign. The enigmatic Jeff Hardy gained his first main title by winning the WWE Championship this past Sunday at Armageddon with his lights-out performance. And then we have the ultimate hardass… John Cena. And I don’t mean hardass in the sense that he’s a jerk. If anything, Cena is one of the prime examples of a face player… and he has the World Heavyweight Championship. I’m talking about an unbreakable good guy hardass.

 

Speaking of faces, all three of these guys are face characters for the WWE. I just think it’s a little different and interesting to see them all with the titles of the brand they wrestle for. For guys like the Hardys, this type of success was a long time coming. The Hardy boys were constantly subjected to drawing “Oohs” and “Ahhs” from the crowds purely on wrestling ability, and both had a history of coming up short as singles competitors whenever they weren’t tagging it up.

 

However, in that time that Matt Hardy began to rise on Smackdown in the time of the MVP feud, the Smackdown brand did a decent job of giving him some mic time so that the fans could get a feel for the personality of the guy who had always played second fiddle to his brother Jeff.

 

Similarly, Jeff began to voice himself up when he returned to the WWE on Monday Night RAW. He came out and had a plenty of title matches, held the Intercontinental Championship a few times, had big battles with the likes of Umaga, and once again, had been coming up short in championship opportunities. The only difference in his second stint has been the sense that his time would eventually come to be a brand champ.

 

Then we have Cena. I already did my story on “The Champ.” (See ‘John Cena… A Man to Be’). He looks like he’ll be hanging onto his belt for quite a while. But with the recent heightened frequency of titles changing hands on RAW and Smackdown, perhaps neither of the three is a lock to hold onto their belts for an extended period of time. Either way, all three reigns have the potential to be very exciting.

ECW Championship on the Line at Cyber Sunday

Finlay has never been a real Super Card draw so I don’t see that changing. When the fans select Evan Bourne, the WWE will plan an exciting matchup that will elevate Evan Bourne’s status with the fans.

Three potential opponents have been selected for the WWE Universe to vote for to face Matt Hardy for his ECW Championship; Mark Henry, Evan Bourne, and Fit Finlay. At this point in Matt Hardy first title reign as the ECW champ I do not yet see him losing the belt. However, there will still be one benefactor in this match and his name is Evan Bourne.

Evan Bourne is a lock as Matt Hardy’s challenger at Cyber Sunday. The kid has the “little-engine-that-could” perception going for him and the fans for the most part seem to like it. Mark Henry is washed up and is mainly used for his former World’s Strongest Man status. He’s just a big oaf that looks like the monster he is when he slams someone, and also the jobber that he truly is when he gets laid out by less heavier wrestlers.

Hopefully for Bourne he can build off that. 

 

You gotta admit. Mark Henry and his brother look a lot alike.