ARN - Extreme Rules 2015 [Show Notes] (Patreon)

Extreme Rules 2015

Extreme Rules 2015 took place on April 26th, from the Allstate Arena, in Rosemont, Illinois. It drew 11,000. On pay-per-view had 56,000 buys (excluding WWE Network views), down from the previous year's 108,000 buys 

The event was available on the WWE Network in over 140 countries and on pay-per-view had 56,000 buys (excluding WWE Network views), down from the previous year's 108,000 buys 

We're coming off of WrestleMania 31, where we saw Seth Rollins cash in his money in the bank contract during the Brock Lesnar and Roman Reigns title match and pin Reigns to win the World Title

We also saw John Cena beat Rusev to win the US title and Triple H beat Sting

We recently did a full show on WrestleMania 31 if you want to take a listen. It's available in our archives

Let's get to some company news heading into Extreme Rules

Meltzer reported - WWE announced on 4/7 that Smackdown will be moving from Syfy to the USA Network in the first quarter of 2016.

The move is something of a surprise since in the past, USA had not wanted a second wrestling show. In the past they said they only wanted one show, and didn’t want to be seen as the pro wrestling network.

Syfy was No. 19 in the ratings for the week ending 3/29, and without Smackdown, would fall to No. 24. USA was No. 3, largely due to Walking Dead moving AMC to No. 2 and TBS being a strong No. 1 due to the NCAA basketball tournament. 

Adding Smackdown would give the network a minor bump weekly on its weekly average, which could spell the difference in a close race. 

Meltzer reported - Regarding next year’s WrestleMania, when Dwayne Johnson and HHH did that angle on Smackdown last year, it was with the understanding they would build to a match for either this year or next year at WrestleMania. Johnson’s schedule wouldn’t allow him to train for a match on the show as he was to be promoting “Furious 7,” although he was able to be at the show. 

That’s when Sting vs. HHH became the idea, with HHH going over, when they agreed to do Rock vs. HHH next year. It was separate from, but ended up being tied to, the other idea for Ronda Rousey vs. Stephanie McMahon. The plan, such as it was and as best we can tell, still is, is not for a mixed tag. The plan is for two singles with HHH vs. Rock and Ronda Rousey vs. Stephanie next year. 

Both Heyman and Lesnar had brought up the idea that Lesnar had beaten Rock for the title and then Rock left for Hollywood in 2002 as a storyline, and had done other teases for a potential Rock vs. Brock match as well. One would think Rock vs. Brock would be a bigger match for WrestleMania, but it’s also a more physically dangerous match.  

Meltzer reported - TMZ reported on the Scott Steiner incident on 4/7. Their story was that Steiner went to Jennifer Bollea, Hulk’s wife, at baggage claim on 3/26 at the San Jose Airport and told her that he was going to “kill Terry” as soon as he sees him. Jennifer didn’t know who Steiner was and freaked out. She called him and he then immediately flew out (he was always coming to town for Mania) and on 3/27 went to the San Jose police and filed a report, and also demanded that WWE keep Steiner away from the Hall of Fame and Mania. 

San Jose police are investigating Steiner for a potential felony terroristic threats charge because airport surveillance video showed Steiner confronting Jennifer. TMZ spoke to Steiner who responded by saying, “Typical Hogan. He’s just a punk.” He also said, “Im not going to dignify lies. I didn’t put my hands on her.” Steiner admitted talking to Jennifer, saying he was mad about the idea that Hogan was doing to induct Randy Savage in the Hall of Fame (a number of people in wrestling who knew Savage were not happy about that decision because of the belief that Savage hated Hogan, which he surely did for many years, although Hogan claimed they reconciled their problems before Savage died). “I told her Hulk introducing Macho Man into the Hall of Fame is bullshit. He hated him. Everyone knew that.” He also said there were police right there and if she felt threatened, why didn’t she go to the police. He then said that nobody from the San Jose police has called to question him and said, “It’s not my fault Hulk Hogan is afraid of me.” 

During this time in 2015, Daniel Bryan was pulled from the upcoming Extreme Rules pay per view, because he got a concussion. He was supposed to defend the title against Bad News Barrett at the ppv. At WrestleMania, he won the IC title in a ladder match. 

The next night on Raw, Bryan defeated Dolph Ziggler in his first successful title defense, before they were attacked by Barrett only for Sheamus to return and chase off Barrett before attacking Bryan and Ziggler. Bryan lost to Sheamus on the April 2nd Smackdown, by countout when Barrett interfered. During the match, Bryan split his forehead open on the broadcast table, causing him to bleed and later requiring stitches

On the April 16th Smackdown in his last in-ring match for a few years, Bryan teamed up with United States Champion John Cena to defeat WWE Tag Team Champions Cesaro & Tyson Kidd by submission. 

Meltzer reported - There were reports from talent that he suffered a concussion, which the company denied, although nothing has been said about what his injuries were or how long he’ll be out of action. The belief is that it will be a few more weeks. One company source gave the time frame as five weeks, but officially the company had not stated anything regarding even whether he would be wrestling on Sunday or not.

It’s a weird deal because if WWE knows a time frame, they are not saying. Bryan did not appear on Raw or Smackdown, even for an interview segment. They did mention that the match with Barrett for Sunday’s show was in jeopardy due to his condition, but have not outright pulled it from the show.

On Raw, he was never talked about, except when running down the PPV lineup when they brought up his IC title defense against Bad News Barrett. They acknowledged something was wrong with him and said it was unknown whether he’d be able to defend the title.

The next day it was announced that Bryan was undergoing diagnostic testing to see if he can defend the title.

One person who knew basically intimated that is was being kept a closely guarded secret and that banged up would be a nice, accurate but purposely vague way to put it.

What's your memories of this? Did you guys realize right away how severe his injury really was?

After about a month off television, Bryan returned on the May 11th Raw to explain that after having undergone an MRI he would be out for an unknown period of time and could possibly have to retire (though the nature of his injuries were not revealed), therefore he relinquished the Intercontinental Championship.

In July, Bryan revealed that his injury was concussion-related and claimed that he had been cleared to return to the ring by external medical professionals and was waiting for WWE to clear him. During his time away, he trimmed his signature beard and cut his hair short, donating his hair to Wigs 4 Kids, a charity similar to that of Locks of Love

He retired on February 8th, 2016. He would return in 2018

Meltzer reported - WWE made an announcement on 4/20 regarding the return of Tough Enough, which will air in a Tuesday at 8 p.m. time slot on the USA Network starting on 6/23. The show is believed to be formatted similar to season 15 of Ultimate Fighter. Instead of a season being taped, completed and then produced, it’ll be a show that will feature taped drama that would have taken place during the prior week, combined with live elements. Fans will have a voice in who gets eliminated each week. There will be ten men and five women in the house, with one man and one woman awarded contracts. They are taking applications for the show. We do know they are also recruiting talent for the show. 

What did you think of this show? It started in 2001, granted the business had well been exposed during this time, but do you think Tough Enough went too far with that?

Meltzer reported - Ricky Steamboat said that his son will not be returning to wrestling after major back injuries suffered in training years ago. He had herniated four discs in his lower back in late 2012 and never wrestled again. He had remained on contract for several years, and was still under contract the last time we checked, even though it was not expected he would return. But he sent out a tweet not that long ago talking about coming back and wanting to go after Kevin Owens. 

Did you ever see Richie wrestle? What did you think of him?

Meltzer reported - Another lawsuit was discovered filed against WWE in a TMZ story, by Doug and Tommy Gilbert against WWE, ESPN and ESPN Classics in Chancery Court in Henderson County, TN, where the Gilberts live. The lawsuit claimed that neither Doug or Eddie Gilbert (who passed away in 1993, Tommy, who is Eddie’s father, filed the suit) had ever signed contracts giving WWE or ESPN the right to use their names and likenesses. 

The suit claims WWE has aired on television, the internet and other media recording of both Doug and Eddie’s matches, and used Eddie’s name in other media, such as the WWE Encyclopedia, and the Gilberts have received no compensation. The suit was filed on 3/11, and WWE wrote back a response on 4/15. ESPN and ESPN Classics aired old Global Wrestling Federation footage that both Gilberts appeared on in the early 90s. ESPN hasn’t aired it in more than 20 years but ESPN Classics has aired it from time-to-time. 

WWE now owns the GWF library, but ESPN still has the rights to use it. Eddie also worked for a number of companies, including WCW and ECW, that they own libraries of and both Gilberts have WCW matches (Doug as Dark Patriot) on the WWE Network. Much of this case is likely to get nowhere. Eddie Gilbert’s name and profile in a WWE history book is not going to hold up. There are already cases that have been filed. One, by Douglas Somerson (Doug Somers), was dismissed on the grounds WWE owned the copyrights to the footage after purchasing it from its original owners. 

Another, by Richard Blood (Ricky Steamboat), ended with WWE prevailing via summary judgment, in the past about usage of footage on television, and they went nowhere. A third case was filed by Stevie “Wild Thing” Ray (not the brother of Booker T, but a guy who wrestled from 1987 to 1994 in a number of territories, against ESPN for airing his matches, and was also dismissed. The precedent is that talent is not owed additional money when their footage are broadcast on television. 

However, the Jesse Ventura case, which Ventura won, did show that talent does have the rights to revenue when their performances appear on DVDs and the talent money for DVDs is based on them having to do so based on that ruling. So the question becomes is the WWE Network more like a DVD, because you pay to watch, or like a television channel? 

Verne Gagne unfortunately passed away on April 28th  did you ever meet Verne, or have any stories about him?

That takes us to the Extreme Rules pay per view.

The first match was Bad News Barrett vs Neville.

At WrestleMania 31, Bad News Barrett had lost his Intercontinental Championship in a 7-man ladder match. In the following week, Barrett repeatedly attacked the new champion, Daniel Bryan, during and after matches and invoked his rematch clause for Extreme Rules. However, when Bryan was declared unable to compete due to an injury, Barrett was instead given a match against Neville on the event's Kickoff pre-show.  

Neville pinned Bad News Barrett in 10:36. Before the match, Barrett claimed credit for injuring Daniel Bryan and for his not being there, saying Bryan was terrified of losing his title to him. Barrett called himself “The Michael Jordan of England.” They claimed Neville was 5-foot-10, which isn’t even close. The way the match was announced, they telegraphed Neville’s win by going overboard in saying what an upset it would be. Really, the rule of thumb in a replacement match is that you almost always put the babyface over. This was much better than their King of the Ring final match. 

Neville did all kinds of acrobatic spots early including a dropkick off the apron. Barrett tripped him as he set up a dive and threw him into the barricade. He took control until Neville came back with a twisting dive and a German suplex. They went to near falls. The crowd was real hot. After an enzuigiri, Neville went up for the red arrow. Barrett got up and crotched him on the top rope. Barrett missed the bull hammer, Neville hit a high kick and then used the red arrow for the pin. ***1/4 

Kane and Seth Rollins were backstage and Rollins asked Kane why he threw him into a spear on Smackdown. Kane said that Rollins had been acting like an ungrateful little punk ever since he won the title. HHH was there and sided with Rollins and said Kane has been spending too much time trying to prove that he’s the man he used to be. He told Kane that he didn’t want him letting him down tonight. Kane assured both he’d do what was best for business. The crowd was loudly chanting “boring” during this so they turned the crowd noise down. 

Dean Ambrose vs. Luke Harper in a street fight had no winner at first in 8:05. Both were brawling outside the ring early. Ambrose used a tope and threw Harper into the steps. Harper suplexed Ambrose on a chair. Ambrose came off the top with his standing elbow. Ambrose teased a tope but Harper caught him and shoved him back into the ropes, where Ambrose rebounded with a clotheslines. More kendo stick shots. They went backstage and brawled. Ambrose threw a pie at Harper, who jumped into a car. Ambrose tried to get in, and was thrown out. Harper started the car and Ambrose dove in the passenger seat window and they drove off. They came back later in the show. 

Dolph Ziggler pinned Sheamus in 9:15 in a Kiss Me Arse match. The action was good. The post-match was what it was. It felt really stupid. Ziggler speared him through the ropes and hit a DDT on the floor. They went back and forth with signature spots. Ziggler ducked the Brogue kick and used a schoolboy for a near fall. Sheamus went for a slam, but Ziggler used an inside cradle for the pin. The crowd, which was really hot for much of the show, started chanting “Pucker up.” Ziggler teased pulling down his trunks. Sheamus was refusing to kiss his ass. Sheamus kept stalling and the crowd was super hot. But they went too long with it. Finally Sheamus got down to kiss his ass, but instead gave Ziggler a low blow and a Brogue kick. This got a ton of heat. Sheamus said, “You didn’t think I’d really kiss your ass, especially in this stinking town.” He then hiked up his trunks and rubbed Ziggler mouth on his ass. ***1/4 

Kofi Kingston & Big E as The New Day, won the tag titles from Tyson Kidd & Cesaro in 9:36. Crowd was really hot for this match. Great match from start-to-finish with a lot of unique spots. Crowd was chanting “New Day Sucks” really loud. Cesaro did power spots that got over including pressing Kingston overhead and throwing him into the turnbuckles. The crowd went nuts when he teased a giant swing. Cesaro did his power superplex on Kingston and Kidd followed with a springboard elbow for a near fall. E tackled Cesaro through the ropes and they both tumbled to the floor. E gave Cesaro a high backdrop on the floor. 

The New Day did their finisher on Kidd but Cesaro ran in for the save. Cesaro and E both went over the top with a clothesline spot. Kingston went for Trouble in Paradise, but Kidd blocked it and put Kingston in the sharpshooter in the middle of the ring. E made the save and gave Kidd an overhead belly-to-belly. Cesaro nailed E with forearm uppercuts and they did their giant swing into a dropkick by Kidd spot. But Xavier Woods distracted the referee. Natalya slapped Woods. Kidd kicked E in the face but Kingston used the trunks to pin Cesaro. ***3/4 

New Day was doing a promo when the car that Ambrose and Harper had left in returned. When they left, Harper was the driver. Of course when they came back, Ambrose was the driver. They got out and started brawling backstage. Harper got into the arena in front of the fans and Ambrose jumped on him and they had their second match. 

Dean Ambrose pinned Luke Harper in 3:09 in their second street fight. They both threw a ton of chairs into the ring. Harper power bombed him on chairs for a near fall. He then buried Ambrose under a ton of chairs and went to the top rope. Ambrose got up and slammed him off the top onto the chairs and hit Dirty Deeds for the pin. Overall, the idea of doing the match, driving away and coming back was better on paper than in practice. In the end, the combination of matches was nothing close to what you’d expect from these two. **½ 

That takes us to the US title match between John Cena & Rusev.

At WrestleMania 31, John Cena defeated Rusev to win the US title, marking Rusev's first defeat since appearing on WWE's main roster. On the April 2nd Smackdown, Rusev invoked his rematch clause to face Cena for the title at the event. On the April 13th Raw, following Cena's title defense against Bad News Barrett, Rusev attacked Cena with a chain and Lana revealed that the match between Cena and Rusev would be a Russian Chain match

Meltzer reported - The plan for Lana long-term right now is to be the female face of the company once her babyface turn is completed. At least that’s the long-term plan this week. Vince McMahon feels that part of the transition has to include a reveal that she’s really American. The plan is to keep the Lana name, although there has at least been talk of C.J. (Her real name is Catherine Jo Perry), with the idea C.J. makes people think hot blond because of the character Pamela Anderson played in “Baywatch.” What will be interesting if they do or don’t put pressure on her in that position to not post photos in social media of her still dating Rusev after they do the television break-up. Either way will be extremely telling of how they view the current audience and social media.

John Cena beat Rusev in 13:35 of a chain match to retain the U.S. title. When the match started, both men got super reactions. But there was almost nothing to this match past guys touching corners. The big spot was Lana getting on the apron after fans chanted “We Want Lana.” Rusev then told her to leave and she pouted and went to the back. Rusev used a weak looking Alabama slam and went for the accolade, but Cena turned it into the STF. Rusev made the ropes and got the accolade on. Cena powered up and smashed Rusev into two corners, but Rusev touched both corners. Cena blocked him hitting a third corner. The finish saw both men touch three corners and then Cena hit the Attitude Adjustment and touched the fourth corner for the win. **1/4

Nikki Bella pinned Naomi in 7:15 to retain the Divas title. Naomi has new music and a new look. She came across with a lot more presence than previously with her lighted up shoes. Naomi kicked Brie Bella on the floor. They traded moves in a better than usual women’s match. Brie Bella kicked Naomi in the face and Nikki got the pin after the rack attack. **½

Rusev was yelling at Lana for screwing up. She was really sad and knocked on a door and went into The Authority’s office.

Roman Reigns beat Big Show in a last man standing match in 19:43. Really good brawl. Reigns threw Show into the post and hit his running dropkick. Reigns pulled out a table but Show punched through it to break it. Show used kendo stick shots and threw Reigns into the post. Then Show broke the kendo stick over his knee. Reigns used seven chair shots to Show’s back and a DDT on a chair. He threw two tables into the ring. Show then hit the knockout punch, but Reigns got up at nine. Show went for a choke slam, Reigns got out and gave Show a Samoan drop through the table. 

Show came back with a spear and a Vader reverse splash. Reigns slammed Show off the top and hit three Superman punches. But Show cut him off and choke slammed Reigns over the top rope and Reigns crashed through two tables set up on the floor. At this point there was a ton of stalling between moves and the crowd was entertaining themselves by chanting “JBL.” Show missed a spear and went through a table in the corner. Reigns hit a spear in the ring and hit another spear that sent Show through the barricade on the floor. The finish saw Reigns climb up the steps that Show had set up by the English announcers table. 

As Show was standing on the table, Reigns ran up the stairs and onto the table and speared Show and both went flying through the Spanish announcers table. But Show got up to beat the ten count. Reigns then picked up the English announcers table and turned it over onto Show, trapping him to where he couldn’t beat the ten count. The goal of this match was to establish Reigns as “the guy” and Show could not have done a better job in doing so. There seemed to be none of the Reigns backlash that had been evident the previous few months. **** 

Randy Orton told Kane that when The Authority is done using him they’ll throw him out like garbage. Orton told Kane that he knows who Kane is, even if Kane has forgot.

Bo Dallas came out for an interview. The idea was for a segment to take the crowd down because they booked Reigns vs. Show to be hot and didn’t want the main event to directly follow them. Dallas insulted the crowd and Ryback came out. Dallas jumped Ryback, who made a comeback and laid him out with shell shock.

They announced the Cena vs. Rusev I Quit match.

The next match was the main event for the WWE Title, Seth Rollins defending against Randy Orton, in a cage match.

At WrestleMania 31, Randy Orton beat Seth Rollins. Later that night, Rollins cashed in his Money in the Bank contract during the World Title match between champion Brock Lesnar & Roman Reigns, and Seth pinned Reigns to win his first WWE World Title.

On the April 6th Raw, Orton defeated Ryback and Reigns in a triple threat match to face Rollins for the title at  Extreme Rules. On the April 13th Raw, Orton defeated Tyson Kidd & Cesaro in a Handicap match to earn the right to choose a stipulation, while Rollins defeated Kane to also earn the right to choose a stipulation. Rollins chose to ban Orton's finisher, the RKO, while Orton made the match a cage match. On the April 20th Raw, Triple H announced that Kane will be the gatekeeper to the cage for this match at Extreme Rules

Seth Rollins retained the WWE title pinning Randy Orton in 21:01 of a cage match with the RKO banned. Well wrestled but all the interference in a world title cage match plus the limitations made it overall disappointing. They did a brief spot where both were on the top of the cage throwing punches. They came back in and Rollins knocked him off the ropes. Rollins came off the ropes into an Orton powerslam. Orton had the edge when Jamie Noble and Joey Mercury came out and Orton kicked the cage, knocking them off as they tried to climb in. Orton used a superplex off the top of the cage, but Rollins kicked out. Rollins and Mercury talked to Kane to try and let them in. 

Kane instead chased them away. After Rollins crotched himself on the top rope, Orton could have walked out, but instead the story is he wanted to win via pin. Orton used a draping DDT, and since he couldn’t use the RKO, hit a pedigree on Rollins, but Rollins kicked out. Fans started chanting “Yes,” here as Orton set up the punt. The move is banned so he had to miss. Rollins used an enzuigiri and asked Kane to open the door. But Orton recovered and brought him back in. Orton went to climb out, which was weird because minutes earlier the story was that he didn’t want to win by climbing out, but Kane refused to open the door. 

Rollins tried to dropkick Orton from behind, but Orton moved and Rollins dropkicked Kane, knocking him off the apron. Rollins tried to escape but Orton was holding him. Kane then slammed the cage door on both. Kane was furious and got into the cage. Mercury and Noble came in as well. Kane acted like he was going after Rollins. Mercury and Noble tried to stop him. Kane choke slammed Mercury and Noble. He teased choke slamming Rollins. More loud “Yes” chants, but instead Kane choke slammed Orton. Kane then choke slammed Rollins. And then, to make no sense, he put Rollins arm over Orton, but Orton kicked out. 

Kane then went to tombstone Orton, who escaped and hit the RKO on Kane. Rollins hit the RKO on Orton and crawled out of the cage to win. ***1/4 

• Thumbs up 114 (45.8%)
• Thumbs down 46 (18.5%)
• In the middle 89 (35.7%)

BEST MATCH POLL

• New Day vs. Kidd & Cesaro 136
• Roman Reigns vs. Big Show 68
• Seth Rollins vs. Randy Orton 14
• Dolph Ziggler vs. Sheamus 12
• Neville vs. Bad News Barrett 10

WORST MATCH POLL

• Nikki Bella vs. Naomi 68
• John Cena vs. Rusev 64
• Dean Ambrose vs. Luke Harper 56
• Seth Rollins vs. Randy Orton 19