WWE Extreme Rules 2017: Results and observations from the show

The cliché amongst wrestling fans these days are that WWE pay-per-views are beginning to feel more and more like their television counterparts.

Because there are so many of them and they have rapidly decreased in value monetarily, WWE pay-per-views can sometimes feel like another episode of the company's television show except that it is happening on a Sunday night, as oppose to a Monday or Tuesday night.

A prime example of this was Extreme Rules this past Sunday. The event felt a lot like what we see from the Raw brand every Monday night, but not in the sense of match quality or overall feel.

Extreme Rules felt a lot like Raw because of its wild inconsistency, and the brand's inconsistency spilled over into Extreme Rules, as there were a couple of highlights, but they were surrounded by matches that fell woefully short of expectations and booking decisions that left me scratching my head.

Before I jump into my full analysis, here are the full match results from the Royal Farms Arena in Baltimore:

- Kickoff match - Kalisto def. Apollo Crews

- WWE Intercontinental championship – The Miz def. Dean Ambrose

- Sasha Banks & Rich Swann def. Alicia Fox & Noam Dar

- WWE Raw Women's championship (Kendo Stick on a Pole match) – Alexa Bliss def. Bayley

- WWE Raw Tag Team championship (Steel Cage match) – Sheamus & Cesaro def. The Hardy Boyz

- WWE Cruiserweight championship (Submission match) – Neville def. Austin Aries

- Extreme Rules match – Samoa Joe def. Finn Balor, Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins & Bray Wyatt

Samoa Joe gets to face the beast

There was not a long line of options, but the fatal five-way main event was easily the best part of Extreme Rules.

And it wasn't like the match was the best by default. It was one of the best matches of the year in WWE.

To top it off, Joe won, which means he will face Brock Lesnar for the WWE Universal championship at Great Balls of Fire in July. Don't worry. I hate the pay-per-view name as much as you do.

Despite my hatred for the name, Great Balls of Fire has arguably the most anticipated WWE match in months as its main event in Joe versus Lesnar. It is a dream match of sorts that I have always wanted to see, but one I didn't think we would get at this point.

If you recall, I picked Balor to win the fatal five-way and he came close, as he hit Reigns with the coup de grace and covered him to seemingly clinch the win, but Joe grabbed Balor and immediately locked him in the Coquina clutch.

Balor fought valiantly to keep his championship hopes alive, but eventually passed out, making Joe the winner.

The only reason I didn't think Joe would win the match was because he has been positioned as a heel. Lesnar tends to switch back and forth between babyface and heel, but I would consider him more of a heel than a babyface at the moment.

I guess WWE is tossing the traditional heel/babyface dynamic out of the window in exchange for giving fans a match they have wanted for years.

As soon as Joe won at Extreme Rules, my own personal excitement went through the roof thinking about everything that could transpire between now and Great Balls of Fire.

The promos between Joe and Lesnar's advocate Paul Heyman should be fantastic. The match itself should be much of the same, as Joe brings an attitude and a swagger that makes him very, very believable. I do not see this being a glorified squash in favor Lesnar.

If that is WWE's plan, I would be very disappointed.

As far as the match at Extreme Rules, I honestly cannot say enough about how good it was. I thought all five guys had standout performances and I don't think losing hurt anyone.

You can't ask for much more than that from a main event.

Women's title match underwhelmed

While the main event delivered, the Raw Women's title match between Bliss and Bayley unfortunately did not.

The "Bayley: This Is Your Life" segment from last week's Raw all but killed any entertainment value this story had, leaving the match as the last hope to salvage the dumpster fire that has been the rivalry between Bliss and Bayley the last couple of weeks.

Unfortunately, that did not happen. Instead of a knockdown, drag-out fight, we got a very underwhelming match that made Bayley look silly.

The whole point of the match was to climb the poll and grab the kendo stick, which Bayley accomplished. However, she was extremely hesitant (pardon the pun) to use it.

The story WWE was trying to tell was that Bayley was simply too innocent to use the kendo stick at will. She never even got a chance to use it because Bliss attacked her, picked up the kendo stick and went to town on the former champion.

Bayley never really recovered and was pinned in uneventful fashion.

I am all for WWE maintaining the good that encompasses Bayley's character, but there is nothing wrong with her showing some edge. It wasn't that long ago that she joined four other members of the Raw roster to invade Smackdown Live, where she helped beat up a lone, helpless member of the blue brand.

But seven months later she is thinking twice about using a kendo stick in a match where she was allowed to do it? That doesn't make any sense.

Also, WWE missed an opportunity to progress Bayley's character. Using the kendo stick wouldn't have destroyed Bayley's moral compass. All it would have done was show that she can have a bit of an edge when the time calls for it.

She wouldn't be the first to accomplish such a feat. A guy named Kurt Angle was able to pull it off during his first run in WWE. Angle was a clean-cut Olympic hero that had an affinity for milk, but when the time called for it, he could get intense in the ring.

I'm not expecting Bayley to Bayley-to-belly Bliss or any other woman through a pane of glass, but she had to do something that didn't make her look like a fool Sunday night.

Tag team catch match sort of confusing

Extreme Rules was not the first time WWE has produced a tag team cage match, but it felt that way by the way the rules were structured.

Firstly, there were no pin falls. The only way for either team to win was for both members of a team to escape the cage.

That should mean if one guy escaped, he left his partner in the precarious position of being in the cage with both members of the opposing team. That situation played out Sunday when Jeff Hardy managed to escape Cesaro's clutches and fall out of the cage.

However, his brother Matt Hardy was not so lucky and had to fend off Sheamus and Cesaro.

The babyface being in peril is nothing new, but something that did feel new was Jeff Hardy re-entering the cage, but in doing so, had to escape a second time in order to actually win the match, meaning that the first time his feet touched the floor essentially didn't happen.

Does that make sense? I mean, it does, but WWE did not do a great job of making that clear at all. It doesn't help when the company is clearly changing the rules to make them convenient for that specific match, as if no one remembers past cage matches that involved tag teams.

I say that because I distinctly remember Goldust and Cody Rhodes facing the New Age Outlaws on Raw in a cage match that featured tags and pin falls were allowed.

Fortunately, the cage match Sunday night did not feature tags, but the method of winning was kind of weird to me. I think it hurt what was a pretty good match.

Intercontinental title finish was also weird

Another finish that made me scratch my head was the to the extremely un-extreme Intercontinental championship match between The Miz and Ambrose.

The stipulation was that if Ambrose were disqualified, he would not only lose the match but the title as well. Obviously, this meant The Miz was going to do everything in his power to get Ambrose disqualified, including begging Maryse to slap him and shoving Ambrose into the back of the referee.

When the latter occurred, the referee thought Ambrose hit him on purpose — which would have made no sense — and walked over to the timekeeper's arena in an attempt to disqualify him.

Just as he was about to disqualify Ambrose, The Miz hit the skull crushing finale and covered Ambrose. The official quickly changed his mind, jumped into the ring and counted to three to give The Miz his seventh Intercontinental championship.

Firstly, the referee was silly for thinking Ambrose shoved him on purpose. Ambrose literally had no reason to do that.

Secondly, what is with WWE officials? Anything could happen in the match, but if it's a pin attempt, his brain immediately switches from whatever they were doing to counting to three.

That is exactly what referee John Cone did when he saw The Miz cover Ambrose. As soon as he saw that, he sprung into action.

The match itself was good, but the finish was kind of weird.

Vaughn Johnson has a podcast with Nick Piccone called the Straight Shooters on WildfireRadio.com. Check it out here HERE.