Review for WWE The Horror Show at Extreme Rules 2020

5 / 10

So I am guessing when I made the comment last month "This is the time WWE could make those risks, try something new… and no I don’t mean lots more mini-movies." that WWE only read the first part. I watched this PPV with my head in my hands. What is shocking is that it only features seven matches (eight if you include the Kickoff match... but technically only seven as one match didn't even happen). Usually this means that the matches will be longer and mean more. Instead, what it actually means is that a good chunk of time will be sacrificed to someone who see themself as a horror filmmaker.

The night started off well with a fantastic tag team tables match for the Smackdown Tag Titles between The New Day and Cesaro and Shinksuke Nakamura. This was a wonderful match from both teams an hugely enjoyable with some great spots.
Bayley against Nikki Cross for the Smackdown Women's Championship was fine, but nothing special. I expected more form both, but this could have just been a TV match. However, the later match between Asuka and Sasha Banks for the Raw Women's Championship was clearly the match of the night. I thoroughly enjoyed this match and there was so many times when I thought one or the other would win. The ending confused me, but the way it was handled with Banks essentially stealing the belt had been very entertaining.

The US Title match between Apollo Crews and MVP didn't actually happen with MVP declaring himself champion of the newly designed (and horrific looking) US Championship. This was just an excuse to waste time and show off MVP and Bobby Lashley, but really could have been saved for TV.

Seth Rollins against Rey Mysterio in an Eye for an Eye match was possibly one of the strangest things I have ever seen. I just don't know why they would create a match with such a baffling stipulation and the ending of this match made it even more crazy. This was not enjoyable in any way shape or form and not sure who this benefited, if at all.

The match between Drew McIntyre and Dolph Ziggler could and should have been brilliant. Ziggler declaring a multitude of stipulations that all helped him would have been a brilliant move... had he won. As he didn't, it made no sense and thus became pointless. All it did was show that Ziggler was not as smart as he thinks and also not very good either.

Finally, we come to the Wyatt Swamp Match where someone in WWE Production is obviously auditioning for the next Texas Chainsaw Massacre or Wrong Turn film. What followed was just twenty minutes of sheer madness. I am not sure whether it was entertaining as I spent most of my time shaking me head and saying 'What the...' every few minutes. I understand that they are trying to build up The Fiend again, but they could do this in a better way than this.

The Kickoff match features Kevin Owens against Murphy. This is a fine match, better than a lot of the matches on the main card, but it is a shame that it wasn't for anything important. Surely, if the US belt was being held up they could have been put in a Triple Threat with MVP to crown a new champion?

The Horror Show at Extreme Rules was just that. I have never seen a PPV that starts off so well and then just falls and falls. I feel like every time I try and make excuses for WWE and they are dealing with a lot, but the fact is we can only blame the creative team who it appears have forgotten how to book a match and now just want to film mini-movies to fill time. This is not what they should be doing. This is the time for WWE to show us why they are better in the ring than AEW or anyone else. Instead all they are doing is showing us that they are literally out of ideas and just throwing things at the wall to see what sticks... sadly when it sticks like this... it is a horror show.

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