10 Things WWE Regrets About Extreme Rules

1. Not Running With Rollins

Chris Jericho Cm Punk
WWE.com

Oh, what could have been.

Depending on how you look at it, you could quite realistically argue that WWE could’ve saved themselves three years of uphill battles if they’d have just listened to the crowd response to Seth Rollins at Extreme Rules 2016.

If you remember, the main event of that show saw Roman Reigns successfully retain the WWE World Heavyweight Championship against AJ Styles. But it was the post-match shenanigans of that main event which had people talking.

After six months out injured due to knee surgery, Rollins returned to lay out his former Shield buddy – and the crowd went absolutely nuts! When Seth went out injured, he was the biggest heel in the company, but the reaction at Extreme Rules from New Jersey’s Prudential Center instantly positioned Rollins as the biggest babyface that WWE had seen in years. Seriously, the noise that night was veering on Austin level excitement.

So, what did WWE do with this white-hot babyface act? Why, they quickly eradicated the magic of Extreme Rules by having Rollins cut a heel promo the very next night. And now here we are, in 2019, with WWE finally realising that Seth Rollins deserves to be given the ball to run with.

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Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.