7 Match Star Ratings For WWE Extreme Rules 2021

How do you rate this?

"The airplane hijack movie was an adrenaline-pumping 90 minutes of high-octane excitement, but it was ruined somewhat when the hero locked himself in the toilet after taking a gigantic sh*t. 4/5."

That's...not how anything works. Wrestling critics, despite the beyond irritating "biased" narrative - which really showed itself up last night - are very lenient towards a bad finish. And perhaps that's fair on some level. Roman Reigns and Finn Bálor worked very hard and beat the sh*t out of each other to put on an excellent if clichéd (and ultimately damned) show. When the match explored the strength of the dynamic, it ruled.

Roman Reigns roaring back and smashing Bálor in half with a Spear after being dropped with a sling blade?

Yes. Get the f*ck in. Defiance. Urgency. Drama in the pulsating fire of the battle.

Finn Bálor looking like his gills have collapsed?

No. F*ck off.

At least Revolution gave you a finish before its inadvertent disaster. WWE didn't give you a proper finish and booked something equally as humiliating on purpose. They thought this was a good idea. That is just one o too many differences in 2021.

It was a Roman Reigns main event, so it folded in the usual table wreckages and barricade tropes, but Reigns is so good that he can and frequently does transcend cliché. Nothing could transcend the finish, not even an excellent main event.

Bálor looked comical as he fired up, and the lighting and music dragged the match down before Bálor fell over when the top turnbuckle collapsed. This, according to some, "protected" Bálor.

What?

In what world is looking like the punchline to a slapstick gag less humiliating or damaging than simply losing to the most well-built heel in decades? How is the most laughably convenient storytelling imaginable worthy of praise "because at least the wrestler didn't get beat"?

Cheap, carny bullsh*t that makes the babyface look like a moron is rotten storytelling.

Star Rating: ★★