WWE Extreme Rules 2016: What Did You Think?

Show of the year, or more of the same?

chris jericho extreme rules
WWE.com

Sunday evening, WWE presented Extreme Rules - the fifth Pay-Per-View event of the year and the second of the company's so-called "new era."

Just like at Payback, the focus was largely on the fresh faces of the company, men and women who have only recently joined WWE or made the jump up from NXT. In fact, several of the show's bouts were direct rematches from Payback.

The main event was an Extreme Rules bout pitting WWE World Heavyweight Champion Roman Reigns against AJ Styles, and it ended up being an incredible contest. Reigns retained the championship, but he - and the fans - were shocked by the post-match return of Seth Rollins. Rollins laid Reigns out, then picked up the championship he never lost to close the show.

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On the surface, it sounds like a great event - especially considering the undercard boasted an equally-good Fatal Four-Way Match for the Intercontinental Title. Still, the booking was incredibly frustrating at times. Styles threw everything he had at Reigns, and the champion kicked out of every single pinfall attempt. When he finally did win the match, there were undoubtedly many fans who felt silly for ever believing in Styles - and who will have a hard time believing that Rollins won't suffer the same fate.

Can great wrestling make up for bad booking? Or was this show further proof that the "new era" is anything but, and that the company's sole priority is pushing Roman Reigns at the expense of everyone else? What did you think of Extreme Rules 2016?

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Scott Fried is a Slammy Award-winning* writer living and working in New York City. He has been following/writing about professional wrestling for many years and is a graduate of Lance Storm's Storm Wrestling Academy. Follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/scottfried. *Best Crowd of the Year, 2013