Dot Net reader Edward Kirby attended the WWE Extreme Rules pay-per-view in New Orleans and filed the following report.

As the announcers were coming out, JR, Matt Striker and The King all got decent pops when their music hit. Lawler received a "Jerry" chant.

There were plenty of empty seats on the camera side, as well as the upper level on that same side. Otherwise, it was pretty packed.

As far as reaction goes for the US Title Match: MVP > William Regal > Matt Hardy > Kofi Kingston, which is both cool and a shame. I was glad to see Regal on a PPV and thought he looked pretty strong.

I don't know if you could see it on TV, but Kofi's boots had green lights on the soles of them. It looked like MVP botched the Superplex/Powerbomb, and looked weak throughout the match. Didn't seem there were a lot of "Boop Boop Boop"s for Kofi's jumping leg drop. Plenty of boos when Chris Jericho didn't come out after his music stopped. Jericho got tons of heat as he told several fans "Don't touch me, junior." A lot of people in our section wondered how many people rushed to buy merchandise after that match.

Rey Mysterio didn't get much reaction. I don't know if this is routine, but Mysterio's music got louder every 30 seconds or so. Dunno if they were masking a non-reaction by pumping in more music or what. Just thought that was strange. For a no holds barred match, I was expecting more submissions. A friend pointed out how Rey was channeling Sabu with the chair legdrop. That was pretty cool. Everyone was in awe at the Codebreaker. You couldn't tell Rey was unmasked until you saw him roll out the ring towards the timekeeper's area looking for a towel.

Lots of people went to the bathroom during the Randy Orton and Ric Flair video, which was pretty intense.

Absolutely no reaction for Umaga, and a nice reaction for C.M. Punk. I'm not an avid watcher of Smackdown, but it was pretty cool seeing Umaga do the Black Hole Slam. Someone's been watching TNA...

Christian didn't receive any sort of reaction when he initially came out. Tommy Dreamer got a great reception from the fans. You could tell everyone was into this match. We tried to start a flaming tables chant, and I don't think we were very successful. I turned to my friends and mentioned how I'd mark out for a stop sign.
I marked out for the stop sign. Haha. I was shocked when the crutch broke and pieces went into the crowd behind the announce table. Someone behind me wondered how much that'd sell for on eBay.

EVERYONE marked out when Dreamer won. It looked like Jack Swagger had a hard time getting to the back. I don't know if he was just selling his injuries, or if he was just that tired from getting beaten up the whole match. It was great seeing Dreamer celebrate into the crowd. I don't think he'd have it any other way.

And then there was the killjoy Vickie Guerrero segment. God, I hate it when they ruin a great moment with her. They changed the ring mat and apron. I don't know why, it didn't look like anyone bled. After that, five refs just stood against the ring waiting for the next match to end. Thank God the hog pen was partially blocked from our view by "Extreme Rules" extension on the stage. As per the usual, Vickie got crazy heat.

Is it wrong that I was more scared that some poor swine almost got squished by...I think Chavo Guerrero. God, that whole segment just seemed to last forever. Nobody there was very interested in the match. Our group felt sorry for the guys who had to clean up afterwards. I guess that's why the backstage segment lasted so long.

At some point they moved the stairs to accommodate the cage door. Randy Orton got a little heat, but Batista got massive cheers. From our angle, we can see the pyro guy behind the Titan Tron jamming to Batista's theme and pyro. The crowd was white hot for the finish, which to me was pretty lame. I don't like my cage matches to end with a pinfall. As Orton was walking backstage, he was watching the John Cena vs. Big Show hype video.

You never realize how large Big Show is until you see him in person. From the upper level. Gosh. Cena got about as big as a pop as Batista did winning the title. This is a far cry from One Night Stand '05 and '06. It felt like there was a lot of rest time during the match.

We all knew how the match was going to end. Show botched it a bit when his foot became untangled from the ropes. To me that ruined it. Well, Cena winning ruined it. Jeez, can't they do something different with him than getting beat up most of the match and coming back with a "miraculous finish." A lot of people left after this match.

Not a whole lot of heat for Edge when he came out, but Jeff Hardy outdid Cena. That was surprising. Everyone was on the edge of their seat during the match. Every time someone jumped from a ladder the crowd held their breath. It was crazy when Hardy hit the Twist of Fate in midair. It's a shame they didn't use the huge ladders on the top of the stage. God those things were huge. We counted 26 ladders set up around ringside.

Everyone marked out when Hardy won. Plenty of people left after this too. Gosh, don't they know that you don't leave until Lillian says it's time to go? There was still plenty of time left.

AND THEN PUNK CAME OUT TO CASH IT IN! Everyone marked out harder for this. Jeez, that was an exciting finish to an exciting PPV. I feel bad for anyone who didn't watch, or kept up with play-by-plays.

Overall, it was a pretty good show. Every match was appropriately timed, although we could've done without the hog pen match and maybe had John Morrison vs. Shelton Benjamin.

Most cheers:
Jeff Hardy
Cena
Batista
Punk cashing in MITB

Most heat:
Edge
Jericho
Orton
Regal

RECOMMEND THIS ARTICLE: