By Ryan Kester

Brock Lesnar vs. John Cena

This was a colossally foolish move on WWE's part. Not only have they given people that are already sick of Cena's character another reason to stop tuning into their programming, but WWE just neutered Lesnar in the first month that they had him available. The way Cena came back and won the match after getting dominated was reminiscent of his "I Quit" match with the Miz. This was easily what could have been half a year's worth of storyline material that got compressed within a month's worth of booking.

Cena's post-match promo was solid, but I imagine it will fall on a lot of deaf ears. For WWE's sake, I hope they have a storyline in mind that can placate Cena's detractors, but they will be fighting an uphill battle. For now, I am simply baffled that they brought in Lesnar and spent a month building him up only to feed him to an already over John Cena.

This isn't to say the match itself was bad. Cena deserves credit for going out there and taking the shots he did from Lesnar and the two men manage to create one hell of an atmosphere in front of the Chicago crowd. The booking of this match was simply poor and it does not match the story leading into the PPV whatsoever.

CM Punk vs. Chris Jericho

On a much more positive note, Punk and Jericho delivered an excellent performance with their street fight. In a lot of ways it was an improvement over their encounter at WrestleMania 28, and it produced plenty of footage for WWE to use to continue to get Punk over.

I wish that the feud felt a little more competitive going into this match as I feel Punk would have ultimately gotten more out of this if Jericho was able to establish any credibility whatsoever. Still, we got a solid match with the right guys going over, so I can't really have any complaints.

Sheamus vs. Daniel Bryan

I continue to be impressed with the growth of the Daniel Bryan character and the new style that WWE is allowing him to run with. Bryan feels like more of a tactical heel than the standard issue chickenshit heels that clog the WWE roster, and that was on full display with the story that was being told by this match. Bryan lost, but he really didn't lose anything from it.

Sheamus, on the other hands, is really failing to spark my interest. I enjoy his work rate and the agility he is capable of for a man his size, but his character has taken a real hit since his face turn last year and he really hasn't felt like the main attraction of this feud despite being the one holding the belt. Having Sheamus next to such a fleshed-out character like Bryan simply highlights the lack of his character's depth, and I hope to see WWE give him more than crazy Irish family stories.

Big Show vs. Cody Rhodes

WWE frustrates me sometimes. Rhodes was a doing great work last year and showed a lot of upside, but this feud with Big Show has quickly evaporated any heat he once had. Sure, Rhodes walked away with the title, but it was in a fluke fashion before Show got to use him as a personal ragdoll. Ugh. I can forgive a lot in wrestling, but it is still annoying to watch a young wrestler with potential being squandered while a company simultaneously undervalues one of their championships.

Randy Orton vs. Kane

With any luck, WWE will allow this to be the blow off for this feud. I like both men as individual workers, but their feud has been uninspiring and repetitive. Still, they managed to go out and have a solid enough match that made both men look strong, and that's probably the best one can expect to get out of this already tired pairing.

Layla returns

While Layla's return was a pleasant surprise, it felt like a letdown compared to what looked to be Kharma's return to WWE television. I'm not saying it completely kills the interest that was sparked for me with Phoenix's injury storyline, but if Kharma is returning soon then the amount of title swaps that just took place with the Diva's Championship was foolhardy at best.

Overall Show

Extreme Rules was a better-than-average WWE PPV affair. The top matches were all well-wrestled, and even the undercard and unannounced matches managed not to disappoint. The Cena story left a bad taste in my mouth at the end of the show, and I imagine that feeling is exponentially worse for those that are sick of all things Cena. Ultimately, this was a very entertaining PPV that I fear will be marred by the questionable booking in the main event.

If you have any questions or comments or just wish to chat with a fellow wrestling fan about whatever, then feel free to email me at ryan.kester@gmail.com or follow me on Twitter at @TheRyanKester.

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