Dot Net Members are listening to the 77-minute audio review of last night's WWE Extreme Rules pay-per-view that Rich Twilling and I recorded. You can gain instant access to all Dot Net audio on the ad-free version of the site (and correspond with other members in the Dot Net Forum) by signing up for membership on the Dot Net Members' Signup Page.

WWE Extreme Rules Hits

C.M. Punk cashes in the Money in the Bank contract: I didn't see this one coming so I was pleasantly surprised. Like the Dot Net poll voters, I assume this means Punk is turning heel or will play a tweener character. After all, they could have had Edge win the match and had Punk beat him for the title if they wanted to keep him babyface. I posted the pole because I wasn't quite sure how it came off on television, but it looks like the overwhelming majority of the readers feel like I do.

Jeff Hardy vs. Edge: A sensational ladder match. The match featured some huge bumps, but they didn't go so overboard that the bumps lost impact as the match went on. The teeter onto the ladder that was placed between the ring and the guardrail was the most memorable moment of the match. That said, I loved the way they set up ladders everywhere because it was a great visual. I guess we've come a long way from the days of one ladder set up in the ring.

Chris Jericho vs. Rey Mysterio: Great finish. Jericho felt the same way, as he raved that it "ruled" on his Twitter page. Sure, it's silly that Mysterio wouldn't wear and old school mask that's harder to remove if he's facing a guy that vowed to remove his mask, but big deal. This was a really fun match that took place too early in the show. The crowd was flat for a stretch after this match and I think it would have beefed up the middle of the show had they saved it for then.

Tommy Dreamer vs. Christian vs. Jack Swagger: I give WWE and Dreamer a lot of credit. Had it not been for the stipulation that Dreamer would walk away from ECW, there would have been fans who questioned why he was even in this match. However, they came up with a way to make viewers not only care about Dreamer, but root for him to win the ECW Title. Very nicely done. I don't expect him to have a long ECW Title reign, but I enjoyed the match and his stipulation definitely enhanced it. My only complaint is that I would have liked to have seen a couple pin attempts involving Christian and Swagger that Dreamer had to race to break up to save his career.

Kofi Kingston vs. Matt Hardy vs. William Regal vs. MVP: A minor hit. There were a couple sloppy spots with Kingston and Regal, but it was still a fast-paced (maybe a little too fast) opener that got the crowd going. I wish they would have given these guys more time. I can think of one match that could have spared a minute or eight.

WWE Extreme Rules Misses

Hog Pen Match: Vince McMahon thinks tag teams and managers are too "old school wrasslin'" to utilize in this day and age, yet a freaking hog pen match is acceptable? I'll guarantee that no one in the arena or watching at home laughed harder than Vince and some of the writers did at this silliness. I don't hate sports entertainment, just the ridiculously campy form of it.

John Cena vs. Big Show: Dot Net correspondent Rich Twilling literally fell asleep for roughly five minutes of this match. Lucky him! It wasn't a horrible match, but it went on forever. No one took Big Show seriously after Cena defied the odds and beat him last month. He supposedly defied the odds again in this match, so maybe it's time for the oddsmakers to reconsider. I still don't understand why they didn't have Show go over last month when Cena was beat up from the spotlight stunt, nor do I understand why Michael Cole thought this match could end in a countout. For that matter, I don't understand why they didn't have Cena say he was hellbent on winning with the STF, which would have explained why he didn't just use a different finisher. By the way, the sleeper he applied looked horrible.

Batista vs. Randy Orton: There are reports that Batista is slated to undergo surgery for a torn biceps muscle, which may explain why the match was so short. If that is the case, then I question the title change even more. WWE has been changing their World Titles every six weeks, and I assume we'll get another title change tonight if Batista is going to be out of action. Title changes are newsworthy until they happen so frequently that they don't feel special. WWE is entering the "not special" territory. The World Hvt. Championship is changing just as frequently, but at least C.M. Punk cashing in the Money in the Bank contract was surprising and got people talking.

C.M. Punk vs. Umaga strap match: This match was a letdown. I enjoyed their match on Friday's Smackdown and expected them to turn it up a notch, but the strap seemed to hinder them more than anything. They relied on the usual strap match spots and didn't come up with any new twists.

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