Bang For Your Buck PPV Review: Extreme Rules 2013

Last Man Standing Match for the WWE Championship:

John Cena (C) vs. Ryback

Anyone who thought John Cena was losing this match clearly does not understand merchandising, but that ending was pretty much a masterclass in how to give people their money’s worth while booking yourselves out of a corner. It’s not ideal given all possible outcomes, but for what it was, it did a fantastic job of getting there.

Of course, some people are going to be angry about the non-finish. Those people need to get over it. That’s not how wrestling works and it DEFINITELY wasn’t a “non-finish”. The Champ Is Dead and the challenger walked away with the help of medics after driving another guy through a wall made of glass and lights. The E needed Ryback to come off almost impossibly good while making sure they doesn’t lose that sweet sweet “The Champ is Here” t-shirt money. And that’s exactly what happened.

In a way that not even CM Punk has, Ryback looked strong both literally and figuratively against Cena, using a combination of power moves and strong counters that made it clear during his many visits to the gym, he also watches wrestling. For two traditional WWE main eventers (read: meathead jocks) this match was great. While it doesn’t quite live up to Cena’s match last year with Lesnar, it is pretty much the definition of getting what you pay for: two dudes doing a really good job of looking like they are brutally beating each other into submission. I’m not sure what more you could ask for. Other than a clean finish.

Also, Lawler saying “this is on the promotion” following the match — after defending Fandango as an underrated wrestler at the beginning of the show — has all the making of a Lawler heel turn.

Match: +.7 (with no winner, it’s a little hard to give it anything higher)

PPV Total: 2.7

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