Talk about a hell of a follow up to Wrestlemania.

Going into the night, it looked like we would have a solid card. And boy oh boy, did Extreme Rules deliver on basically every aspect.

First, I’ll get some relatively unimportant stuff out of the way. The Miz continued his god-knows-how-many-months long losing streak by falling to Santino in the pre-show match on YouTube. Layla came back after being gone for nearly a year and won the Divas Title after some failed twin magic. Orton beat Kane in a match that was really solid, but felt like it lasted too long. And thankfully, Cody Rhodes won his title back by beating Show in a tables match that required what some would say dumb luck. Brodus Clay beat Ziggler in his first non-squash match, and looked pretty solid doing it. He might actually be able to work decent matches given the rigth competition. And lastly Ryback destroyed a couple of local jobbers. One of these days, he’s going to need to have a real match.

And with all that said, I think I got rid of all the relatively unimportant stuff. Don’t get me wrong, some of these were solid to good matches, especially Orton vs. Kane. They just didn’t mean a whole lot in the scheme of things. Especially not with three awesome, main event worth matches on the card.

First, I’m just going to get this out of the way. Sheamus vs. Daniel Bryan was DAMN good. If it wasn’t for Punk vs. Jericho, it would have been the best match of the night.That’s how good it was, and it showed us what we missed out on at Wrestlemania each of the last two years.

Personally, I’m actually shocked at how good this match was. I thought it’d be good, but never thought it’d be as good as it was. Both Sheamus and Bryan showed they know how to build drama and work a good, long match. Because this was a lengthy match, officially clocking in at 22:55 in length. There was drama all over the place, especially with the first fall. Both guys, especially Bryan, had a bunch of near falls. It eventually ended with Bryan getting disqualified after he went well past the refs five count, repeatedly kicking the shoulder of Sheamus, which had been hurt earlier in the match. It eventually led up to him making Sheamus pass out to the Yes Lock for the second fall of the match.

The third fall was also really good. Both guys mounted offense, but in the end, it was Sheamus who came out as the victor, scoring the Brough Kick from out of nowhere to get the win.

I’m actually not so sure how I feel about this win yet, either. I expected Sheamus to win. He’s been pushed too hard all year for him to have such a short title reign. But damn, do I really like Bryan. He’s gotten completely over with the crowd, garnering constant “Yes!” chants throughout his matches. With his scorching popularity, I don’t think it’d be all that smart for WWE creative to keep the title off him for too long, though that might be what they’re doing, seeing as how Del Rio is next in line for a title shot. We’ll see how that goes, but I’ll be furious if they give the title back to him.

Next up, I’m skipping to the main event, because it was only the third best match tonight. But that doesn’t mean much, because it was a really good, and absolutely brutal match, and not how some might expect. There were very few weapons used in this – only Cena’s chains really, and they barely came into play.

This was all about Lesnar just pummelling Cena for most of the matches 17 plus minutes. Within moments of the opening bell, Lesnar immediately took down Cena and busted him open with a wicked elbow across the head, causing one of multiple stoppages during the match. And for the record, this didn’t look like a fake elbow either where the blood was from a capsule or anything (especially since WWE is very anti-blood nowadays). This looked very real, especially since it kept bleeding throughout the entirety of the match.

This might have been the biggest beating Cena has taken in a long time – maybe since last year at Extreme Rules when The Miz and Alex Riley double teamed who through much of their “I Quit” match, which Cena inevitably won. Lesnar was just flat out brutal though. He rained down the punches and elbows through much of the match, and had Cena chained up from the top rope at one point in time. He also locked on the kimura (which is a real life MMA submission that wrenches on the shoulder for all you non-MMA watchers out there) a couple times during the match, really working on Cena’s left arm. And to Cena’s credit, he actually sold this really well, as he barely used his left arm for much of the latter stages of the match.

But in the end, it was all to no avail for Lesnar. Despite physically dominating the entire match, Cena managed to muster a bit of offense late, and it was enough to secure the victory. He caught Lesnar with a fist full of chains to the face, and then drilled him with an AA onto the steel steps that were in the middle of the ring, landing the three count immediately thereafter.

Honestly, this match was the most shocking of all of them to me. I was thoroughly shocked that Cena got the win tonight, mainly because I didn’t think they’d bring Brock back to lose in his first match. It was a shock to say the least, but it didn’t really make Brock look bad. He physically dominated Cena all match, and accomplished what he wanted to accomplish – hurt Cena. It’s going to be interesting to see where they take this storyline from here, because I can’t imagine that it’s over.

Lastly, we cover what was really the biggest draw for me on this card – Punk vs. Jericho, part two. Only this time, in a Chicago Street Fight. And remember how I said yesterday that I thought this match, despite the stipulation, wouldn’t be too extreme and over the top? Well, guess what everyone…I was wrong. Dead wrong. Because this match was probably the one that most lived up to the billing of the pay per view, because it was all out chaos throughout much of the match.

And it didn’t long to get that way either. CM Punk almost immediately grabbed a kendo stick and used it multiple times on Jericho. Shortly after that, in spilled out the outside of the ring, where Jericho would send Punk flying into the retaining wall, chairs…really, just everywhere around ringside.

The highlight of this match though, came near the end. Jericho had Punk locked in the Walls, with really nowhere to go. Punk managed to get to the ropes…but it didn’t really do him any good, seeing as how there was no rope break in the match. Instead, the ever resourceful Punk managed to get himself a fire extinguisher off from underneath the ring and sprayed Jericho in the face. The match then quickly spilled outside, where the highlight of the night was hit.

With Jericho sprawled across the Spanish announce table, Punk scaled to the top rope (almost falling off in the process) and landed the flying elbow, putting both himself and Punk through the table. It looked pretty rough too, especially for Punk and how he landed on his hip. But it was one hell of an awesome spot to see.

The match wasn’t quite over yet though. After both men had gotten back in the ring, Punk locked in the Anaconda Vice. In what looked like a victory for Punk by now, Jericho managed to grab the kendo stick that was still sitting in the ring and pummel Punk with it, getting him to break the hold.

Jericho then tried to end it with the ultimate slap in the face for Punk, as he went for Punk’s patented GTS. Punk however, managed to slip out of it on the way down, slingshot Jericho into the exposed turnbuckle, and land the GTS and getting the three count.

This match really did have it all, and I was pleased of the outcome. I’m honestly shocked that Jericho hasn’t won the title from Punk yet, because it almost feels like his comeback has been somewhat of a waste because of it. But this was the second straight PPV where these two men showcased why they’re two of the best in the entire industry, as they put on an absolute show for over 25 minutes. It’s going to be interesting to see where both men go from here. I have a hard time believing that they’ll continue this feud, but who knows. If they don’t, I’m not entirely sure what Jericho is going to do, because the whole point of his comeback has been this incredible feud with Punk, and if it ends, then what’s left for him? Who knows.

I do know one thing though – this was a damn fine PPV. Props to WWE for managing two terrific PPVs in one month, because that has to be hard to do.

Until next time.