Best of WWE 2011 - Extreme Rules

ADDED:

#11 - CM Punk vs. Randy Orton - Last Man Standing - Extreme Rules 5/1/11

Orton's at his best in hardcore-type matches: he hits hard with weapons and takes crazy bumps, and reckless settings fit his goofy mannerisms better. This was a strong, escalating, violent brawl. They start working somewhat even but with Orton getting the upper-hand mostly: Punk drops a knee, Orton drops a bigger knee, etc. The feud highlighted the similarities between the two, so that worked. But then Punk whipped out a kendo stick and the match escalated. They communicated hate throughout the match, and they consistently built momentum. The kendo stick shots were particularly violent, both guys took great bumps-- the spot where Punk gets thrown through a chair wedge in the ropes onto the apron and then outside looked great, and both guys ate post brilliantly-- and the selling was awesome. Punk's wobbly-legged stuff looked great and put over the near finishes. This also didn't have as much downtime as most LMS matches do, in part due to Punk's ability to perform perpetually and entertain, even when he's not actually doing anything. His faces are the best. And Orton going ballistic with the cane was the best thing to come out of his new psycho-killer babyface character.

ADDED:

#12 - Cody Rhodes vs. Rey Mysterio - Falls Count Anywhere - Extreme Rules 5/1/11

Orton/Punk succeeded with hate; Cody/Rey succeeded with recklessness. They start hot, exchanging stiff strikes, and never slow down. They brawl all over the place, and it's a terrific arena brawl: both guys incorporate signature stuff in creative ways and also bust out brand new stuff, and they both take nasty bumps. They also call back to the feud in significant ways: Cody uses his mask, Rey exposes a knee brace before going for a 619, etc. They go up the stairs and into the concourse and back around, and the most impressive part about the match is how hard they hit each other. I'd say both guys strike well in general, but they totally kicked it up for the blow-off. Rey's mist came out of nowhere and was completely awesome.

ADDED:

#8 - Christian vs. Alberto Del Rio - Ladder Match - Extreme Rules 5/1/2011

A better opening and this easily makes the top five, but the finish is still strong enough to call it truly great. And the opening was very good, too: they exchange strikes and then go to the ladders, which they utilize well throughout the match. They incorporate signature spots in new ways, which Christian always does well, but adding ladders to stuff makes it cooler and more devastating. Cool stuff like Christian crawling under the ring to the other side and then running through the ring to baseball slide the ladder into Del Rio; Del Rio getting knocked off the ladder only to land on his feet and hit his enziguri, etc. Del Rio also works Christian's arm briefly, which leads to great selling from Christian throughout the match. But it really takes off when both guys start to bump like mad. Del Rio takes a whole bunch of nasty shit on ladders, and the bumps get bigger while the crowd gets hotter. They get a cool false finish out of a spot stolen from Jeff/Edge at ER09 and a better one after Del Rio hits a senton on a ladder draped across the apron and announce table-- that looked awesome. And Del Rio takes a back drop onto a ladder and a flapjack onto a cornered ladder, and Christian eats an enziguri off the top rope while holding a ladder, which he falls flat on. All awesome stuff. Even simpler stuff, like Christian's Edge-homage spear followed by the brilliant shoulder sell, was great. And Brodus Clay's appearance was awesome: he interrupted the hottest false finish only to eat stiff ladder shots. But that gives time for Del Rio to come back and lock in a cross-armbreaker through a ladder, which looked great. Edge's distraction was awesome, too: it protected Del Rio but wasn't long enough to detract from Christian's title win. It looked like Christian might have stopped Del Rio even without the distraction. Del Rio taking the big bump into Ricardo, Brodus, and a pool of Brodus's blood (yeah, stiff ladder shots; forgot to mention Christian got busted open down the stretch, too) felt just. I like when heels with cronies get punished with their cronies all at once. And Christian's title win was a great feel-good moment. Edge being around wasn't something I'd normally dig, but he seemed so genuinely excited and happy to see his best friend finally get what he deserved that it added to the moment.

I'm a Christian mark, so that meant a lot to me, and I probably have it 5 spots higher than it should be, but whatever. It's a great match.

Added to THE REST:

John Cena vs. John Morrison vs. The Miz - Cage Match - Extreme Rules 5/1/11

Not a great match, but more "way better than it should have been." Because really, this sounds terrible on paper, but it turned out to be a bunch of fun. Constant action and Miz & Morrison both had great roles while Cena established early that he just wanted that goddam belt. Miz tries to climb cowardly at the start and it almost works. Then Morrison tries to climb acrobatically and it almost works. Then they put over the danger for the champion, which might be the strongest part of the match. Miz hits his finish on Cena but can't pin him because Morrison's at the top of the cage. I dug Morrison trying to jump out throughout the match and Miz trying to find opportunities. Miz's superplex bump deserves a mention for looking stupidly deadly. And nobody spends much time lying around until Truth's appearance, which is pretty awesome: he murders Morrison because Morrison deserves it. The knee into the steps looked great, and he took Morrison out, got his symbolic "victory" by climbing out, and took out the third wheel so we could get a Miz/Cena finish. And the finish was epic: they dueled atop the cage and finished with a great superAA. Really awesome spot, really fun match.

Best of WWE 2011: THE LIST