Dolph Ziggler’s choice of Extreme Rules stipulation led to a Horror Show for Drew McIntyre, but the champ still found a way to retain his WWE Championship.
McIntyre held onto his title in the featured bout at WWE Extreme Rules at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida.
Ziggler was allowed to select the stipulation for his championship match and opted for a unique take on the traditional Extreme Rules fare: “This WWE title match will be Extreme Rules… for Dolph Ziggler only!”
With McIntyre unable to use any weapons (the title would change hands via count-out or disqualification, Ziggler stipulated) the odds were stacked in Ziggler’s favour.
The Show Off came within one second of becoming WWE Champion when he smashed McIntyre through a table at ringside with an elbow drop from the top turnbuckle, and left McIntyre down to be counted out.
McIntyre made it back to the ring with one second to spare, and withstood a barrage of weaponry from Ziggler before eventually wiping his challenger out with a Claymore for the win.
“There was times in that match, including when he made the announcement, [where I thought] this might have been a mistake,” McIntyre admitted post-match.
“I’m going to learn, going to move on, I’m going to be a better champion, and Dolph’s out of the equation so I’m moving on to someone else,” he continued. “Keep lining them up and I’ll keep knocking them down!”
Sasha Banks is the new Raw Women’s Champion… or maybe she isn’t.
Banks’ title bout against Asuka came to a confusing end when Bayley donned a referee’s uniform and awarded the win to her partner.
Prior to Bayley’s involvement, The Boss and The Empress of Tomorrow engaged in a back-and-forth battle that seemed ready to go down as one of WWE’s best matches of 2020.
Banks was stopped from using her WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship belt as a weapon by referee Eddie Orengo. Asuka tried to take advantage of Banks’ distracted state, but accidentally blew green mist into the eyes of the referee.
Bayley entered the ring and clobbered Asuka with her tag team title belt. The SmackDown Women’s Champion then tore the referee’s shirt from him and put on the uniform to count as Banks covered Asuka.
Banks and Bayley demanded the timekeeper ring the bell, and left the WWE Performance Center with the Raw Women’s Championship.
WWE.com still recognises Asuka as the Raw Women’s Champion.
WWE Extreme Rules Results:
- Kevin Owens def. Murphy
- SmackDown Tag Team Championship, Tables Match:
Cesaro & Shinsuke Nakamura def. The New Day (Big E & Kofi Kingston) (c) - SmackDown Women’s Championship:
Bayley (c) w/ Sasha Banks def. Nikki Cross w/ Alexa Bliss - Eye For An Eye Match:
Seth Rollins def. Rey Mysterio - Raw Women’s Championship:
Asuka (c) w/ Kairi Sane vs. Sasha Banks w/ Bayley - WWE Championship, Extreme Rules (for Dolph Ziggler) Match:
Drew McIntyre (c) def. Dolph Ziggler
