Welcome to our live coverage of WWE’s Extreme Rules pay-per-view live from New Orleans, Louisiana.

As always, we’re looking for your feedback on tonight’s show via email on the address below, via our MySpace page at www.myspace.com/ifight365, or via Twitter at www.twitter.com/ifight365.

The usual opening video packages opens the show. For what its worth heading into the show, Tommy Dreamer as of today is telling people tonight is his last match for the company. I guess we’ll soon find out.

- A Fatal Four Way Match for the United States Championship: Kofi Kingston vs. MVP vs. Matt Hardy vs. William Regal opens the show. Lively start to the match with Kofi flying high inside and out of the ring and Regal getting plenty of heel heat. Matt Hardy got a mixed reaction throughout and went for a ton of pinfalls early on. MVP hit the Ballin’ elbow and went for the pin but Regal broke the pin up and hit a high knee before walking into a high kick from Kofi, who made the cover and got the 1, 2, 3. Short match but good fun in places although sloppy in others. Winner and still US Champion: Kofi Kingston. Shame they didn’t give it more time (it went around 7 minutes).

- Rey Mysterio vs. Chris Jericho in a No Holds Barred Match for the Intercontinental Championship is up next. That sneak-attack by Jericho last week was still the best thing on WWE TV this year. Jericho’s music played but he didn’t come out. Instead he cut a promo from the concourse running down Mysterio fans who buy his merchandise. He walked through the crowd to the ring while cutting an awesome promo running down anybody who dared touch him on the way and threatening to hit them. Awesome.

Mysterio dominated early, beating up Jericho outside the ring. Jericho gained the upper hand back in the ring. He went for a springboard dropkick but Mysterio countered with a kick to the face then hit a cross body from the top rope to the outside. After a ton of reversal pinfall attempts, Jericho went for the Walls of Jericho but Mysterio blocked it. Jericho tried to remove Mysterio’s mask before Mysterio dived through the ropes to Jericho on the outside. He then hit a headscissors and got a near fall as the pace picked up. Rey went for a 619 but Jericho countered into a spinning overhead backbreaker. Jericho missed a lionsault and Mysterio hit a modified 619 to the back of the head. He went for a splash off the top rope but Jericho countered into a codebreaker. Awesome stuff. Jericho brought a chair into the ring but Mysterio dropkicked it into his face. Mysterio set up the chair to dive over the top onto Jericho but got caught and wound up in the Walls. He escaped by grabbing the chair and nailing Jericho with it. He then went for the 619 but Jericho countered by removing Mysterio’s mask. Jericho got the pin and Mysterio bailed out. Awesome, awesome match. Winner and new IC champion: Chris Jericho.

- Backstage interview with Batista. They showed a video of the build to the match tonight with Orton. Batista got emotional and said he’d make Orton pay for what he did to Ric Flair. Here’s hoping Big Dave doesn’t have to climb a cage.

- CM Punk vs. Umaga in a Samoan Strap Match is up next. Umaga dominated early. Little in the way of crowd reactions early on which I thought would be the case as its a tough match to sell. There’s on-screen graphics to show how many of the turnbuckles either man has touched. A nice idea, but it was badly out of time with when the turnbuckles were actually hit, which made it a waste of time until they fixed it mid-match. The match itself was pretty slow. They teased the fourth turnbuckle being hit by both Punk and Umaga several times. The finish was pretty cool. Umaga tried to block Punk from touching the fourth turnbuckle and went for the Spike, but Punk ducked and hit the GTS before hitting the turnbuckle and getting the win. Winner: CM Punk. Crowd popped pretty big for the finish.

- Christian vs. Jack Swagger vs. Tommy Dreamer for the ECW title is up next. Backstage before the match, Gregory Helms interviewed Christian, who felt sorry for Tommy Dreamer. Dreamer interrupted but before he could say much, Swagger interrupted. Christian and Dreamer walked off before he could say anything. Christian and Dreamer worked together early on against Swagger. Trash cans and kendo sticks were brought into play early. Christian turned on Dreamer when a pin needed to be broken up. Pretty slow paced match early on. Dreamer hit a somersault with a trashcan to the outside which brought out a weak ‘ECW’ chant. Christian hit a dropkick onto a trashcan which nailed Swagger in the head. Dreamer slammed Christian onto a trashcan lid but then missed an elbow. Swagger went for a superplex on Dreamer but Christian did the spot where he gets underneath them so its almost like a powerbomb – Dreamer went into some trashcans. Christian went for the killswitch but Swagger blocked it. Dreamer nailed Swagger with a crutch and hit a DDT for the 1, 2, 3. Winner and new ECW champion: Tommy Dreamer. Decent pop for the win but the match was a disappointment I thought.

Dreamer broke down in the ring as he was given the belt. He went into the crowd to celebrate.

Vickie Guerrero was shown sparring with Chavo backstage, with Chavo wearing a fake pig nose and making grunting noises. Then we cut to Michael Cole who reacted as if it was a vintage Monty Python sketch. Lame.

- Vickie Guerrero vs. Santina Marella in a Hog Pen match is up next. They felt the need to have Jerry Lawler give us a special tour of the Hog Pen. Awesome. They dragged this out forever. Lawler interviewed Vickie before the match and she announced it was now a handicap match and that Chavo was now teaming with her. He was pissed about it. Probably not as pissed as the four guys who opened the show and only got 7 minutes to accomodate this. Santina threw some mud on Chavo’s shirt, so he punched him/her and threw some mud all over his/her face. During all this, Michael Cole is pissing himself laughing. Chavo got thrown into the pen with some pigs in it. Punch, punch, mud throw, “sloppy” joke, repeat, repeat, repeat. Vickie eventually got into the Hog Pen but Chavo saved her from a slopping. Chavo then went to throw a bucket of slop over Santina, who obviously moved so it hit Vickie. Santina made the pin and got the win. Winner: Santina although I question if anybody is a winner after this. Vickie and Chavo fought in the slop afterwards while Lawler and Cole laughed their asses off. If you actually had to pay to watch this tonight, you should demand a refund. Possibly the worst segment on a PPV I’ve ever seen.

After a Batista-Orton video package, we saw a slop-covered Chavo and Vickie walking backstage. Goldust and Hornswoggle mocked them. Goldust went into tourettes mode and said “you smell like shit…shi…shitake mushrooms.” They eventually walked into a room where Edge was sat. Edge said he wanted to talk to Vickie about his match tonight. She told him she wasn’t going to help and that he was on his own. Edge told her to get a divorce lawyer and that once he beat Jeff Hardy, he’d end his marriage.

- Randy Orton vs. Batista in a Steel Cage Match for the WWE Title is up next. Orton tried to escape the cage early but Batista caught him and hit him with a couple of shoulder tackles. Orton tried to escape through the cage door but got caught again. Orton hit a neckbreaker and again tried to escape but failed. Batista hit a spinebuster but Orton countered the powerbomb. He tried to escape the cage again but paused and decided against leaving an instead trying to punt Dave. he moved and Orton climbed the cage again. Batista caught him and went for the powerbomb but Orton countered. Batista then blocked an RKO and hit the Batista bomb and got the pin. 1, 2, 3. Winner and new WWE champion: Batista.

An ok match but nothing memorable and pretty short. I’m shocked by the title change.

- John Cena vs. Big Show in a Submission Match is up next. The story as you’d expect was whether or not Cena could apply the STF. There’s always a match on a WWE PPV where I wonder if I’m not enjoying it because its 3am when I’m watching and writing this. This was that match tonight as I thought it was just awful. Show dominated and wore Cena down, who fought back and locked in a sleeper but Show powered out of it. Cena was worn down some more. And some more. Show missed the Vader bomb off the second rope. Cena went for a slam but Show fell on him. He went for a chokeslam but Cena tried to block it so Show just dumped him outside the ring. Show put Cena in a bearhug before he finally made the superhuman comeback, countering a chokeslam and hitting the FU. Show blocked the STF and hit the KO punch. On the outside, Cena sent Show into the ring post. Show made his way onto the ring apron but got hit with a top rope legdrop. Cena then tied one of Show’s legs in the ropes to assist him locking in the STF, with Show tapping out. The finish didn’t look good at all. Winner: John Cena. This match seemed to last forever, which makes no sense given that a steel cage title match before this was given very little time – way less than this snorefest got.

- Edge vs. Jeff Hardy in a Ladder Match for the World Heavyweight Championship closes the show. They’ll be lucky to get 15 minutes unless they rush the entrances. There’s probably about 20-25 ladders around ringside and in the aisle. Huge Hardy chants before he made his entrance. The match got underway just after half past the hour, which I just can’t believe considering Cena-Show and the Hog Pen bullshit got so much time. Back and forth match to start out. Edge took out Hardy on the outside with a ladder. In the ring, Hardy then dropped Edge over the top rope, stomach first onto a ladder on the outside. They did a spot where Edge pushed Hardy into the ropes while on a ladder, with the ladder giving way on the way down and Jeff pretty lucky not to have hurt his leg as a result. Edge missed a spear and ran into a ladder. Hardy went for a dropkick into a ladder on Edge in the corner but Edge moved and Hardy hit the ladder. Hardy then got sandwiched in a ladder with Edge locking in the sharpshooter. Cool spot.

Edge climbed the ladder trying to get the belt but Hardy dropkicked the ladder from the top rope, knocking Edge off and to the floor. Hardy set a ladder up, upside-down and dropped Edge across it stomach first. Hardy then pulled out a much bigger ladder. He hit the Twist of Fate then climbed the ladder. Edge bailed out of the way thinking Hardy was going to hit a crazy spot but instead Hardy tried to grab the belt. Edge pulled him down with Hardy falling hard. Hardy went back to the top of the ladder eventually and hit Whisper in the Wind. He then clotheslined Edge to the outside and looked to have hurt his hand in the process. Edge hit a boot to the face on the outside. He went to hit Hardy with the ring steps but Jeff blocked it and hit a neckbreaker on the security guardrail. Hardy then laid Edge a ladder between the ring apron and the guardrail before climbing up a ladder placed near it on the outside. Edge climbed up with him but the ladder tipped over and they both went through the ladder laid below. Crazy stuff and worth noting that they’ve gone longer than expected as the show is going to finish at around 10.55pm EST. Back in the ring, Edge climbed the ladder with Hardy then climbing another ladder nearby. Edge went for a spear in mid-air but Hardy hit a mid-air Twist of Fate. Hardy climbed back up the ladder but Edge joined him at the top again. Hardy fell off but grabbed Edge’s feet and pulled them between two of the rungs, leaving him hanging from the ladder as Hardy climbed back up and grabbed the title. Winner and new World Heavyweight champion: Jeff Hardy. Good match to close the show with the latter stages being really good.

CM PUNK IS HERE!Hardy celebrates in the ring, but suddenly CM Punk’s music hits. The crowd are booing. Punk cashes in his title shot, hits the GTS and 1, 2…Hardy kicks out! Hardy rolls Punk up but Punk kicks out. Punk hits a second GTS and again makes the cover. This time he gets the 1, 2, 3 and we have another new champion. Winner and new World Heavyweight Champion: CM Punk.Punk’s title win doesn’t go over particularly well with a subdued New Orleans crowd. The show closes with Hardy rolling around in pain in the ring and Punk celebrating with hardly anybody in the crowd caring!

Thanks for joining us tonight for our live Extreme rules coverage!

Phil Lowe
phil@ifight365.com