Despite a spirited effort from "The Demon" Finn Balor, a higher power seemed to allow Roman Reigns to successfully retain his championship.
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Sunday night’s WWE Extreme Rules pay-per-view delivered plenty of solid in-ring action but the ending of the universal championship main event will be the lasting memory coming out of the event. Despite a spirited effort from “The Demon” Finn Balor, a higher power seemed to intervene to allow Roman Reigns to successfully retain his championship.
Balor overcame interference from The Usos to fire up for a dramatic late comeback against the champion. Just when it seemed Balor may have the match won, the top rope broke in a bizarre stunt that allowed Reigns to hit a spear to retain the title. The finish was the only blip from an otherwise hot pay-per-view featuring plenty of good championship matches from Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio.
Styles nearly locked up a calf crusher on Xavier Woods seconds into the match but couldn’t get the finish. A bit of trash talk from Styles brought Big E into the ring to briefly take advantage before Lashley began dominating the match. Kingston was cut off in the heel corner, trying — and failing — to battle his way through the powerhouse duo of Lashley and Omos. Kingston took a lot of offense while Lashley made sure he could not make the tag to Big E, taking out the men on the apron before trapping Kingston in the corner yet again before a hot tag to Xavier Woods, with Woods going on a brief run before a Lashley powerslam allowed him to take control once again. Woods was eventually able to make the hot tag to Big E, with the WWE champion taking out Omos and Lashley on the ring apron before focusing his attack on Styles. A brawl broke out outside the ring before Lashley attempted a blind tag to enter the match only to have Big E send a Lashley spear into AJ Styles before hitting a Big Ending on Lashley to score the win in a very fun six-man tag match.
XAVIER’S ON A ROLL.#ExtremeRules @AustinCreedWins pic.twitter.com/3W7Tr70wka
— WWE Universe (@WWEUniverse) September 27, 2021
Ford showed a bit of fire in taking the fight to the Usos early before a blind tag allowed The Usos to get an early upper hand. Ford was eventually able to make the hot tag to Angelo Dawkins, with Dawkins going on a hot run before tagging Ford back in to hit a blockbuster for a near fall. The tags continued until Ford returned to the ring with a big frog splash only to have Jimmy Uso get his knees up to counter for a near fall. Ford still managed to hit his massive frog splash on Jey Uso for a near fall before Jimmy broke up the pin. Dawkins made a save from a double superkick only to have Ford eat the kicks anyway before The Usos hit a double splash to score the pin and retain the titles.
Sheamus took out Hardy the moment the match began quickly breaking the match down to one-on-one with the champion. Hardy quickly found his way back into the match as chaos broke out at ringside with all three men having moments of taking the others out. The action continued to swing wildly in standard WWE triple threat ways with the men pairing off two at a time and each getting a bit of momentum for a near fall or two before Hardy hit a Whisper in the Wind on both men for a near fall on Sheamus. Hardy eventually went to the top rope in an attempt to hit a swanton on Priest but Sheamus shoved him before hitting his own jumping knee for a two count. Hardy did eventually hit a swanton, using the move to break a Priest pin on Sheamus. After a series of big moves from all three men, Priest rolled up Sheamus with a schoolboy pin to score the win to hold on to his championship.
Balor came out fast and raked at the eyes and face of Reigns in the early going, taking advantage of the lack of rules. Reigns was quick to slide out of the ring and grab a kendo stick but Balor slid out of the ring and grabbed a bundle of several sticks, which he used to wear out Reigns with several shots to the midsection. A chair was introduced into the match, with Balor managing to stomp it into Reigns’ midsection before taking the champion to ringside and driving him into the steel steps. The brawl went into the crowd, with Reigns, a real-life cancer survivor, putting on a mask as he continued to assault Balor in the crowd. In the end, Reigns hit Balor a spear to retain his title.
