WWE Extreme Rules 2012 DVD Review

My WWE DVD collection continues to grow. The newest WWE DVD I purchased was WWE Extreme Rules 2012. I buy WWE Pay Per View DVDs for all of the WWE PPVs I attend so I had to buy this DVD. Extreme Rules was in Chicago this year and I was one of the 14,817 fans in the Allstate Arena that night. I am going to review this DVD which is not the same as reviewing a WWE Event. WWE PPV DVDs are made over a month after the PPV so that gives them plenty of time to edit it. For example, a fan giving the finger to Vince McMahon was edited out of the Money in the Bank 2011 DVD. Here is my review of the WWE Extreme Rules 2012 DVD.

First of all, the pre-show match is not on the DVD. The only way to have seen The Miz vs. Santino was by watching the Extreme Rules pre-show on YouTube, Facebook, or WWE.com. The pre-show is still on YouTube so the match can be viewed for free. One more thing I need to mention before I start reviewing the matches is that this DVD is TV-14. I think it's the first TV-14 WWE PPV DVD since the PG Era started.

Randy Orton vs. Kane (***1/2)

This match got nearly 17 minutes. It was plenty of time for them to have a four star match, but they fell a little bit short. It was a good brawl and it went back-and-forth with some good near-falls, but the match wasn't as great as I thought it would be. Maybe if this was the Attitude Era, they could have had a match that was more extreme and violent. The storyline suggested that these two guys really disliked each other so this match should have been a bloody war that was so violent that the loser would need to be rushed to the hospital. It's not a bad match...could have been better. Good opening match for the PPV. As for edits on the DVD, the part when the cameraman fell down was not edited which is good because that was a funny moment during the match.

Brodus Clay vs. Dolph Ziggler (*1/2)

This was a boring match, but it got four and a half minutes which is longer than most Brodus Clay matches. The "Let's Go Ziggler" chants can be heard loud and clearly on the DVD.

Big Show vs. Cody Rhodes (**1/4)

This match was only four and a half minutes, but I enjoyed it a lot. I think that was the perfect time length. I didn't want to see a ten minute Big Show match and four minutes is enough time to do some cool spots. The best spot was when Big Show pushed Cody Rhodes towards a table set-up in one of the ring corners and Cody climbed up the table with his feet and then kicked Big Show in the face after jumping off the table. The crowd was rooting for Cody Rhodes during this match and the crowd reactions were not edited on the DVD. At one point, it sounded like the crowd was saying, "Let's Go Cody"/"Big Show Sucks" and the crowd was booing Big Show when he started attacking Cody after the match.

Sheamus vs. Daniel Bryan (****1/2)

This was one of the greatest matches of 2012. It might end up being a forgotten classic match because this was one of three main event matches, but I think this was the match of the night. I loved this match in the arena and I think I loved this match even more after watching it on the DVD. I didn't like the ending because it felt like this match could have gone at least five minutes longer. The way the match ended, it seemed like the referee may have told Sheamus that it was time to end the match. Despite the weak ending, I thought this match overall was amazing. I wish there were cleaner ending to the first two falls, but this was the best Sheamus match I have ever seen and one of the best Daniel Bryan matches I have ever seen. Daniel Bryan's PPV winning streak in Chicago ended, but he had another epic performance in the Allstate Arena for the third year in a row. I didn't notice any edits in this match. I think the boos for Sheamus when he made his entrance might have been quieter than what they sounded during the actual PPV, but I could hear the boos. The "Yes" chants sound loud and the epic "Yes/No" chants sound amazing. When you mix a great performance from the Chicago crowd with a great performance by Daniel Bryan, you get a classic match. I don't think this will be the last time this match appears on a WWE DVD.

Ryback vs. Aaron Relic and Jay Hatton (No Rating)

The match was okay, but the only thing that you need to know is that the "Goldberg" chants are on the DVD. Not only were they not edited, they sounded loud. I was surprised how loud the chant was...it didn't sound that loud in the arena.

CM Punk vs. Chris Jericho (****1/4)

This was a great match. It wasn't as good as CM Punk's match against John Cena at Money in the Bank 2011, but it was better than the Punk vs. Jericho WrestleMania 28 match. This was a Chicago Street Fight and I wish they used weapons more often. It was half street fight and half regular match. They did use weapons a lot, but there shouldn't be any wrestling moves performed during a street fight. It's supposed to be a fight and not a wrestling match. Like the Kane/Orton match, it should have been a lot more violent because of the storyline. The storyline focused on Punk's family and even though Punk's family was there, the match ignored them during most of the match. Punk's sister slapped Jericho at one point, but the family didn't get involved in the match very much other than that. Some people were complaining that Punk wasn't selling the beating he took after the match, but that didn't bother me at all. I liked this match, but I didn't love it. It will be remembered as one of the best CM Punk matches, but not one of the best WWE matches in my opinion. The biggest edit on the DVD happened during this match. During the PPV, CM Punk nearly fell off the top turnbuckle before doing a flying elbow drop onto Jericho through the Spanish Announce Table. On the DVD, you don't see CM Punk almost fall out the turnbuckle. I would have liked to see the match completely unedited, but the WWE edited the spot so well that fans who hadn't seen the PPV would have no idea that the spot was almost botched. Other than that, I didn't notice any of edits during the match. The "CM Punk" chants sound loud.

Nikki Bella vs. Kharma Layla (*)

The fans wanted Kharma, but they got Layla. This was a bad match. I could hear the crowd chanting "We Want Kharma" at the beginning of the match, but it wasn't very clear. Maybe it sounded more clear during the PPV. I could hear the chant, but the WWE may have edited it a little bit.

John Cena vs. Brock Lesnar (****1/4)

First of all, the blood is completely uncensored which is why this DVD is TV-14. Most of the blood is from Cena, but Lesnar was bleeding too after getting busted open late in the match. This match was awesome. It get less than 20 minutes and was dominated too much by Lesnar, but I thought this was a good match. Some people didn't like the end of the match, but I thought the ending was alright. It's not the way I would have ended the match, but it made sense and I don't think it hurt the quality of the match. This match was very violent and it was as better than I was expecting. This match matched the intensity of the storyline. The storyline teased a violent match and that's what we got. The only edit I noticed was that the WWE showed an alternate camera view of Lesnar falling out of the ring after jumping on Cena. I liked the original camera view better so I don't know why they changed it. The WWE did not edit the part when Lesnar licked Cena's blood off his hand and Cena's post-match promo is on the DVD.  

Special Feature: Matt Striker interviews CM Punk

This was a good interview. The WWE PPV DVD special features aren't always great, but I enjoyed this interview. CM Punk talked about his family and friends that were at the Allstate Arena during Extreme Rules.

This was a very good PPV. It was not quite as good as Money in the Bank 2011, but almost as good. This PPV had three great matches and some of the mid-card matches were fun to watch. Extreme Rules 2012 is a good DVD to buy if you can get a good price for it.