Segment 1: Seth Rollins hits the ring as we get a video montage of Randy Orton's RKO-fest on Monday, and Rollins himself recaps it, which I shall not do. Rollins uses it to hype his match with Orton on Sunday, naturally, though frankly, if you aren't buying into it yet, you probably won't at this point.

Kane has a mic and tells Rollins that he's no “former” monster: he's still a monster and could totally chokeslam Rollins. Kane also reminds Rollins that he could be Rollins's best friend or can secure him the worst loss of his career. Rollins posits that if Kane doesn't play ball, he may be fired, though Kane ignores that.

Rollins changes tracks and says that the only reason Triple H even gave Kane the job as “gatekeeper” for the match Sunday is because Trips feels sorry for him, and just wants him to be part of the show instead of being the washed up has-been that he is. So why doesn't Kane just do what he's best at: doing what's he's told to do, since that's totally best for business.

Kane shrugs and says that sure, he's actually right. Heck, since we're all doing the right things for each other, then since Kane lied down for Rollins to give him a win, Rollins should totally return the favor and lay down for him to even the record. Rollins just laughs, and says that being the WWE World Heavyweight Champion means he doesn't lay down for anyone. Kane says that Rollins isn't laying down for “just” anyone: he's going to lay down for the man who “holds the keys to Rollins's destiny.”

Kane calls down a ref, and just makes a match. He orders J&J Security to leave the ring, then orders the ref to ring the bell. All this despite that Kane is still fully dressed in his suit, but hell: the ref rings it.

Rollins doesn't buy it and insists that he's not going to play. Kane says that since Trips and Stephanie McMahon aren't here, he's the boss. He activates his Demon Voice and insists on the order, and that's when Rollins starts looking spooked. Rollins says nothing more, then slowly kneels and indeed lays down on his back in the center of the ring.

Kane watches him... kneels... then says he was so totally joking. Kane helps him back up to his feet, and insists that since they're both part of The Authority, they so totally have each other's backs! Oh, but Rollins actually does have a match tonight: he'll be facing Dean Ambrose to remind himself what being “Extreme” is all about ahead of Extreme Rules.

Ambrose's music starts, and Ambrose himself comes down the ramp to ringside. However, Luke Harper's music then starts up, and Harper comes through gorilla. Ambrose isn't going to run, so he dives in the ring and attacks Rollins. J&J arrive, soon followed by Harper, who gang up on him four-on-one. Roman Reigns hits the ring to make the save, and when Harper tries to save Rollins, he just gets the crap punched out of him. Harper eats a Superman Punch in the course of it, but Rollins bails. Ambrose and Reigns stand tall in the ring as everyone else is in retreat.

Meanwhile, Kane was watching from ringside and gives Reigns and Ambrose a nod of approval. Huh.

I guess we'll have a tag match tonight for the main event. I'm okay with that.

Surprisingly, still no commercials as Dolph Ziggler hits the ring for the next match... and then we have commercials. I sort of like the pacing so far, since it's just the sane side of chaos.

Pre-Segment 2: During the tail end of Dolph's music, we hear a to-camera interview from Dolph and Neville how they'll “cut down a couple bullies.” Then the heels enter, and Sheamus talks shit on his way down to the ring. Nothing really of import is said.

Segment 2 [Tag Match]: Neville & Dolph Ziggler defeat Bad News Barrett & Sheamus by pin. Sheamus and Neville to start, with Sheamus winning a couple exchanges with power, and Neville winning a couple with speed. Neville gets the first significant “win” by head scissoring Sheamus out of the ring, then dodging a BNB charge to send him through the ropes too. Neville follows up with a flying suicide twrily thing to knock them both down, and the heels have egg on their faces as we go to ads.

Back, and BNB is in control with a sleeper on Neville. Neville slips out, so BNB tags out to let Sheamus isolate Neville. Sheamus indeed cuts the ring in half thanks to slammy-kicky offense. Neville gets some separation with a physics-breaking enziguri that probably made Rollins proud, and it's enough separation for twin hot tags.

Dolph goes house of fire and keeps BNB controlled, but he can't close deal. Dolph even hits his heart stopper elbow drop and a DDT out of nowhere, but can't finish it. Sheamus makes a distraciton however, and Barrett hits the Wasteland, but can't close the deal with that either.

Barrett charges up the Bull Hammer Elbow, but Dolph ducks it. Both guys exchange and whiff finishers, and Dolph wins the exchange with a pinning combination out of nowhere. He only gets a two, but he manages to tag Neville just before Barrett launches another attack. Dolph slips it and hits the Zig Zag out of nowhere. Neville follows up with the Red Arrow, and Dolph superkicks Sheamus's face off outside the ring. Neville makes the pin and holds it. Good match overall, and Neville is incredibly fun to watch.

Segment 3: Hype for Tough Enough.

Segment 4: The commentators were trying to hype the rest of the show, but then Bray Wyatt appeared on the Titantron to talk some more crazy to whoever his next target is. He says knows what drives and motivates his target: fear. Bray knows his target can't help but feel fear, and Bray will soon “expose you for the weakling that you are.” Bray will take “the one thing you cannot live without,” because there is no use “for a butterfly without wings.”

Pre-Segment 5: I don't know if they did this Monday since they cut the match from the Hulu cut, but I find it significant: although Naomi hits the ring to “her” (Brodus Clay's) music, she's not in anything resembling a dancing mood as she heads down the ramp. She booed lightly, which speaks to her tweener status, and the lack of dancing and smiling cements that alignment. I think it's about time she gets a music change, but something that isn't stupid and generic.

Segment 5 [Singles Match]: Naomi defeats Natalya by pin. Naomi doesn't get cute early, and just goes for knees to Natalya's gut. That works for a few seconds, but Natalya goes technical with a Russian Leg Sweep. Natalya follows up with punches but they tumble to the ropes, so the ref calls for a break, and Naomi takes advantage with some punches and guillotining Natalya on the bottom rope. Pin, but only two.

Naomi applies a headlock. When Natayla breaks out, Naomi his a couple strikes but whiffs on a leg drops, and Natalya counters with what is apparently called the “Back Crack and Dropkick” signature combination. At this point, I have to pause it, because I can't possibly type as fast as they're moving. Ready? Ready.

Another exchange results in Naomi hitting a stiff roundhouse kick. She wants a pin from there, but Natalya rolls through and tries for the Sharpshooter. Naomi counters out without a finesse: a nice stiff slap to the face. Naomi starts to throw Natalya into the corner, but Natayla counters, sending Naomi instead. But when Natalya runs to follow up, Natalya just hits the Rear View out of nowhere, then twerks herself into a pin by sitting on Natalya's chest. That's that.

Hm. Decent match, nothing special. Their spots seemed a little stilted, like they went spot-to-spot rather than having a flowing story, but it was still pretty decent. Certainly better than the pre-Give Divas a Chance matches.

After the match, Naomi starts to wiggle a little in a dance, and she's all smiles, but she looks arrogant and talks shit to Natalya.

Oh, then she soccer kicks Natalya in the ribs for no reason. Ladies and gentlemen, a solidified heel turn!

Segment 6: The Prime Time Players riff on Cesaro and Tyson Kidd. It's adorable, especially when Darren Young reads a poem that concludes that Kidd is “whipped by [Natalya's] pussy,” though Titus O'Neil stops him before can drop the P-word “since this is PG programming and you're going to get us fired.” It's not funny when it translates into text; the delivery was everything.

I get that WWE was trying to do something different last year, but the PTP just work really well together and shouldn't have broken up.

Pre-Segment 7: After ads, Rusev and Lana are already in the ring. Lana says that “Knowledge is Power,” and on Monday, Rusev educated John Cena on the power that is the Russian chain. Lana then prattles about the Russian chain for a minute before making generic threats to hype their match on Sunday.

Rusev then takes the mic and says some bullshit generic hype as well. It's not awful, but it's not really entertaining. More interesting here is that he's got the chain as a prop. We'll see if it comes into play for the upcoming match.

Segment 7 [Singles Match]: Ryback defeats Rusev (w/ Lana) by intentional disqualification. Power-versus-power, and it starts with both guys struggling with a collar-and-elbow tie-up. Rusev wins it with a knee to the gut, then goes stompy-stompy and locks in a headlock, all of which Rusev oversells... until Rusev does a stupidly awesome strong belly-to-back high angle suplex out of nowhere, which can't be easy to a guy Rusev's size.

Rusev recovers and goes punchy-kicky. Ryback takes control with a running shoulder charge, then follows up by holding Rusev's wrist and rams his shoulder into Rusev's. Ryback then hits a delayed vertical suplex on Rusev, which is also incredibly impressive. But when Rusev tries to follow that up by shoulder-charging Rusev in the corner, Rusev slips it, and Ryback slams his shoulder into the post. Rusev follows him out of the ring and drives his spine into a different ring post, and we go to ads.

Back, and Rusev has Ryback's back. Ryback tries to elbow him in the face to break it, but it doesn't quite work out. Jerry Lawler calls this a “Reverse Russian Bear Hug,” which instantly makes me hate the move, as dictated by OO Bylaw #3. Then the fans fire up a “Let's go, Cena! / Cena sucks!” chant for absolutely no reason, which makes me dislike them too.

Ryback manages to take control from there though, but eats knees when he tries a standing splash. Ryback defends himself and hits a running scoop slam, yet another impressive move given Rusev's size. Good stuff.

The fans start a loud Feed Me More chant, so Ryback complies and goes for the Meathook. Rusev dodges it but eats a spinebuster, so Ryback signals for it again. This time he hits it, but Rusev kicks out anyway. So Ryback signals for the Shell Shock, but when he tries it, Rusev slips out and escapes the ring. Ryback goes to follow... and Rusev swings the chain into Ryback's gut. Well then.

Rusev then wraps the chain around his fist and arm, then hits Ryback with a running strike to the side of his head. Ryback drops like he's been shot. Rusev follows up by applying the Accolade with the steel chain in assistance. The ref manages to break it up, but the damage is done. Rusev poses in the ring afterward with smiles on his and Lana's faces.

Segment 8: Rollins is walking through the halls in the back with J&J, and they find Luke Harper presently. Apparently, Jamie Noble is so totally Harper's cousin since his sister married Harper's brother's mechanic, which makes them family. Heh.

Anyway, silly things happen, but the point is that Harper tells Rollins “Pain is my specialty. Don't be in my way.” I don't think they're on the same page, guys.

Pre-Segment 9: The New Day hits the ring, and proceeds to tell us that there is a plague in WWE: one of a dearth of positivity and smiling. I have to say, I know they're heels and everything at this point, but with lines like that, I'm laughing way too hard to boo them.

Segment 9 [Singles Match]: Kofi Kingston (w/ The New Day) defeats Cesaro (w/ Tyson Kidd) by pin. Quick opening as Kofi hits a couple fast strikes, though Cesaro wins the second exchange with a backbreaker to counter a Kofi flippy something-or-other. Cesaro then whips Kofi to the corner; Kofi tries to hit his signature pop up kick, but he catches his feet awkwardly on the ropes and can't quite pull it off. He gets one foot up, and Cesaro sells it like the full move, so I guess we're just going to ignore that little flub. I'm fine with that, since I'm not a wanker.

[Aside: Okay, so I looked at it a couple more times because I was showing my girlfriend the spot, and maybe that was actually the way Kofi intended it. Usually Kofi uses (or used) two feet during the kick, but this time he only used one, maybe to differentiate the way he does it from AJ and Christian? I dunno. Like I've said before, I'm the only one who notices this kind of stuff.]

Kofi follows up with a running crossbody, then goes old-school and just punches the face off Cesaro. Cesaro tries to fight up to his feet, but Kofi holds onto his head. Cesaro eventually breaks out of it and signals the Cesaro Swing. Xavier Woods runs distraction; Kidd dispatches him, but E nails Kidd with a spine buster on the black mats. E wanders a little close to the ring, so Cesaro boots him in the back, but when he turns around, Kofi nails him with the Trouble In Paradise. Pin, three, done. Decent match, more about the story (New Day's momentum) than the action. Decent setup to carry them into Sunday.

Segment 10: In an earlier tonight interview, Big Show says that Reigns doesn't deserve a title shot, especially since Show has been busting his ass for two decades and hasn't gotten those opportunities. So at Extreme Rules, he's going to prove to everyone that Reigns is beneath him.

Pre-Segment 11: Everyone gets full entrances for the main event, which eats up an entire commerical-to-commercial block. Right before they're ready to get under way, Kane hits the ring too. Hmm...

On the other side of the commercial, we see that Kane is sitting near the commentators' table, just watching... for now.

Segment 11 [Tag Match]: Roman Reigns & Dean Ambrose defeat Seth Rollins & Luke Harper (w/ J&J Security) by pin. Ambrose and Harper to start, with Ambrose winning the earliest exchanges with some roughneck offense. Ambrose works on Harper's knee for a bit before tagging out, and Reigns just goes punchy-kicky to do some damage. More quick tags cut the ring in half and allow the faces to control him.

Harper turns things around with some punches and slaps, and then it's the heels' turn to cut the ring in half. Rollins uses headlocks to keep Ambrose controlled, though Ambrose breaks free with a back suplex. Ambrose follows up with some chops that send Rollins to the faces' corner, then Reigns gets a chance to get some vengeance. Light offense here, nothing to really talk about.

Rollins takes over when he big boots Reigns as a counter to a corner charge, then goes for more head and neck locks to wrench Reigns in his grip. Reigns powers out, then tags to Ambrose with a false hot tag. Ambrose starts to hit a couple moves before being shoved to the corner. Ambrose counters a charge with a kick to Rollins's face, then readies himself on the top rope with his back to the ring. Rollins pushes him off, then distracts the ref so J&J can nail him a few times behind the ref's back. Harper follows up with a big boot outside the ring, leaving Ambrose laid out as we go to our final ads.

Back, and Rollins nails something big; not sure what actually happened since we basically come back to the impact rather than the setup. Doesn't matter: Ambrose is down, and Rollins applies pressure to his ribs with scissored legs. Ambrose finally breaks the hold by hitting a slingshot, but he aimed Rollins toward Harper, so the tag is made. Harper delivers a couple strikes, but Ambrose fights him off, especially with a high DDT counter out of nowhere.

Ambrose reaches for the tag from too far away. Harper halts him, then tags in Rollins, who goes punchy-kicky to keep Ambrose contained. But then Rollins gets a little too interested in taunting, allowing Ambrose to recover and deliver a clothesline out of nowhere. Rollins doesn't take it lying down and goes punchy-punchy, along with a few clotheslines to do some damage. Ambrose gets a breath though when Rollins pauses to talk some shit, and both guys hit opposite ropes and deliver simultaneous cross bodies.

Both guys hit hot tags, and Reigns goes house of fire on Harper, concluding with a Samoan Drop. Rollins tries to stop Reigns's momentum but fails completely, and Reigns follows up on Harper with a deadlift belly-to-back suplex, which looks unnecessarily painful for him, though it is impressive.

Reigns then signals for the Superman Punch. J&J hop up on the apron and eat the punch, then so does Harper. Rollins breaks the pin, but Ambrose finishes him off with a flying fist off the top rope. Pier Four Brawl is underway as Harper tries to nail Ambrose, but Ambrose dumps him out of the ring and follows up with a suicide dive. Except: Harper catches Ambrose, then dumps into the timekeeper's area. Reigns blasts Harper from behind, but Ambrose is probably done for the match.

Reigns picks up Harper anyway, then signals for a Spear. Rollins hops up on the apron and runs interference, allowing Harper blast Reigns twice with superkicks. Reigns manages to kick out of that, to my surprise.

Still, Harper needs a moment, and Reigns has no one to tag. Rollins tags in, then nails a flying knee into Reigns's face from the top rope, then tries a pin, but can't hold it.

Rollins is too angry to think, so he calls for Harper, and Harper tags himself in. Rollins hits Reigns with the running powerbomb to the corner, and Harper follows up with a running clothesline. I thought that was it, but Ambrose pops up again anyway to break it up.

Double hot tags again, and Ambrose goes house of fire on Rollins. Harper runs interference, but Ambrose dispatches them over the south ropes. Harper then takes off with a high flying elbow, catching both heels and J&J to take them all down. As the fans fire up a “This is awesome” chant, Kane stands and flings Rollins in the ring to break the count. Rollins celebrates this for some reason, but behind his back, Ambrose has slid in the ring himself, and Reigns is at his corner. Ambrose tags out, and when Rollins turns around, Reigns cuts him in half with a Spear. Pin, three, done. Solid match and a fun to watch, along with a lot of good crossing stories to lead into Sunday.

Final Thoughts: I, uh, don't really have any thoughts on the show itself that I didn't say already. So, I'm just... going... to leave this right here...

Thanks guys. I'll see you next week.

Episode Grade: B