WWE Extreme Rules 2018 review: What we learned, highlights, takeaways, future projections

Steel Cage Match

Braun Strowman vs. Kevin Owens

What we learned: We learned here…and I think during this entire program with Braun Strowman…that Kevin Owens will put his body through absolute hell to entertain the WWE Universe.

This match didn’t get nearly as much time as I thought it would but it accomplished everything it needed to accomplish. Okay, Braun Strowman is really strong and I think that’s been established at this point. I’ll get to the ending here in a minute, which will obviously be the big talking point moving forward, but I like the story told early on.

As he’s been doing, KO tried to run away from Strowman in the early minutes but Braun caught him and yelled at him about his T-shirt, the one that says “Fight Anyone”, hoping that Owens would fight him and that’s what happened. This is the most offense we’ve seen from him in quite a while and it was great to watch. It really looked like Owens could compete with Braun for a few minutes and I think that’s what he needed. The handcuffs stunt was entertaining enough and the DX gesture from Owens was gold and the Pittsburgh crowd really enjoyed it.

This is an exact quote from my Extreme Rules predictions article: “The easy call here is that Owens is going to take a really dangerous bump at some point.” And we all know what happened. After Braun broke free of the handcuffs (see, he’s really strong) and met KO at the top of the cage, I thought maybe the attempt to throw him off the cage might be thwarted but that wasn’t the case as Owens went crashing through the announce table but did technically pick up the win, which I also said was a possibility. So Owens gets a win and Braun still looks like a monster. Mission accomplished.

What’s next: A Steel Cage Match usually signifies the end of a feud and it’s time for this to be over anyway. With Lesnar’s return seemingly ready to happen, Strowman and his Money in the Bank briefcase may come into play there and if not, then he’ll find someone else to destroy at SummerSlam. As for Owens, he’ll move into a mid card feud, perhaps for the Intercontinental Championship, which I think would be perfect for him right now.