It’s PPV time again, but is it too soon?

So last weekend, I finished my review of the previous weekend’s festivities surrounding the Backlash Pay Per View. Now, looking ahead to this weekend, it’s Pay Per View time again for WWE as the Raw brand presents Extreme Rules. Now maybe it’s just me, but that’s an awful short amount of time between shows! And don’t get me wrong, I understand the “added value for Network subscribers” deal, but I never had a problem waiting a whole month for a Pay Per View to allow for a decent build to the show from a storyline perspective…but this is 2017, a time when WWE rushes through storylines and doesn’t permit anything to have a slow burn.

Gone are the days when Austin wanted to fight McMahon in the ring and McMahon would always find a way to weasel out of the match or have someone else interfere on his behalf to push Austin off onto a separate path that would eventually make it’s way back to McMahon, but not after a number of roadblocks and detours along the way. No, in 2017, we get right to the point immediately and burn through storylines and big dream matches before we even dream them up all because there’s another Pay Per View 2 weeks down the line and we need to fill the card!

So here we are, two weeks after the last underwhelming Pay Per View (Backlash) and we’re supposed to be fired up for the Raw brand’s turn at making us not care. I mean in looking down this card, is there really much here that we as fans can really sink our teeth into, that we can point to and say “I can’t wait to see THAT match!”?

I’d go so far to say that aside from the main event fatal five way match to determine the number one contender for Brock Lesnar’s Universal Title, the rest of the show is very missable. For as much as I’ve loved Bayley’s matches in NXT, it’s hard to get into that character the way she has been mishandled on the main roster. I mean I love Alexa Bliss and think she makes a good Raw Womens Champion, but beyond that, I’m not fired up to see this Kendo Stick on a Pole Match on Sunday. I know I’ve also been a fan of the Cruiserweights and the Cruiserweight Classic here, but I have zero interest in either the Cruiserweight Title match between Neville & Austin Aries or the mixed tag between Sasha Banks/Rich Swann & Alicia Fox/Noam Dar. And I really like all of those talents! I just wish WWE gave me a reason to want to care about any of these matches.

I’ve also stated multiple times how much of a fan of The Miz I am…I love the guy, I think he works really hard and plays his character incredibly well. That being said, I have no reason to think that this weekend’s match with Dean Ambrose will be worth watching. These two have had such a ho-hum feud that I really wish they would just continue on and find someone else to feud with already. The Intercontinental Title has no value anymore and I don’t see that changing anytime soon. On top of all of this…weren’t these two feuding over on Smackdown over the same title before the roster shakeup following WrestleMania? Shouldn’t that trigger new matchups and feuds…not just transferring a feud between brands?

The only feud on this show that I’m not burned out about is the Hardy Boyz vs. Sheamus/Cesaro…and they’re starting to test my patience with this one as well. I really love the heel bruiser team of Sheamus & Cesaro, I think those two work really well together and compliment each other quite well, but if they don’t consider moving the Tag Titles over to them very soon, then it’s going to be “too little, too late” as far as I’m concerned with those two. Hopefully something will give and we can start to move forward with these four and maybe give the Hardyz a little more personality and a reason to be there instead of just being a nostalgia act. WWE did this with the Dudley Boyz a couple of years ago and that got old pretty quickly because they never evolved the act. I hope the same fate doesn’t await the Hardyz.

So there ya have it, we’re 2 weeks removed from the last underwhelming Pay Per View and if WWE isn’t careful, this is going to be just the next in a series of shows that get another “thumbs in the middle” reaction from everyone. It may be time soon to start to panic if this ship doesn’t get righted.

Thanks for reading.