WWE The Horror Show At Extreme Rules 2020 DVD Review feat. Braun Strowman vs. Bray Wyatt

Title: The Horror Show At Extreme Rules 2020
Producer: WWE
Running Time: 163 Minutes
Certificate: 15
Number Of Discs: 1
Studio: Fremantle Home Entertainment
Released: August 31 2020

(Thanks to Fetch Publicity for arranging this review.)

This is our DVD review for WWE The Horror Show At Extreme Rules. Now, it’s been a year where wrestling has had to adapt and change its presentation due to the lack of a proper live audience. So, WWE would do something different with its annual Extreme Rules card. For unexplainable reasons, it would become The Horror Show. The follow-up would be an event with some memorable moments, but not necessarily all for positive reasons. This is the latest DVD review for our site. So, let’s see what we think of The Horror Show At Extreme Rules 2020!

WWE The Horror Show At Extreme Rules 2020

The Horror Show At Extreme Rules 2020 Under Card

The opening contest, held under Tables rules for the SmackDown Tag Team Titles, is an entertaining brawl between The New Day and the thrown-together yet effective combo of Shinsuke Nakamura and Cesaro. The latter side have shown surprising chemistry, and with New Day being amongst WWE’s most reliable acts, that made for a strong start to the show. Next up, Bayley battles Nikki Cross for the SmackDown Women’s Title, and though Cross put up a good fight, she was unable to end Bayley’s long reign. Apollo Crews vs. MVP didn’t happen due to a supposed injury to Crews, so this was replaced by MVP simply trying to award himself the United States Championship.

Next up, we had a truly bizarre match. Seth Rollins had targeted Rey Mysterio’s eye in a vicious attack back in May, so they met here in an Eye For An Eye bout. But whereas the tagline has previously been used to merely demonstrate one’s desire to injure their opponent, here the stipulation stated that the winner had to quite literally extract an eye from their adversary’s face. Yes, you had to rip someone’s bloody (again literally) eye out to win! Fans were wondering how WWE would achieve this (and why they would present such a bout in what’s supposedly still a PG environment).

The Horror Show At Extreme Rules 2020 Main Events

Ultimately, after a fairly good back-and-forth encounter, we have the visual of Rey holding what appeared to be his eyeball (I kid you not). And directly in front of his mask (a convenient way to disguise the “damage”, incidentally). This allows Seth to win, though he would “celebrate” by vomiting. I have no idea what WWE is thinking with this. But I strongly doubt we’ll see it again. Because it takes the make-believe world of sports entertainment to a place that is simply not believable. (I do enjoy matches that are out of the box, but this goes way over the line in my opinion.)

Next up, we had Asuka vs. Sasha Banks, another decent effort with a bit of a dodgy ending as Bayley masqueraded as the referee to count Asuka’s shoulders down for Banks to “win”. This served a storyline purpose heading into SummerSlam, but it was still a bit meh, especially coming right after the Eye For An Eye match. Drew McIntyre then clashed with Dolph Ziggler in a bout where Extreme Rules applied only in the favour of Ziggler. This was the best bout on the card, and another example of why Drew’s WWE Title has artistically been very successful indeed. He remains WWE Champion as I write this review, and I hope his reign continues for a good while longer.

The Horror Show At Extreme Rules 2020 Analysis

Finally, we had a Swamp Fight between Braun Strowman and Bray Wyatt, though Strowman’s Universal Title was not on the line. This was a cinematic battle that featured Wyatt’s original Eater Of Worlds persona. And this does add a unique touch to their storyline. Previous cinematic contests varied in terms of entertainment; for example, the Boneyard Match at WrestleMania 36 was largely praised, whereas The Street Profits vs. The Viking Raiders at Backlash was almost unanimously panned. This Swamp Fight sits somewhere in the middle. It has some interesting visuals, but it still feels a bit underwhelming, despite the return of The Fiend at the end. Part of the issue is that The Fiend returning isn’t a surprise. And this takes away some of the drama from what could have potentially been a feud-ending collision.

The Horror Show At Extreme Rules 2020 Summary

So, The Horror Show At Extreme Rules was WWE’s most unusual PPV yet in 2020. Watching it back on DVD, this feels less like a wrestling event and more like a mini-movie. Maybe that’s the intention. But even when factoring that in mind when rewatching it on DVD, this still could have been a lot better. The main takeaways are unfortunately the strange booking and the truly strange Eye For An Eye match. And they overshadow the great efforts shown in the Tables and WWE Title bouts.

Overall Rating: 5/10 – Average

Further Link

To purchase WWE The Horror Show At Extreme Rules 2020 on DVD online, click here.

So, those are our thoughts on WWE The Horror Show At Extreme Rules 2020 on DVD! But what do you think? Let us know by leaving a comment below!