The Aftermath – UFC 129 And 2011 WWE Extreme Rules

It was quite the tale of two shows last weekend. On one hand, you had UFC 129, which broke the UFC attendance record headlined by one of their biggest stars, George St. Pierre, fighting in Toronto. On the other hand, you had a show that the world generally forgot about with WWE Extreme Rules. That usually happens the month after WrestleMania.

However, the forgotten show seemed to be at least even with the huge UFC show, even if there wasn’t much hype to it.

The FGB crew gives you their thoughts about both shows below.

UFC 129

Alan
Thumbs Up
Best Fight: Mark Hominick vs. Jose Aldo
Worst Fight: Jake Shields vs. Georges St. Pierre

Fun show to watch. Lots of drama, cool atmosphere and on pace to be one of their best shows before the disappointing main event.

Cactus Jim
Thumbs Up
Best Fight: Mark Hominick vs. Jose Aldo
Worst Fight: Jake Shields vs. Georges St. Pierre

I’ll give the show a thumbs up because the undercard consisted mostly of decent fights with some good finishes by submission and KO. I will say this though, the same old God damned excuses and apologies to the crowd from Georges St. Pierre have worn thin. This guy is practically the 170 pound version of the Tim Sylvia that fought not to lose rather than fighting to win. I think I’d rather watch Anderson Silva’s bullshit antics than another GSP spectacle. Anyway, eff that guy. Moving on, I have a new found respect for Mark Hominick after watching him go 5 rounds with Jose Aldo. He showed a lot of heart fighting through those last couple rounds and made a good run of it late in the fight. I’m not ready to see a rematch, but I am looking forward to his next fight. And, finally, we bid farewell to Randy Couture in the cage (although I believe we’ll see him at least once more when he turns 50). The fight went the way that almost everyone thought it would and it seems pretty obvious that time has caught up with Randy. Thanks for the memories, but please do all of us and yourself a favor and stick with the retirement this time. No one wants to see you end up with a scrambled brain.

GG
Thumbs Up
Best Fight: Mark Hominick vs. Jose Aldo
Worst Fight: Jake Shields vs. Georges St. Pierre

No matter how good this show was before the main event (and it was damn good), people will remember it more for the main event, which is a shame because you had some great performances on this show and some memorable moments. Ultimately, I think history will show that this was really bad booking. You might as well have put GSP in the cage with a bag. GSP can have entertaining fights, but his fatal flaw when it comes to having fun fights is that he rarely puts himself in harm’s way. It’s great for his record and for keeping his belt, but it’s bad for closing shows. In two of his last three fights, he’s fought guys who were just happy to be in the cage with him and tried absolutely nothing. If we blame GSP for not pushing the tempo (and really, with the messed up eye I can see how he could’ve become even more defensive), but Jake Shields was clearly losing on all cards and needed a finish to win the title and he did absolutely nothing. It takes two to tango and I was just as disappointed with his performance as I was with GSP’s. Things I will remember from this show include Lyoto Machida’s front/crane kick, Hominick’s hematoma and overall fighting spirit, and Rory MacDonald’s suplexes.

WWE Extreme Rules

Alan
Thumbs Up
Best Match: Alberto Del Rio vs. Christian
Worst Match: Jerry Lawler and Jim Ross vs. Michael Cole and Jack Swagger

I thought Christian/ADR was fantastic, and right up there with Taker/HHH. Some really unique and clever spots all combined to tell a great story. Alberto’s bumps were nuts. I hope he’s feeling ok after all that.

Seamus/Kofi, Punk/Orton and Cody/Rey all made for a super undercard and the main event delivered big.

Duan
Thumbs Up
Best Match: John Cena vs. The Miz vs. John Morrison
Worst Match: Jerry Lawler and Jim Ross vs. Michael Cole and Jack Swagger

Every now and then WWE just stumble their way into a great show, and that’s what this was, a great pro wrestling show. Minimum thought went into it, but once you take that WrestleMania pressure off and simplify things, you see just how easy it can be. They had the same number of matches as Mania with an hour less PPV time and they didn’t have to rush anything.

The first two bouts delivered big, Cody vs Rey was also a great tear up, and then two superb title matches rounded off the night. Five quality matches is already an excellent return on the price of a PPV. Then you had two title changes and the big debut of Kharma mixed in as well. When WWE gets things right, nobody does it better.

The only sour note was Michael Cole and Jack Swagger against JR and The King. They learned absolutely nothing from what happened last month. Again they went with lengthy spells of heel heat, which just took everything out of the match. Then Cole goes over once more to boot. By the time he does finally get his comeuppance, it will mean nothing because nobody could care anymore. That was the one drawback in an otherwise fantastic show: WWE’s best of 2011.