WWE Extreme Rules, Rosemont, IL
A request! Punk is defending his WWE championship in a Chicago Street Fight. Actually it’s a Rosemont Street Fight, but y’know.
Jericho has been very insulting in psychological warfare. A lot of beats from past Punk feuds that relatively nobody saw so they could bring them out again here. Punk’s dad, his sister, etc.
(Requests open and tips always appreciated!)
Jericho is in some dark denim trousers. No top. Great tan on his chest and body, OK tan on the face. Kneepads on the jeans. The right way. Lite Brite jacket.
Punk’s got a t-shirt and jeans, bandana on the knee, kneepads on the jeans. The right way. Punk goes over to see family and friends. I’m pretty sure Booker T farts on commentary. Huge “CM Punk” chant.
Just a straight fight to start. Punk brings a kendo stick in, wedges a chair in the corner. Jericho using the ref as a weapon, basically, dragging Mike Chioda into the way and thumbing Punk in the eye. Jericho with the dropkick to the apron, Punk down on the floor and Jerich has a kendo stick, using it to taunt the crowd, then just puts it down to go outside. Seems dumb. Some cerebral veteran this guy is.
Punk sent into The Timekeeper’s Area. Jericho keeping the control and keeping a medium tempo. Back into the ring, he exposes the steel on the top turnbuckle, then hits Punk with the pad, which is more to be annoying. Punk firing back with chops. Punk misses a high knee in the corner and spills all the way down to the floor again.
Jericho beats Punk up in front of Punk’s Sister, who manages to barely hold her smile back when she slaps Jericho, who lunges at her but then is beaten by Punk, who has fully lost his temper and is just throwing bits of commentary desk around, slamming Jericho through the hood, which was removed and leaned against the desk.
Punk removes his top, tits out when you’re mad. But Punk then gets backdropped on the floor. A heckler does a Great Bit about “Fozzy,” like, you know, the band that is also the name of a Muppet?
Another desk hood gets busted over Punk’s back. Back into the ring and Jericho covers for two. “I’ve seen a bunch of these type of matches and this is what a Chicago street fight is all about,” Booker says. Cole kinda chuckles and goes, “About what?” This annoys Booker. I remember one Booker was in at Uncensored ’96 that absolutely sucked shit. A half hour of Booker and Sting against the Road Warriors. The 1996 Road Warriors. For half an hour. Incredible Bischoff brain.
Punk gets a chance to rally, but he slips springboarding into the ring and Jericho wears him out with the stick again. Jericho silencing Rosemont well enough, again it’s partially about the pace there. He’s in control and not going banana with it.
Jericho fetches a can of beer from under the ring. Good place for it. He dumps the can on Punk. Right hands to the skull from Jericho. A second can of beer! It’s Olympia, which was bought by Pabst in ’99 and their actual brewery in Tumwater, Wash., closed in 2003. This event is not listed in the “In popular culture” section on the brand’s Wikipedia page. Perhaps it should be. You go do it. In early 2021, Pabst “temporarily paused” production. 125 years and a spot in a WWE championship match and then it was gone.
Punk comes back with some shots and a swinging neckbreaker. High knee in the corner hits this time, bulldog follows. Punk limping around with his lower back hurting. He goes for the Go to Sleep, but Jericho gets out, tries the Walls, Punk gets out. Punk catches Jericho with a powerslam for two.
Punk up top, but Jericho was playing possum a bit and crotches him up there. Jericho’s trouser pockets have mom glitter. He probably thinks of it some other way but that is midwestern mom ass. Jericho knocked back down to the canvas and Punk hits the flying elbow for two. Lawler is surprised that Punk has not won with this move he never wins with ever. “Randy Savage” chant. Thank you, Rosemont, I didn’t get it.
Go to Sleep countered again, Jericho hits a bulldog. Another attempt, another failure. The chair that was wedged in the corner at the top of the match finally comes into play, and Jericho gets two on a roll-up after Punk hits it.
Walls of Jericho sat deep. Punk gets to the ropes but it’s a street fight, no break there. Punk reaches under the ring and retrieves a fire extinguisher, which he sprays into Jericho’s face. The crowd enjoy it. Jericho knocked onto the Spanish desk outside, Punk flies through with the elbow!
Eventually back into the ring and it gets two again. Punk grabs the Anaconda Vise. Jericho gets the stick but struggling to swing it because the air is going low. He manages to whack Punk three times and break it, though. Jericho comes back with a Codebreker, hit with Punk trying to use a chair so that was in the middle, but it also gets two.
Jericho tries Go to Sleep, but it’s blocked and Punk catapults Jericho into the exposed steel from earlier, Go to Sleep, Punk retains in Rosemont.
This is a lot like the Mania match they had, it’s pretty good, but Jericho’s work in this time period is just not my favorite. They’re also working against the in-house decorum and standards of 2012 WWE, where things were still very “PG” and soft, so matches like this had a tendency to suffer because they’re really not as wild or as “hardcore” as you want. It also drags a fair bit, especially a lot of Jericho’s time on offense. The crowd try to pull this up a bit, and maybe they do, maybe without them this isn’t even this good.
But I think it’s a little overrated. Not bad, but didn’t feel heated, didn’t feel hateful, the whole storyline was only used in perfunctory fashion within the match itself.
Tape Machines Are Rolling 