Hello everybody!
It’s me TWB, I hope we are all doing well during these still uncertain times, and everyone’s trying to remain positive as humanely possible. This Sunday we have a “Horror Show” in Extreme Rules, as of writing (18th July) we have a 7 match card to look ahead to, and considering that is the case I will give you my in-depth thoughts on every bout that is taking place on Sunday night.
Apollo Crews (C) vs. MVP – United States Championship
These two began feuding when Crews turned down MVP’s offer to manage him, since then Montel Vontavious Porter has been targeting the new US Champion.
Apollo Crews would win his first title in WWE after defeating Andrade for the US Title on the May 25th episode of Raw but hasn’t been on the show for the last two episodes, which has seen the new US Title been unveiled by Crews opponent MVP.
The added addition of Bobby Lashley being out at ringside to help MVP could be pivotal, my guess is thanks to Lashley, MVP will become the new US Champion on Sunday, then he’ll end up forfeiting the belt and handing it over to Lashley.
Winner: (new United States Champion) – MVP
New Day (C) Vs Cesaro and Nakamura – Tables Match for Smackdown Tag Team Championship
Cesaro and Nakamura have had the upper hand over New Day for the last few weeks on Smackdown. On Friday night’s episode, Cesaro defeated Big E in order to earn the right to choose the stipulation, where he and Nakamura picked the Tables Match.
Is it just me or has this current reign from New Day been quite uneventful, and whilst I enjoy both Big E and Kingston, I’m missing Xavier Woods.
Cesaro and Nakamura, are missing their ringleader in Sami Zayn, but have become a more focal point of the tag division.
I have no preference on who wins this match, personally I want Miz and Morrison back in the title picture, as they’re by far the most entertaining team on the Smackdown roster right now, therefore that means New Day will likely win on Sunday Night.
Winners: (still Smackdown Tag Team Championships) – New Day
Bayley (C) Vs Nikki Cross – Smackdown Women’s Championship
Bayley alongside her tag team partner Sasha Banks, have been the standouts of this pandemic era of WWE, for the past few months they’ve been appearing on Raw, Smackdown and even sometimes NXT, and been a highlight to watch. Bayley’s reign as Smackdown Women’s Champion has now lasted over 9 months, and right now I can’t see it ending until we get the Sasha match.
Nikki Cross has been an excellent addition to the Raw/Smackdown roster her pairing with Alexa Bliss has been really enjoyable and considering I think we all assumed Alexa would turn heel on Cross at some point, it’s been surprising that they’ve been a team for well over a year now.
As I’ve previously mentioned, I can’t see Bayley losing her title until the eventual clash with her partner, and fellow Tag Team champion Sasha Banks, therefore my prediction is Bayley wins.
Winner: (still Smackdown Women’s Champion) – Bayley
Asuka (C) Vs Sasha Banks – Raw Women’s Championship
This is the match I’m most looking forward to on Sunday night, both Asuka and Banks are two of the best women’s wrestlers in the world right now, so seeing clash will be very exciting.
Asuka has held the Raw Women’s Championship for just over 2 months since Becky Lynch relinquished the title, following the announcement of her pregnancy. Asuka much like Banks and Bayley has been one of the highlights of WWE TV over the recent few months, and she’s definitely regaining some of the momentum she’d lost after losing to Charlotte at Wrestlemania 34.
Sasha Banks has the potential of being the top babyface of the women’s division, she has a strong fanbase, and now that Becky Lynch is off TV indefinitely, a face turn from Sasha feels imminent.
Up until last week’s episode of Raw, I’d have guessed Sasha would be walking out of Extreme Rules as the new Raw Women’s Champion, thus making her and Bayley double champions holding all the gold on both Raw and Smackdown. However, the return of Shayna Baszler threw a spanner into those plans, as I think the more likely Summerslam match for the Raw Women’s Title would be Baszler Vs Asuka now that “The Queen Of Spades” is back on our screens.
Therefore this is what I expect, Bayley will accidentally cost Sasha the win, which can build up tensions between the two, and post-match whilst celebrating Baszler can come out and layout Asuka to set-up a feud between those two.
Winner: (still Raw Women’s Champion) – Asuka
Seth Rollins Vs Rey Mysterio – An Eye for an Eye
I’m expecting this to be another cinematic match, mainly because of how it’s supposed to finish, as the only way to win is by extracting your opponent’s eye.
Seeing Seth as a heel again definitely feels refreshing, but I was in the minority who actually liked his face run, and just felt that his rivals bar AJ Styles whilst he was Universal Champion really affected his popularity. However this Monday night Messiah stuff that he’s been doing alongside Murphy has been exciting, however with both AOP and Austin Theory being off TV, I feel he needs to add more names to his cult.
Rey Mysterio is like a fine wine he somehow gets better with age, this is the same Mysterio who was putting on classics against Eddie Guerrero before I was born. Seeing his son Dominick appear on TV recently, has been great, as it feels that we’ve seen him grow up in front of our very own eyes (no pun intended), the boy who Rey and the late Guerrero fought custody for at Summerslam 2005 has now become a young man who wants to follow in his father’s footsteps.
I think Mysterio wins this one, we don’t see the eye of Rollins be pulled out but we are led to assume that it has, this would allow Seth to have some time off, and be with his fiancée Becky Lynch. Whereas Rey and Dominick could go after the Raw Tag Team Championship, which will hopefully soon be held by Andrade and Angel Garza.
Winner: Rey Mysterio
Braun Strowman Vs Bray Wyatt – Wyatt Swamp Fight
I have very little interest in this match, the Universal Title run of Strowman has been pretty uneventful since it started, and guess what he’s not even defending it on Sunday Night.
Bray Wyatt has had a rollercoaster of a year, The Fiend character debuted and he became one of the top stars in WWE defeating Finn Balor and laying out legends like Jerry Lawler and Kurt Angle. However, he lost momentum in that Hell In A Cell match against Seth Rollins, he would eventually become Universal Champion but dropped the title to Goldberg in less than 5 minutes.
At Wrestlemania, he beat John Cena in the Firefly Funhouse Match, and it seemed he was going to work his way back up to the top of WWE. But a loss as Funhouse Bray Wyatt to Braun Strowman at Money In The Bank did once again damage his credibility of sorts.
I assume this will be a cinematic match as well, so there’s the potential that Bray Wyatt could get thrown into the swamp then reappear as The Fiend, but honestly, I want this feud to be over, I have no interest in them going up against each other at Summerslam, but considering there’s not much either could be doing right now besides facing each other, my guess is The Fiend emerges from the swamp defeats Strowman and leads to a rubber match next month.
Winner: Bray Wyatt
Drew McIntyre (C) Vs Dolph Ziggler – WWE Championship
Drew McIntyre has just passed the 100-day mark as WWE Champion and compared with Strowman’s reign on the Blue brand, Drew had been a fantastic champion especially when you consider the circumstances that he’s been put under, he defeated Rollins in a great match at Money In The Bank, and then Bobby Lashley at the Backlash PPV in an equally enjoyable bout.
Dolph Ziggler was traded over to Raw, following AJ Styles’s move to Smackdown, and has since set his sights on his former tag partner McIntyre, he has claimed responsibility for the Scotsman rise to success and stardom in WWE over the last 6 months. Dolph has always been one of my favourites to watch, and even though he perhaps hasn’t earned a world title shot, there’s no doubt that this will be one of the better matches on the card.
Dolph Ziggler still hasn’t announced the stipulation yet for this match, and apparently it’s one that hasn’t been seen before so that rules out the possibility of seeing the return of the much-loved Stairs match. Whatever the stipulation is going to be, I don’t think it’s going to change the result, Drew McIntyre will retain his WWE Championship, and perhaps his feud heading into Summerslam will be against Randy Orton.
Winner: (still WWE Champion) – Drew McIntyre
That’s all for my Horror Show at Extreme Rules Predictions, let’s hope we don’t actually see a ‘horror show’ and get good if not great PPV. Join me @callumowen98 on Twitter, and follow @SLTDWrestling for more great content
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