It's already July and we're one month away from the biggest party of the summer; SummerSlam! There's one more PPV stop before that though and it's Extreme Rules, live from my hometown of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania! 10 matches currently on the card and it looks like a fairly good card. Let's go through the matches.
Drew Gulak shockingly won the Cruiserweight Championship at Stomping Grounds and now, he has to defend the title against former champion Tony Nese. These two have great chemistry and the CW Title matches have been a beacon of hope the entire year on PPV so this will be another barn burner. I don't watch 205 Live but I'm a huge fan of Humberto Carrillo so no matter who wins, I hope he's next in line. Since Gulak just won the title, I don't think they're going to do a quick title switch so I'm going with Gulak to retain.
Braun Strowman and Bobby Lashley will hopefully end their pointless rivalry when the two clash in a fan favorite Last Man Standing match. While I may not be a fan of the feud, I'm certainly a fan of these two meat heads destroying each other. I'm hoping for some crazy mayhem and of course, some major spots. Both guys have kind of been directionless post Wrestlemania and they need wins. They haven't done Lashley right since he came back in 2018 so I'm going with Strowman to get the win here.
In one of the most anticipated tag matches of the year, The Usos will challenge The Revival for the Raw Tag Team Championships. Do I really need to say why this is anticipated? Fine. How's this; WWE is pitting the greatest NXT Tag Team Champions versus one of the greatest tag teams post Attitude Era in one mega clash. They gave us a taste a few weeks ago on Raw and I've been craving another go ever since. Given enough time, this could be the match of the show. Raw is lacking a lot of babyface teams and The Usos winning could potentially set up a clash with The Viking Raiders, another dream tag team match up, down the line. Also, with The Club reforming, Gallows and Anderson will definitely be coming for the gold sooner rather than later. Basically, the Raw tag division would flourish if The Usos were the champs. I'm going with The Usos to win the Raw Tag Team Titles, giving them their 7th reign together. They would tie them with my favorite tag team of all time; Edge and Christian.
Not to be outdone, Smackdown will have their tag champs Daniel Bryan and Rowan defend against two teams; The New Day's Big E and Xavier Woods and Heavy Machinery's Otis and Tucker. HM have done well in their appearances thus far and their match with the Planet's Tag Champs was much better than anticipated at Stomping Grounds. New Day being in the match as well adds another grea dynamic and will definitely make for a very good match. This is New Day's first shot at the titles since Kofi won the WWE Championship. It hasn't been lost that a win here for New Day would make them all champions at once, something that hasn't happened yet in their near 5 year tenure. I'd love to see it but Bryan and Rowan have done well in the role as the heel gatekeepers. I already picked The Usos to pull one out so I don't think both tag titles will change hands. I gotta go with Bryan and Rowan to retain in an absolute barn burner.
Aleister Black will make his in ring return on Sunday when he faces the man who knocked on his door, Cesaro. It's another Raw VS Smackdown match but I don't care. Black hasn't wrestled since Wrestlemania. That's a whole quarter of the year. He could have wrestled just about anyone and I would have been pumped. Cesaro is the perfect opponent to reintroduce the world to Black. I expect this match to be filled with plenty of kicks and uppercuts. While Cesaro will look amazing, his job is to put Black over and make him look like a star in the process. Cesaro may come close but he will Fade to Black. Aleister Black for the win in his return.
Bayley will defend her Smackdown Women's Championship against Alexa Bliss AND Nikki Cross in a 2-on-1 handicap match. I'm tired of this feud, only because Bliss and Cross are Raw stars and Smackdown stars like Ember Moon, Carmella, Sonya Deville and Mandy Rose aren't getting a shot at their brand's title. This feud took an interesting turn once Bliss and Cross started claiming Bayley doesn't have any friends to back her up. We all know her famous friend right? Maybe it's finally time for WWE to get some Boss Time again. My fantasy booking for years has been to do Bayley VS Sasha at SummerSlam but that was when it was in Brooklyn. I'll still take it. I'm going with Bayley to retain, thanks to a returning Sasha Banks, who then turns on Bayley to try and claim the only women's title that has alluded her. That's good TV!
Ready for the best match of the show (which I've said now three times)? Newly crowned United States Champion Ricochet will defend against The Phenomenal and newly heel AJ Styles. This will be their rubber match as they both have victories over one another in the past few weeks. The first two matches were good but they were teases of what these two can really do. I've always preferred heel Styles. I just think he works better as a heel. It's more fun being the bad guy. This match won't end cleanly and I don't think Styles will walk out with the title. The endgame for this heel turn certainly isn't the US Title so I think Ricochet will win here by DQ. The bigger picture is Seth Rollins and his Universal Championship, which could easier be the main event of SummerSlam, despite happening back in May. Anyway, Ricochet retains, maybe to start a feud with Mysterio for SummerSlam. I can dream
You want a desperate match? Look no further than The Undertaker teaming with Roman Reigns to face Shane McMahon and Drew McIntyre in a No Holds Barred tag team match. I don't really care about how the match is presented or how it comes across on TV. It's just very important that Drew McIntyre gets a victory here. I don't care if he pins Reigns or Taker, he needs a win on PPV here. If this guy is suppose to be a big star, he's not going to get there by losing all the time. Again' don't care about the match but Drew McIntyre and Shane must win, but only by McIntyre getting the pin. That's all I ask of Extreme Rules.
Kofi Kingston looks to keep his dream, near 100 day WWE Title reign going when he defends against Raw's Samoa Joe. I'm cool with Joe getting a shot but again, there are plenty of Smackdown guys who could use the rub. Ali, Buddy Murphy, Black, Andrade, Smackdown is literally riddled with amazing talents for WWE Title feuds. Let Joe feud with Rollins or Styles again over on Raw. Anyway, this should be a great match. WWE Champion Kofi Kingston has been on another level since that faithful night in February when the world remembered just who the hell Kofi Kingston was. Since becoming WWE Champion, Kingston has defeated Daniel Bryan, a former ROH and WWE World Champion, Sami Zayn, former NXT Champion, AJ Styles, former IWGP/NWA/TNA/PWG/WWE Champion, Kevin Owens, former NXT, ROH and Universal Champion and Dolph Ziggler, former World Heavyweight Champion. Kingston's list of defeated opponents spans different companies and Joe would be another great notch in the belt for a star who's looking to stake his claim as the greatest WWE Champion of all time. Joe, on the other hand, is looking to complete the US Triple Crown (not an official name) and become the first man to have held the WWE, TNA and ROH World Titles. Styles has his own milestones, but he can never claim this. Bryan has his own milestones, but he can never claim this. Seth Rollins as well but Joe is looking to make history Sunday. Unfortunately, it won't happen. Kofi overcomes the odds no matter who is in front of him and Joe isn't the one to beat him. Kingston's dream run is coming up, only in part of the Fox TV deal, but it won't be to Joe. Kofi Kingston will retain the WWE Championship, probably by a pinning combination reversal of the Cocquina Clutch.
The main event is one I called right after Stomping Grounds went off the air. It will pit WWE Universal Champion Seth Rollins and Raw Women's Champion Becky Lynch against the challengers they've defeated twice now Baron Corbin and Lacey Evans. It's a unique match though. It's a Last Chance Winners Take All Mixed tag Extreme Rules match. Did you get all of that? Certainly a mouth full! Anyway, there's no way Rollins and Lynch lose here. They're making them out to be the next major power couple. Why would they have them lose their titles the first time they're together on a major event? While I'm going with Rollins and Lynch to win the match, I don't know if Rollins will walk out with the Universal Championship. Paul Heyman has teased a cash in at Extreme Rules on either Kofi or Rollins but based on history, I'm assuming it will be Seth. The cash in could lead to Rollins getting one more shot at SummerSlam. Or, hear me out on this one, what if Ronda Rousey makes her return? What if somehow, someway, this leads to Rousey and Lesnar as the top dogs with BOTH titles? Maybe, since Heyman will be running things on Raw soon, the cash in will extend to Rousey and they both crash the Extreme Rules match. This could even lead to a much more interesting and anticipated tag match of Rollins/Lynch VS Lesnar/Rousey. I'm selling dreams I know but even if we don't get that tag match, Rousey/Lynch for SummerSlam would be nice. Seth Rollins and Becky Lynch will retain their titles but watch out for The Beast and The Baddest Woman on the Planet.
Extreme Rules looks pretty good on paper, even without the rumored Finn Balor VS Shinsuke Nakamura IC Title match. I kind of want to go but that's going to be a gameday decision. Regardless, I can't wait until Sunday. Here's hoping all the matches live up to the hype!
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