Extreme Rules 2018: 5 reason to watch WWE’s July PPV

Extreme Rules! It’s... well, it’s not as “extreme” as it used to be. It’s kind of weird they have a pay-per-view with the gimmick of “the matches are extreme!” when they don’t bother making all of them have extreme rules of some kind, but maybe that’s also an overkill for the match type, so maybe just don’t do the gimmick pay-per-view at all and build stories that lead to needing an “extreme” rule set for individual matches throughout the year? Just a thought!

Anyway, I don’t mean to make it sound like you shouldn’t watch WWE’s upcoming network special, because there are at least five things worth watching on it. And that’s this preview’s gimmick. It’s convenient how said preview gimmick works out so the only time I need to write about Roman Reigns vs. Bobby Lashley is right here, where I tell you I will not be listing their match as a reason to watch Extreme Rules 2018, yeah?

Dolph Ziggler taking some time off and coming back as an actual heel who is a talented dirtbag with a big muscular buddy who helps him bully the rest of the roster is the first time I’ve felt anything but loathing for the character in ages. What I feel is an intense desire to see him lose, which means this character tweak is working, and the fact he now gets to wrestle Seth Rollins, currently The Best Wrestler in WWE, in a 30-minute Iron Man for the championship belt that’s been treated the best on the show for some time now is the good shit.

There are 30-minute Iron Man matches that are slow and plodding and only needed to be regular 10-15-minute matches with the one fall. Here, though, with two wrestlers who can go, with Seth at the peak of his powers, vying for a title that matters, with Drew McIntyre around to make Seth’s life harder? This could be a main event — it won’t be, but it could be.

Nia Jax gets her rematch against Alexa Bliss in an Extreme Rules match at Extreme Rules, after Bliss interfered in last month’s Jax vs. Ronda Rousey championship bout and then cashed in the Money in the Bank briefcase on Nia to become RAW Women’s Champion, again. Ronda Rousey beat the heck out of Alexa the next night on RAW, which led to a 30-day suspension, which means Alexa is still alive for this match on Sunday.

The thing is, since it’s a match with no disqualification, the suspended Ronda can show up and cost Bliss the title like Alexa very well might have done to Rousey at the Money in the Bank event. She can buy a ticket to the show, charge into the ring, snap Alexa’s arms off, and leave her laying in a heap for Jax to pin. That’ll get us Nia vs. Ronda II — the first of which ruled — and give Alexa a reason to keep being a terrible human being to everyone around her.

Hopefully, Jax also just beats Bliss into the ground, and Rousey is more there to make a save and keep Bliss from running off or doing something unspeakable to Nia so we don’t end up with a weird situation where Alexa is controlling a match against someone who could believably swing her around like a weapon to be used against other wrestlers. Really, though, so long as Alexa doesn’t leave as champ, whatever gets us to that point will probably be good.

Team Hell No is back! Kane and Daniel Bryan, together again! They’ve been an entertaining part of SmackDown since they reunited, and it sure feels like the other shoe is going to drop and we’re going to get Kane vs. Daniel Bryan as Bryan’s next feud. Until then, though, whee, Team Hell No is a lot of fun!

And really, even if Kane does turn on Bryan, that’s kind of a good sign if you think about it. If WWE was super concerned about Bryan not re-signing, or not staying healthy, they’d be giving us the feud with Miz sooner than later. If they think there is time to fart around with another Kane feud, to go through the Bryan greatest hits on their way to the next huge Daniel Bryan moment in WWE, well, he’s not going anywhere for some time. At least, that’s the theory.

It’s that, or WWE doesn’t know where to focus their urgency and is line to waste what little of Bryan they have left before his contract is up because they have a problem with story telling. Oh, good, now I’m not sure how I feel about this again.

Let’s just go back to enjoying the part where Daniel Bryan is fighting for WWE gold again. The Bludgeon Brothers, who Bryan used to feud with when they were with the Wyatt family, will try to keep him from doing so.

Maybe I’m a total mark, but Rusev might actually become WWE Champion at Extreme Rules. He’s hugely popular on SmackDown. He’s someone I’ve long considered a lock to someday become WWE Champion, assuming WWE recognized just how good this dude is, anyway. Styles vs. Rusev should be great, just on paper, and if you throw in how Styles has had the championship forever and they didn’t give it to Shinsuke Nakamura, it feels like it’s time for him to lose it.

All of that being said... Rusev probably isn’t going to win, because we’d all find happiness if he won, and that’s against the rules. At least, it’s against the rules at Extreme Rules: Rusev winning feels like something that should go down at SummerSlam if it’s going to happen. You know, to hear just how loud Barclays can get.

Even if Rusev loses, this match should be good, and it should leave us wanting more Styles vs. Rusev, and I am here for more Styles vs. Rusev. I’m here for Rusev in general.

There’s a couple of things going on at Extreme Rules that I’m interested in, but I’m also honest enough to tell you that they are not necessarily a reason to watch on their own. Asuka vs. Carmella II could be good, if Asuka gets to just wreck Carmella this time, but we’ll probably once again have Carmella getting in too much offense, and James Ellsworth drop a weapon from the shark cage suspended above the ring to help Carmella retain, again.

If this all ends at SummerSlam with Asuka getting another shot and straight-up murking Carmella, well, maybe all of this will be worth it. We’ll see, though.

And last, we have Braun Strowman vs. Kevin Owens in a steel cage, and I’m actually kind of hype for this, but I’m also concerned they’re going to have Braun try to escape the cage to win instead of having him repeatedly deny Kevin Owens the same opportunity before pinning him clean in the middle. Give us a classic “the cage is to stop interference and block the exits” kind of cage match, not a “everyone focuses on running away because face/heel alignments don’t matter, none of this matters.” Please.