This year’s WWE Extreme Rules PPV (formerly known as One Night Stand) is shaping up to be much like many of their recent PPVs. Some of the matches are impossible to get excited about. Other have great potential, but that potential may or may not be realized.
Vickie Guerrero vs. Santina Marella - Hog Pen Match:
Why not start with the most outrageous of all the matches. This match should be entertaining, if they keep it under fifteen minutes. I don’t know about anybody else out there in Internet Land, but I don’t think I can stand any more of Vickie Guerrero than that, and while Santino (and his alter ego Santina) is a very funny comedy style wrestler, he can’t carry Vickie for any longer than that. Actually I don’t think Big Show could carry her. She is about three hundred pounds. Yep, that was a cheap shot.
Santina should pick up the win.
John Cena vs. Big Show - Submission Match:
This is absolutely the dumbest match they could have made for the Extreme Rules PPV. A table match would have been much better for these two men. Are we really supposed to even remotely believe that Cena--even with his Supermanesk push--can submit Big Show? It’s absurd.
There have been rumors for a while now about a John Cena heel turn. This could be the beginning of that turn. If Cena maybe gets a little more extreme than expected and “makes an example” of the big Show, maybe this could be a descent starting point for a heel push. They could run a “if I can submit the Big Show I can do any damn thing I want to” sort of angle.
Either way, Cena is going to get the win.
Kofi Kingston vs. MVP vs. William Regal vs. Matt hardy - U.S. Championship Fatal Four Way Match:
This is the one match on the RAW side of the card that actually has any real potential in my mind. Kofi Kingston, Matt Hardy, and MVP are all great technical wrestlers. Kingston also has some flash about him as well. Regal brings the “beat them down” brawler style of wrestling to the match. In his singles matches, and even in tag matches, I don’t find it very entertaining, but with three other guys in the ring for him to play off of it could work well. I tend to find that the more men you throw into a match--up to about six men--the more exciting the match is. Some pretty boring wrestlers (JBL for one) have been involved in some great three way matches and performed very well in them.
I think Kingston is going to retain his title in this match, thus freeing up MVP to join the main event picture, and Regal and Hardy to possibly join the tag team picture (as asinine as the thought may be).
Randy Orton vs. Batista - WWE Championship Steel Cage Match:
Boring, that’s what I’m expecting to be saying about this match when I watch it. Randy Orton was nearly injured earlier in the week by Kennedy. It makes me wonder how much he’s really going to go at it in this match. Granted, he is probably more comfortable working with Dave Batista then Kennedy (as seems t be the case with many guys in the locker room), but their may still be some wariness surrounding a match of this stipulation.
Batista’s work tends to bore me in any case. Unless he’s in the ring with Undertaker, it just doesn’t seem like he puts it all out there. I think his performance will be much less than extreme at Extreme Rules, but I could be wrong.
I think Ric Flair will definitely be involved here, possibly causing Batista to become distracted and lose the match.
Now let’s look at the ECW side of the show, the entire one match on the card.
Tommy Dreamer vs. Christian vs. Jack Swagger - ECW Title 3 Way Hardcore Match:
I am really hoping that these guys will put on a show. It is more than likely to be Tommy’s last match (in WWE at least) and possibly his last WWE appearance, since he has released a statement saying he will not be returning to ECW as the general manager to take over for Tiffany. Dreamer has worlds of experience in hardcore matches. He has teamed with Terry Funk, wrestled against the Sandman, Sabu, RVD, Raven, and a score or more of great hardcore competitors.
Christian also has a great deal of hardcore experience--not as much as Dreamer, but still quite a bit--both in WWE and TNA. He was a member of damn near every TLC tag match back in the late 1990s and early 200s. In TNA he wrestled in ladder matches and in King of the Mountain. I have no doubts that he will put on a good performance.
Swagger is the one question mark in this match. While nobody can deny his technical wrestling skill and his great amateur background (he is the two-time NCAA All American American after all), I’m not sure how hardcore he can get. I’m inclined to think he will put on a good performance. I think that Swagger is very talented. He may be a little slow on the microphone, but he makes very few mistakes during promos. I have been impressed by that fact and by his great skill in the ring. I think he is a future main eventer, or at least he has the potential to be.
I want Tommy Dreamer to win the belt, but I doubt that is how it will play out. Tommy didn’t even want the belt when he got it in the original ECW. He wanted to go down as the greatest ECW underdog of all time, and he undoubtedly will. I think that since I haven’t seen or heard anything different, Christian will be retaining his belt at Extreme Rules.
No onto the Smackdown portion of the card.
CM Punk vs. Umaga - Samoan Strap Match:
I’m not quite sure about this match. I like strap matches. I have seen some great ones before, but I’m not sure if this will make the list.
CM Punk is a great in ring performer. I know there are those that don’t understand why people like him, all I can say is that I like him. He makes it cool to be straight edge--something that most people (including myself) are not dedicated or disciplined to be. Umaga is something else entirely. I have been impressed with him at times in the past, but honestly he feels like just another stock Samoan character most of the time. He is agile for a man his size, that is true, but he’s no Bam Bam Bigalow. He’s no Mike Awesome. I tend to think this match will be just above average.
CM punk still has that Money in the Bank title shot. For this reason, I am inclined to believe he will be the winner of the strap match. Umaga has made a good return, but I haven’t seen any sign that he is going to get pushed. However, it wouldn’t surprise me to see him beat Punk either. They basically squashed Punk during his run as World Heavyweight Champion. He had to do work for JBL of all people. That is a fate worse than death.
Rey Mysterio vs. Chris Jericho - No Holds Barred Intercontinental Title Match:
This match should be great. Jericho and Mysterio have quite a bit of experience wrestling each other, not as much as Rey and Psicosis, but a lot just the same. They battled in WCW in the 1990s and they have met up before in WWE as well. They put on a descent match at the last PPV, but I think they can do a hell of a lot better at Extreme Rules. There is also no doubt as to the talent of either man.
If there is a winner in this match, which there may not be, I tend to think it will be Mysterio. The only way I can see Jericho winning is if he rips off Rey’s mask and Rey is forced to head backstage. From what has been transpiring on the Smackdown broadcasts for the past several weeks, it is clear that at some point there may be a Mask vs. Title match featuring these two guys.
Jeff Hardy vs. Edge - World Heavyweight Title Ladder Match:
Since RAW has more matches Than Smackdown, this will probably be the second to last match. I feel sorry for Orton and Batista if they have to follow this match. It should be the show stealer. Actually it’s not even really theft. You would expect this match to tear the roof off the joint. Both men have tons of experience, both against each other, and in ladder matches. We know that Jeff hardy is willing to put his body on the line for our entertainment and Edge has shown a serious hardcore streak himself in the past. I will be very surprised if I’m not raving about this match during my upcoming review of the show.
The win is almost certainly going to go to Jeff Hardy, but I could see Edge pulling it out. After all, he is the number two heel in the company right now.
So how does this stack up overall. The three Smackdown matches stand to kick the ass of all the RAW matches. Smackdown is clearly the better show overall. Also, the ECW match should hopefully do Paul E. and all of us hardcore original ECW fanatics--or as Raven put I earlier this week, “wrestling purists”--very proud.
All right, that’s my preview. I’ll have a review of Extreme Rules hitting either Monday or Tuesday. I’ll also have some follow up on the Kennedy story--which will include a retraction of some of my earlier anger fueled statements--and more about the degeneration of Ric Flair later in the week.
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