I knew nothing was going to beat the main event confirmation on Monday night Raw this week between Triple H and Brock Lesner as they tangled in the steel cage just as Raw went off the air, but I had at least a little hope that Smackdown would deliver some kind of momentum heading into Extreme Rules. Once again I was wrong. Friday night Smackdown billed the main event as a tag match between the six men who would meet on Sunday.
The match, announced by managing supervisor Teddy Long, would be Shemeus, Randy Orton and Alberto Del Rio versus Mark Henry, Big Show and Jack Swagger. The match literally dragged on with each contestant giving fans a little preview of the mayhem to come at Extreme Rules.
Late in the match it was Swagger nailing Shemeus with the “Swagger Bomb “off the top rope to try to put away the Celtic warrior. Shemeus had other plans however, nailing a thunderous top rope electric chair to the real American shifting the momentum of the match-up.
The last minute reversal gave Shemeus enough time to get to his corner and tag teammate Randy Orton. The Viper seemed like he was shot out of a cannon nailing Swagger with a punishing back-breaker. Orton didn’t stop there. He continued the punishment hitting a scoop slam on Swagger before Mark Henry interfered with a punch to Orton stopping the Viper in his tracks.
Big show pushed Shemeus over the top rope as Del Rio nailed Henry with a drop kick to the back of the head. Outside the ring, Big Show stalked the groggy Irishman but walked smack dab in to a “Brogue Kick” from the Celtic warrior as the fans went wild.
With all hell breaking loose outside the ring, Del Rio went for the enziguri on Swagger. Having time to recover, Swagger countered catching Del Rio’s foot for a menacing Patriot Lock. It looked as if the former heavyweight champion would tap out to the Real American when out of nowhere Orton nails the RKO on a unsuspecting Swagger for the win.
So with a preview on Friday night Smack Down the big questions are can Shemeus beat Mark Henry in their strap match? Will Orton and the Big Show finally settle the score after Show betrayed both him and Shemeus at WrestleMania? What about the number one contender match for the World title? Will Alberto Del Rio or Jack Swagger utter the words I quit in their match Sunday?
The biggest question in my mind and many others in the WWE universe has to be can the Hounds of Justice attain gold this Sunday? With fans weary of Team Hell No’s time as tag team champions, maybe having the team of Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns will be a change of pace for the tag team division.
As for Ambrose and his hunt for United States Title gold. I don’t really see why this match was even made. In my opinion Ambrose is a very indistinguishable character, and has shown no real personality or skill to attain singles competition gold. To me that is the grand flaw with The Shield. As a team they are unstoppable, but take any one of them and try to build a long lasting story-line around them and they will surely fail.
With all that said here are my predictions for Sunday’s Extreme Rules Pay Per View:
Cody Rhodes defeats The Miz in the pre-show match. There’s so little hype surrounding the return of either of these superstars that this match in truth really doesn’t matter. At the end of the match, I see Rhodes somehow reversing The Figure Four Leg Lock, and nailing Miz with Cross-Rhodes for the win.
Randy Orton defeats the Big Show. After a huge momentum shift in his favor Friday night, The Viper seems unstoppable, and can hit his signature “RKO” at any time. Big Show will most likely get frustrated as the match goes on leaving the door open for a distracted Big Show to get an “RKO” for his troubles. Honestly, how can Orton lose? The event is in his home town of St Louis!
Chris Jericho defeats Fandango. I have honestly been waiting for this rematch for a while. I am so tired of this Fandango story-line. His matches last all of six minutes and feature a few punches and some crappy grapple moves, then dances around the ring to celebrate. I predict that Y2J reverses Fandango’s top rope leg drop and sets up the walls of Jericho for the win. Leading up to a rubber match at Summer Slam.
Mark Henry defeats Shemeus. With both of these men tied to each other by a strap, this will surely be the worst match of the night. I really do expect Mark Henry to win by dragging the battered Celtic warrior to all four corners after hitting the world’s strongest slam.
Alberto Del Rio defeats Jack Swagger by making him say, “ I quit.” I see this one being more of a submission match between these two superstars. At the end of the match Del Rio should reverse Swagger’s Patriot Lock into his signature cross arm bar move making the real American say “I quit.” I honestly wish Dolph Ziggler was still healthy so we could have had that triple threat ladder match!
Brock Lesner will defeat Triple H by escaping through the cage door. After Brock destroyed Triple H’s office at WWE headquarters and Triple H threw Lesner through the cage door at the end of Raw, this match is really a tough one to speculate on. I think the match will end with Lesner nailing an ill-fated F-5 from the top rope, and escaping the cage. The loss will cause Triple H into exile for awhile.
The Shield defeats Team Hell No. I’m not going to waste a lot of time on this match. WWE creative is obviously going another direction with the tag team titles, and I think it will be Roman Reigns with a spear on Daniel Bryan at the end to win the tag team titles.
Dean Ambrose defeats Kofi Kingston for the United States Title. I, for the life of me, can’t believe The Shield is being put in singles competition. I bet if I asked any wrestling fan “Who is Dean Ambrose?” most would stop and stare into space. He’s just not a memorable guy! I really don’t see this reign lasting very long either, the United States Title reigns usually don’t anymore. The match will end when Ambrose nails his inverted DDT for the win then Ambrose will be joined by Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins as they give their usual promo on justice. Nothing we haven’t seen before, but seriously does anyone miss the Nexus yet?
John Cena defeats Ryback to retain the WWE title. Every aspect of this angle has led us to believe that there is no way that Cena can walk out of St. Louis as the WWE Champion. Didn’t we just have that same kind of story-line at WrestleMania? Cena has the odds not in his favor only to hoist the golden belt over his head once again. WWE creative spent so much time building up his rematch with the Rock at WrestleMania 29 that I don’t think his reign will end anytime soon. As for the match, John Cena wins by doing an Attitude Adjustment off of a ladder into the announce table, and gets up just in time for the ten count.
Who do you think will win Sunday? Do you think The shield will have long title reigns? Will gold around their waist be the end of The Shield? Let me know in the comments below.
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