Although there is still room for a pre-show match to be added, it appears the card for this Sunday’s WWE Extreme Rules 2017 pay-per-view is essentially finalized, meaning its time for another examination round of which superstars are going to be sitting out the show.
For whatever reason, the men and women on this list were not deemed important enough to justify finding a spot for at the event or are otherwise incapacitated and unable to perform. Some of the omissions might be justified, while others are a bit more questionable.
Let’s take a look at which wrestlers on the Raw roster are currently not advertised as participating at Extreme Rules 2017.
Brock Lesnar
The Universal Champion is fulfilling his responsibilities as he’s off battling aliens on a faraway planet, or that’s about as good of an excuse as anything else.
Did you miss him at Payback? Well, you’re going to miss him here, too. But the threat of his inevitable quick and easy paycheck victory for Great Balls of Fire and SummerSlam is ever-looming as the Fatal 5-Way will determine who gets to lose to him at those events.
Goldust and R-Truth
Frankly, I’m surprised this match hasn’t been announced, considering nothing is being advertised for the pre-show.
This is the perfect type of feud to put on the kickoff section of the event where nobody will feel like they missed out on something grandiose if they skipped it, but there’s just enough enticement with Goldust’s heel turn to justify wanting to check it out.
For the split between The Golden Truth to mean anything, it needs more attention than just a few pre-taped promo videos before a random Raw match in June. Goldust should be on this card getting a win over R-Truth so the feud can actually sprout some legs.
Apollo Crews and Titus O’Neil / Kalisto
A few months back, Apollo Crews and Kalisto were best buds in a strange feud with Dolph Ziggler, wrestling him in handicap matches and losing more often than not. That whole story was a mess and went nowhere, so it’s odd that the same two people would find themselves in yet another situation where a third wheel is getting in their way.
Under Titus O’Neil’s tutelage (if you can call it that), Crews lost a match two weeks ago to Kalisto, but O’Neil followed it up by cheating to beat the luchador this week.
This isn’t the type of feud WWE is going to invest much time and effort into, so for all three of these men to be absent from the card isn’t a travesty. Even the booking of what type of match should take place is questionable, as the next logical step would be to add another person into the mix for Kalisto’s side so a tag team match can take place, but no other midcard babyfaces are in a position to fill that role right now.
Elias Samson
While I’m not a fan of the gimmick of someone playing a guitar in the middle of the ring before every match, I actually love the character of “The Drifter” who just pops up randomly in backstage segments with his guitar, stealing the spotlight for a moment before…well…drifting away.
Samson would not have been one of the first names in my mind to bring up from NXT during the Superstar Shake-Up, as I feel he could use more seasoning than even someone like Andrade Almas, but I do still think there’s some potential there and I don’t want to see him become another casualty of the call-up process.
All too often, someone from NXT graduates and within a few months, their stock has fallen. Samson has had only one match against Dean Ambrose and one match against a jobber, so he’s not exactly heading in a great direction.
There isn’t time at this point to put him in a decent match at Extreme Rules, as no feud has been set up, but WWE needs to course correct and make sure he isn’t completely forgotten about come Great Balls of Fire.
At the very least, I’d like to see Samson make an appearance during the pre-show, even if it’s to have a musical performance or to wreck another jobber for a brief minute.
Big Show and Mark Henry
The World’s Largest Athlete and The World’s Strongest Man continue to be absentees in 2017, similar to the majority of 2016. By this point, it feels like they are just waiting out their contracts and shouldn’t even be considered members of the active roster, which is a shame, and a lackluster way to go out—with no bang and very little sizzle.
From the Women’s Division
Dana Brooke has nothing to do since her feud with Emma has been put on hold until the latter is able to return from her injury.
Also noticeably absent is Summer Rae, who has been cleared to compete after a long stint away dealing with her injuries, yet WWE has not made a decision on how to utilize her.
Then there are Mickie James and Nia Jax. Both are big enough names on the brand to be confused why we haven’t seen much of them lately, and neither of them are battling injuries preventing them from getting in the ring. WWE has been struggling enough with the feud between Alexa and Bayley so the creative team clearly just doesn’t have any ideas for how to put James and Jax to good use.
From the Tag Team Division
WWE reminded us this week why we haven’t seen The Revival, as Dash Wilder’s jaw is still wired shut, but where have Heath Slater and Rhyno been all this time?
Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson have fallen off the radar quite a bit as well, considering they were the champions of the division heading into WrestleMania. Their time in WWE so far has been much more of a struggle than it really should have been, if you think about it.
The biggest story happening outside of the title hunt is with Enzo Amore being attacked backstage repeatedly and Big Cass on the prowl for who is responsible, and even though I sincerely doubt we will get any kind of match featuring those two, I wouldn’t be shocked at all if there’s a segment during the pre-show or possibly during the main section of the event where Enzo is attacked once more, just to keep the storyline going.
From the Cruiserweight Division
Save for Neville and Austin Aries fighting over the Cruiserweight Championship and the mixed tag team match featuring Noam Dar and Rich Swann, the rest of the division is M.I.A., which is the basic standard operating procedure of most pay-per-views.
Most of the men in this class have nothing solid to sink their teeth into anyway, like Gran Metalik, Tony Nese, or even Akira Tozawa and Brian Kendrick as they are done fighting each other.
Really, Drew Gulak and Mustafa Ali are the only two who have feuded long enough to build something up, but that is too supplemental of a match to justify a spot on this pay-per-view.
The Job Squad
Per usual, Bo Dallas, Curt Hawkins and Curtis Axel are nowhere to be found. This is no surprise and I’m sure the same thing will happen come Great Balls of Fire.
Do you think these men and women or any others not mentioned on this list should have been booked on the card in some fashion? How would you have utilized them if given creative control? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below!
