Following Money in the Bank 2018, WWE will be setting its sights on the next pay-per-view: Extreme Rules 2018, scheduled for July 15, 2018 at the PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Over the next few weeks, we’ll be seeing the build to set up the matches which will make up the card for the show, and last night’s episode of Monday Night Raw kicked things off with the first indication of what we might get for that event.
What is the current state of the feuds on the red brand and what directions could these storylines end up for Extreme Rules 2018? That’s up to us to speculate about, so feel free to join me in this extended projections breakdown for the Raw programs heading into Extreme Rules 2018.
Let’s take a look at what we’re working with here with what we know, what we think we know, and what we’re just flat out going to guess at.
Raw Women’s Championship Match: Alexa Bliss (c) vs. Nia Jax
So far, the only match that has been advertised and pretty much set in stone without much of a chance of wiggle room will see Nia Jax get her rematch for the Raw Women’s Championship after having lost it to Alexa Bliss at Money in the Bank.
This makes sense not just in terms of the standard rematch clause logic, but because it gives Bliss someone to retain the title over in order to wait that extra month and head into SummerSlam to defend (and lose) the title against Ronda Rousey, who will be “suspended” for 30 days after she attacked Bliss, Kurt Angle, and several referees.
Over the course of the next few weeks, if WWE’s writers are lazy and don’t want to think of anything else, we’ll see a return to doing the same shtick Bliss and Jax were doing from March to May, with Jax beating Mickie James on Raw and having tag team matches with someone like Ember Moon.
Universal Championship Match
This has already been confirmed as not happening. Go figure, right? We know the score by now: when Brock Lesnar is holding a championship, you should never expect to see it outside of maybe a handful of times that entire year. Since Extreme Rules isn’t SummerSlam, no wonder he’s not competing.
No. 1 Contender’s Match
In his stead, there will be a “multi-person match” to determine who faces him at SummerSlam. WWE is being purposely vague about this, probably while they determine how many people they want to compete and how many they can do something else with on the card, however, the graphic for this alludes to it being a Six Pack Challenge.
At the very least, we know Roman Reigns and Bobby Lashley are in the mix, and I’ll hold my criticism of how frustrating this whole ordeal can be, as I’m sure there will be plenty of opportunities to do so down the line.
The other four potential players, though, are up for debate, even if we can rule out a good number of options. There’s no way Curt Hawkins or No Way Jose are getting in this match, obviously.
Finn Balor strikes me as a certainty at this point, particularly as he already tried to put his name in the hat. Since he was somewhat paired up with Baron Corbin, I wouldn’t be too shocked if Constable Corbin ends up in the match, too, although he could just be a foil for Balor along the way and his spot could be taken by someone else.
Elias put his name out there, also. Since he’s not picking up where he left off against Seth Rollins for the Intercontinental Championship, it’s hard to imagine he won’t be competing at all on this card, nor set up for a different feud, so let’s count him in, too.
After Bobby Roode had a decisive victory over Hawkins, that doesn’t mean he’s a guarantee, but it doesn’t hurt his chances one bit. He was just in the Money in the Bank ladder match, too, meaning he’s viewed as a top star to a certain degree. Count him as #3 or #4, depending on Corbin’s involvement.
If Corbin doesn’t round out the list, I would assume the last spot goes to either Jinder Mahal, who was victorious over Chad Gable, or Sami Zayn, who was absent from this episode of Raw. Then again, both Mahal and Zayn lost singles matches at MITB, so they may be pushed aside in favor of someone else, like a surprise returning Jason Jordan or Dean Ambrose, but those options aren’t as believable as Mahal, Zayn or Corbin, or just the limitation of keeping this a Fatal 5-Way instead.
Braun Strowman vs. Kevin Owens
Two people I think we can keep out of the multi-man match are Braun Strowman and Kevin Owens, primarily because it makes no sense for Strowman to get in that while having the briefcase, and he needs someone to feud with.
Clearly, that person is Owens. It’s pretty self-explanatory at this point.
These two will have their encounters for the next three weeks before Strowman wrecks Owens at Extreme Rules. Both are talented enough to have some fun with the feud, so I hope they get a chance to think outside the box.
Intercontinental Championship Match
Dolph Ziggler dethroned The Kingslayer and took the Intercontinental Championship on Raw, which would be grounds enough to say Seth Rollins will get his rematch at Extreme Rules.
However, that is already scheduled for next week’s Raw, meaning that may not be the direction WWE goes.
In one scenario, Rollins loses his rematch and in the weeks to follow, a new challenger is established for Ziggler, while Rollins gets involved in the title shot for SummerSlam.
Alternatively, if WWE just wants to drag this out, we’ll see a situation that WWE has pulled many, many times in the past, where Drew McIntyre will interfere and Kurt Angle will call that nonsense, awarding Rollins another shot at Extreme Rules to be fair.
Then, there will be two more weeks of time to fill, where we’ll see McIntyre and Ziggler team up against Rollins and a partner, and then something like McIntyre against Rollins in singles action.
Raw Tag Team Championship Match
The B-Team have yet to fight The Deleters of Worlds for the Raw Tag Team Championship, so that’s happening somewhere down the road, be it at Extreme Rules or just on Raw itself.
Considering the lack of attention the tag team division has received lately, along with how both of these teams are joke acts, I’m leaning more toward the possibility this plays out on Monday nights and is left off the card for Extreme Rules.
There are bigger fish to fry and at the very most, this would be a pre-show match that likely won’t feature a title change, similar to The Bludgeon Brothers vs. The Good Brothers from MITB.
In the meantime, I hope we get to see more impressions from Bo Dallas and Curtis Axel, as that bit was pretty damn spot on.
Bayley vs. Sasha Banks
Yes, this feud is STILL going on. There’s been a loop for months where the two of them look angry at each other, make up, cost each other matches, get frustrated, fight, make up, cost each other matches, look angry at each other, fight, etc. It never seems to go anywhere, but it also never seems to end.
There’s a chance we see the two of them fight somewhere on this card, but with the way the past couple of months have happened, I’m not betting on it. I’d assume it’s much more likely that they continue to do the same stuff on Raw they’ve been doing and nobody pulls the trigger on a heel turn for either of them, and by August, we’re still talking about how they’re still stuck on this loop from February.
CARD PREDICTION SUMMARY
Universal Championship No. 1 Contender’s Match
Raw Women’s Championship Match: Alexa Bliss (c) vs. Nia Jax
Braun Strowman vs. Kevin Owens
Intercontinental Championship Match: Dolph Ziggler (c) vs. Seth Rollins
Raw Tag Team Championship Match: The Deleters of Worlds (c) vs. The B-Team
+ the SmackDown Live side of things
Those are my predictions, but what matches do YOU think will be on the card? Drop your guesses in the comments below!
