5 Things We Need To See Coming Out Of Extreme Rules

So Extreme Rules is almost here and we are going to look ahead to after it is all said and done what we need to have coming out of this event . Every PPV or as they are calling them now special event needs to have some reason to it for us to stay invested as fans. The first major event after Wrestlemania is usually a time to start building some new feuds and ending some old ones. We always have some new stars to get over and make look good. So with all that being said let’s look at 5 things we need to see coming out of this event. After reading this go have a listen to our podcast where we preview this event and talk the news of the week in WWE.

5. A Stronger Paige: We saw Paige from NXT make her long awaited debut on the Raw after Wrestlemania winning the Diva's Championship from A.J Lee. It wasn’t the best debut for Paige to show of her ability in the ring with a bit of a screwed up finish to the match. Adding to the problems we had A.J Lee stepping away for some time off, to move to Chicago we are told, as she has become engaged to CM Punk who remains in limbo with WWE. So instead of an A.J vs. Paige feud that many have looked forward to we get an under promoted Paige vs. Tamina Snuka match. This match not only needs to see Paige win but do it impressively in order to validate her to the larger WWE audience that may not be familiar with her work in NXT. A stronger Paige and returning A.J Lee should make for a great feud.

4. A Strong NEW I-C Champion: We don’t hate Big E Langston but maybe we are not crazy about Big E. Jokes aside, it has been fairly clear that him retaining the I-C title is not going to be in the cards. We had all thought that new champion was going to be Cesaro and that might have been confirmed with a WWE Script making it’s way to the internet. Suddenly things changed and now Bad News Barrett is the man that sits on the verge of his fourth run with the I-C title. Rumours are that Vince McMahon himself has been the driving force behind the Bad News Barrett character so safe to say he has some support behind him if that is true. Much talk has been made of unification of the U.S and I-C titles. Dean Ambrose in a rare title defence for that U.S Title retained it on Smackdown. Regardless of this happens Barrett is deserving of having a long run with this title and maybe if he does the belt that once meant so much in the WWE can once again. I would feel more confident with Cesaro in this role honestly though.

3. Continuation of Steph vs. Bri: We have not seen Stephanie McMahon in a WWE ring in a match since 2003. This was just prior to her real life wedding to Triple H as she fought he father Vince in a match. The couple you love to hate in storyline have 3 lovely daughters and perhaps the time has come to see Steph get back in a ring. In the PG world of WWE when they script the word bitch into a program you notice. The woman dropping that B-Bomb was Bri who is married to Daniel Bryan of course. This is not the first time we have had a feud for Stephanie teased as she and A.J Lee had some interactions that made you wonder where it was heading. Some may cringe at the idea of this match with Bri and Stephanie taking place, but I say why not. If you’re looking for a mat classic this likely will not be it, but no one would expect it to be. In any case, the feud itself I like and would not mind seeing more fuel added to the fire coming out of Extreme Rules.

2. More Heroics from the Swiss Superman: As we mentioned there is a lot of circumstantial evidence this was not the plan for Cesaro for this show. When you get lemons you can be a rosebud or make lemonade. So, seeing as Cesaro is not likely to become an Adam Rose fan will go with the ladder option. Basically it seems in this 3 way it could go a few ways. It could serve as continuation of the Swagger vs. Cesaro break-up that has involved Paul Heyman and Zeb Colter. It also could lead to a program with RVD a former Heyman Guy and a legendary performer in wrestling. Ideally Cesaro should get the win in this match-up and draw some conclusion to his feud with Swagger. You could easily make that happen with Heyman screwing RVD and Cesaro getting the pin on Swagger. That likely makes the most sense to build Cesaro for what many are speculating could be a future feud with Brock Lesnar. Continuation of a Swagger feud is only holding Cesaro back. However it ends up Cesaro needs to shine in this match and build on the momentum his Battle Royal win and next night manger change has given him.

1. A Dominate Daniel Bryan: We need to see a strong first title defence for the new WWE World Champion. This feud needs to be one and done for Daniel Bryan as a feud with Kane despite the history with the two has not captured anyone’s imagination at this point. This is the Randy Savage on Saturday Night’s Main Event vs. One Man Gang type of title defence. The first for a new champion against a much large opponent to showcase he can beat the big guys. It is nothing more than that and why The Shield vs. Evolution is likely the main event of this show. We have Daniel Bryan entering a match selling an injury yet again which makes the chances of him looking dominate a bit less likely. However he entered the title match at Wrestlemania 30 with the same restrictions but was able to put on a great performance. The days of Daniel Bryan beat downs need to be less and he needs to establish his title reign as a strong champion. If he looks like anything different from that, it is a failure and does not speak well for his future as the reigning champion.
  

1(B) Bray Wyatt Words Need To Have Action: So you thought we forgot about Bray? Not at all and following Bray Wyatt's example, we will not conform and giving you 6 things in a list that is only suppose to be 5. It is important that Bray Wyatt comes out of this event not being all talk and no action. He needs to win this match or have some validation for what he has been saying. Ideally we get both to happen in his match with John Cena. This is a much better version of the feud between John Cena and Kane, that was used to fill in the gaps for Cena as he prepared for his first encounter with The Rock. Bray Wyatt just like Kane wants to expose a darker side to John Cena that he claims exists. John Cena is showing some doubt on if the fans are really behind him on this one and that is already a partial victory for Bray in comparison to the Kane vs. Cena feud. If Bray fails to get a win the only way this feud to continue with any kind of logic is if Cena some how cheats to win. Given this is a steel cage match with no real room for that to happen logically Bray needs to win. Bray may not care about his win/loss record but for the fans to believe in him they need him to win. This feud has elevated Bray to being in the conversation as one of the best talkers in the WWE. Part of being a great talker is being able to take those words and turn them into action and that time is now for Bray Wyatt.

So why do we not see any mention of The Shield and Evolution? Reason for this is basically because you could have a number of acceptable outcomes to this one, without one standing out as better than another. I think regardless of who wins this feud is not finished and thus the result here is only this first step in a much larger war. It is not to say it won’t be potentially fantastic and a great match. It very well should be that. It is just that nothing NEEDS to happen here to any degree. No one in this match will be hurt by a loss and no one gains a ton from a win at this stage if this program continues on as expected.