Preview by Bryan Rose
WWE’s first pay-per-view of the month takes place in Baltimore, Maryland tonight as the Raw brand presents Extreme Rules.
We’re looking for your thoughts on this show, as well as the New Japan Best of the Super Juniors show from yesterday and the UFC 212 show from yesterday, so you can leave a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match to [email protected]
A fatal five-way match headlines the show, with the winner getting the next shot at Brock Lesnar’s Universal Championship. Roman Reigns, Finn Balor, Samoa Joe, Seth Rollins, and Bray Wyatt will all vie for the title shot.
Dean Ambrose will rekindle his feud with The Miz as they face off for the Intercontinental Championship in a match where Ambrose can lose his title by disqualification. The Raw Women’s Championship will also be defended as champion Alexa Bliss squares off with Bayley in a kendo stick on a pole match.
For the Raw tag titles, champions The Hardys will defend against Cesaro & Sheamus in a steel cage match. In cruiserweight action, champion Neville is pitted against longtime rival Austin Aries in a submission match.
Our live coverage begins with the pre-show match before the main card kicks off at 8 p.m. ET.
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APOLLO CREWS VS. KALISTO
Good match, a lot better than most of these pre-show matches. Crowd got into it decently well at the end. Both did all kinds of flying moves including Kalisto doing a springboard 450 bodyblock to Crews on the floor. Titus O’Neil was at riingside as the coach and yelling at Crews most of the way. They traded near falls until Crews hit a standing shooting star press. Kalisto kicked out and O’Neil was yelling at Crews. Kalisto then did the Salida del Sol kicking off O’Neil and pinned Crews.
DEAN AMBROSE VS. THE MIZ FOR IC TITLE, TITLE CAN CHANGE VIA DQ
Miz won the title. They had a good long match. Both damaged the others’ knee with figure fours. The finish saw Miz tell Maryse to slap him. Miz then told the ref to DQ Ambrose for outside interference. John Cone was mad about that and wouldn’t call for the DQ. Instead, he threw Maryse out. As the ref was yelling at Maryse to leave, Miz kicked Ambrose low and threw him into Cone, whose back was turned. Cone thought Ambrose knocked him down and was yelling at him while Ambrose pleaded not to DQ him. While Ambrose and Cone were arguing, Miz came from behind him and hit the skull crushing finale and got the pin. Good match overall, actually got quite good late before they went to the story finish..
Bayley did an interview. Bayley made fun of the “This Is Your Life” segment. She said she’s been studying Tommy Dreamer, Sandman and Steve Blackman and talked about seeing Wonder Woman and how it insprired her and she wants to inspire peoople herself and regain the title.
RICH SWANN & SASHA BANKS VS. NOAM DAR & ALICIA FOX
Basic fast match. Banks did double knees off the top rope to the floor onto Dar and then Dar got in the ring where Swann pinned him with a Phoenix splash. Swann & Banks danced together after the match. It felt more like a quick Raw match.
ALEXA BLISS VS. BAYLEY FOR WOMEN’S TITLE IN A KENDO STICK ON A POLE MATCH
This was really bad. The story is that Bayley was too nice and wouldn’t pull the trigger with the stick when she got it. Short match. Bayley got the stick first but when she hesitated, Bliss got it and hit Bayley with it a few times. Bayley came back with a belly-to-belly. She tried to get the stick but Bliss knocked her head first into the kendo stick set up in the corner. After a few more kendo stick shots, Bliss pinned her with a DDT. No drama a all.
Adam Jones of the Baltimore Orioles was at ringside dressed as Virgil with two friends, one dressed like IRS and the other like the Million Dollar Man.
HARDYS VS. SHEAMUS & CESARO IN A CAGE MATCH FOR THE TAG TITLES
Sheamus & Cesaro won the titles. The rules of the match were escape the cage and both had to escape to win. It kind of made no sense at certain times because when Jeff escaped, Matt was left with boht. A few times Matt tried to climb over but was pulled back. Sheamus & Cesaro did a double team white noise on Matt. This led to Jeff climbing back in and doing the whisper in the wind off the top of the cage onto Sheamus & Cesaro. Jeff was selling the move. Matt tried to drag Jeff through the door but Sheamus & Cesaro both climbed the cage. They did the photo finish where Sheamus & Cesaro hit the floor faster than Matt could pull Jeff to the floor.
NEVILLE VS. AUSTIN ARIES FOR THE CRUISERWEIGHT TITLE IN A SUBMISSION MATCH
Neville retained the title after Aries missed the low tope, and then in the ring Neville used the red arrow to the back and got the submission with the Rings of Saturn. When it was over, Aries was briefly smiling on the floor. Very good match but hampered like so many cruiserweight matches by the lack of heat. There were a couple of key spots, including Aries getting Neville to tap with the Last Chancery but they were on the floor so the ref ruled it didn’t count. At another point Aries had the move on but Neville was about to throw the ref to get DQ’d like last time so Aries broke the hold to avoid Neville getting DQ’d. Some very good wrestling and knee work by both.
BRAY WYATT VS. ROMAN REIGNS VS. FINN BALOR VS. SETH ROLLINS VS. SAMOA JOE FOR THE NO. 1 CONTENDER SPOT
Samoa Joe will be facing Brock Lesnar on 7/9. These guys tore down the house. The finish of the match saw Finn Balor uise the sloing blade and cuop de gras on Roman Reigns. But Joe got the choke on Balor from behind and choked him all the way out. Excellent match with the usual stuff with eveyrone doing their finishes and someone breaking it up. Reigns was bleeding from the mouth and the cheek. Rollins was probably the star of the match and did a plancha splash off the top rope putting Wyatt rhrough the Spanish table. Reigns speeared Joe and Balor on the floor through the barricade. Rollins used a frog splash on Reigns for a near fall. Rollins used a power bomb into the buckles but Reigns came right back with a Superman punch.
