WWE Extreme Rules 2012: 13 Bold Predictions

This Sunday is the Extreme Rules pay-per-view. With the wrestlers going to extreme heights and risks to defeat their opponents, I am going to take approximately 13 risks in predicting what I think will go down.

I will take the risks that I believe I need to let out, and everything on the list is what I truly believe could—and will—happen.

Hopefully the biggest risk of them all isn't using the number 13.

But without further ado, I welcome you to 13 bold predictions for Extreme Rules 2012.

13. Daniel Bryan Will Regain the World Heavyweight Championship

Bryan will probably end up defeating Sheamus.

He’s been on a roll with the crowd lately, and WWE knows they have to utilize him while he’s hot.

12. The Miz Will Become the U.S. Champion

In the pre-show of Sunday’s Extreme Rules PPV, The Miz will capture the U.S. title for the third time in his career.

This was hinted at last week on Raw, when current U.S. Champion Santino Marella seemingly stepped in the tag team division with Zack Ryder.

11. Christian and Alberto Del Rio Will Have a Devoted Segment

It won’t necessarily be a good segment, but nonetheless, there will be one.

I can only expect Del Rio to come out asking for a world title match—only for Christian to come out and beg for one .

I also wouldn't be surprised to see Mark Henry in the segment doing the same thing.

It’ll basically be a filler to get some of the upper-carders on the show.

10. Cody Rhodes Will Win the Intercontinental Title Back from the Big Show

Only four weeks ago, Cody Rhodes lost his Intercontinental title to The Big Show.

So, is it a little far-fetched to have Rhodes win it back without a story line only a month later?

Nope.

WWE probably wanted to change the results of a few matches at WrestleMania to decrease predictability—hence the reason Kane defeated Randy Orton.

That’s also what I’d have to assume WWE did with Rhodes and Big Show.

Rhodes will win the title this Sunday on PPV and regain his Intercontinental belt. I don’t expect any less.

9. CM Punk’s Family Will Get Their Revenge on Chris Jericho

Chris Jericho will get his comeuppance this Sunday.

Extreme Rules is in CM Punk’s hometown of Chicago, and his family is reportedly going to be there.

I can only expect that after their match, Punk will add insult-to-injury when he brings either his father or his whole family in the ring to attack the person who’s revealed their secrets.

8. Brock Lesnar May Disappoint Those with High Expectations

Call me a “Negative Nancy,” but I don’t think Lesnar’s going to be all that great come Sunday.

He hasn’t wrestled in eight years, and unless he has some magical Dwayne Johnson powers, he’ll have apparent ring-rust.

Due to his disease—which took a lot of muscle away from him—he’s also limited to what he can do powerhouse wise.

I think he’ll still be decent, just not the same Brock. The worst that will happen is he’ll have to use a lot of weapons to cover up his shortcomings.

7. The Lesnar vs. Cena Main Event Will Be the Culmination of Their Interactions

Sunday will be the culmination of Cena and Lesnar’s interactions.

I expect Cena to move on to Lord Tensai and later John Laurinaitis, while Lesnar goes on to have a pretty interesting program with CM Punk for the WWE Championship.

6. Randy Orton’s Hiatus from the Title Picture Will End

I can’t believe I’m going to say this, but Orton should—and will—be in the world title picture after this.

He won’t necessarily be the No. 1 contender, but he’ll be back in the hunt after Sunday.

He’ll defeat Kane this Sunday in a solid match, which will be his final match that will not determine who will win the heavyweight championship.

5. AJ Will Cost Sheamus the World Title

If you follow me on Twitter (CoolsonBR) or consistently read my articles here, you’ll know how heavily I’ve been predicting this since Bryan dumped AJ.

The only enigma was, "how will AJ be involved in the finish?"

My first prediction was that she would betray Bryan, but that would be too obvious.

WWE seems to enjoy dragging angles as long as they can, so look for AJ to cost Sheamus the victory to win Bryan back.

4. Kharma Will Win the Divas Title from Nikki Bella

Well doesn’t this sound a little far-fetched?

F4WOnline.com (via WrestlingInc.com) has reported that Beth Phoenix dropped the title to Nikki Bella because they wanted Kharma to win the divas title without having Kharma defeat Phoenix—as they wish to save that for a later time.

Usually I take dirt sheet reports with at least 18 grains of salt, but in this scenario it makes perfect sense.

Laurinaitis will give Nikki Bella her comeuppance for joining Team Teddy by putting her against a mystery competitor which will later be revealed as Kharma.

3. John Laurinaitis Will Indirectly Screw Cena out of a Win over Brock Lesnar

I haven’t decided how he'll do, as there are too many scenarios to choose from, but Cena vs. Laurinaitis has been on the horizon for weeks.

Laurinaitis’ evil deeds may not be apparent on Sunday, but it will be revealed he betrayed him at a later point.

If I had to guess the scenario, I would look for Lord Tensai to hand Lesnar the win—as I pitched last week in an article here.

2. Sheamus Will Hit a Referee

Sheamus wasn't put on permanent probation so he could start being friendly with the referees.

After losing to Bryan, he’ll be held back by a referee who will eventually end up being Sheamus’ victim.

Now will Sheamus be fired? Maybe for a week; until the board of directors point out the double standard—considering Lesnar did it to an interviewer last week. This will force Laurinaitis to reverse firing Sheamus.

It's not amazing but remember: I’m not creating these angles—I’m just predicting them.

1. The Overall PPV Will Not Exactly Live Up to the Fan’s Expectations

Extreme Rules will be a solid PPV, but nonetheless, it probably won’t live up to the common fan’s expectations solely because of the headliner—Cena vs. Lesnar—being a bit lacking. Remember, the main event has a huge impact in the overall presentation of the show.

Maybe I’m a pessimist, but it’s a win-win for me. If the PPV’s solid, I’ll get what I’m expecting; if it’s amazing, I’ll get more than I expected.

Conclusion

The scenarios I'm most pulling for are Kharma's debut and Daniel Bryan regaining the championship thanks to AJ. Obviously, I'm not hoping for the PPV to not reach expectations, but that doesn't change that I think it'll happen.

Anyway, I hope you either enjoyed the read or you disagreed with it. Either way, as long as it influenced you, I'm satisfied with your experience.

What do you agree with, and just as important, what do you disagree with? Leave a comment in the section below.