WWE Extreme Rules 2015: Predicting Winners for All Projected Title Matches

Divas Championship: Paige vs. Nikki Bella

At the time of writing, the status and fitness of Paige is supposedly up in the air after Naomi attacked her shortly following Paige's win in a Battle Royal on Raw to go on and face Nikki Bella at Extreme Rules.

Whether that means Naomi will get the shot in the match is questionable, as it's highly likely Paige will return in time for her bout against Bella at Extreme Rules. It seems bizarre to think that she would be written out of this match, in truth.

So if we assume that the proposed match will be taking place, where and how will it be won? Nikki has enjoyed a fairly decent run as Divas champion, but it's fair to say it has not really sparkled in the way it perhaps should have.

WWE may well be tempted to go down the route of having Paige prevail against all the odds, and she would certainly be a fitting champion once more. Not only is she charismatic, but she's talented, and she's got an edge to her that few other Divas seem to have.

United States Championship: John Cena vs. Rusev

In what is perhaps the most straightforward match on the card to call, John Cena is slated to defend his United States Championship against Rusev at Extreme Rules.

The match has a rather novel stipulation in that it will be a "Russian Chain Match." That is essentially a variation of the classic strap match, but it's not the first time the WWE has gone down the route of using "Russian" chains as the object that ties both men together.

Looking at the outcome of the match itself, it would be hard to envisage anything other than a Cena victory here.

Cena is not even a month into his reign as U.S. champ and still has plenty to give the belt in terms of prestige and importance. However, the challenge for WWE here will be how to make Rusev look strong following the match. He hasn't fought too often on TV since WrestleMania (twice, per ProFightDB.com), so perhaps a controversial loss here would at least help him look relatively strong.

Intercontinental Championship: Daniel Bryan vs. Bad News Barrett

Like with Cena, the thought of Daniel Bryan dropping the championship he won at Extreme Rules is a prospect that seems unlikely.

However, while the idea before WrestleMania was that WWE would use both midcard championships equally when two of the company's biggest stars hold them, it hasn't quite worked out that way. Bryan almost seems to be lost in the mix somewhere post-WrestleMania while Cena has been defending his title on Raw each and every week.

Given the revelation that Bryan has been pulled from the remainder of the European tour as a "precautionary measure," that seems to explain why he hasn't been wrestling on the last two editions of Raw.

So what happens now? Well, you have to assume it all depends on Bryan's status between now and Extreme Rules. Pulling him from the remainder of the tour if there are genuine concerns is wise, but how does it affect his reign as IC champ?

Should he be raring to go on pay-per-view, expect Bryan to retain even after the big developments regarding his status on tour.

WWE World Heavyweight Championship: Seth Rollins vs. Randy Orton

Unfortunately, there's an air of inevitability about most of the championship matches at Extreme Rules, and that includes the WWE World Heavyweight Championship match.

Seth Rollins, like Bryan and Cena, is still in his infancy in his championship reign, having won the big one at WrestleMania just a few weeks ago.

You also get the feeling that a match with Brock Lesnar at (probably) SummerSlam is on the horizon for Rollins, which means one of two things.

Either Randy Orton wins here and drops the belt again before SummerSlam, or Rollins wins and continues this impressive run he's on as the WWE's top heel. Expect the latter as opposed to the former.

You would imagine that in order to keep Orton's standing relatively high, a controversial ending would be par for the course, as it often seems to be with Rollins. Whether it's Joey Mercury and Jamie Noble, The Authority or someone else altogether, watch out for someone to aid Rollins toward a victory.

And that will only further increase his standing as the crafty heel that the WWE is fast relying on.