WWE Extreme Rules 2015 Matches: Full Predictions for Entire Match Card
Coming off the heels of a very intense WrestleMania, WWE's next pay-per-view is Extreme Rules 2015.
The status quo has changed, and instead of The Beast Incarnate defending the WWE World Heavyweight Championship, Seth Rollins will be challenged by Randy Orton in a steel cage match.
In the rubber match between the two, John Cena's United States Championship is on the line against Rusev in a Russian Chain match.
The Intercontinental Championship is up in the air as Daniel Bryan's injuries may prevent him from defending the title, but the Divas Championship and the Tag Team Championship are on the line as well.
Capping off the card are three grudge matches between Roman Reigns and Big Show, Dolph Ziggler and Sheamus and in the embodiment of the event's namesake, a Chicago Street Fight between Luke Harper and Dean Ambrose.
WWE is advertising this as another event free for new subscribers, which in the past has meant that the card was filled with surprises. However, the lukewarm response to this build so far may mean fans won't be in for the same this time around.
Is Extreme Rules going to exceed expectations and capitalize on WrestleMania's momentum, or will it live up to the disappointment many feel is in store?
Which champions are going to retain their titles? Will any new ones be crowned?
Let's take a look at what's coming our way and break down some predictions for Extreme Rules 2015.
Pre-Show Kickoff Tag Team Championship Match: New Day vs. Tyson Kidd and Cesaro
1 of 8
A lot can change in a short amount of time in WWE. At the last pay-per-view, Tyson Kidd and Cesaro were full-fledged heels and The New Day was being booked as a babyface team.
After the "New Day sucks" chants started, things seemingly flipped 180 degrees, and now, the current WWE Tag Team champions are going into this match as the fan favorites.
While The Lucha Dragons have picked up a lot of steam very quickly, it would have been a bit of a rush to give them a title shot so fast—particularly if they were to take the belts home with them.
That still may be in the future, but it might be The New Day who play the heels that drop the championship to them rather than Kidd and Cesaro.
This will be odd, as a good portion of the audience still won't know who they are supposed to cheer, but that could lead to it being one of the most fun matches of the evening.
This division has been consistently delivering some of the best matches on every card for months, whether positioned on the pre-show or the main program, so expectations should follow suit. If it isn't at least decent, that will be a shock.
It would make for interesting television if The New Day were to win the titles here, but don't bank on it happening just yet as this might not have been enough to upset the status quo.
Intercontinental Championship: Daniel Bryan vs. Bad News Barrett
2 of 8
For the most part, the likelihood that this match will even happen seems to be in question more so than who will leave with the championship.
Last year, Daniel Bryan won the WWE World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania only to be forced to relinquish it soon after due to injury, and it appears as though he may be in for a repeat in 2015.
Unfortunately for those who were looking forward to a lengthy Intercontinental Championship reign from the leader of the "Yes Movement," Bryan's injuries appear to be catching up to him, and as such, he has been missing in action for several weeks.
WWE is trying to avoid officially cancelling this match, but everything points to that being the conclusion.
Perhaps the reason why this hasn't been taken off the card yet is that WWE is afraid of losing potential viewers who may be turned off from this card without this match's inclusion.
Nonetheless, if Bryan does wrestle, it can be assumed that the match will be kept very short and that there is a good chance he drops the title to avoid having an absent champion for another month.
Alternatively, since the card is always subject to change on a whim if need be, WWE can have Bad News Barrett come out and cut a promo, asking for a match of some sort and facing someone else such as Neville or Ryback.
Whether that match would be for the vacated championship or just a regular singles match remains to be seen, but right now, the outlook for Bryan's title reign looks rather bleak.
The results for this match or the segment in general and state of the Intercontinental Championship are entirely dependent upon Bryan's health and WWE's willingness to either go on without him or patiently wait on his recovery.
Chicago Street Fight: Dean Ambrose vs. Luke Harper
3 of 8
Whether you call it a Street Fight, a No Disqualification match, a No Holds Barred match or any other variation, this fight between Dean Ambrose and Luke Harper should be one of the roughest of the night.
Both men have shown that they are not only willing but also adept at the hardcore style of professional wrestling, so they will be showcasing their tough personas and their mean streaks with a brutal display.
Ambrose desperately needs to win this match for a few reasons, not the least of which being that he's long overdue. For months, he's come up short in every important match he's wrestled.
Perhaps even more important to the grand scheme of things is Daniel Bryan's health. With him potentially being forced to take even more time off due to injuries, Ambrose will be needed to help fill that void.
Harper is talented and has a bright future ahead of him, but he's in the unfortunate position of not having much mystique or interest surrounding him at the moment and being in the wrong place at the wrong time when factoring in the above elements.
At the very least, Harper can take solace that his career is not in as bad of a spot as Erick Rowan, right?
With this card being rather lackluster on the violent gimmicks, look out for this to be the best example of what extreme actually means.
If there aren't any television sets to explode in Ambrose's face, the Lunatic Fringe should be sitting pretty to capture a win.
WWE Divas Championship: Nikki Bella vs. Naomi
4 of 8
Seeing as how Naomi still can't even get her own theme music after Brodus Clay has been gone from WWE for nearly a year, it's tough to imagine that she will be leaving with the Divas Championship at Extreme Rules.
Her recent heel turn is a welcome change to her otherwise bland character and could not have happened at a better time, seeing as how AJ Lee has left a gap and Jey Uso's injury will prevent Naomi from merely being a valet to The Usos.
Still, the Bella Twins are undoubtedly the top of the pecking order when it comes to Divas in the company right now, and there's a good chance that momentum isn't going to slow down so quickly.
Stranger things have happened in WWE history, and there's always a chance that Naomi gets the upset, if not just to change things up and do something different, but it's far from a guarantee.
With Brie Bella being an outside factor that could screw Naomi in some fashion and Nikki simply having the champion's advantage, there's more of a likelihood that the title stays around her waist than changes hands.
As far as the quality of this match goes, it could either be a vastly underrated bout that gets overlooked going into the event and surpasses expectations, or it could follow the trend of most Divas matches and be a relatively short mess which is criticized heavily afterward.
The smart money is on Bella retaining, but don't bet the house and count Naomi out, either.
Last Man Standing Match: Roman Reigns vs. Big Show
5 of 8
If there is any match that is easy to predict and see right through as far as WWE's intentions go, this is the perfect example.
Roman Reigns was dealt a heavy blow when his potential title win at WrestleMania was changed. Now, he's in recovery mode, and WWE is taking the approach that he should remain a babyface and get what the creative team feels are big victories to help build him back up.
While many of the fans would disagree, in WWE's mind, who is a bigger person to throw to the wolves in this scenario than the World's Largest Athlete?
Big Show has been that guy many times in the past, and he'll fill that role once more here, where he is a name high enough in the hierarchy to seem impressive but not so high as to ruffle feathers by losing.
This Last Man Standing match will consist of a couple of heavy blows to illustrate how tough both of the men are, with more of a spotlight on how Reigns is handling a beating.
Some things to expect to see are a chokeslam through the commentary table, a spear through the security barricade and, of course, the battle of the Superman punch against the WMD.
After lots of counting that seems to never end and hurts the fun of this match by dragging it out too long, the man who will be standing tall will be Reigns.
Whether this will help get the former No. 1 contender back on track is something that will remain to be seen until well after Extreme Rules, but hopefully it at least won't do any more damage to his credibility.
Kiss Me Arse Match: Dolph Ziggler vs. Sheamus
6 of 8
Why this match is happening is anybody's guess, just the same as how this qualifies as an "Extreme Rules" scenario when looking back at the hardcore stipulations this event was meant to revolve around.
Nonetheless, this is what WWE feels the need to do to set up Sheamus, which is terribly unfortunate for Dolph Ziggler.
The man who gets the job done in the ring better than everyone else might be in a better position in the company as of the past year than beforehand, but that doesn't mean he's out of the woods when it comes to WWE needing someone to job to their pet project.
Sheamus is the one getting the push out of these two—evident by the name of the match, if you weren't paying attention to all of the other clues as well—so it's a foregone conclusion that he'll be victorious.
The question isn't whether Ziggler will lose; it's how badly he'll look in the process of losing. Is WWE going to make this a squash match, or will he actually be allowed to put up a fight?
Don't get your hopes up for a strong showing by The Showoff, as it appears as though the entire purpose of this match existing is purely to pat The Celtic Warrior on the back—or, rather, backside.
United States Championship Russian Chain Match: John Cena vs. Rusev
7 of 8
If Rusev had to win at Fastlane through dubious means and came up short at WrestleMania, there's no chance that he will be victorious against Cena at Extreme Rules.
WWE is trying something a bit different by having Cena defend the United States Championship in these Open Challenge matches, which aren't likely to simply stop after just a few weeks.
That in itself would dictate that Cena retains, and since this isn't a match where being disqualified or counted out can result in a loss for him, while still keeping the title, Rusev is simply going to lose.
Of course, if WWE is concerned with trying to maintain some value in Rusev, there's an option for Cena to win by tapping the four corners of the ring with an element of luck behind it.
For example, nearly every match structured the same as this—whether it be a Strap match, Rope match or this Chain match, which is somehow Russian—has the same spot in it where one competitor pulls on the apparatus and unknowingly sends his opponent into the turnbuckle.
The worst-case scenario for match quality is that this ends up being nothing but Rusev beating Cena down until Mr. Hustle, Loyalty and Respect hits a quick Attitude Adjustment and drags The Bulgarian Brute around the ring for the win.
The best-case scenario is a truly competitive match where Rusev looks strong, but it doesn't have too slow of a pace or a disappointing ending to render the whole thing moot.
In either situation, Cena is going to retain the title, and Rusev will need to move on to a new feud for Payback.
WWE World Heavyweight Championship: Seth Rollins vs. Randy Orton
8 of 8
Seth Rollins' fans shouldn't fear the end of his title reign just yet as it is definitely not going to happen at Extreme Rules.
Not only is Rollins far too fresh as the champion to drop the title right now, but he's also too strong of a character in comparison to Orton.
Yes, Orton is a veteran who will be in the Hall of Fame some day and could very well have multiple title reigns in his future still to come, but he's simply not the priority when put in a match with Rollins.
As far as the logistics of the match go, the steel cage is meant to keep people out, but that rarely ever happens in WWE. Somehow, some way, someone is almost always able to interfere in a cage match.
True, Kane is meant to be positioned in a way that will prevent that from happening, but the gimmick Rollins has been using for quite some time now is that he plans ahead.
Why would anyone believe that this situation is any different? Rollins easily could just have orchestrated this whole thing to lure Orton into a false sense of security, but Kane is still going to do his bidding.
The RKO is banned, making it even more difficult for Orton to win—even if the Curb Stomp might be off the table as well—but it won't likely come down to a pinfall anyway.
Rollins is a slippery heel who has no reservations about taking the easy way out. Don't be surprised if he retains his title through exiting the cage in some fashion with the help of The Authority or perhaps even Bray Wyatt, who could be talking about Orton as of late and starting a new feud with him after this event.
One way or another, Rollins is not dropping the title anytime soon but especially not at Extreme Rules.
What do you think is going to happen at this pay-per-view? Do you agree or disagree with these predictions? Tell us what you're thinking in the comments below!
Anthony Mango is the owner of the wrestling website Smark Out Moment and the host of the podcast show Smack Talk on YouTube, iTunes and Stitcher. You can follow him on Facebook and elsewhere for more.
.jpg?w=600 "WWE Raw Results & Grades 🔠")
