Alexa Bliss vs. Bayley WWE Extreme Rules 2017 Match Preview and Pick

The Raw Women's Championship will be up for grabs Sunday night as Alexa Bliss and Bayley will write the latest chapter in their story, with Bliss' title up for grabs in a Kendo Stick on a Pole match.

Bayley has been beaten up, humiliated and disgraced by Bliss in the weeks leading into the show and will surely be seeking revenge as she arrives at Royal Farms Arena in Baltimore for the high-profile pay-per-view showdown.

The champion Bliss will attempt to avoid the sting of the kendo stick, which she has dealt out to two of her peers but avoided to this point. She will do so while hoping to retain a title that has brought her renewed confidence, arrogance and power in the Raw women's division.

As one of the night's most anticipated bouts, the contest figures to shape the future of the female roster.

Will the lovable Bayley regain her title just one month after losing it, or will Bliss prove that it is, in fact, the era of Little Miss Bliss by retaining the top prize in women's wrestling?

The Background

The Superstar Shake-up resulted in the shuffling of several high-profile Superstars from one brand to the other, but one would be hard-pressed to find a single performer who has thrived more in their new environment than Alexa Bliss.

An arrogant enchantress who demands attention in any room she enters, she wasted little time making her presence felt on Raw. Little Miss Bliss won a Triple Threat match by pinning Sasha Banks, much to the dismay of Nia Jax. She carried over her momentum to the Payback pay-per-view event, where she defeated Bayley to capture the Raw Women's Championship without controversy.

The win was a landmark victory for Bliss and proof that she had made the successful transition from the land of opportunity that was SmackDown Live, where she was the lead villain in a talented and charismatic division, to the flagship show in Raw.

Obviously proud of herself, she addressed the women's locker room just 24 hours after becoming the first woman to win both the Raw and SmackDown women's titles. She talked trash to every single one of her peers, except for Jax.

A week later, she formed an alliance with the NXT export. That pairing went undeveloped, though, as WWE Creative shifted its focus to building a Kendo Stick on a Pole match for Extreme Rules.

Bliss blistered Bayley with stick shots on two separate occasions. In between, she laid one into Mickie James, leaving welts on the back of the future Hall of Famer similar to those suffered by the No. 1 contender.

The champion avoided attempts at retribution by her top challenger, and on the May 29 episode of Raw, attempted to humiliate Bayley in one of the most horribly conceived television segments in recent memory.

A major letdown despite the attempts by Bliss to get the garbage writing over with the audience, it dampened what was a solid story leading into Sunday's event.

The Match

The quality of Sunday's match is dependant upon how much time Bayley and Bliss spend climbing the ropes in an attempt to retrieve the kendo stick.

Yes, that is the point of the match, but the pole-centric matches that rely too heavily on Superstars climbing ropes are often bogged down by the gimmick rather than enhanced by it.

Rather than basing the bout in climbing, the Superstars should continue to tell the story that has been laid out for them ahead of Sunday's show. Thus far in the build, Bliss has avoided comeuppance. She has struck both Bayley and Mickie James with the kendo stick but has conveniently escaped pain and punishment herself.

The match should steadily build to the moment Bayley grabs the kendo stick and utilizes it to beat the ever-loving hell out of her opponent.

That is the moment fans will eagerly anticipate, and Bliss' reactions will, hopefully, result in the most memorable moment of the match.

The question is whether the alliance forged by Bliss and Nia Jax weeks ago finally comes into play. Will the most dominant woman in WWE make her presence felt Sunday night as she assists Little Miss Bliss in retaining her title, or will WWE Creative continue to ignore the storyline it started and so hastily dropped?

The Prediction

This really should be the end of the rivalry between these two.

If Bliss wins, Bayley loses credibility as a No. 1 contender. Unless there is some sort of super screwy finish, the lovable competitor has been beaten twice in a row and should realistically take her spot at the back of the line.

If Bayley wins, the babyface overcame the heel and all is right with the world.

Bliss will win because, despite a truly putrid in-ring segment Monday night on Raw, she is one of the hottest female performers in the industry from a character perspective. She is hitting every note with her promos, facial expressions and body language. She has embraced the spotlight and shines almost every time she has the opportunity to address the WWE Universe.

Bayley will stick around the title scene out of necessity.

Considering Sasha Banks is the only viable option besides the hugger, WWE Creative has no other choice.

There will be more chapters written in this feud well beyond Extreme Rules. For now, it is best to stick it out with the red-hot champion and let the program continue to build heat before an explosive blowoff somewhere in the near future.

Prediction

Alexa Bliss retains her title, despite enduring several nasty kendo stick shots from a vengeful Bayley.