Sanity Beats New Day at WWE Extreme Rules 2018

In its first pay-per-view bout on the main roster, Sanity defeated New Day in a tables match on Sunday as part of the WWE Extreme Rules kickoff show in Pittsburgh.

Alexander Wolfe and Kofi Kingston were fighting on the ring apron, with neither man willing to give any ground. Kingston, however, was dangling off the apron just above a table at ringside. Seizing his opportunity, Eric Young jumped off the top rope and sent Kingston through the table with a flying elbow drop.

Sanity was called up to SmackDown Live as part of the Superstar Shake-up after WrestleMania, but it wasn't until recently that the team made its presence felt.

The first order of business was to attack The Usos prior to a scheduled match, which showcased the type of chaos it became known for in NXT.

It wasn't long before the group set its sights on New Day during the July 3 episode of SmackDown.

Kingston, Big E and Xavier Woods were embracing the Fourth of July spirit with a pancake eating contest. However, their competition was cut short, as the lights went out and Sanity appeared to brutally beat them down.

As part of the attack, Sanity put Woods through a table and left him in agony.

On the heels of that incident, SmackDown general manager Paige decided that Wolfe, Young and Killian Dain would face New Day in a tables match at Extreme Rules.

New Day picked up some much-needed momentum entering Extreme Rules when it tagged with Team Hell No to defeat Sanity and The Bludgeon Brothers on the go-home episode of SmackDown prior to the pay-per-view.

Although Sunday's match wasn't on the main card, there was a great deal of anticipation surrounding it.

New Day is arguably one of the greatest tag teams in WWE history, and it has put on some of its best matches over the past year, especially those against The Usos.

While Sanity has a long way to go before reaching that level, it excelled in hardcore environments during its NXT tenure, so the tables match at Extreme Rules played to its strengths.

Considering the group was in need of a big win to build its credibility on the main roster, Sanity entered Extreme Rules as the favorites to come out on top.

A win was far from guaranteed, though, since New Day is such a popular act that having it go over is a move that is always capable of paying dividends from WWE's perspective.

The decision was made to give Sanity a big boost, though, and Sunday's victory could be the first step toward getting into contention for the SmackDown Tag Team Championships.

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