Since I was out of the country for Wrestlemania, it’s been a couple of months since I’ve written one of these PPV previews. \u00a0And we return with a show that is not exactly a classic.<\/p>\n
“Extreme Rules” is a lame duck show for several reasons. \u00a0First, it’s the show that has to follow Wrestlemania. \u00a0It’s the time of year when the company goes into a rebuilding phase, having completed its major storylines and not given much thought to the new ones. \u00a0Often that results in a show full of desultory rematches to tie up loose ends.<\/p>\n
Second, this is the show that started life as “ECW One Night Stand”, and then went on to become a themed show full of (supposedly) ultra-violent gimmick matches. \u00a0But the WWE has moved away from that sort of thing in recent years, partly in order to keep their TV PG-rated (which goes down well with the sponsors and toy license holders), and partly because the long-term injury rate to wrestlers just wasn’t worth it. \u00a0So “Extreme Rules” has drifted some way from its roots; it’s still a show full of gimmick matches, but not necessarily ones that are particularly out of the ordinary.<\/p>\n
And third, the WWE did its annual “draft” on Monday to reallocate the wrestlers between the Raw and Smackdown roster. \u00a0The draft wasn’t supposed to come until later in the year, but it was rushed forward after Edge, the Smackdown champion, got some apparently terrifying MRI results and immediately announced his retirement. \u00a0Unlike wrestlers of yesteryear, Edge apparently likes the idea of spending his remaining years upright and with feeling in his arms, and who can blame him? \u00a0But without Edge, Smackdown was very light on star power, so they brought forward the draft. \u00a0The side effect, however, is that we know some of these matches are between wrestlers who are being split up. \u00a0That means the storyline has to end – and that pretty much gives away the ending.<\/p>\n
The draft should, in theory, have introduced more drama to one match – but the commentators haven’t been pushing that angle. \u00a0We’ll come to that shortly. \u00a0But first…<\/p>\n
1. \u00a0WWE Title, steel cage match: The Miz v. John Cena v. John Morrison.<\/strong> At Wrestlemania, the Miz retained his title over John Cena following interference by the Rock. \u00a0The good news is that this set up a match between Cena and the Rock, which should be a big draw. \u00a0The bad news is that the Cena\/Rock match is at Wrestlemania 2012, and in the meantime they’ve got to go back to the Miz\/Cena feud. \u00a0While Miz himself has been doing fine, the storyline has inevitably cast him as a third wheel, even though he’s the champion.<\/p>\n Somebody must have figured that they couldn’t just do Miz\/Cena again without<\/em> the Rock. \u00a0So instead, here’s Miz\/Cena\/A.N. Other. \u00a0Originally the third wrestler was midcard babyface R-Truth. \u00a0That was met with general bafflement, since Truth had done pretty much nothing of significance in years. \u00a0It made rather more sense when Truth lost his title shot to Morrison and promptly turned heel – evidently the company is trying to reinvigorate his tired character, and he may well be better cast in the heel role.<\/p>\n Morrison is an athletic upper midcard babyface who’s had a title shot before, but has yet to really break through to the top tier. \u00a0He’s got the look, he’s got the moves, but there’s something a little stiff about his delivery that he needs to sort out before he can cut it as a headliner, I think. \u00a0Still, he’s good value in a match, and in theory there ought to be the added dimension that, when he was a heel, he had a long-running tag team with Miz. \u00a0(But again, they’ve not really done much with that.)<\/p>\n Who should win? \u00a0Well, it’s certainly not the time for Morrison. \u00a0Miz is running out of opponents; he can’t keep fighting Cena, and the only fresh challenger from the draft is Rey Mysterio. \u00a0A Cena win also feels a bit anticlimactic; he’s been champion many times before. \u00a0But the company clearly sees him as the star of the show, and he has possible fresh opponents in Alberto Del Rio and CM Punk. \u00a0My guess would be that Cena gets the title tomorrow, though I’m not sure anyone’s that desperate to see it.<\/p>\n 2. \u00a0World Heavyweight Title, ladder match: Christian v. Alberto Del Rio.<\/strong> This is the title vacated by Edge. \u00a0At Wrestlemania, Edge and Alberto Del Rio’s match was bizarrely relegated to the opening slot, where Edge won quickly. \u00a0This was supposed to be a rematch, but with Edge’s sudden retirement, his longtime partner Christian has been plugged into the slot. \u00a0This at least explains why Christian was hanging around on the fringes of the Edge\/Del Rio feud in the run-up to Wrestlemania; with hindsight, the writers may have been hedging their bets.<\/p>\n Christian is always good, and he’s got tons of experience with ladder matches. \u00a0Del Rio’s style is more mat based and the gimmick doesn’t obviously play to his strengths, but I’m sure these two can have a very good match. \u00a0But who wins? \u00a0Christian obviously wasn’t the original plan. \u00a0Yet Del Rio was drafted to Raw on Monday. \u00a0So if he wins the title, Raw gets both the world titles and Smackdown has none (though it’s inexplicably ended up with both of the B-level titles).<\/p>\n Does that rule out the possibility of Del Rio winning? \u00a0They haven’t been playing up the idea that both titles could go to Raw, which might suggest they’re not trying to do that story. \u00a0Christian could certainly carry Smackdown in the short-term. \u00a0But they’ve sent Randy Orton over to be Smackdown’s new top babyface, so it would be an odd start to put the world title on somebody further down the pecking order. \u00a0It’s hard to figure quite where they’re going with this one, but my bet would be on Del Rio winning. \u00a0Smackdown remains curiously light on main event heels, so I wouldn’t be entirely shocked if something happens to send more wrestlers back over there.<\/p>\n 3. \u00a0Last Man Standing: Randy Orton v. CM Punk.<\/strong> This is a straight rematch from Wrestlemania, where Randy Orton already won clean. \u00a0But now we’re doing it again. \u00a0Because we just are.<\/p>\n The storyline at Wrestlemania was that Orton had succeeded in defeating all Punk’s cronies from the New Nexus, finally got to face Punk alone, and beat him. \u00a0Since Wrestlemania, the New Nexus have been brought back (surprisingly, since a couple of them clearly aren’t ready for prime time), so in theory Punk ought to have the upper hand here. \u00a0But Orton was drafted to Smackdown and that means the feud has to end here. \u00a0Given that, Orton really has to win.<\/p>\n The match should be solid, but the ending is highly predictable.<\/p>\n 4. \u00a0Falls Count Anywhere: Rey Mysterio v. Cody Rhodes.<\/strong> Another Wrestlemania rematch. \u00a0Rhodes, the heel, won at Wrestlemania. \u00a0And these two are also being split up in the draft, with Rey Mysterio going to Raw. \u00a0So again, you’d think Mysterio had to win. \u00a0That said, this whole storyline was clearly designed to repackage Cody Rhodes and elevate him as a heel. \u00a0He really does need the win more than Mysterio, so this is an odd case where it might be worth letting the heel get the last laugh and win decisively over a higher-ranking babyface.<\/p>\n