Welcome To WWE Extreme Rules: Your SummerSlam Preshow

The following editorial was written by Geoffrey Rowland and does not reflect the opinions of WrestleZone as a whole. We encourage you all to discuss Geoff’s thoughts in the comments section at the bottom of this post or by tweeting him @Geoff_Rowland

WWE is jumping fully into the summer with its Extreme Rules event tomorrow night. It is a card stacked with talent, loaded with championships and, mostly, lacking in intrigue.

The WWE has a very unique problem for wrestling promotions — they have too much talent on the roster. This might not seem like a problem, but it becomes one when the company’s top draw, who happens to be the Universal Champion, appears on such a limited basis.

That ties the booking committee’s hands because whatever the plans are for Brock Lesnar at SummerSlam, they can’t really be worked into the storylines for Extreme Rules. It was a problem that even seemed to bother Vince McMahon himself heading into the go-home RAW.

Honestly, there is so much talent you could probably make a compelling PPV event from the non-inured members of the roster that aren’t on the Extreme Rules card. That includes Samoa Joe, Bobby Roode, Sheamus, Cesaro, Elias, Jinder Mahal, The Revival, Mojo Rawley, Ember Moon, Sasha Banks, Bayley, The Usos, Gallows and Anderson and Becky Lynch.

The feeding of Samoa Joe, Jinder Mahal and, now, Bobby Lashley to Roman Reigns seems to indicate that the Big Dog is going to get another shot at Lesnar at SummerSlam. I just don’t see any scenario where Lashley defeats Reigns and I don’t see any reason to think that it is a feud that will go more than one event. But will the result lead to Lashley being pushed out of the next card as it has for Joe and Jinder?

It is an odd way to try and prop Reigns up without doing anything to try and actually get the crowd to cheer him. The real question is does McMahon finally cave and move Reigns out of the main event?

I don’t see it, because, as stated before, this is just the SummerSlam preshow and I don’t think they have moved off The Beast vs. The Big Dog for the Biggest Party of the Summer.

But, if they are ready to make the move to Braun Strowman as the top guy, his cage match with Kevin Owens could be a great closer. We all know that Seth Rollins vs. Dolph Ziggler Iron Man is going to steal the show and if they are ready to move toward Rollins at the top of the card, which they should, it would be the best match to close the show.

The problem there is Ziggler has been so good in this feud they can’t possibly be ready to end it. Ziggler vs. Rollins could easily go through to SummerSlam with Drew McIntyre as a possible third in a triple threat match that would be full of possibilities.

On the WWE Championship side of things, there is no reason to think that AJ Styles won’t be defending the WWE title at SummerSlam. But is Rusev just a one-off opponent?

I don’t know what the plans are with Styles for SummerSlam, maybe Samoa Joe, but that would leave Rusev in a lurch and they are obviously trying to catch fire with his popularity right now. He can’t possibly beat AJ with a submission move, so the Phenomenal One gets the win, but it will be interesting to see how they move toward the next event here.

The King of Strong Style and Jeff Hardy are going to have a couple matches at least, so I think this match could go either way. But this is just the setup for a SummerSlam match between the two and I lean toward Nakamura gaining his first main-roster title in this match. Vince has always had a love for foreign heels as the United States Champion.

I am not sure how the three will mingle, but the Alexa Bliss vs. Nia Jax match is clearly only going to be used to springboard into whatever Ronda Rousey will be doing in August. This could set up a triple threat match or could set up a one-on-one with Rousey and Bliss, but this match is ALL about Rousey and the best way to position her for the summer’s big show.

It seems to be a pretty straight-forward card with clear implications for the next “Big 4” event. In the age of too many PPVs, it is tough to do lengthy builds for anything and that leaves matches like Owens vs. Strowman, Hardy vs. Nakamura, Rusev vs. Styles, and Reigns vs. Lashley all seeming to lack that emotional aspect that makes for really special events.

Hopefully Ziggler vs. Rollins steals the show enough to offset what appears to be a flat card elsewhere.

Related: What Match May Main Event Extreme Rules?