As Extreme Rules 2017 approaches this Sunday, we’ve already taken care of running down the superstars missing from the card, which means it’s time to do the opposite by discussing the performers who will most likely steal the show in some capacity.
These men and women who garner the most amount of the spotlight can do so in a bunch of different ways, whether it’s the intense emphasis put on their characters during the show, getting a big win, putting on an amazing performance or anything else which may make them a major talking point heading into the next episode of Monday Night Raw.
With all those factors in mind, here’s the shortlist for who I think will be the top stars of Extreme Rules 2017:
Seth Rollins
Undoubtedly, the winner of the Fatal 5-Way will be the biggest focal point, by far. It’s really just a matter of who that person is going to be.
Since they are heels, I’d rule out Samoa Joe and Bray Wyatt. It isn’t completely out of the realm of possibility for them to win, but the chances they’ll be chosen to face Brock Lesnar out of the other three options are rather slim. Lesnar works better against babyfaces and putting Joe or Wyatt up against him would start leaning them toward being cheered for those weeks leading up to Great Balls of Fire. Since Lesnar will go away again and Joe and Wyatt will be needed to go back to top heel status on Raw, it would be a mistake to try to shoehorn them into a one-off match where they get wrecked by The Beast.
If I had things my way, we’d be getting Roman Reigns as the winner so we could skip forward a year’s worth of plans and go straight to him dethroning Lesnar, but just because I want it doesn’t mean it’s WWE’s plan. In fact, I’d go so far as to say he has almost less of a chance to win the match than Wyatt or Joe, since when WWE strongly wants something to happen, they will sacrifice everything to try to pull that off. If they want Lesnar vs. Reigns again, they’ll screw everything up in the process just to get it in the hopes that when it’s said and done, if they tell us enough that it was worth it, we’ll believe it.
That leaves Finn Balor and Seth Rollins. Between the two, I think Paul Heyman’s promo hurts Balor’s chances, as it comes off way too obvious. Hopefully, that wasn’t WWE’s idea of subtle foreshadowing. I know we’re in a lull right now where the writing teams are struggling to do anything but tag team matches and crossing their fingers that the ratings don’t continue to nosedive before they can start their SummerSlam plans, but jeez, don’t just have Heyman come out saying “you’ll probably win” and then do it.
Plus, I don’t think I’m alone in thinking that it will be boring as hell to have Heyman repeat the same promo for the following four weeks about how Balor is talented but he simply can’t beat Brock, then for Balor to struggle to say he can and he will, even though we all know he’ll get ragdolled.
Thus, I have to lean toward Seth Rollins getting the win. If the rumors are true that the Great Balls of Fire challenger won’t carry over into SummerSlam, this screams “easy job” to the writing team. Rollins has already faced Lesnar before, he can take another loss, he’s a big enough star to challenge him where they can try to act like this isn’t something we’ve already seen before and that we should care about it, and it gives them a way out of his feud with Samoa Joe without having to write any actual resolution.
The Miz
You don’t set up a stipulation like the one for the Intercontinental Championship without going through with it. It’s too tempting. Every retirement match seems to end with a retirement and if being disqualified is going to force you to lose your title, then as Randy Orton fell victim to it against Christian, I think Dean Ambrose will find himself succumbing to those rules just the same.
The Miz has been an amazing intercontinental champion in the past on SmackDown and if the title is put back on him, he’ll arguably create better storylines and bring more attention to it than Ambrose, who tends to work better as a challenger chasing for titles rather than actually maintaining feuds as the champion.
Winning the title in such a lackluster way is perfect for The Miz’s character, as he would undoubtedly gloat the next night on Raw just the same as if he had won by pinfall or submission.
Neville
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Fool me thrice? Well, then I’m an idiot, but I hesitate to change my thoughts as I know if I do, and I say Neville is going to win this, then I’ll be wrong just as I was when I kept thinking Aries would take the title at WrestleMania and Payback.
Still, I’m going with him to retain, as I can’t help but feel that’s what is being set up.
Neville has done a great job stepping up the Cruiserweight Championship and making it seem like a more credible title than when it was on Rich Swann, or the hot minute Brian Kendrick held it. TJP did his fair shake as the inaugural champ, but it was Neville who made it seem like it was truly something to fight to hold onto.
Aries has lost some steam since losing his two title shots and dragging this feud out for so long. He made Neville tap out on Raw, but that is just the go-home show curse for victors who will lose at the pay-per-view. Between TJP being able to interfere and Aries going into the match with an injury, I think Neville gets the win with the Rings of Saturn.
If Aries as champion is WWE’s plan and I’m wrong, then he’ll clearly be a focal point, but I think Neville’s stock will rise even higher and after this win, he’ll undoubtedly be the king of the cruiserweights.
Those are my picks, but who do you think will end up being the primary focal points? Drop your predictions in the comments below!
