10 Things We Learned From Post-Extreme Rules WWE Raw (June 5)

Sunday's Extreme Rules felt rather over-regulated for a show once predicated on an 'anything goes' mentality from it's origins as an ECW spin off pay-per-view.

One Night Stand was over a decade ago though, and WWE are proudly no longer the organisation that makes use of dangerous weapon shots and risky arena-wide encounters as shortcuts for athletic action from some of the industry's top performers.

As Sunday highlighted though, the company is in a state of flux. Samoa Joe's surprising main event victory propelled him into a Universal Title match at July's Great Balls Of Fire pay-per-view. Though an exciting proposition, it seemed reckless considering the likelihood of the current champion keeping the red belt warm for one of Monday's other stars.

This in itself highlighted an inherent problem with the Fatal Five Way main event. As was apparent in the post-match, none of the losers could afford the loss. This wasn't apparent in the build-up, but as Roman Reigns, Finn Balor, Seth Rollins and Bray Wyatt sold the physical impact of their actions, a different grimace emerged as they collectively pondered how on earth they could rebuild their momentum (TM Michael Cole) supplies in time for whenever the hell Brock next wants to defend his title.

In the shadow of the show, Raw had the responsibility of reinvigorating the fallen quartet, as well as salvaging what might be left of Bayley and Dean Ambrose following their own devastating losses in title matches.

Bray Wyatt opened up this week's edition of Monday Night Raw with a long, rambling promo in which he broadly issued threats to all the four men that did a better job than him in the Extreme Rules Fatal Five Way, pausing especially upon Roman Reigns to draw the requisite boos from a fairly ferocious live crowd.

That triggered the arrival of 'The Big Dog', who reminded everybody that the ring was 'his yard' despite losing as many televised matches as he's won since apparently retiring 'The Deadman' at WrestleMania 33. He swung the pendulum back in his favour with a victory over 'The Eater of Worlds' following a painfully pedestrian twenty minute snoozer.

As Samoa Joe celebrated his victory at the climax of Extreme Rules' main event, it was tricky to reconcile what direction was left for the four losers. Other than Joe himself, there seemed no safety net for the remaining talent to fall into after the defeat, and an utterly, utterly meaningless Monday Night Raw contest does not inspire hope that the situation is any different.

Wyatt was a lost cause before, during and after his WWE Title run, and impending feuds with Finn Balor, Seth Rollins or whomever else they decide likely won't help. But Reigns is uncomfortably freewheeling in the absence of a credible opponent. Braun Strowman's successful return can't come soon enough for 'The Guy'.