10 Surprises WWE Could Pull At Extreme Rules 2018
A bland card, but Extreme Rules need not be a flop...
WWE Extreme Rules 2018 takes place this Sunday evening (15 July), and though some of the company's biggest and most exciting names will be in action, hype levels aren't exactly soaring.
Raw and SmackDown have delivered tepid builds. Bobby Lashley vs. Roman Reigns will likely go last, but this week's show-wide brawl as a rare highlight in what has been a turgid feud, and neither have excelled between the ropes in 2018. The Tag Titles are being contested in a repetitive comedy feud, Finn Balor will likely be fed to 'Constable' Corbin, and Braun Strowman vs. Kevin Owens hasn't delivered thus far. Things aren't much better on SmackDown either, with the destructive Carmella vs. Asuka feud rumbling on, and the AJ Styles vs. Rusev bout obvious filler, despite their combined popularity.
Expectations are low, but such pay-per-views regularly over-deliver. There's every chance this seemingly lacklustre card finishes as one of 2018's better shows, because while the current 11-match lineup isn't the most enticing, WWE have all manner of potential swerves, twists, and surprises in the chamber.
They vary in plausibility, but triggering a handful of these moments could transform Extreme Rules...
10. Nikki Cross Debuts
WWE made a curious decision in not bringing Nikki Cross to SmackDown with her Sanity stablemates. Yes, she worked an NXT Women's Championship programme with Shayna Baszler, but wrestlers have split their time between NXT and the main roster in the past, and we all knew she was but a transitional opponent for 'The Queen Of Spades' anyway. Calling her up in April wouldn't have held anything up, and would've given SD's women's division an exciting new competitor. Alas, WWE disagreed.
Extreme Rules could be the ideal jump-off point, as Sanity are set to wrestle The New Day on the Kickoff Show. The tables stipulation would allow her to interject without provoking a disqualification too, and her unhinged character means her attack on Kofi Kingston, Xavier Woods, or Big E would be credible. She doesn't even need to go that far, though - a textbook WWE-style distraction, damaging as they are, would probably work just as well.
Cross feels incomplete without Eric Young, Alexander Wolfe, and Killian Dain. She'll soon be lost on NXT, so reuniting her with WWE's most chaotic group should be a priority.