WWE Extreme Rules 2017: Ranking Fatal 5-Way Competitors Chances

According to the various reports making the rounds, from consistently reliable sources such as The Wrestling Observer, the main event for WrestleMania 34 has already been penciled in as Brock Lesnar defending the Universal championship against Roman Reigns in what will be the 17th attempt at Roman's big coronation ceremony as "the face of the WWE."

As anyone who has been paying even a modicum of attention can attest to, this has colossal disaster written all over it, but Vince is gonna Vince so all we can do is go along for the ride or jump off the train entirely. The two had an outstanding match at 'Mania 31, so the precedent is there for them to create magic, but it's the result that no one wants to see yet WWE seems hellbent on delivering that is the real point of contention here.

All this is just to say that it seems highly unlikely the company would pull the trigger on another Reigns/Lesnar match this early, assuming that remains the plan for 34 in New Orleans. WWE does love their "underdog redemption" stories, so they could potentially book Roman to win at Extreme Rules then lose his title shot, working his way back up from crushing defeat to redeem himself at the big event. However, if they want to maintain any aura around the match they need to keep Reigns and Lesnar apart until next year.

All logic aside, never underestimate WWE's affection for the Roman Empire so it's not entirely out of the realm of possibility that he gets his hand raised at Extreme Rules. Don't bank on it, though.