Extreme Rules was quite the night for title changes. To kick off the show, Shinsuke Nakamura would defeat Finn Balor for the Intercontinental Championship in a match that was only announced hours before. How a spur-of-the-moment match on the pre-show is meant to build prestige for the Intercontinental Title I’ll never understand, but maybe we’ll at least get Finn in the newly reformed Club.
The New Day managed to take home tag team gold for the sixth time, defeating Heavy Machinery and the team of Daniel Bryan and Rowan. Not only does every member of New Day now hold a title, but Daniel Bryan may get a chance to move back into the singles picture. Bryan vs. Nakamura is a run I’d like to see and probably a dream match for a lot of people. If they go that route, hopefully they get time leading into SummerSlam and not just a throwaway match on SmackDown.
AJ Styles defeating Ricochet probably didn’t come as a shock to many, but of all the people you could lose your title to, AJ Styles with a Styles Clash off the turnbuckle is probably the way to go. Ricochet has a long way to go in the mic and character department, but his in-ring skills are nearly unparalleled and he looked great in this match.
The biggest surprise (well, maybe not according to Paul Heyman) would be Brock Lesnar cashing in the Money in the Bank contract to defeat Seth Rollins and become a three time Universal Champion. I think the majority of people are in the camp of “oh no, not another Brock Lesnar reign,” so we’ll see how long this one will last. Rollins wasn’t exactly having a tremendous run as champion, but at least he was on tv consistently. The big question will be who Brock’s next big opponent will be after Seth’s rubber match (assuming Seth doesn’t take the title back). There aren’t many that pose a threat to the Beast Incarnate, so my best guess would be Braun Strowman after his victory over Lashley.
Full Extreme Rules results:
- Shinsuke Nakamura defeats Finn Balor (c) for the Intercontinental Championship (Kickoff Show)
- Drew Gulak (c) defeats Tony Nese to retain the Cruiserweight Championship (Kickoff Show)
- The Undertaker and Roman Reigns defeat Shane McMahon and Drew McIntyre
- The Revival (c) defeat The Usos to retain the Raw Tag Team Championships
- Aleister Black defeats Cesaro with the Black Mass
- Bayley (c) defeats Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross to retain the Raw Women’s Championship
- Braun Strowman defeats Bobby Lashley in a Last Man standing match
- The New Day defeat Bryan and Rowan (c) and Heavy Machinery for the Smackdown Tag Team Championships
- AJ Styles defeats Ricochet (c) for the United States Championship
- Kevin Ownens defeats Dolph Ziggler with a Stunner
- Kofi Kingston (c) defeats Samoa Joe to retain the WWE Championship
- Seth Rollins (c) and Becky Lynch (c) defeat Baron Corbin and Lacey Evans for the Universal and Raw Womens Tag team Championships
- Brock Lesnar defeats Seth Rollins (c) with an F5 to become the Universal Champion
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