WWE Extreme Rules Preview: Roman Reigns vs. AJ Styles, Intercontinental Championship Fatal-4-Way will not disappoint

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Welcome to SiriusXM’s preview of WWE Extreme Rules 2016! We’ll get you ready for the one night of the year when WWE goes extreme by dissecting each match, and we’ll also have some analysis and predictions from Doug Mortman of Busted Open Radio.

Without further ado, “It’s Showtime, folks!”

THE CARD

WWE World Heavyweight Championship: Roman Reigns (c) vs. AJ Styles, Extreme Rules Match

Roman Reigns and AJ Styles put on a great match at Payback, so why not run it back? This time, there will be no count-outs or disqualification and everything will be legal in an Extreme Rules match. So once again, the question is how will The Club get involved? Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson will undoubtedly make their presence felt, but will they screw over Reigns, or their stablemate Styles?

DM: I truly believe Roman Reigns is going on a lengthy run with this championship. I also feel like AJ is primed to get screwed by The Club. It’s just too obvious right now; sometimes the WWE just goes down that storyline-path where it’s very obvious and they continue along an obvious path. What do I wanna see? I’d like to see AJ Styles go over. Here’s an interesting way you can go: Styles goes over, and there’s a turn. Whether it’s Anderson and Gallows trying to screw Styles and it doesn’t work, whether Finn Balor comes up and factors in… Those scenarios really lead you to think that AJ wouldn’t go over, that they would screw over AJ and prevent him from winning the championship. Then it goes into “The Club vs. AJ” and they battle and that removes Roman Reigns from that picture and he goes into his next feud.

There’s a lot of different ways you can go, but it would be really cool with AJ and that championship around his waist. I just think they have to be very careful with a super-hot commodity in AJ Styles right now. It’s not as much what they’re gonna do with it; does the fan believe that AJ Styles can beat Roman Reigns on Sunday? That’s the big question. Because it’s an Extreme Rules match, I think you gotta believe that someway, whether it’s assistance or with weapons, that AJ can pull out a victory. But Roman Reigns is an unstoppable force, you just feel like he’s gonna find a way to win.

Intercontinental Championship: The Miz (c) vs. Kevin Owens vs. Sami Zayn vs. Cesaro, Fatal-4-Way Match

By far, this is the most exciting match on the card. First off, we don’t see nearly enough fatal-4-way matches in the WWE nowadays. Second, we get four of the top workers in the company in one match, and they will surely put on an outstanding performance. Add in the fact that the rivalries among these four superstars are being booked as the most intriguing storylines going into Extreme Rules, and this match is pure gold.

DM: Not enough credit goes to The Miz and (his wife/manager) Maryse. The two of them, what an act! When you have Maryse on your arm and you have the I.C. championship, it works, which is why I would be very careful in taking the championship off of him. Cesaro’s great, you could put him in a match versus anybody. Does Cesaro need a championship right now? No. Zayn and Owens, to me, is it’s own feud in this fatal-4-way and that feud can go on for months. And what would be wrong with that going right through the summer? I would have no problem with that. The guy that needs the championship is The Miz, so I think he should retain.

Women’s Championship: Charlotte (c) vs. Natalya, Submission Match

With a submission match stipulation and her father Ric Flair banned from ringside, it seems like we’ll finally see a non-screwy finish from Charlotte. She’s been getting by with help from her dad and referees imitating the Montreal Screwjob, and these instances do fit her heel character. But it’s about time we see Charlotte earn a clean finish.

DM: Here’s the definition of a good clean win: when you beat somebody with the skill of Natalya. She’s easily one of the best women’s wrestlers on the planet and she’s incredibly skilled in the ring, as is Charlotte. But Charlotte’s the “Dirtiest Player in the Game” right now, she’s following in the footsteps of her father. She can probably employ some heel tactics on Sunday and eke out a win, but you would like to see her do it on her own. As much as i would like to see Nattie win, I don’t see it happening logically. Ultimately, I see Charlotte retaining and I think we’re gonna see a stellar championship match between these two.

Tag Team Championship: The New Day (c) vs. The Vaudevillains

The Vaudevillains are the first of the recent NXT call-ups to receive a shot at gold, which might not have been the case had Enzo Amore not suffered a concussion during their number-one contender’s match at Payback with him and Big Cass. Still, Simon Gotch and Aiden English are making the most of their time in the spotlight and seem to pose a credible threat to The New Day’s reign.

DM: When it all comes down to it, this is not the right team to dethrone The New Day. New Day needs to keep rolling until they get hit in the mouth from a team like (Karl) Anderson and (Luke) Gallows or the Shining Stars (Primo and Epico). If any NXT upstart team is gonna come up and win, to me, it should be Enzo & Cass. I would peg any of those three teams to dethrone The New Day, not The Vaudevillains.

United States Championship: Kalisto (c) vs. Rusev

Here we go again with another booking of Kalisto facing a seemingly-unstoppable giant. After mishandling Rusev with a love-triangle storyline last summer and a meaningless stint in the League Of Nations, it seems the WWE is booking the Bulgarian Brute to make another impactful run through the company, starting with the U.S. title.

DM: Call Rusev the “Russian Nightmare,” the “Bulgarian Brute,” I don’t care what you call him! Just call him a bad-ass killer, that’s the character that Rusev should be. He’s got all the pieces in place to get back to where he once was. Time to take the strap off Kalisto, I love him, but it makes no sense that this guy is a singles wrestler right now. He’s phenomenally talented, but if you want a champion that’s going to elevate that title, you gotta go back to Rusev.

Dean Ambrose vs. Chris Jericho, Asylum Match

Dean Ambrose and Chris Jericho are two of the top performers in the company, but when their feud revolves around dueling talk-show segments, mangled $15,000 jackets and shattered potted plants, this rivalry loses some credibility. We’ll see them duke it out in the first-ever Asylum match, where they will be in a steel cage with weapons hanging above them.

Doug Mortman: Overall, I think this is extremely gimmicky. It has the potential to be exciting, but at the same time, how much blood and carnage are you gonna get in the WWE with this type of match? I think it’s almost foolish to have this type of match and expect anything more than some quirky sequences with these guys. Could they make it work? Potentially. I hope the feud continues, I hope Jericho gets the win back after Ambrose won at Payback, and this continues into Money In The Bank. I think there’s more to come.

Busted Open Radio airs Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays at 2-4 pm ET on SiriusXM Rush.