411 Fact or Fiction Wrestling: Will Styles Win The Title At Extreme Rules?

Welcome back to the latest edition of 411 Fact or Fiction, Wrestling Edition! Stuff happened, people loved/hated it and let everyone else know. I pick through the interesting/not so interesting tidbits and then make 411 staff members discuss them for your pleasure. Battling this week are 411’s Tony Acero and Greg DeMarco!

Questions were sent out Monday.

Participants were told to expect wrestling-related content, as well as possible statements on quantum physics, homemade pharmaceuticals, the Turtle Total Trip Theorem, pizza and hydroponics.

1. AJ Styles will win the WWE Title at the Extreme Rules PPV.

Greg DeMarco: FICTION – AJ Styles winning the WWE World Heavyweight Championship (geez Larry!) at WWE Extreme Rules sure sounds like a great moment, doesn’t. But there are so many reasons it won’t happen. Let’s focus on the top three…

Roman Reigns: Every time the WWE talks about this “new era,” they’re not talking about new talent, new angles or fresh content. They’re talking about Roman Reigns taking over the mantle that John Cena held for over a decade. He just won the belt and vanquished his feud with Triple H, he isn’t going to turn around and lose it until the fall AT MINIMUM…potentially until after WrestleMania 33.

Finn Balor: We know Finn Balor needs to come to the main roster sooner rather than later, and all of the signs are there for him to form Balor Club. Extreme Rules, with an Extreme Rules match, seems like a great opportunity to do that.

TNA: AJ Styles is an amazing performer, one fully capable of being the WWE World Heavyweight Champion (see that Larry?). But I am 99.9% sure that even though he’s main eventing WWE pay-per-view events, he still has the stink of TNA on him. I honestly doubt he EVER holds the WWE World Heavyweight Championship, and if he does hold a world championship in the WWE, it will be the product of a brand extension.

Tony Acero: FICTION – And oh what a world it would be if this happened. I think there’s a part of me that predicts this possibility, but the larger part of me is well aware of the WWE and its inability to anything different. I really don’t know what instills this fear for change in them; or maybe it’s stubborness. Whatever it may be, it will assure that Roman Reigns walks out of Extreme Rules with the title. Considering how well this storyline has been going, I wouldn’t be surprised for it to go one more month, but if that’s the case, then the chase will have to continue for Styles. I’m sure this will be similar to Payback with a lot of overbooking and funny bizness, maybe a Dusty finish of some sort. Either way, it should be fun…should be.

2. The four-way IC Title match featuring Cesaro vs. Sami Zayn vs. Kevin Owens vs. Champion The Miz will be the best match at the Extreme Rues PPV.

Greg DeMarco: FICTION – Pure semantics here. Can it be the best match? Sure. Should it be the best match? I can agree with that. Will it be the best match? Uh…maybe? There are other matches with potential:

* Roman Reigns vs. AJ Styles delivered big time at Payback and can again
* Charlotte vs. Natalya is infinitely better thanks to the submission stipulation
* Usos vs. Club has tornado tag greatness potential
* Vaudevillians vs. New Day can be very surprising
* Plus the four-way

So you have five matches that can easily win this “award.” That gives the Intercontinental Championship Four-Way (see that Larry) a 20% chance of winning—hardly what I’d call a “will happen” scenario.

Tony Acero: FACT – Is there really any doubt? This is not to say that the rest of the card sucks; it most certainly does not. Still, these four (yes, including The Miz) have been the most consistent performers in quite some time. The story of Zayn and Owens is being taken into new heights and is surprisingly going along pretty well. I predict/hope they are able to stretch the issues between the two for years to come. Seeing them tag together, even begrudgingly, was awesome. As for Cesaro, he’s just a beast. I’ve always considered The Miz to be underrated, both as an in-ring performer, and as a man on the mic. He’s not the greatest, but he has this special sort of annoyance that you cannot teach. All four men involved bring something to the table and are innovative and entertaining enough to want to being something to the table.

3. The Vaudevillains SHOULD defeat The New Day to win the WWE Tag Team Title at Extreme Rules.

Greg DeMarco: FACT – Hell yes they should. We tend to forget that in wrestling, a championship is merely a prop…especially in the WWE. A prop, by definition, is there to enhance or make something better. This prop is doing nothing for The New Day, whereas it could do wonders for The Vaudevillians. Now I know what you’re thinking, and no, The New Day doesn’t “need” the titles for their shtick. They can simply refer to themselves as “former…WWE WORLD Tag Team Champions!” and keep gyrating them hips. Get over yourselves, it’s time to move on from New Day holding the straps.

Tony Acero: FICTION – The reply here seems like a loss for the New Day is an absolute must, but it’s not. I think that if they were to lose, it wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world, and it would give this new team that has a gimmick very hard to keep consistently over a chance to become something relevant, but there is also the realization that they are a “new team” on the big show. If they lose, I don’t think it will hurt them. If anything, it’ll spark a fire that allows them to be a bit more vicious than they have recently, thereby adding to their villainous attributes. The New Day is great, and although they don’t need the title, the act is somewhat centered around them. I’d say we let New Day keep them a little longer, and give The Vaudevillains something more to hate.

SWITCH!

4. Rusev will win the US Title at Extreme Rules, and drop it to John Cena when Cena returns on May 30th.

Tony Acero: FICTION – I know reports claim that Cena is coming back for the US Title, and with a return on Memorial Day, it seems like an obvious guess that Cena’s return will be centered around the US Title, but something deep inside of me feels like Cena is coming back to help Reigns at the top. This could be some horrible foresight on my part, but I feel like it’ll only be a matter of time before Cena is a part of the main event picture yet again. With that being said, I do think Rusev will win come Extreme Rules, but I do not think that he will drop it to John Cena come May 30th.

Greg DeMarco: FICTION -Punch yourself in the face for even suggesting this! Twice! John Cena does not need to be in the United States Championship picture upon his return. He can do great things like feud with AJ Styles, The Club, and eventually have the showdown we all should see coming from a mile away—against Roman Reigns at SummerSlam. I could see him getting involved in the McMahon saga, as well as trying to win the one title that has eluded him…the Intercontinental Championship. But not Rusev. We’re done with that.

5. The women’s angle was only the main event of Raw because of the consistent drop in hour three, and the company wanting to get the Reigns vs. Styles angle done early in the show.

Tony Acero: FICTION – I cannot begin to speculate why the women closed the show. One could guess that they want to lend some credibility and seriousness to the Women’s Title, and although that’s a nice little dream scenario to consider, most will assume that it’s Larry’s suggested proposal moreso than mine. Still, this is the second time that the women have closed the show, and both times they’ve been with the wrong people involved. I mean, if you want to close the show with the women, then you gotta have women that people care about – or at least one. I like Charlotte as a heel champ, I even support the inevitable win come Sunday, but I hate her promos, and Nattie – as great as a wrestler she is, we have been conditioned to not give two fucks. This made for a pretty lackluster close to the show. Similar to Paige and Charlotte when the Reid heard round the world was shot, this didn’t do anything for me, and hurts the credibility of women being able to close the show more than anything else.

Greg DeMarco: FICTION – I stand by my statements that the Divas Revolution is for real. Even though they’re not Divas anymore, they are WWE Superstars and are getting the Superstar treatment. Between the influx of talented females and the advent of Network Specials we are closer now than ever before to seeing women hit the main event of a WWE (non-NXT) event. So to call this fact is short-sided, IWC-centric view of the WWE and their Women’s Division. But it’s okay, you’ll all come around eventually.

6. What is your excitement level for Sunday’s WWE Extreme Rules PPV?

Tony Acero: 7 out of 10 – The WWE has fallen into this odd pattern where the PPVs have some of the best wrestling around, but the stories heading into it are always lacking. It’s like they take the simplest of formulas and do little to add anything extra to it. They have the characters, they have the skillset (I assume), I don’t get why there’s a constant underwhelming feel leading into PPVs over the past couple of years. I recall a time when I was so pumped for Sundays, ready to see the hero take on the villain – even if it wasn’t my hero. I recall awesome video packages that condensed an already awesome story. I recall a product that gave the right amount of tease before the big moment in bed. We are no longer watching that product. Still, as long as we are WRESTLING fans, we’ll always have that. Of course, this isn’t all negative; I’m not saying that Extreme Rules wasn’t built well. Styles/Reigns has been awesome. The IC program is great. The Tag Title match suffered a blow with Enzo but survived and should be good. Even Ambrose and lackluster Jericho should be good. It’ll be a good to great PPV, but only because of wrestling, not so much because of storytelling.

Greg DeMarco: 10 out of 10 – I hate to continually bring this up as I often do on social media, but wrestling is still fun for me. I still turn on the show expecting to be entertained, instead of going with the IWC status quo and expecting disappointment (which is usually a self-fulfilling prophecy either way). There is only one match I think might disappoint on this show, and that’s the Asylum Match. My concern there is that the gimmick might overrun the performers. And I am still going to that one with optimism because I really want to see this become Dean Ambrose’s signature. But this card has the potential to be really good, and it’s my opinion that you owe it to yourself as a fan to give it the chance to entertain you. Because it damn well might do just that!