Halloween isn’t usually until October (who really knows what month it is anymore?) but this year the spookiest time of the year comes to WWE a little earlier. Extreme Rules, which has been a staple in the WWE calendar for over a decade, gets a creepy makeover this time around. So, expect special effects worthy of tacky Hollowood horror movies (in fairness, the tacky scary movies can be the best) as we settle in this weekend for The Horror Show at Extreme Rules.

Due to the current COVID pandemic, this show will air from the WWE Performance Center, as has been the norm for all main roster shows since March. Currently, there are four matches advertised with Extreme stipulations and one of which is yet to actually be declared (see more below). WWE are still working without a number of star names who are opting not to work right now as they don’t feel it safe. Roman Reigns is arguable the most notable name on a list that is now reported to include Daniel Bryan. WWE also aren’t relying on names like Brock Lesnar while they don’t have a live crowd. This may lead to WWE feeling the need to offer more in the way of gimmick and stipulation matches to hook the casual viewer who might not be as interested.

As far as we at SteelChair understand, while the cinematic matches are presumably pre-recorded, the rest of the event will supposedly air live. We do not have any inside information in regards to the results of pre-recorded matches, just to be clear that these predictions are purely that, predictions.

Tables Match For The SmackDown Tag Team Championships
The New Day vs Cesaro & Shinsuke Nakamura

Shinsuke Nakamura & Cesaro have been frustrated to have not received the respect they feel they deserve. Now, the cynical duo will have the opportunity to literally break their way into WWE’s championship class. Shinsuke Nakamura and Cesaro have done everything in their power to antagonize the SmackDown Tag Team Champions, and their actions during their title opportunity showed that the rivalry is just heating up. The rivalry has been highly contentious for weeks, as the first title showdown was derailed by a brawl between the four competitors.

The two teams lost focus on the titles and instead set out to inflict pain as much pain as possible, as all four competitors converged in the ring. The King of Strong Style and The Swiss Cyborg made their emphatic statement when Cesaro Powerbombed Kofi Kingston into Big E and through a table last week. On SmackDown this week, Cesaro defeated Big E to choose the stipulation of the title match set for The Horror Show at Extreme Rules. If Nakamura was keener to compete in a cage match, he and Cesaro confirmed the choice they have already made over the last few weeks, the tables.

Danny Cause’s Prediction: The New Day – Seeing as Cesaro and Nakamura were the ones standing tall last week, and they picked the stipulation, I expect them to lose here. WWE logic. But I don’t think this will be the end of this feud.

Steph Franchomme’s Prediction: Cesaro and Nakamura.

Eye For An Eye Match
Rey Mysterio vs Seth Rollins

Someone will see one of his eyes pulled out of his socket on Sunday. Rey Mysterio and Seth Rollins will meet in an Eye for an Eye Match. The stipulation is ugly, as ugly as Rollins can be in the character of a Messiah but Mysterio chose it. He teamed with Kevin Owens to defeat Rollins and Murphy for the right to choose the gory stipulation where a winner can only determine by extracting the opponent’s eye.

The Monday Night Messiah has tormented the legendary Luchador for months and nearly ended Mysterio’s career with a gruesome attack on his eye. With his career in jeopardy, the iconic Superstar watched as his son Dominik got involved to defend his father’s honour, but Dominik found himself in Rollins’ sights as well. With Rollins attempting to replicate the same brutal ocular assault on Dominik, Mysterio promised to get “an eye for an eye” from the devious Superstar.

Danny Cause’s Prediction: Seth Rollins – everything looks set up for Rey Mysterio to get revenge here and that leads me in the other direction. Mysterio is reportedly working without a contract for the moment, so maybe him ‘losing an eye’ is a way to write him off television for a period of time. Maybe we also see Dominik Mysterio turn on his father and become Seth’s latest Disciple.

Steph Franchomme’s Prediction: Rey Mysterio, so Rollins loses an eye and, as the Messiah he is, he will make a new one appear the day after.

United States Championship Match
Apollo Crews (c) vs MVP

The United States Championship becomes the latest to have a makeover in WWE, which now means all titles on the main roster have been redesigned since 2014. The difference this time around, was that the incumbent Champion wasn’t present when the new belt was unveiled. Instead, it was MVP who revealed the new look and declared himself the new Champion because he defeated Apollo Crews (in a non-title match) the week before. Presumably, this match could be a little similar to HBK vs Razor Ramon from WrestleMania X where both men come down to the ring with a belt, and each claiming to be the Champion – only Apollo has a legitimate claim this time – and at the end, only one man will officially be able to call themselves United States Champion.

Danny Cause’s Prediction: MVP – No disrespect to Apollo Crews, but I think he’s viewed as a leftover from Paul Heyman’s run as RAW Executive Director, and I think Vince is trying to move away from that at the moment. Let’s not also forget that MVP will most likely have Bobby Lashley in his corner, and that could be the difference-maker here.

Steph Franchomme’s Prediction: Winner of the match doesn’t mean titleholder. And Lashley, for me, will be the key to the match. MVP as Champion is something that would make me sick, and back fifteen years ago, but MVP winning the match seems logical.

SmackDown Women’s Championship Match
Bayley (c) vs Nikki Cross

Bayley’s impressive reign over the Blue brand awaits a challenge from a hungry, rising Superstar, as Nikki Cross earned a SmackDown Women’s Championship opportunity at The Horror Show at WWE Extreme Rules. Over the last few weeks, we have seen Bayley on RAW, on SmackDown and on NXT lying, cheating and stealing wins, thanks to her good lackey, Sasha Banks.

Bayley’s recent string of dominance appeared to leave no clear challenger for the gold, but a Fatal 4-Way matchup on the blue brand paved the way for Cross to step into the spotlight. The energetic Superstar outlasted her teammate Alexa Bliss, Dana Brooke and Lacey Evans to secure the coveted showdown. Cross clearly has the repertoire to offer a great match against Bayley, as long as Sasha Banks doesn’t stick her nose in it, what she will do.

Danny Cause’s Prediction: Bayley – personally, I feel like this title reign is beyond dragged out, but I still don’t see it ending here.

Steph Franchomme’s Prediction: Sadly, Bayley. I love Nikki Cross, she is so good and so cool but her time is not now.

RAW Women’s Championship Match
Asuka (c) vs Sasha Banks

WWE’s Women’s division is in a rather challenging position at the moment. While Becky Lynch is out on maternity, it has since been revealed that Charlotte Flair will also be away for some time to undergo surgery. As a result, WWE have doubled down on the screentime that Bayley and Sasha Banks reveal. Bayley continues to break records as not only the first-ever Grand Slam Women’s Champion, not only the longest-reigning SmackDown Women’s Champion but also the first person to simultaneously hold a Women’s Championship at the same time as the Women’s Tag Team Championship. This has naturally led to a little jealousy from Sasha Banks – she understandably wants a bit of the life of Bayley – she wants to become RAW Women’s Champion, as well as one half of the Women’s Tag Team Championship. If this comes to fruition, WWE could somewhat recreate the Two Man Power Trip storyline from 2001 where Stone Cold and Triple H held the WWF Championship and Intercontinental Championship (respectively) as well as the Tag Team Championship. If Sasha were able to defeat Asuka here, the former Boss ‘n’ Hug Connection could certainly be the Queens who run the entire Women’s division. But it would be naive of Sasha to look past Asuka.

Danny Cause’s Prediction: Asuka – while I’m not opposed to a brief run where Sasha and Bayley hold all the gold, I just don’t think it’s going to happen, and there’s a number of ways Asuka can retain the Championship. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Bayley involved in the finish here. Whether she accidentally costs Sasha the victory, or maybe she deliberately screws over Sasha, in an act of jealousy, not wanting Sasha to be her equal. This could lead to the long-awaited split and feud between Bayley and Sasha, just in time for SummerSlam. While Asuka would then be free to feud with the recently returning Shayna Baszler.

Steph Franchomme’s Prediction: Asuka. We have all been looking forward to seeing Sasha beat the hell of Bayley, and vice versa, and it’s time to. With Charlotte Flair sidelined, Asuka vs Kairi Sane at SummerSlam is something I definitely want to see because it will tear the house down.

WWE Championship Match – Dolph Ziggler chooses the stipulation and will announce it before the match
Drew McIntyre (C) vs Dolph Ziggler

Dolph Ziggler arrived on RAW determined to remind Drew McIntyre who he owes for his rise to the pinnacle of sports-entertainment. The Showoff will have the opportunity to back up his words in a title match against the Scottish Superstar for the WWE Title, with a stipulation only Ziggler knows about for the moment.

One by one, McIntyre has vanquished every competitor to challenge his reign, as the likes of Big Show, Bobby Lashley, Seth Rollins and Andrade have all fallen short in their attempts to take the title. Upon being traded to RAW along with his tag team partner Robert Roode, Ziggler set his sights on the biggest fish in the pond, saying that McIntyre owed him after Ziggler helped McIntyre upon his return to WWE. The WWE Champion was happy to oblige Ziggler but seemingly warned him to be careful what he wished for, as McIntyre doesn’t plan on losing his title any time soon.

Danny Cause’s Prediction: Drew McIntyre – It’s an interesting move to have Ziggler not to announce the stipulation until the match, and while it gives a hook for the viewers to tune in, I don’t think any fan believes that Ziggler stands any chance of leaving here with the WWE Championship. Which is a shame, considering how loyal Dolph has been to the company over a lengthy tenure, but he’s been devalued too much over the last couple of years. The bigger issue here is that with a number of big names absent from the WWE currently for various reasons, it’s a struggle to find credible challengers to Drew’s title.

Steph Franchomme’s Prediction: Drew McIntyre, despite the silly stipulation Ziggler will put on the table. Orton vs McIntyre is already set in stone for SummerSlam.

Wyatt Swamp Fight
Braun Strowman vs Bray Wyatt

Braun Strowman recently passed the 100-day mark in his first reign as Universal Champion and there’s little chance of ending very soon, as this Wyatt Swamp Fight is currently advertised as a non-title affair. WWE are also making use of their pre-recorded filmic affairs that they’ve utilised from time to time in this COVID era. Bray Wyatt is taking credit for the creation of Braun Strowman – the big man initially debuted as the Black Sheep of the Wyatt Family before going solo following the 2016 Draft. This match will take Strowman back to those roots at the Wyatt Swamp. Meanwhile, Bray – like Mick Foley before him – is now portraying three different characters at the same time; The Firefly Funhouse host, the Eater of Worlds and The Fiend. The Firefly Funhouse version failed in his attempt to defeat Braun at Money in the Bank, so now it’s the turn of the Eater of Worlds, to see if he can do any better. But of course, with this being a pre-recorded, edited match, don’t be surprised to see all three faces of Wyatt appear in this match.

Danny Cause’s Prediction: Bray Wyatt – In my opinion, the fact this match is non-title is very telling. It means that Braun can lose this match but he’ll still be Universal Champion, and that would also even up the score in this feud to 1-1. I would then presume the rubber match, for the Championship, would take place at SummerSlam.

Steph Franchomme’s Prediction: Because the title is not on the line, Bray Wyatt wins. Strowman will fight a crocodile bare hands, they will puddle in the mud, and they will have one last match at SummerSlam. As long as Roman Reigns is on the bench, there’s nothing great you can expect for this title.

All pics and videos courtesy of WWE 

By Danny Cause

Wrestling fan and nerd of almost twenty years. Outside of wrestling, Danny enjoys writing and reading, to excess, TV shows, movies as well Manchester United and the Minnesota Vikings (for his sins).

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