WWE is preparing for next month’s pay-per-view event of Extreme Rules and they got a great jump on things by announcing two matches on Monday Night Raw . On Tuesday night, there was a huge Gauntlet Match scheduled for the main event and the winner of the match would get a WWE Championship title shot against AJ Styles at the PPV. While any of the superstars would be worthy of the spot, hardly anyone could have seen this result coming.
Big E and Daniel Bryan started off the match on SmackDown Live , and as recapped by the official website of WWE , Bryan picked up the victory with the Running Knee. Next up, Samoa Joe came out to start beating down Bryan and choking him out, but the dragon was not going to go down without a fight.
With a little bit of cunning experience, Daniel Bryan advanced again after Samoa Joe was counted out. The Miz came out next, but not before the Bludgeon Brothers made a random appearance to completely decimate Bryan and leave him as an easy victim for Miz to pin.
Rusev was the last superstar to come out for the Gauntlet Match, and it would be him or The Miz facing AJ Styles at Extreme Rules . When all was said and done, it was a glorious day…a glorious “Rusev Day.”
Happy #RusevDay , everyone!
@RusevBUL #SDLive #GauntletMatch pic.twitter.com/A92itpLcP6
— WWE (@WWE) June 20, 2018
Attempting to pull a page out of Daniel Bryan’s playbook, The Miz went for a Running Knee, but Rusev nailed him with a big kick and he locked in the Accolade for the win. On July 15, 2018, Rusev will have a shot at the WWE Championship which is currently held by AJ Styles.
After the match was over, Aiden English jumped into the ring to celebrate with his good friend, but they were soon interrupted by the champ himself. Styles came down to the ring to congratulate Rusev, but English disrespected him and received a punch in the face for his troubles.
#WWEChampion @AJStylesOrg is here to confront his #ExtremeRules challenger… and he’s NOT in the mood for games.
@WWEDramaKing @RusevBUL #SDLive pic.twitter.com/yLP2dKh4H0
— WWE (@WWE) June 20, 2018
With the reveal of the WWE Championship Match at Extreme Rules , three matches have now been confirmed for the next PPV. As reported by Inquisitr , two were named on Monday Night Raw and here is the full card as of late Tuesday night.
- WWE Championship Match: AJ Styles (c) vs. Rusev
- Raw Women’s Championship Match: Alexa Bliss (c) vs. Nia Jax
- Bobby Lashley vs. Roman Reigns vs. TBD vs. TBD vs. TBD vs. TBD – Winner receives a WWE Universal Title shot against Brock Lesnar
Extreme Rules is still more than three weeks away, but WWE is already doing a great job of building up the card to be quite enjoyable. Each of the three matches announced, as well as those yet to be revealed, will all end up with a hardcore or extreme stipulation of some sort as well. Now, Rusev has won the chance to take on AJ Styles for the WWE Championship, but will the next pay-per-view end up as a Rusev Day drenched in gold?
