The show begins with the term Extreme Rules said twice in the first 30 seconds thanks to a fatal five way hype video. And then Bray’s stuff begins to cut that off. Booker says that Bray is a hell of one of those guys. Okay. Bray rambles for a while. “What does one silly yard mean to a man that owns the world?” Finally, Bray raises a valid point. Roman comes down and Booker says that Roman is looking for a fight – but first, talking. Roman wants to get him out of his ring, so Kurt comes down to talk. Kurt makes Bray vs. Roman for now. Jinder will have a celebration on SmackDown. It’s nice of these hated rivals to sit in the corner posing until the commercials ended.
Bray hits a uranage and Roman beats him up in the corner. Joe comes down and Joe chokes out Roman. He attacks Bray, but Seth comes down. A brawl breaks out and Roman and Seth stand tall before a song plays over this randomly. Well, that was just plain weird. Balor faces Anderson tonight. Seth and Roman argue backstage before Kurt makes Seth and Roman against Joe and Seth as tonight’s main event. The Drifter walks and gets a bigger reaction than 90% of the roster. Kurt tells him that he’ll have his first match on Raw tonight against Ambrose. The Drifter plays his song.
Tozawa comes out to face Daivari, but first, we have to hear from Kendrick watching TV backstage. Thank God modern-day TVs have great viewing angles or else watching them sideways like that would just seem stupid. Tozawa hits a snap German and a senton off the top to win. Kendrick announces a street fight with Tozawa on 205 Live. The Drifter faces Dean next. But first, Sasha is interviewed about beating Alicia in a rematch tonight. Noam Dar cuts a truly awful promo on Sasha and then Elias Samson is introduced mid-ring playing his song and drawing nuclear heat for it.
Cobra clutch after a quick break. A long Fujiwara armbar spot by Samsom. Miz hits Samson, who wins by DQ. Cole says this ties into the PPV since Dean could lose the title by DQ. Samson hits the swinging neckbreaker. Enzo gets jumped. The Fashion Police should be on this case and mock Enzo for his fashion. Kurt says he’ll get to the bottom of it and Cass says Kurt should find who did it before he did or else. Balor is out to face Anderson and we get more talking. Heyman interrupts him to talk about Brock Lesnar.
He mocks Seth freakin’ Rollins and puts freakin’ on everything. He puts Joe over before saying that Roman is the favorite to win this, but he’ll be Brock’s victim. He puts over Balor huge saying that he’s the best in the company right now, but he’s no Brock Lesnar. He wants Balor to win this and wishes him well tonight and at the PPV. Karl kicks away at Balor to start before a chinlock. Anderson gets 2 off a spinebuster. Finn gets the slingblade and wins with the foostomp.
Fox comes out to face Sasha. Alicia gets a wedgie being tossed into the ropes before the double knee drop spot to end it. Dar gets slapped and Foxy attacks her with an axe kick. Kalisto gives Apollo career advice before Titus says that he can see what’s going on – Kalisto wants to join the Titus Brand! Kalisto says he doesn’t and we get Crews vs. Kalisto later tonight. Boy, WWE, you just spoil the fans so much.
Golden Truth breakup recap airs. Goldust says that the brightest lights fade away, but gold is pure and never withers or rusts. This is a legit great promo – why not give him the IC Title and have some fun. He says he doesn’t need a script and the golden age is back! A robotic brunette introduces her guest at this time, Alexa Bliss. Bayley’s back is shown messed up from the kendo stick shots. Alexa says she’ll never let Bayley’s fairy tale ending happen, and she’ll do the same for Mickie. Booker randomly talks about how Alexa’s saying GROWN FOLKS IS TALKING before they run down Braun being taken out by Roman.
Apollo faces Kalisto and Corey talks about buying into the Titus Brand. Kalisto wins off an accidental distraction by Titus and then Titus chews out Crews. Fatal 5 way video that opened the show re-airs because there needs to be more filler on this show. Matt Hardy looks awesome in this green and gold getup with the green distressed shirt. He’ll face Sheamus and the winner gets to pick stips for the PPV. Matt grinds him down with a headlock.and they brawl for a bit on the floor. Sheamus goes for the clubs and then knocks Matt off the apron into the barricade. Sheamus hits a flying lariat off the top and gets 2 off a white noise. Matt hits a twist to win it.
The Hardys are asked by a robotic brunette what match they want at Extreme Rules, and say they’ll face them in a steel cage – so not their own bread and butter that they won the titles with. Why on Earth would the Hardys logically choose this? Joe’s chokeout of Roman is shown again and they hype up a UK Special replay on the Network after Raw…which you can watch on demand too. Aries comes down to face Nese, and Aries is shown tapping to a kneebar from Neville on 205 – leading to a submission match at Extreme Rules.
Boy have they killed Aries by changing his theme and the more generic gear isn’t exactly helping matters. The guy was legit more over when he wasn’t wrestling and was just talking despite never being seen on WWE TV before. Aries hits a dive, but looks at Neville, so Nese attacks the knee. Aries taps him with the last chancery. Neville locks on the Rings of Saturn on Nese afterwards since he failed him. Alexa vs. Mickie is up and Mickie gets a neckbreaker and a sliding kick, but Alexa wins with the snap DDT. Alexa looks at Mickie angrily before getting a kendo stick. “It’s the face OF EXTREME, Cole!” Booker is something else. Alexa hits Mickie, but Bayley makes a save.
The heels come out first, followed by the faces. The heels are sent packing for an ad break AS RAW ROLLS ON. Joe beats up on Roman with stomps and kicks for a bit. Roman hits a big drive by, but actually slides on the apron for it as Joe is outside – I like that. It makes the move come off as organic instead of a modified 619 where a guy just so happens to get into position for it. Seth hits a springboard lariat before sending Joe out to hit both heels with a suicide dive. He throws Joe in and wants to hit a high fly flow, but Bray stops it. Roman and Seth have a miscue and Seth is locked in the choke by Joe. Seth passes out and that ends it – so Joe beats him and looks great doing it. Kurt watches TV and Balor says he wants a match with one of them tonight. Kurt says no – he’ll face two guys in a triple threat. Seth vs. Roman is also made, and Kurt says Balor’s name like “Baylor”.
