Final Picks for Roman Reigns, Becky Lynch and WWE Extreme Rules 2021 Match Card

In 2020, Extreme Rules was dubbed a horror show. In 2021, the biggest horror has been the sheer lack of emphasis put on gimmick matches that give this event its name.

For the most part, it's seemed as though WWE just wants to get this show out of the way, skip straight to the draft and Crown Jewel and then move on. Most of the selling points are purely that Becky Lynch will wrestle a real match for the first time in over a year and that Finn Balor has on his face paint.

Nevertheless, in typical fashion, the Superstars are talented enough that they may save Sunday's show and turn it into something worthwhile.

Along with that prediction, what else could fans be in store? Who will walk away victorious in all the matches?

Before the pay-per-view kicks off at 7 p.m., let's go through one last round of predictions for Extreme Rules 2021.  

Liv Morgan has been on the cusp of a solid push for what feels like two years, but WWE never pulls the trigger. To get this random match added to the pay-per-view may be a sign the time has finally come.

Other than to give Morgan momentum after a win, what purpose would this serve on the card? The feud hasn't exactly been the most in-depth or engaging storyline by any means, nor is there a title on the line or any stakes.

It's strange WWE didn't give this a gimmick, particularly after Morgan threatened to make Carmella look as ugly on the outside as she is on the inside and to make sure she doesn't run away. That could have lent itself to a steel cage match at the least.

A win for Carmella does nothing. A win for Morgan at least gives The Man a new challenger for October.

Prediction: Morgan wins.

The Street Profits are the best tag team capable of dethroning The Usos to become the new SmackDown tag team champions, but they're going to fall short.

Too much stock is in The Bloodline as champions right now to have Jimmy and Jey drop the titles. It makes more sense for them to represent SmackDown at Survivor Series against the Raw tag team champions if that is to still be RK-Bro.

Also, the 2021 WWE draft is coming up. If Bianca Belair doesn't beat Becky Lynch, The EST of WWE could find herself needing to move to Raw to avoid being stuck in limbo. If that happens, The Street Profits would almost assuredly go with Belair to keep her on the same brand as Montez Ford.

While WWE has had tag team champions swap belts before, it was ridiculous the first time and shouldn't happen again. It would be far easier to simply have The Usos retain, even if they have to cheat to do so.

Prediction: The Usos retain.

It's hard to imagine Bianca Belair will recapture the SmackDown Women's Championship after losing so quickly to Becky Lynch.

Whether it was the intention or not, WWE slapped Belair with a massive downgrade to her credibility after that embarrassing loss. Arguably, the negative was worse than the positive it did for The Man, even though it helped transition her into a heel role.

Sacrificing Belair's momentum to get the heel version of Lynch WWE tried to do in 2018 isn't going to be undone by giving the belt back to Belair. WWE has too much invested in Lynch to not have her at the forefront, especially with Survivor Series coming up on Nov. 21 and the potential of yet another match against Flair with the champion vs. champion setup.

This time around, Belair will actually put up a fight, though. That will at least make it sting less when she taps out or stares up at the lights while being pinned.

Prediction: Lynch retains.

After Damian Priest defeated Sheamus to win the United States Championship, it would have been easy to just have a standard rematch between the two. Thankfully, to avoid the monotony, WWE inserted Jeff Hardy into the picture to spice things up.

The Charismatic Enigma is there primarily for that reason and not to act as the spoiler. This is still Priest's match to lose.

2021 has been kind to The Archer of Infamy, wherein he's only lost four matches. Those four were against Karrion Kross at NXT New Year's Evil, the Royal Rumble match, a handicap match and a Battle Royal Riddle won in June.

All things considered, Priest might as well be undefeated. It shows WWE holds him in high regard, which makes it doubtful he'd drop this title so quickly after winning it.

Whether he pins Sheamus or Hardy, Priest is walking out with the championship firmly in his grasp.

Prediction: Priest retains.

Even if this were a gimmick match taking place at a haunted playground or a twisted dollhouse—environments where Alexa Bliss would have a distinct advantage—she'd still come up short against Charlotte Flair.

Getting meta, WWE posed a question this week on Raw when Bliss asked, "What is Charlotte Flair without a championship?"

It seems to be a question WWE doesn't want to answer, as The Queen is perpetually either holding a title or in contention for one. She's won practically every possible accolade in the book, save for Money in the Bank, and hasn't crossed that off her list because she's normally champion at the time.

Bliss is here to be an established name Flair can fight to eat up time. This wasn't a feud meant to break new grounds or turn the roster upside down. Flair simply needed someone to beat, and Bliss was the most popular and credible Superstar who hadn't fought her in a while.

Prediction: Flair retains.

The easiest match to call is the Universal Championship contest, as there is absolutely no way Roman Reigns drops the title to Finn Balor.

While it's true Balor hasn't lost on the main roster under his Demon King persona, he's not undefeated. Samoa Joe took out Demon Balor at NXT TakeOver: The End in 2016.

As this is an Extreme Rules match, that lends itself even more to Balor losing, since The Tribal Chief has allies in The Usos who can turn this into a three-on-one scenario.

WWE has already announced Reigns will face Brock Lesnar at Crown Jewel on Oct. 21 and started setting up Reigns vs. Big E in a champion vs. champion match for Survivor Series. Those aren't going to disappear in favor of giving the belt to Balor, no matter what he dresses up as.

Prediction: Reigns retains.

Anthony Mango is the owner of the wrestling website Smark Out Moment and the host of the podcast show Smack Talk on YouTube, iTunes and Stitcher. You can follow him on Facebook and elsewhere for more.