Sasha Banks

WWE snatched defeat from the jaws of victory at Sunday's The Horror Show at Extreme Rules pay-per-view. 

The card was interesting and had a chance to lay an epic foundation for SummerSlam, the second-biggest show of the year. Superstars known for putting on amazing matches put on amazing matches. 

But the finishes to certain bouts botched all potential and momentum. 

Certain matches, like the Rey Mysterio vs. Seth Rollins encounter in an "Eye for an Eye match" that had the potential to be a fun, pre-taped cinematic encounter with a goofy wrestling finish. And while some of the action briefly flirted with "dream match" status between a modern great and a legend like The Master of the 619, a miserable finish derailed things. 

To close out the weirdly stipulated contest, Rollins again hit Mysterio in the eye with a steel staircase. As if that wasn't silly enough, the veteran acted like he lost an eye, an announcer mentioned "it's out" and Rollins then...puked.

It was an impossible stipulation to pull off a proper finish with if it wasn't a cinematic match, and the fact that Rollins was forcefully vomiting and the paramedics on the scene didn't appear ready despite knowing the stipulation beforehand was about as cringeworthy as it gets. 

And that was just the beginning for bad finishes. 

Fast forward to the Raw women's title match between Asuka and challenger Sasha Banks. A superb in-ring match as expected with plenty at stake over the long term for the latter given the dynamic with her partner, fellow tag champ and SmackDown women's champion Bayley going into SummerSlam. 

Instead, things got wickedly goofy at the end of the match, with the referee taking Asuka's green mist to the face, Bayley stealing and donning the official's striped shirt and giving The Boss a three-count to win the title. Nobody from the back intervened and suddenly a pay-per-view match technically featuring every top women's title outright was a messy no-contest. 

In other words, no dynamic potential rift between the two friends heading into SummerSlam on August 23 and no strong finish for either match contender. Despite the potential for some engaging developments, a messy finish that smells like a Raw ratings grab for the upcoming Monday show, when WWE will likely call off the finish, call for a rematch right away or something else. 

And then there was the Wyatt Swamp Fight between Braun Strowman and Bray Wyatt, a disaster of a mostly boring affair compared to the expectations set by previous cinematic encounters featuring names such as Undertaker, John Cena and others. 

Which isn't to say there weren't some great moments, such as the Alexa Bliss appearance. But the bar was set so high by other Superstars in these positions that the mystical presence of Wyatt, Strowman's past and the inevitable appearance of The Fiend created similar expectations. 

But it just didn't deliver. Strowman meandered about the place yelling, Wyatt popped in and out, the swamp setting didn't feature the way it could have, and The Fiend's predictable appearance closed the show. 

Sometimes the booking of finishes steals the spotlight and ruins an otherwise good show. That was the case here.

Nikki Cross had a great match with Bayley. Cesaro and Shinsuke Nakamura stealing tag gold from The New Day was fantastic. Dolph Ziggler came with an amazing stipulation for his clearly unwinnable title match against Drew McIntyre, and the champion put on yet another great performance, fully showing he's deserving of top-dog status. 

But nothing that happened does much for SummerSlam, which is a massive problem. There was an expectation going into Sunday that this pay-per-view was merely a transitional one to lay the groundwork for feuds and stories that will headline the August 23 spectacle. 

The needle hasn't moved on much, though. Rollins is in no man's land. Randy Orton was nowhere to be seen. The Banks and Bayley saga might remain in a holding pattern well past the August event. Strowman is still in an obvious "wait for The Fiend" mode. McIntyre doesn't have a challenger. 

One could make the argument that's what the weekly broadcasts are for ahead of SummerSlam. But ratings are down to the point WWE is seemingly holding names like Orton off of events like Extreme Rules specifically to draw eyeballs to Raw. The Asuka-Banks situation clearly looks like another ratings grab. 

And if the ratings remain down anyway after a card highlighted by bad finishes, it's going to be nearly impossible for the company to properly build hype for SummerSlam. There won't be a Roman Reigns or some big-named outsider to hype the event. If Brock Lesnar were on his way back, WWE probably would've made it known already. 

Like some of the finishes Sunday night, the initial hype rollout for SummerSlam has been botched. It wasn't really a mistake WWE could afford during this audience-less era, and what highlights the issue so much more is simple: Sunday's initial card looked like the perfect opportunity to get the ball rolling in many of these areas. 

Equally impactful in the disappointing column is the fact that fans know WWE can do so much better with its back against the wall like this. A show like WrestleMania 36 was stunning in this way; Sunday night, not so much. 

Luckily for WWE, there's always an out: McIntyre is as impressive as it gets as a top guy, The Fiend will make for a great PPV highlight, and Bayley and Banks are talented enough to make this work.

But if fans aren't encouraged to watch the weekly programming to see the builds because Extreme Rules had so many quizzical rough spots, SummerSlam won't have the hype WWE would prefer for the biggest non-WrestleMania show of the year. 

Sasha Banks beat Asuka at The Horror Show at Extreme Rules on Sunday to win the Raw Women's Championship for the fifth time in her career.

However, just as The Legit Boss helped Bayley retain the SmackDown women's title earlier in the night, The Role Model was on hand to return the favor.

After Banks ducked from Asuka's green mist, she instead sprayed the match official. With the referee temporarily out of action, Bayley removed his shirt and donned it herself before making the count as The Boss pinned the titleholder.

Banks is a SmackDown Superstar, but she began a crossover feud with Asuka after she and Bayley beat The IIconics to retain the WWE Women's Tag Team Championships during an appearance on the June 22 edition of Raw. After that win, The Boss expressed her desire to become a double champion like Bayley.

It seemed for a moment that Banks was going to ask The Role Model for a shot at the SmackDown Women's Championship, but she challenged The Empress of Tomorrow instead.

Asuka accepted and immediately found out why a title match against Banks would be the biggest challenge of her brief reign.

Both Banks and Bayley took the fight to The Empress after she accepted, and The Boss locked her in the Bank Statement to show that Asuka's run as Raw women's champion could go up in smoke as quickly as it started.

Asuka and Banks each entered Extreme Rules with a ton of momentum on their side. The Empress had successful title defenses against the likes of Nia Jax and Charlotte Flair, while The Boss and Bayley have been running roughshod over every WWE women's division while defending the women's tag team titles.

Despite the fact that both Asuka and Banks have been in WWE for several years, Sunday's match marked only the second singles match they have ever had against each other, with the last one coming on an episode of Raw in January 2018.

It was difficult to predict who would come out on top at Extreme Rules since there was a strong argument to be made for either Superstar winning. Asuka was still early in her reign and could have benefited from beating another established star in Banks, while The Boss has been on top of her game lately, and winning the Raw title could have added to her storyline with Bayley.

Banks ultimately prised the title away from Asuka, and now that she and Bayley are holding all the gold in the women's division, it gives their angle another wrinkle.

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Extreme Rules was already a themed event for WWE, but this year's show has an additional sub-theme with the added title of "The Horror Show." It's not even close to Halloween, so why WWE did this is anyone's guess.

Let's take a look at everything you need to know about the pay-per-view.

Venue: WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida

Start Time: 6 p.m. ET (Kickoff), 7 p.m. ET (main show)

How to Watch: WWE Network and select PPV providers

Extreme Rules Card

Here is the full lineup of matches scheduled for Extreme Rules, according to WWE.com:

• MVP vs. Apollo Crews (United States Championship)
• Dolph Ziggler vs. Drew McIntyre (WWE Championship)
• Asuka vs. Sasha Banks (Raw Women's Championship)
• Bayley vs. Nikki Cross (SmackDown Women's Championship)
• Braun Strowman vs. Bray Wyatt (Wyatt Swamp Fight)
• Rey Mysterio vs. Seth Rollins (Eye for an Eye)
• The New Day vs. Cesaro and Shinsuke Nakamura (tables match, SD Tag Team Championships)

PPV Live Stream

The one-hour Kickoff will be available through most social media platforms, Fite TV, YouTube and WWE Network.

A select few cable and satellite providers still carry WWE PPVs, but for the most part, people will be watching Extreme Rules on WWE Network. Here is a list of the devices that support the streaming service, according to WWE.com:

• Apple TV
• Amazon Fire TV
• PlayStation 4
• Roku
• Xbox One
• Android devices with the WWE app
• iOS devices with the WWE app
• WWE.com
• Select Panasonic, LG, Sony and Samsung Smart TVs
• TiVo
• Supported browsers

Other Extreme Rules Thoughts

With seven matches and six titles on the line, Extreme Rules has the ability to be a great show without dragging on for too long.

The Wyatt Swamp Fight will likely be another one of WWE's cinematic matches. Ever since the company has been forced to hold shows without fans, it has embraced this more unconventional style of filming.

As far as the extreme part of the show goes, WWE expects us to believe Mysterio or Rollins will leave the show with one less eye than they arrived with, which is ridiculous.

This stipulation is not only unrealistic, but it also makes it a lot more difficult to provide this storyline with a satisfying conclusion.

The rest of the card is full of standard title matches and one tables bout for the SmackDown Tag Team Championships.

Asuka vs. Banks and Bayley vs. Cross should both be entertaining matches, McIntyre vs. Ziggler will be one of the most competitive bouts of the night, and MVP vs. Crews will likely provide us with a happy ending.

The next major event after Extreme Rules is SummerSlam on August 23, so we can expect management to set up a few things for the event during Extreme Rules.

Asuka defends her Raw Women's Championship against Sasha Banks Sunday night as part of The Horror Show at Extreme Rules, and as appealing as the idea of The Boss capturing the title and holding all the gold alongside partner Bayley may be, the potential for a high-profile match between The Empress of Tomorrow and another top challenger is even more appetizing.

Shayna Baszler's return on Monday's episode of Raw brought with it a sudden desire for the one match fans have not seen on a grand stage of any sort to this point in WWE.

It has been teased, but those women have never met in a one-on-one showdown of any real significance.

With Baszler heating back up, and Asuka enjoying what may be her last shot at a real run as champion, now is the time to pull the proverbial trigger on the epic encounter.

A Dominant History Followed By Main-Roster Disappointment

Asuka reigned over the NXT brand as its women's champion for 522 days, utterly dominating against all who crossed her path. Bayley, Nia Jax, Ember Moon, Ruby Riott and Nikki Cross all fell at the feet of The Empress as she carved out a legacy for herself as that brand's greatest star.

Regardless of gender.

Baszler picked up the ball and embarked on her own reign of dominance. Though she hit a speed bump in the form of Asuka's Kabuki Warriors tag team partner, Kairi Sane, she would stand tall atop the women's division as its undisputed face.

Like Asuka, she was seemingly unconquerable, a wrestler and fighter at a different level than her opposition for the 416 days of her second reign.

Neither of those impressive streaks translated to the main roster, though.

For reasons that only WWE CEO Vince McMahon and his creative team will ever know, any and all momentum the competitors built for themselves during their time with the black and gold brand was extinguished upon their arrivals on Raw and SmackDown.

Asuka's aura was inexplicably diminished, first via her loss to Charlotte Flair at WrestleMania 34 and then by her losing series of matches against Carmella over the blue brand title. She quickly became just another face in a crowded division rather than the transcendent champion she should have been.

Baszler entered WWE like a buzzsaw, tearing through everyone between her and the Raw women's title, held at that time by Becky Lynch. She even turned in the most dominant performance in the history of the Elimination Chamber to cash her ticket to WrestleMania, tapping out five opponents—including Asuka.

But she lost to Lynch at WrestleMania and then disappeared off WWE television beginning in May.

According to a report by Dave Meltzer in The Wrestling Observer Newsletter, The Chairman of the Board was not a fan.

Redemption Stories

The arrival of empty-arena wrestling because of the COVID-19 pandemic brought with it opportunities for Superstars to reinvent themselves or seize television time they may not otherwise have gotten. Asuka is one such star.

Going bigger, louder and more animated with her character, she embraced the challenges that the silence of a fan-less arena presented and thrived. She became one of, if not the most entertaining performer on any show and was rewarded accordingly.

When Becky Lynch left to be a mom, Asuka was awarded the Raw Women's Championship just 24 hours after winning Money in the Bank.

She has channeled all of her energy into her performance, and the result is the type of run most had hoped she would enjoy when she was called up two years ago.

Monday on Raw, Baszler returned after a monthslong hiatus and issued a warning to everyone in her path. After a career misstep beginning at WrestleMania, she appears poised to enjoy a run that could finally net her that main-roster gold.

And fans of both WWE and the women involved deserve it.

Who is more dominant? Who had the better NXT run? Who is the face of women's wrestling on the flagship?

Those are three questions that could be answered and, more importantly, could serve as the foundation of the program.

But it all starts with Asuka successfully retaining Sunday night against Banks.

WWE will pull back the curtain on The Horror Show at Extreme Rules on Sunday, its final pay-per-view before the biggest event of the summer. 

Seven matches have been announced for the card thus far, including Seth Rollins taking on Rey Mysterio in a bout that WWE promises will only end when one of the participants has extracted an eye from their opponent's skull. 

Five championship bouts are also scheduled to take place, including Dolph Ziggler—for reasons unknown to anyone in the WWE Universe—receiving a WWE title shot against Drew McIntyre, ahead of SummerSlam on August 23. 

Here's the announced card for The Horror Show at Extreme Rules 2020:

WWE Championship: Drew McIntyre (c) vs. Dolph Ziggler

Eye for an Eye Match: Seth Rollins vs. Rey Mysterio

WWE Raw Women's Championship: Asuka (c) vs. Sasha Banks

WWE SmackDown Women's Championship: Bayley (c) vs. Nikki Cross

Wyatt Swamp Fight: Bray Wyatt vs. Braun Strowman

WWE United States Championship: Apollo Crews (c) vs. MVP

Tables Match for WWE SmackDown Tag Team Championships: The New Day (Big E and Kofi Kingston) (c) vs. Cesaro and Shinsuke Nakamura

Storylines to Watch 

Rey Mysterio's Last Match in WWE?

As dumb as the stipulation for the Rollins-Mysterio match is, there could be a method to the madness for WWE. 

Yes, it's following up on the storyline from an episode of Raw two months ago when Rollins attacked Mysterio during a tag team match and threw The Master of the 619 into the steel steps face first. 

"Rey Mysterio’s injury status is still listed as critical," WWE said in an update on its website. "Doctors cannot properly assess the damage to his retina until the swelling subsides, as Rey is currently at-risk for infection."

On a practical level, though, the match could be a way to write the veteran off television. 

Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter recently reported Mysterio has been working without a contract since his deal with WWE expired. 

Mysterio returned to WWE on a full-time basis in September 2018 after making a one-off appearance at the Royal Rumble eight months earlier. The 45-year-old has had several high-profile matches during this run, including against Rollins and Brock Lesnar. 

It's certainly possible Mysterio could re-sign with WWE at any point, but the stipulation for this PPV would seem to indicate the loser is going to be out of action for a significant period of time. 

What's Next for McIntyre?

With apologies to all of the Ziggler fans out there, The Horror Show at Extreme Rules seems designed to serve as something for McIntyre to do before getting to his next big match at SummerSlam. 

WWE has never shown confidence in Ziggler as a top guy; he was destroyed by Otis at WrestleMania 36 and Money in the Bank before being gifted a title shot against the Scot for no real reason. 

Barring some strange change in direction, McIntyre will leave Sunday's show as champion and awaiting a new challenger at SummerSlam. 

Depending on how the booking goes, the two most obvious candidates are Rollins and Randy Orton. If The Monday Night Messiah "ends" Mysterio's career, he could set his sights on the championship.

It would make for a good match, but WWE has already done a feud with Rollins and McIntyre for the title this year. The Scottish Superstar pinned his rival clean with a Claymore Kick at Money in the Bank. 

Orton is coming off a win over Edge at Backlash in the "Greatest Wrestling Match Ever" and is scheduled to wrestle Big Show on Monday's episode of Raw. WWE booking traditionally indicates that a marquee pay-per-view followed by a win over a giant will lead to a title match. 

One potential wild card to keep an eye on is Brock Lesnar, who hasn't been seen since losing the title to McIntyre at WrestleMania. WWE typically saves The Beast Incarnate for its biggest events of the year, a category thst SummerSlam falls into. 

Will Any Titles Change Hands?

Since it's established that McIntyre losing to Ziggler makes no sense, let's look at the possibilities of at least one of the other four titles changing hands on Sunday. 

With respect to MVP, who is a fantastic talker, he announced his in-ring retirement in January and has been randomly working matches on television leading up to his U.S. title shot against Apollo Crews. 

Crews has had a fantastic run since defeating Andrade to win the championship in May. He's got more upside at this stage of their respective careers and should get a clean win over MVP. 

This brings us to the women's championship matches. WWE has done occasional teases of a rift between Bayley and Sasha Banks—of course, this has been hinted at many times in the past with nothing coming of it. 

If WWE is really, truly, finally serious about doing a Bayley vs. Banks match, one way to get there would be to have The Legit Boss defeat Asuka to become Raw women's champion and Bayley losing the SmackDown women's title to Nikki Cross. 

Assuming Bayley would continue to play the heel role, her jealousy at seeing her friend with a title makes for an easy story to tell. They would have to drop the women's tag titles along the way, but that could also be used in the storyline with The Role Model turning on Banks in a match. 

One flaw in that plan is it would require Asuka to lose, which doesn't seem like the right move at this point since she is being booked as the top women's star with Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair out of action.

The other option is having The New Day drop their tag title belts. While Cesaro and Nakamura are an entertaining duo from an in-ring perspective, it's unclear whether keeping them together for an extended run as the tag champs is the right course to take given the need for depth in the hunt for singles titles.

If there are no title changes on this show, it would mark the second straight WWE pay-per-view in which every champion retained. Crews, Bayley and Banks, Asuka and McIntyre left Backlash with their respective belts last month.