The Extreme Rules pay-per-view is sure to feature plenty of amusing matches this Sunday night, but it has seemed like a foregone conclusion for a while now that the event will be headlined by the match between Bobby Lashley and Roman Reigns. According to a new report from the WrestleVotes Twitter account, that is indeed the plan as of now, but there has been an internal push in the company lately to instead have the Iron Man Intercontinental Championship match between Seth Rollins and Dolph Ziggler close out the show instead. Unfortunately for Smackdown fans, it was noted that the WWE Championship match between Rusev and AJ Styles (which is the brand’s top match this Sunday) will almost certainly not be headlining the show.
Source says as of Monday, Reigns vs Lashley is scheduled to go last at Extreme Rules. There was (maybe still is) a push to have Rollins vs Ziggler Iron Man in that spot but that’s unlikely. Almost no support for Styles vs Rusev, which says something about that program.
— WrestleVotes (@WrestleVotes) July 12, 2018
Extreme Rules is only two days away from taking place, but WWE is still not through announcing matches for the pay-per-view just yet. One more match has officially been added to the Kickoff show for the event this weekend, and that match will be a rematch between Sin Cara and new Smackdown Superstar Andrade “Cien” Almas. Almas and Sin Cara have been involved in a feud ever since the former NXT Champion was promoted to the main roster earlier this year, and it looks like there will be another match between them this Sunday night, although there was no stipulation announce for the match. The rematch comes just days after Almas defeated Sin Cara on Smackdown this past Tuesday night.
#ElIdolo @AndradeCienWWE and @SinCaraWWE will have their rematch this Sunday on the #ExtremeRules Kickoff, streaming LIVE at 6e/3p on @WWENetwork! @Zelina_VegaWWE https://t.co/UGzJab4Ydl pic.twitter.com/07GNJ7Oe1X
— WWE (@WWE) July 13, 2018
Jeff Hardy has rebranded himself quite a bit ever since he was moved over to Smackdown and became the United States Champion earlier this year. He has since returned to wearing face paint during his matches, and he has also seemingly abandoned doing the Swanton Bomb during live events. Various reports about Hardy possibly working through injuries have been circulating online lately, but the US Champion himself just spoke about the matter with the Canton Repository. Hardy confirmed during the interview that he is indeed experiencing some pain in his lower back. He has decided wrestle a bit more cautiously during live event as a result, and he also said that he wants to protect the Swanton Bomb as much as possible as well.