WWE’s Extreme Rules pay-per-view is one week away, and as of now the show has six matches announced for the event inside the Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio. A seventh, a WWE Championship match between then-champion Bobby Lashley and Randy Orton, was initially announced only to get pushed to this past Monday where Lashley retained, then immediately lost the title to Big E via Money in the Bank cash-in.
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The oddsmakers over at BetOnline have once again set the betting lines for the show’s top matches. You can see the lines below, as well as analysis of why certain wrestlers who are favored to win.
- WWE Universal Championship: Roman Reigns (-800) vs. “The Demon” Finn Balor (+450) — this line isn’t as one-sided as some of Reigns’ other title defenses have been, but it’s not hard to see why “The Tribal Chief” is still expected to retain. Reigns is already being advertised for title defenses at Crown Jewel (against Brock Lesnar) and on the first night of the 2021 WWE Draft (against Drew McIntyre), and the company is still months away from setting anything up with his heavily-rumored WrestleMania match with Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. Balor has only lost one match in WWE while in his painted alter-ego, but that likely won’t matter.
- SmackDown Women’s Championship: Becky Lynch (-350) vs. Bianca Belair (+200) — Lynch is still building up her new heel persona, so the idea of WWE having her drop the SmackDown Women’s Championship in her first defense seems like a stretch. But then again, many fans said the same thing about Belair dropping the title in mere seconds at SummerSlam.
- United States Championship: Damian Priest (-500) vs. Sheamus (+300) — Priest has been racking up title defenses in recent weeks on Raw, and that will likely continue at the pay-per-view.
- Raw Women’s Championship: Charlotte Flair (-150) vs. Alexa Bliss (+110) — This match has the closest odds of the night and for good reason. Most of Flair’s reigns as champion have been short and WWE has poured plenty of time and resources into Bliss’ new character.
The other matches confirmed so far are a SmackDown tag title match between The Usos and the Street Profits and a grudge match between Liv Morgan and Carmella. It’s worth pointing out that, despite this being an Extreme Rules event, none of the matches have stipulations. Last year’s pay-per-view infamously had the Eye for an Eye Match and the cinematic Wyatt Swamp Fight.
