There is one stop remaining on the pay-per-view road as WWE cruises toward August's annual SummerSlam event. Sunday night, The Horror Show at Extreme Rules will air on the WWE Network from the Performance Center in Orlando, Florida. Four championships will be on the line in addition to a non-title Wyatt Swamp Fight between universal champion Braun Strowman and Bray Wyatt.
WWE champion Drew McIntyre will put his title on the line against Dolph Ziggler in a match where Ziggler can pick the stipulation. The challenger has decided to play mind games, however, and won't reveal the stipulation until the pay-per-view, leaving McIntyre without a game plan heading into the night. Both women's championships will also be on the line with Bayley defending the SmackDown women's championship against Nikki Cross and Sasha Banks challenging Raw women's champion Asuka.
Extreme Rules will begin at 7 p.m. ET with the show expected to last approximately three hours, not counting the kickoff show, which starts one hour prior to the main card at 6 p.m. CBS Sports will be with you the entire way on Sunday with live results, highlights and analysis.
Let's take a closer look at who our CBS Sports experts predict will come out on top at WWE's The Horror Show at Extreme Rules.
2020 WWE Extreme Rules predictions
Kevin Owens vs. Murphy (Kickoff Show)
A late add to the show, there should be no doubt that Owens will come out on top of Murphy here, especially considering it is doubtful that Murphy has Seth Rollins in his corner considering the Eye for an Eye bout set for later in the show. Pick: Kevin Owens wins -- Adam Silverstein (also Brookhouse, Crosby)
SmackDown Tag Team Championship: The New Day (c) vs. Shinsuke Nakamura & Cesaro (Tables Match)
New Day have only defended their tag titles twice since Big E won a triple threat match to kick off their latest title run. One of those two defenses was the no-contest against Cesaro and Nakamura on SmackDown. Cesaro and Nakamura have been wonderfully positioned as true threats to the champions and a tables match is one of the ultimate cheap ways to pull off a title change. But this doesn't feel like the time or the feud to take the belts off New Day, especially after Cesaro and Nakamura have dominated all of their recent matches. New Day should hold onto the belts heading into SummerSlam. Pick: New Day retains the titles -- Brookhouse (also Silverstein, Crosby)
United States Championship: Apollo Crews (c) vs. MVP
Crews won the U.S. title on May 25. He has since defended the it against Kevin Owens on May 26 in a bout that ended in a no contest and on the Backlash kickoff show where he defeated Andrade. WWE finally pulled the trigger and put a championship on Crews, and he has spent less than 20 minutes in the ring defending it. MVP is a great choice for Crews to feud with because he can carry the feud on his own with his huge personality. But WWE should know to not pull the belt off Crews without giving him a real chance to be champion. Pick: Apollo Crews retains the title -- Brookhouse (also Silverstein, Crosby)
Rey Mysterio vs. Seth Rollins (Eye for an Eye)
One of the most unique -- and controversial -- stipulations in WWE history has been added to this long-term feud between one of the great WWE superstars of all time in Mysterio and a future hall of famer in his own right in Rollins. Putting aside that stipulation for a moment, this feud has already stretched months -- the seeds of it were actually planted back even earlier in December 2019 -- and does not look to be ending at this juncture. With it clear (at least in my mind) that WWE will blow off Mysterio-Rollins at SummerSlam in August, the result of this match must continue the feud. And the only way I see that working is with Rollins winning and ... yeah ... extracting Mysterio's eye. Considering they will either be using a prosthetic or going full CGI, actually predicting the finish is difficult. I believe it will be storyline-heavy, perhaps with Dominick Mysterio getting involved and somehow forcing his father to fight for his son's freedom for the second time in his young life (2005, Eddie Guerrero). So Rollins is going to win this, and they are going to have another big match where Mysterio finally gets over him at SummerSlam. I'm just not exactly sure how it's going to happen. Pick: Seth Rollins wins -- Silverstein (also Brookhouse, Crosby)
SmackDown Women's Championship: Bayley (c) vs. Nikki Cross
It's nice that Cross is getting another opportunity to challenge for Bayley's title -- and featuring Cross more is a good thing in WWE's women's division -- but she is not built up enough right now to be champion nor is the timing or storyline right to make the switch. Bayley is currently doing the best work of her career alongside Sasha Banks, and the extended, long-term teases to their eventual blow up make for the best and longest storyline WWE has going right now. The culmination of that should be when Bayley eventually loses the title or Banks realizes she's the only one who has still not received an opportunity after all this time. But having Bayley drop the title first while leaving them the women's tag team champions is not the right booking. Pick: Bayley retains the title -- Silverstein (also Brookhouse, Crosby)
Raw Women's Championship: Asuka (c) vs. Sasha Banks
The smart money may be on Asuka to retain here, but for all the teasing and building to Sasha vs. Bayley, how much better would it be if they held every piece of gold on Raw and SmackDown? Banks winning the title here allows her to fully play up that she isn't second fiddle in their friendship. Before Shayna Baszler made her return on Raw, there weren't a whole host of interesting matches for Asuka as champion. Even with Baszler back on TV, the most interesting women's title program available is a champion vs. champion match between Bayley and Sasha that headlines either SummerSlam or (the still unannounced) Evolution 2. Pick: Sasha Banks wins the title -- Brookhouse
While I can certainly see the scenario playing out as outlined above by my colleague Mr. Brookhouse, the prospect of two major women's title showdowns at SummerSlam featuring the Sasha-Bayley implosion for the SmackDown women's title and a rejuvenated Shayna Baszler taking another crack at the Raw women's title against the woman whom she dominated at Elimination Chamber is too good to pass on. Asuka retains here as that aforementioned implosion kicks into high gear heading into SummerSlam. Pick: Asuka retains the title -- Crosby (also Silverstein)
WWE Championship: Drew McIntyre (c) vs. Dolph Ziggler (Stipulation TBA)
There's no real curiosity as to who leaves the match as champion here; the only drama present is in what will be the stipulation. Ziggler is not ending the reign of McIntyre at an Extreme Rules show after showing up on Raw out of nowhere and demanding a title shot despite not being at "that level" in recent history. Instead, this is a stay-busy feud for McIntyre until he gets into his big SummerSlam program (Randy Orton?) where there is some threat of losing the title. The match should be a fun ride, however, even if we have no clue what it will look like. Pick: Drew McIntyre retains the title -- Brookhouse (also Silverstein, Crosby)
Braun Strowman (c) vs. Bray Wyatt (Wyatt Swamp Fight; non-title match)
Right from the moment it was announced that this rematch was not for the Universal Championship, my mind was made up: Wyatt is absolutely coming out victorious here. On his turf, Wyatt will push the record between the two former Wyatt Family teammates to 1-1, forcing the rubber match at SummerSlam -- the same show in which Wyatt debuted the "Fiend" one year ago. On that night, I fully expect "The Fiend" to regain the top title on the SmackDown brand. Pick: Bray Wyatt wins -- Crosby
In terms of the non-title stipulation, I get why many would believe that it ultimately means a win for the challenger in Wyatt. We thought the same thing in december when Miz faced the Firefly FunHouse version of Wyatt in a non-title match. Presumably, Miz would win and setup a challenge with The Fiend. Strowman is still a somewhat-newly crowned champion, and he has had zero momentum to this point. WWE is just figuring out his title-carrying character in this feud, and Strowman has already proven he can overcome his past going up against Wyatt. For me, the clear booking is to have Strowman beat Wyatt on his home turf, necessitating the return of The Fiend and one final challenge where Wyatt takes the title off Strowman at SummerSlam. Pick: Braun Strowman wins -- Silverstein (also Brookhouse)
