With still no Braun Strowman for the long haul, it’s no secret that WWE has been circling the drain in recent weeks in terms of their ratings. As a matter of fact, Raw this past week recorded the second worst cable rating in the history of it being on the air.
So what does all of this mean? Well, it’s possible that, WWE could possibly be off the USA Network air by 2019. How? Well, WWE is currently in contract negotiations with NBC Universal and the poor ratings were discussed during their latest investors conference call and things aren’t looking good.
Extreme Rules, on the other hand, produced some good matches, but for some, almost everyone you didn’t want to win won their matches and retained or won new titles.
Intercontinental Championship (Ambrose can lose the title via DQ)– The Miz def. Intercontinental Champion Dean Ambrose via pinfall to win the title: There are lots of things you can say about the Miz- but you have to admit that he can pull a great match out of anyone. Dean Ambrose is no exception. Champion Ambrose avoided a disqualification loss on multiple occasions with referee John Cone trying his hardest to call the match right down the middle, giving plenty of warnings throughout. Maryse (as usual) tried to produce a DQ when she jumped onto the ring apron to purposely slap Miz. But instead of helping, she was ejected and sent back to the locker room. But on her way up the ramp, she argued with Cone long enough to create a distraction. This allowed Miz to push Ambrose into Cone, knocking the him out of the ring. Cone walked over to the timekeeper’s area and appeared ready to disqualify Ambrose, who was distracted from the match while arguing with him, and the Miz delivered a Skull Crushing Finale to Ambrose to get the win.
WWE RAW Women’s Championship (Kendo Stick on a Pole Match) — Women’s Champ Alexa Bliss def. Bayley via pinfall to retain: After the “This is Your Life†segment that Alexa Bliss put on  last week on Raw, many were expecting Bayley to give to Bliss the fight of a lifetime to get what was coming to her. Except… that never happened. Bliss had been saying for weeks that Bayley isn’t “extreme” enough to win a match like this, which requires one to utilize a weapon. Normally, Bliss utters out pure nonsense from time to time, but it turns out she was correct. In a one-sided match, Bliss took advantage of Bayley’s initial hesitation to use the kendo stick by hitting her with a spear and followed up with a sustained, deliberate beatdown. Bayley’s late attempt to reverse her fortunes via a Bayley-to-Belly suplex proved short-lived. One more kendo shot to the back and a DDT and it was all over.
WWE RAW Tag Team Championship (Steel Cage) — Sheamus & Cesaro def. Tag Team Champs The Hardy Boyz by escaping the cage to win the titles: Many were expecting for The Hardy Boyz to win, considering that they’re never afraid to get extreme. There were the big spots one would expect from The Hardyz, including Jeff Hardy’s Whisper in the Wind from the top of the cage. With the stipulation being that both team members must escape the cage in order to win (why?), Jeff deleted (do you get it?) his early exit by rejoining the match late. As Cesaro and Sheamus furiously climbed over the cage wall, Matt was forced to drag his lifeless brother (injured from the Whisper in the Wind off the top of the cage) to the door in order to beat them out. In a dramatic race, the heels of Sheamus and Cesaro hit the floor first to allow the titles to change hands.
WWE Universal Title No. 1 Contender Fatal 5-Way– Samoa Joe def. Finn Balor (via submission), Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins and Bray Wyatt: Well, well, well. Talk about a surprise. If you bet that anyone but Samoa Joe would have won this match, in the words of Warner Wolf, “You lost!†The most unlikely of the five superstars booked for a shot at Lesnar’s universal championship will get his opportunity at Great Balls of Fire in July as Joe capped a “thrilling†main event with an upset victory. After Balor packaged a Slingblade, missile dropkick and Coup de Grace finisher to set up a pin on Reigns, Joe jumped in the ring and applied a Coquina Clutch from behind to put Balor to sleep. You know, the same thing that happened in a match between Balor, Joe, and Wyatt a week earlier on Raw.
In the end, all five contributed to what should be a match of the year contender but WWE might have made a mistake. Roman Reigns should have won that match.
Triple H told Sports Illustrated earlier this year: “People can look at Roman Reigns and say, ‘The failed attempt that is Roman Reigns,’ but Roman Reigns sells tickets.”
And WWE needs to sell tickets if they want to get their ratings off the ground.
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