6 things WWE subtly told us at Extreme Rules 2020: 3-time World Champion to retire soon, Real meaning behind bizarre 'Swamp fight' ending revealed (June 19th, 2020)

Welcome to things WWE subtly told us at Extreme Rules 2020! We have quite a bit to unpack here as it was a happening PPV with a decent bit of progression. While it certainly isn't a candidate for PPV of the year, Extreme Rules still delivered more than expected, especially since many felt the card lacked depth. But it continued WWE's trend of shortening PPVs and of course, WWE's usage of cinematic matches.

Let's jump right into it, starting with an eye for an eye!

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#6 What does the loss of Rey Mysterio's eyeball mean for his career after Extreme Rules?

Rey Mysterio lost to Seth Rollins

It looks like we won't be getting eyepatch Seth Rollins. The Monday Night Messiah defeated three-time WWE World Champion Rey Mysterio in their "Eye for an Eye" match at Extreme Rules and there was a brutal finish where Mysterio's eye was gouged out.

The impact of it was such that even Seth Rollins was nauseous after looking at what he did. While we can't be sure about how it's going to impact Seth Rollins' character, one thing is for sure - Dominik's presence in the end likely means that Rey Mysterio's WWE career could be wrapping up sooner than later.

For all we know, this could have been Rey Mysterio's final appearance, but we can't help but feel that we're going to see him back at some point. However, this won't be for an extensive run by any means. It'll likely be to wrap up and retire while passing the torch to Dominik for his inevitable debut.

All signs have been pointing to Dominik's debut and we don't doubt that Mysterio will be stepping back after Extreme Rules to give his son the spotlight.

#5 Unpacking the bizarre Swamp fight

We're left with a lot of questions

We know that there is and will be a heavily-polarizing opinion about the Swamp Fight at Extreme Rules. While many have criticized it without much understanding, we have to realize that there's a lot more underneath the surface that we can only understand after rewatching it multiple times.

Sure, there was a sense of the overall flow being a bit odd, but the Swamp Fight and the entire setting seemed to be a lot more about Braun Strowman and his inner journey than it was about Bray Wyatt itself.

Bray Wyatt technically "won" the fight, but the fight was only a small slice of it. The Swamp represented the past - the place where Braun Strowman came from and where Bray Wyatt tried to take him down an 'evil' path. We got a tease of Sister Abigail's appearance at Extreme Rules, only for Alexa Bliss to shockingly appear in the same outfit instead. She wasn't there, of course, but she represented a part of Braun Strowman's never-seen-before 'desire'. We only got a tease of a romance angle between them in the Mixed Match Challenge, but the MMC was a bubble in itself that had less to do with the other WWE storylines at the time.

The story was seemingly an allegory about Braun Strowman and the journey that Bray Wyatt was 'guiding' him through. Wyatt represented the evil and the side that Strowman desperately wanted to disassociate from, but struggled to do so. That was seen when he was 'attacked' by the Braun Strowman from the past at Extreme Rules.

We're sure that upon rewatching the Swamp Fight at Extreme Rules, we could find various easter eggs, but let's not be quick to write off the cinematic match just because we didn't understand it at first. The finish of Extreme Rules saw Braun Strowman get drowned out by Bray Wyatt while The Fiend returned, indicating that Braun Strowman vs The Fiend for the Universal Championship is what the direction is going to be at SummerSlam 2020.

The Eater of Worlds could be in the past forever now, while Braun Strowman may never be the same again after Extreme Rules.

#4 Bayley's rising star power and character growth

Another day, another win for Bayley

Time for something a bit lighter. It's been close to 300 days now that Bayley has held the SmackDown Women's Championship. At Extreme Rules, she faced Nikki Cross in a match that turned out to be far better than we expected.

Bayley has been the most dominant female Champion in SmackDown history and that continued as she defeated Nikki Cross to retain the title, closing in on a full year as the Champion.

Of course, it's no surprise that Sasha Banks assisted her win at Extreme Rules, but her rising star power, dominance, and character development has been one of the best in WWE - male or female. She's continued to improve her in-ring work as well while taking it to the next level as a heel.

We're interested to see what direction WWE decides to go with her for SummerSlam 2020, but after Extreme Rules, it's clear that we won't be getting the Sasha Banks-Bayley blow-off feud just yet.

We're fine with them holding it off until WrestleMania 37 next year if they keep going the way they are now. Bayley has been nothing short of incredible.

#3 Cesaro and Shinsuke Nakamura DO have The New Day's number

And New!

We predicted that Cesaro and Shinsuke Nakamura would beat The New Day at Extreme Rules to become the SmackDown Tag Team Champions and as it turns out, we were right. This is Cesaro's seventh reign as a Tag Team Champion in WWE and his second with the SmackDown Tag Team Championships.

For Shinsuke Nakamura, this is the first tag team gold he's had in his four-year stint with WWE and his accolades continue to pile up. He's a former NXT Champion, United States Champion, Intercontinental Champion, and now - SmackDown Tag Team Champion.

It was clear that the duo had The New Day's number after all their victories over them and The New Day's eight tag team title reign has ended at Extreme Rules. WWE needed to make that decision since the SmackDown Tag Team division was lacking quite a bit. The Miz and John Morrison have taken a backseat, The Forgotten Sons have been pulled from their spot thanks to Jaxson Ryker, while The Usos will be out of action for the foreseeable future.

It was the right direction to go in and the story of the duo having The New Day's number was perfectly played into in a solid tables match to open the Extreme Rules PPV.

#2 What's the meaning behind the Sasha Banks controversy?

Is Sasha Banks the new RAW Women's Champion?

Asuka and Sasha Banks went third last on the night and had a good match that ended with a lot of controversy at Extreme Rules. Asuka technically beat Sasha Banks clean by making her tap, but the referee didn't see it thanks to Bayley's distraction.

The Golden Role Models, as they're called now helped each other in their respective matches, but the finish to the RAW Women's Championship match at Extreme Rules was bizarre.

Thanks to a mix-up, Asuka spat green mist on the referee's eyes and this allowed Bayley the opportunity to smack her from behind with the Women's Tag Team title at Extreme Rules.

Usually in such scenarios, we see another referee come running down the ramp (most ironically, Charles Robinson in the WrestleMania 24 main event) to replace the fallen referee. Instead, Bayley put on the referee's shirt and counted the pin while forcing the person to ring the bell. Sasha Banks claimed the RAW Women's Championship and took it with her, but all indications suggest that she isn't the official Champion after Extreme Rules. Since Bayley has no authority as the referee, we can see WWE running this match back at SummerSlam 2020 with a big stipulation in place.

#1 Dolph Ziggler's purpose in the Drew McIntyre story

Dolph Ziggler had an interesting stipulation

One of the things that the WWE Championship match at Extreme Rules had going for it was the fact that Dolph Ziggler had the right to choose a stipulation but didn't reveal it until the PPV.

When the time came, he finally revealed what it would be - an Extreme Rules match...only for him. Also, if Drew McIntyre was counted out or disqualified, he would lose the Championship.

With the odds stacked against him, he would go on to defeat Dolph Ziggler at Extreme Rules in a solid match. While his last two title defenses were better, we thought this was a decent match as well.

However, WWE indirectly or directly confirmed that Dolph Ziggler was nothing but a filler opponent for Drew McIntyre to get him to SummerSlam. It's going to be interesting to see what direction he goes in for the biggest party of the summer. The two names floating around as his potential opponents are Brock Lesnar and Randy Orton.

Randy Orton would likely be a better opponent for SummerSlam and we hope that's the direction they take post-Extreme Rules.