Brock Lesnar has hardly been seen since winning the Universal Championship at WrestleMania 33. But the Beast Incarnate is going to have to come out of hibernation soon, as his next challenger will be determined this Sunday at Extreme Rules.
Raw will be throwing arguably their five biggest stars into one match, a fatal five-way, to determine the new number one contender. The match will feature superstars that have long histories with each other, from Rollins and Reigns’ brotherhood to Finn Balor and Samoa Joe’s NXT title saga.
When all of these titans clash, it will be quite a sight. Part of the reason it will be so exciting is all of these superstars have a reasonable chance to win. Sure, Finn Balor is more likely to take home the victory than Samoa Joe, but anyone of these guys would make credible challengers to Lesnar.
Since there are so many possible winners and directions for WWE to take this, there are a lot of ways the fatal five-way can end at Extreme Rules. Factoring in all the possible winners, interferences, and sequences that could end the match, we’ve come up with five possible finishes to this possible Match of the Year candidate.
#5 No Contest
This is the option nobody wants, but as in any wrestling match, it’s at least possible. We saw it as recently as this past Tuesday on SmackDown when the women’s number one contender’s elimination match ended in a no contest, leading to the first-ever women’s Money in the Bank Match.
However, if the fatal 5-way were to end in a no contest, things wouldn’t be as easily resolved. First of all, it isn’t possible to have a 6-man Universal Championship match or something similar. Brock Lesnar is a beast, but those are some ridiculous odds to ask him to face. It just wouldn’t happen.
And since they won’t just give every competitor a title shot, they would have to pick who to give it to. How exactly would they do that? Would they just gauge the performance of each superstar in the match and decide, for example, that Finn Balor and Roman Reigns looked the best? Probably not.
So with those options likely ruled out, in the event of a no contest, what would WWE do? Well, they would probably have to determine a number one contender some other way, and that would make the main event at Extreme Rules feel like a complete waste.
This outcome is extremely (no pun intended) unlikely to happen, but it’s a possibility in the most technical way possible.
#4 One of the favourites wins clean
With a no contest being the most unlikely option, let’s switch to the most likely option: one of the favourites winning clean. For the sake of this argument, we’re going to identify the favourites as Finn Balor, Roman Reigns, and Seth Rollins.
Aside from being one of the logical favourites from the beginning, Balor was pegged as one of the favourites by Paul Heyman himself. Seeing the Demon King go one on one with Brock Lesnar would be quite a sight, and with Balor likely to recapture the Universal title at some point, it would make sense to get him to the main event as soon as possible.
Seth Rollins has feuded with Lesnar in the past and they produced some amazing matches and moments. However, their feud was never fully resolved after Rollins pulled off the heist of the century at WrestleMania 31. He and Lesnar had a title match at Battleground 2015 that was interrupted by The Undertaker, so Lesnar and Rollins still have some unfinished business.
As for Roman Reigns, well, it’s pretty obvious why he’s a favourite. He’s still being pushed as the biggest star in WWE and is destined to face Lesnar in the near future, likely in a title match. The only question is how near that future really is.
It’s pretty likely that one of these three walks out of Extreme Rules as number one contender after winning the match cleanly, making this one of the most distinct possibilities.
#3 One of the underdogs wins clean
If the favourites winning is a possibility, then one of the underdogs winning also has to be a possibility. And by the process of elimination, Samoa Joe and Bray Wyatt are the two men that qualify as underdogs in this fatal 5-way match.
It’s not that these two aren’t credible superstars; they are, but neither of them has been booked in a fashion that suggests they should be facing Brock Lesnar anytime soon.
Samoa Joe is a force, but he hasn’t done much on the main roster. Hopefully, he’ll eventually be treated like the dominant monster he should be, but he hasn’t been thus far. Therefore, facing Lesnar should not be in the cards for the former NXT Champion just yet.
As for Wyatt, he’s constantly toeing the line between main-eventer and mid-carder. He always seems to be right on the cusp of a breakthrough before WWE tears him right back down. They don’t seem to want to give him big victories, so the odds he wins the fatal five-way are pretty slim.
But with WWE, you never know. Our theories behind why these guys are unlikely to win are all based in logic, which WWE doesn’t always use. After all, Jinder Mahal went from jobber to WWE Champion in a matter of 6 weeks, so you never know.
#2 Interference leads to victory
Something you always have to keep in mind with a match like this is the possibility for interference. There are no disqualifications in a fatal five-way match, so anyone and everyone can make their presence known and influence the outcome. Yeah, my ‘Strowman sense’ is tingling too.
He’s just one of a few guys who could interfere in this match, but he probably makes the most sense. He still has unfinished business with Roman Reigns which was only put on hold due to a poorly timed elbow injury. But with the Monster Among Men only expected to miss 4-6 weeks, he should be back soon.
Although he won’t be cleared to return to action by Extreme Rules, that doesn’t mean he can’t make a quick run-in and destroy Reigns. Strowman would probably hurt him enough to the point where he can’t compete, eliminating one of the favourites and leading to victory for someone else.
There are a few other possibilities for run-ins too. Perhaps Gallows and Anderson to help Balor (Balor Club, anyone?), or Triple H to help Samoa Joe.
Interference leading to the end of the match is a definite possibility here considering the circumstances. Don’t bank on the five participants of the match being the only ones getting in on the action.
#1 A double pin
This is an interesting one. Double pins aren’t used very often, but if it’s used here, we could end up with one of the most interesting title matches ever. It would probably mean Brock Lesnar would defend his Universal Championship in a triple threat.
We’ve seen Lesnar in this type of match before and it was arguably the Match of the Year of 2015. He defended against Seth Rollins and John Cena at the Royal Rumble in a match where he was put through an announce table and made a monstrous comeback.
If a double pin at Extreme Rules means we could see a match of similar quality, then, by all means, it should happen. There’s not one superstar who’s the clear favourite in this match, rather there are three. So maybe two of them could pin their opponents at the same time and we get a match-up that involves Balor, Reigns and Lesnar at Great Balls of Fire.
Those contrasting in-ring styles would make for an insane match, one likely comparable to the aforementioned Rollins vs Cena vs Lesnar match. There are two powerhouses and one great technical wrestler involved, so they could go a lot of directions with potential big spots in the match.
Obviously, a double pin is never a likely outcome. It happens so rarely that it’s always going to be unwise to predict it. But one thing’s for sure, if it does happen, it could lead to an amazing triple threat match between three incredible superstars.
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