Extreme Rules 2018: 5 most shocking decisions

The recently concluded Extreme Rules took place at the PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The tenth event under the chronology had a stacked up match card with twelve matches, including two in the preshow.

The night saw multiple title changes, some shocking and some not so much. While The B-Team defeated Matt Hardy and Bray Wyatt for the Raw Tag Team Championship, AJ Styles successfully retained his WWE Title against Rusev.

Fans also witnessed some jaw-dropping moments with the return of Randy Orton as a heel, and Kevin Owens getting dropped off from the steel cage onto the announcer's table at the hands of Braun Strowman.

With another successful event with its share of ups and downs, here are five such shocking decisions from the show.

Honorable Mention: Team Hell No not winning the gold - Kane and Daniel Bryan reunited in the form of Team Hell No and challenged The Bludgeon Brothers for the SmackDown Tag-team championship. Harper and Rowan attacked the babyfaces backstage before the match even began. While there could have been a different finish to the contest with The Miz costing Daniel Bryan the opportunity, thus rekindling the rivalry between the two, Bryan and Kane losing clean comes as a big surprise.

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#5 IC Title match main-eventing the show

In the absence of Brock Lesnar and the Universal Championship, fans were expecting the WWE Championship match to headline the event and close the show. There were even rumors about Lashley and Reigns to main-event the night. But WWE swerved the fans with the 30-minute Iron Man Match between Seth Rollins and the Intercontinental Champion Dolph Ziggler headlining the show.

While the two superstars didn't disappoint and put on an enthralling encounter, the decision of putting the IC title match going after WWE Championship match demeans the latter and the title holder in AJ Styles. It also validated WWE's preference of RAW over Smackdown Live as the flagship show. The officials continue to make the red brand superior with a mid-card title getting more importance than the prized WWE title.

#4 Jeff Hardy losing in 6 seconds

The lowblow party continues. — The low blow party continues.

Make no mistake about it, Shinsuke Nakamura deserved to win the United States Championship after coming short of the coveted WWE Championship on a plethora of occasions. Fans were eagerly waiting for the match between him and Jeff Hardy and were expecting a classic encounter between two of the most technically sound performers of the current generation.

A low blow before the start of the match followed by a Kinshasa after the bell rang was all that required for Nakamura to pick up the victory and hold his first title on the main roster. Though this style of win suits Nakamura's heel gimmick, a well fought out contest would've elevated the title and have Hardy have his moments too.

#3 Randy Orton heel turn

Finally, the Randy Orton everone had been waiting for. — Finally, the Randy Orton everyone had been waiting for.

In one the most significant moments of the night, Randy Orton made his return to WWE after undergoing a successful knee surgery that had rendered him out of action for two months. In a surprising manner, "The Viper" attacked Jeff Hardy, following his loss at the hands of Shinsuke Nakamura, turning heel in the process once again.

The injury came as a blessing in disguise as it helped Orton come out of his unappealing vanilla babyface personality which had failed to get over with the fans. His best work has always come with him portraying a ruthless villain, and maybe the time has come for Orton to unleash his most adored and prominent gimmick, "The Legend Killer."

#2 The B-Team winning the Tag-team Championships

The title change noone had expected. — The title change no one had expected.

In arguably the biggest upset of the night, the team of Bo Dallas and Curtis Axel defeated the Deleter of Worlds (Bray Wyatt and Matt Hardy) for the RAW Tag-team Championship in the opening match of the evening. The "B-Team" is officially undefeated, and with the titles around their waist, would be on a whole different momentum going into SummerSlam.

It's still unclear as to why WWE put two jobbers over the highly adored team of Hardy and Wyatt when teams like Revival and Authors of Pain don't have any storyline as of present. With "The biggest event of the summer" just a month away, the creative needs to have bonafide challengers for the prestigious championship before it starts becoming irrelevant.

#1 Roman Reigns losing clean

In a highly anticipated match with excellent back and forth action, Bobby Lashley handed Roman Reigns a defeat nobody had ever expected. WWE has always booked Reigns as the poster boy of the company who would fight back from the most difficult of situations to prevail into victory. But to the delight of the WWE Universe, Lashley emerged victorious after a vicious spear and successfully made his mark as a main-event superstar.

Come to SummerSlam next month, Brock Lesnar might finally meet his match in the form of Bobby Lashley, who would be in astounding momentum after winning the biggest match of his career.

As for Roman Reigns, he may get booked in a rivalry involving Seth Rollins against the duo of Dolph Ziggler and Drew McIntyre. Or maybe a returning Dean Ambrose could play a role against the "Big Dog."

Edited by Shiven Sachdeva