WWE present Extreme Rules tonight on pay-per-view and iFight365.com will have full, live coverage as it happens from around 7.30pm EST/12.30am BST.

Ahead of the show, we’re taking a look ahead to how the night may pan out with a two-part bumper PPV preview courtesy of Mark Bright, Phil Lowe and Michael Campbell.

Part One takes a look at some of the matches on the undercard while part two, to follow later today, will look at the major title matches on tonight’s show…

Submission Match
- John Cena vs. Big Show

Michael Campbell: Snore. Their collision last month at Judgement Day stunk the joint up, so who’s to expect anything different? Especially given their stip – A SUBMISSION MATCH? It is neither man’s speciality and in fact, both guys are fairly laughable at pulling off supposed submissions. That said, the story going in here, is “can Cena apply his crappy STFU?” Logic would therefore suggest, that he will do so, and thus win, especially as he is of course, superhuman.

However, Big Show, for all the huffing and puffing that he’s been rebuilt as a major force, needs to win some high profile bouts such as this, to lend credibility to that selling point. I’m going with Show to win, but Cena will pass out, rather than quit. Winner: Big Show.

Mark Bright: Their previous matches and the angles on RAW the last couple of weeks have both established that Show can make Cena pass out to the Camel Clutch and also that Show is too big for Cena to properly apply the STFU. That suggests a finish where Cena, after trying and failing to apply the hold, is able to get it on, and hopefully get a huge pop for doing so and wins the match. That’s the decisive finish needed and hopefully Orton doesn’t get saddled with more shit with Batista and HHH for too much longer so we can get the Cena/Orton feud that RAW’s crappy main event scene needs. I think this result buries Show, but Cena loses far too often for a top babyface and if you’re going to bury one guy, choosing between the biggest star in the company who should have the shows built around him and anyone else on the roster at all, then you put Cena over.

Phil Lowe: The fact I forgot about this match when writing up the card and then again when first writing preview pieces for tonight’s show is a good indication of how important it is. While the booking of this feud may have been decent in places over the past few weeks, a Submission Match on a PPV is always going to be a hard sell.

The story will no doubt be whether or not Cena can apply the STFU (STF if you’re a kid reading this) and I have no doubts that he will indeed lock it in to end the match. Having Show go would be bad for Cena, but while I’m inclined to say Cena wins here, I wouldn’t be surprised if they come up with a way to have neither guy look like a loser. Personally, I’d either have The Miz interfere to cost Cena the win, or have Cena pass out, allowing them to spin things and say Cena didn’t submit.

Samoan Strap Match
- CM Punk vs. Umaga

Phil Lowe: I’m interesting to see how this one pans out. I don’t see it going over well with the live crowd but I could be wrong. A strap match is a rarity in WWE and these two are more than capable of putting on a good match. If it was a normal strap match, I’d say Punk wins, but even though WWE have a tendancy to go down the ‘Its Wrestler X’s speciality match so Wrestler X must lose’ road, I think Umaga wins here with it being billed as a ‘Samoan’ strap match.

Regardless of the outcome, I think its only a matter of time before one or both of these guys are at the main event level. The feud may well continue tonight, but what chances of Punk losing to Umaga before cashing in his Money in the Bank title shot before the night is out?

Michael Campbell: I’m actually looking forward to this, if only because it’s something different. Strap matches are undervalued these days and overlooked when it comes to advancing rivalries. I’ve previously seen Punk make the most of violent stips such as Dog Collar bouts, which leads me to believe he could have some nifty tricks up his sleeves. And Umaga has proven himself more than adept in a speciality setting, so hopefully these two click once more.

However, it should be pointed out that on Smackdown this week, Punk scored a clean pinfall victory over Umaga. Huh? So they have the babyface soundly defeat the heel in the build-up? Crazy stuff that suggests Umaga might pick up the win. In itself, that would be fine…except Punk (the Money in the Bank Holder remember), will again have done the job on consecutive PPVs. He really needs to be getting big wins on PPVs, where non-Smackdown viewers can begin to accept him as a major star, otherwise he’ll never rise up the ranks.

Either way, I expect it’ll be a close call and a sneaky win for Punk, though that’s optimism as much as anything. Umaga will perhaps retaliate after the bell, and send this into another month. Winner: CM Punk.

Mark Bright: A match I can’t wait for. I know that stylistically the strap match is something that some people find very hard to get into because the nearfalls take the time it takes to drag a guy around three corners of the ring and attempting to reach a fourth. But in some cases, most notably Vader vs. Sting at WCW SuperBrawl III, the pure violence and creativity that the strap allows you to add to your regular spots can create something really memorable.

Umaga is a fantastic loose cannon monster, and the idea of the huge dude strapping the fuck out of Punk and Punk selling for him and firing up with gutsy babyface comebacks is a formula I really can’t see failing. They had a really good singles match on SmackDown that established Punk can beat Umaga, but the obvious spot in this match where Punk hits the Go To Sleep only for him to then be unable to lift his dead weight opponent will lead to some great drama as Punk tries to, maybe even has to, wake the guy up so he doesn’t sandbag.

The way the feud has gone, with Umaga preventing Punk from cashing in Money in the Bank several times, as well as beating him in his hometown would suggest that Punk wins, as would the fact that the match has been pushed as Umaga’s speciality since it was he who made the challenge and has used the strap to attack Punk on a few ocassions, since nobody wins their speciality match all that often in WWE (look at Kane’s record in Inferno matches as an example).

If the feud is ending here, you’d assume Punk is winning, but I think they will keep these two together for another month or maybe more, so I’m going for Umaga to win so he can establish the strap match as “his” and have a win to back it up.

Fatal Four Way Match for the United States Championship
- Kofi Kingston (C) vs. MVP vs. Matt Hardy vs. William Regal

Michael Campbell: This is an intriguing one indeed. On paper, this combination of players is a fresh PPV match and it should result in a quality encounter, if they’re allocated enough time to shine. All four can go, and the recent title win for Kofi should lend a little boost to his role. Hopefully he doesn’t drop the title and I’m guessing he’ll pin Matt Hardy for the win, because well, it’s Matt Hardy. Winner: Kofi Kingston.

Mark Bright: I thought this show was all Extreme Rules? They’re really stretching that concept if the only gimmick for this match is “it has four people in it instead of two,” as if that’s some novel concept that guarantees violence.

In terms of booking this is easy, as after Kingston won the title from MVP in a really good match, it would be a huge mistake for him to drop the title so soon, especially given how they got the crowd to react to the title change as if it was a big deal.

It would probably also be for the best if Kofi won by pinning MVP again, so you can build some frustration there that might lead to a heel turn, which is a good idea for several reasons. Firstly, anyone who has watched MVP’s career knows he’s far better as a heel. Secondly, it allows the feud with Kofi to continue. Thirdly, it may allow him to move up the card faster since Raw already has Cena, HHH, Michaels and Batista on the babyface side, where the heel side is only Orton and Big Show as far as top guys.

Hardy and Regal have basically been added to the match on the premise that they are Vickie Guerrero’s henchmen, but I think that’s just to do the “guys start teaming but evenutally the match is every man for himself and that means the strategy falls apart” thing. I’d imagine this opens the show.

Phil Lowe: Granted, its a match that has been put together late in the day, but this could still be tons of fun. I’d have it open the show, given them a good fifteen minutes or show and just let them get the crowd hot to set the scene for the rest of the PPV. Kofi goes into the match as the new U.S champion and taking the belt off him so soon makes little sense. I’d book the match to have Kofi pin MVP and have those two feud over the belt taking us through the summer.

Hog Pen Match for the Miss WrestleMania title
- Vickie Guerrero vs. Santina Marella

Michael Campbell: I really couldn’t care less about this feud. Comedy has it’s place in pro wrestling, but this storyline has seen Santino’s humour dry up, particularly in relation to his “Santina” fem-bot variation. However, the fans are still into him, so I’d expect Santino to take back the title of “Miss WrestleMania” and move on.

Hopefully they find something new for him to do soon though, as his act is too good to be wasted by simply going through the motion. He could easily be used as a foil to a bigger star in the way The Miz recently has with Cena. Winner: Santina.

Phil Lowe: A Hog Pen match without The Godwinns just isn’t right and the only thing that will make me happy to see this on PPV is a pre-match video package showing Triple H bumping around in the mud back in the 90s against Henry O. Hopefully this will be short and I’d expect a bunch of run-ins (Chavo, Beth, hell perhaps Hillbilly Jim and The Godwinns will make a cameo). Nobody is a winner here.

Mark Bright: Seriously? This is what passes for comedy relief bullshit nowadays? Fuck. The Santina joke got old quickly and this is not the way to rescue it. And Vickie as this comedy character to be humiliated rather than the unhinged power hungry “EXCUUUUUUUUUSE ME!” awesome General Manager she was on SmackDown is a huge letdown.

There is one way to rescue this, however, and that’s to expose the Santina as Santino thing. The way you do that is have Vickie win with help from Chavo, Matt Hardy and William Regal (since they’ve been established as henchmen for her), Beth Phoenix and Rosa Mendes (because they’re feuding with Santino), and just have Santina/o beaten down and humiliated, then he can come back as a babyface with a more serious edge to him (while still keeping the comedica aspects that made him popular in the first place) as he feuds with Regal, Hardy and Chavo in the midcard over the summer, as those three, with the help of Rosa and Beth (maybe even turning Rosa babyface at some point) could be a decent midcard fued over the summer without Hog Pen matches and cross dressing.