The Keg Stand: Daniel Bryan vs. Sheamus Will Have an Interesting Match at Extreme Rules

The WWE Extreme Rules Pay-Per-View will be in Chicago on April 29. The Chicago crowd has a history of cheering the heel opponents of babyface champions. Some famous examples are WWE Champion John Cena vs. Triple H at WrestleMania 22, Women's Champion Trish Stratus vs. Mickie James at WrestleMania 22, and WWE Champion John Cena vs. CM Punk at Money in the Bank 2011. Other examples include Intercontinental Champion Rey Mysterio vs. Chris Jericho at Judgment Day 2009 and World Heavyweight Champion Randy Orton vs. Christian at Money in the Bank 2011. After Extreme Rules, World Heavyweight Champion Sheamus vs. Daniel Bryan will be added to that list.

The "Yes" chants from the WWE crowd will make a return at Extreme Rules. If you thought the Miami crowd was epic, just wait until you see Chicago. The Chicago crowd is smarky, but they also love Daniel Bryan. I don't know much about the history of Daniel Bryan and Chicago, but I read that Chicago is considered Daniel Bryan's second home. Daniel Bryan spent most of his career in Ring of Honor and Ring of Honor is very popular in Chicago. I think Ring of Honor made several visits to Chicago when Daniel Bryan was in Ring of Honor so that is probably why Chicago loves Daniel Bryan in the WWE. I have witnessed the last two WWE PPVs in Chicago that Daniel Bryan was at and I do agree that Chicago loves Daniel Bryan. He got a great crowd reaction at both events and I think the reaction will be just as strong at Extreme Rules because Daniel Bryan is getting more popular and people are angry about his WrestleMania match.

The question I'm wondering about is how much will Daniel Bryan get cheered? Will he get some support, but not a lot of support like Christian did at Money in the Bank? Will there be a 50-50 split like it was during the Chris Jericho vs. Rey Mysterio match at Judgment Day? Will he get full support like CM Punk and Triple H got during their matches against John Cena? Those are the questions I don't know the answer to. I think he will get more cheers than Christian got, but less cheers than CM Punk got. Will he get more or less cheers than Chris Jericho at Judgment Day? I don't know. I want to say more, but I wouldn't be shocked if it was less. I am also curious to see how the crowd reacts to Sheamus. I think Sheamus will get booed, but that's not really because Chicago doesn't like Sheamus. Chicago doesn't boo all of the babyfaces and I do think Chicago likes Sheamus, but I think they like Daniel Bryan a little bit more. Sheamus will probably be viewed as the enemy at Extreme Rules after what he did to Daniel Bryan at WrestleMania. I don't think Sheamus will get a lot of boos, but it might be more than people would expect a babyface like Sheamus to get.

Enough about how the crowd might react...how about the actual match? The one interesting thing about Daniel Bryan in Chicago is that in his two Chicago PPVs, he has won his first ever WWE title and won the Money in the Bank match that helped him become the World Heavyweight Champion. What can Daniel Bryan do to top those performances? Steal the show. Daniel Bryan has stole the show before at a PPV, but the last time that happened was probably Bragging Rights 2010. It would be a huge accomplishment for Daniel Bryan if he had the best match of a PPV that included Chicago's own CM Punk and the WWE PPV return of Brock Lesnar. Can the Daniel Bryan and Sheamus steal the show? I think they can. Brock Lesnar vs. John Cena could be one of those matches that doesn't live up the hype. This probably won't be the only Lesnar vs. Cena match so the match might not be a classic. As for CM Punk vs. Chris Jericho, it could be a classic, but it could be a disappointment if people are expecting it to be just like Cena vs. Punk. Daniel Bryan and Sheamus will have a two out of three falls match and it could end up being the longest match of the night. They might want to try to show the world what their WrestleMania match would have looked like if they got more than 18 seconds. The match will be the third most important match of the night, so it might surprise people who are buying the PPV only to see the CM Punk match and the Brock Lesnar match.

If you watch Extreme Rules in two weeks, enjoy the Cena vs. Lesnar and Punk vs. Jericho matches. I expect them to be great matches. But don't forget to watch the Daniel Bryan vs. Sheamus match. It could be one of those matches that people will remember long after Daniel Bryan and Sheamus are retired from professional wrestling.