WWE Extreme Rules 2011: Christian vs. Alberto Del Rio Just Got Interesting

[Black Death]

By Big Nasty (Featured Columnist) on April 29, 2011

The 2011 WWE Draft was born out of necessity as SmackDown was in dire need of star power, but the end product of mixing and matching WWE Superstars on a shotgun episode of RAW has altered the course of WWE's future.

What was previously a sure-fire coronation, of Alberto Del Rio going over as World Champion in his ladder match against the red hot Christian, has suddenly turned into a large uncertainty that carries the majority of any intrigue implied in this card.

One of the more high profile draft selections this past week on RAW saw Alberto Del Rio switch to the RAW Brand after spending the entirety of his brief WWE career on SmackDown. With WWE Champion the Miz also on the RAW brand, Del Rio's chances of becoming a World Champion, once sky high, have abruptly come back down to Earth.  

The worst kept secret currently in WWE is that Albert Del Rio is being groomed to be a future World Champion. Plans have been in place to put the World Championship on the upstart star for months, however in true WWE fashion, plans were changed.

With Edge stepping down as World Champion, Del Rio suddenly became the obvious choice as his successor. Del Rio has been surging up the WWE ranks in a short period of time, and it has been well documented that WWE higher ups (mainly Vince McMahon) do not see Christian as World Championship material.  

But while Edge retiring seemed to have created an obvious opening for Del Rio to take the ball, the poignant retirement of Edge has also given way to what would be the feel good story of the year if Edge's real life best friend Christian captured the World Championship for the first time.

A World Championship victory for Christian would not come out of nowhere, nor would it seem forced. Christian returned to WWE following a pectoral injury like a house afire, being booked to consecutively go over Del Rio in a series of matches leading up to WrestleMania.

Christian has almost acted as an understudy to Edge in the ongoing feud between Edge and Del Rio, and Christian being named a No. 1 contender for the vacated World Championship makes complete sense.

With Christian dodging the WWE draft bullets, fired off from this week's early week festivities, to remain on SmackDown, the most likely scenario in the Christian-Del Rio ladder match at Extreme Rules will see the Christian crowned as the next World Champion.

WWE has historically become more tempted to pull last minute swerves the more predictable an outcome seems. Ironically enough, the last swerve they pulled was making the call to have Edge upset Del Rio as World Champion in the opening match of WrestleMania 27. The match would prove to be Edge's last and Edge's victory turned retirement is the reason the World Championship is currently vacant.

WWE could certainly write themselves out of having two champions on one show should Del Rio become victorious with a trade storyline being a viable example.  

The position of the World Championship match should be a good indication of who will capture their first ever World Championship.

If the match is slated to go on last, all signs would point to Christian winning the title in dramatic fashion with Edge and a host of babyface Superstars coming down to celebrate as the pay-per-view goes off the air.



These does leads to a possibly because of what happen at the draft ... also rumor is that Jericho is going to be at Extreme Rules ... Him going to smackdown could make for a interesting feud with Christan as champion

[Jonny Worldbeater]

I wouldn't count on it, but it'd be fucking awesome.