Tornado Match
for the WWE tag team championship
Team Hell No (Daniel Bryan & Kane) (c) vs. The Shield (Roman Reigns & Seth Rollins)
Although Team Hell No (Kane and Daniel Bryan) have been Tag Team champions for 245 days (since defeating R-Truth and Kofi Kingston at Night of Champions on September 16, 2012), they have failed to win a victory over The Shield (Seth Rollins, Roman Reigns, and Dean Ambrose).
Will the Tag Team champions, facing off against two-thirds of The Hounds of Justice, finally get a win over the young upstarts? Or will the challengers walk out of Extreme Rules with gold around their waists?
The Road to Extreme Rules
These teams first tangled at the end of 2012, when the invaders attacked Kane and Bryan on the November 26th and December 3rd editions of Monday Night Raw. As a result, The Shield faced off in their first WWE match against Team Hell No with Ryback on December 16, 2012 at TLC. And, in a tables, ladders and chairs match, emerged victorious.
After several more skirmishes between the two factions in 2013 and an attack on Kane's brother, The Undertaker, The Bothers of Destruction and The Dazzler were dealt another defeat by Ambrose, Rollins, and Reigns on the April 22, 2013 episode of Raw.
The fury of that six-man tag would be hard to top; most would not have thought that things could get more tense between the two teams. But when the trio followed up Undertaker's submission victory over Ambrose by putting the Dead Man though the announce table with their patented triple powerbomb, things got personal. Especially for Kane.
Evidence of this came when the teams faced off last Monday night, this time with WWE champion John Cena as the good guys third. Kane could not control his anger and was disqualified. Although that match ended with The Shield's first loss as a unit, both members of Hell No were eliminated before the finish - a fact that can't fill them with confidence heading into Sunday night.
To settle the dispute once and for all, a match for the Tag Team Championship was set for Extreme Rules on the May 17, 2013 episode of SmackDown. With tornado rules in effect, all four men can go to war without worrying about tags. But who does the stipulation favor - the vengeance-minded champs or the methodically viscous challengers?
What's at stake?
The right to call themselves the Tag Team champions, for a start. The Shield, as a unit, are have not lost by pinfall or submission. That claim could no longer made if they fail in their mission to claim the bronze eagles.
Will Team Friendship add to their epic reign? Or give Rollins and Reigns their first loss in two-man team competition?
What are your predictions, Cagesiders? Find out here tonight!