WWE Extreme Rules 2012: Santino (c) vs. The Miz [WWE United States Championship]

[Trill Co$by]

Even though it's airing in a Pre-Show match Sunday night at 7:30pm EST-USA time on Youtube, the match is still technically at Extreme Rules.

Announced this past week on Raw the former WWE Champion, 2x United States Champion, and Money in the Bank winner THE MIZ looks to regain some gold as he takes on the current champion and master of the Cobra, Santino for the United states title. Can the Miz turn his luck around and get some gold, or will he fall victim to the cobra?

Me personally, I like this idea by WWE. It reminds me of when Sunday Night Heat would come on before the PPVs. It's a nice way to get people amped up for Pay Per Views and drives more interest as well. Personally, I don't see Santino taking the loss here. If anything, this will be used as a way to get Santino over and to further build up for the rumored Santino vs. Otunga match. Of course, nothing is ever set in stone and Miz could eventually win.

 

[daddyJ_t]

what a fall from grace for the us title. at least it isnt a total dark match. but as much as i actually like the miz and find santino amusing, this could be exactly what santino needs to become somewhat legit. a former world champ vs santino? believe it or not, santino can wrestle a good match and he jus seems to be really untested unless its a stupid squash type match against irrelevent people. this has everything to gain for santino and everything to lose for the miz. i do think miz will put santino through the ringer and hopefully he will be able to pull out a serious match with a legit win instead of the fluke type wins hes been getting. this could actually put a little luster back into the us championship if done right. 2 great midcards fighting over a prestigous mid card title

 

[Str8Edge]

I really like this match just for the reason that it feels like it's brining prestige back to the U.S. title. Sure, it might be a live you tube match that's NOT on the PPV TV but its better than a dark match.

Say what you like about Santino but i believe he's earning his way up, and a match with an ex world champ further elevates him. Win or loss will still do great for him because it only means there will now be a feud in the waters. Especially if they throw Otunga in there I think we can have some interesting matches.

On a side note, the U.S. and Intercontinental title have seen the light of day lately. With Rhodes and ex world champ Show feuding, and what seems to be Del Rio inserting himself, with promos with Rhodes and matches with Show. And now this u.s. title match. I really like the direction these mid card tiles have taken. Hopefully this is the start of prestige.

 

[Punkanomics]

This match would be the perfect time to bring The Miz back to relevance. Lets face it,Santino's huge pops are gone. He still gets decent pops,but not the kind he got when he was still "the Milan Miracle". Santino NEEDS to to put Miz over tommorow night. That allows the U.S Title to get back to the prestige they had when Dolph had it. Or you can let the #1 comedy jobber of all time retain and make the U.S Title irrelavent again. But, I digress

 

[The Crock]

I really like this match just for the reason that it feels like it's brining prestige back to the U.S. title. Sure, it might be a live you tube match that's NOT on the PPV TV but its better than a dark match.

Bringing prestige back to the belt? Seriously? It's a glorified dark match, nothing more than that. The title went from being featured on PPVs while Daniel Bryan, Sheamus, Kofi Kingston, and Dolph Ziggler were holding it -- because the title meant something then -- but now it can't make the main card. Look, I liked the idea of Santino being the champion, but he hasn't done much with it, to be honest. He's a better champion than Jack Swagger was, but let's get ahead of ourselves here; the United States Championship means nothing, and this match isn't helping that.

I hope Miz can win the title, only because he's been lost in the shuffle as of late, and it wouldn't hurt for him to put together another great reign. With Miz as champion, the belt would already be better off than it is now. Just based off of a pure association with the WWE Championship, Miz means more than Santino does -- in the eyes of the fans, he's a bigger deal. If Miz would regularly defend the title against some decent competition, if he would actually make the belt seem important, I'd be happy.

That being said, I'm not sold on Miz winning the match just yet. WWE seems to be behind Santino as champion. Sure, Santino gets a good crowd reaction, but I'm just not liking him as champion. The night he won the reign, I was happy he had gotten it off of Swagger, and I was hopeful, but I just don't think a comedy wrestler (like Santino) is what the United States Championship needs to be associated with right now... Unless they want to make it even more of a joke.

I'm 50/50 on the result right now, but I can see it go either way. Miz is clearly higher up than Santino, but they could always use him to bolster Santino's resume, if they're committed to this push of his (which they seemingly are). Either way, I'm not really interested in it, as it's basically a dark match. They probably won't give anything more than a standard match away on Youtube, especially since it's just the lead-in to the PPV. I'm not expecting much.

 

[rerun406]

I wouldn't mind The Miz getting the belt, it would help give the title a bit more credibility

**any chance Otunga interferes and helps out/tries to cost Santino his belt?

 

[DrakeTvGuy]

What I would like to see-Miz wins, bringing prestige back by becoming the longest reigning U.S. Champion.
What I think I will see-Santino wins after the Cobra.

 

[Fugazi]

It's been said before but yeah, this totally feels like the new sunday night heat and they should totally do it for every PPV from now on. I remember years ago they would have like one match on the PPV card that was done during Heat and it was awesome. Usually tag team titles but a US title match with no build up works as well. I really really like this idea. Computers are what people use instead of TV's nowadays anyway so this doesn't hurt. I'll definitely be watching and I really hope they give the title to Miz so he can start rising again. Would love to see him maybe turn face down the line.

Another thought is Santino losing the belt here would be a good move so they can give him and Clay the tag belts and kind of try to strike a fire under the tag division to get it going with a crowd favorite team as champs for a while.

 

[Carlito_Orton]

I'll go with Santino, I mean it is a pre-show and singles titles rarely change hands on pre-shows, dark matches, house shows.But I can still see a slight chance of the Miz picking up the victory here.

I go into more detail here
[youtube]XOj5E1Q6Ku0[/youtube]

 

[conrad405]

i would really really like miz to win the US title he needs it and IMO i dont think comedy guys like SM should hold titles. i dont mind the comedy stuff but him holding a title NOPE i hate it.

we all know what will happen SM will win

 

[absolut_lows]

im sad that this is not a part of the ppv as i find santino very entertaining in and out of the ring ... but at least we can still see it ... i know ill be watching ... i dont think the title will change hands in a dark match

 

[damagecon]

i just want to say this first i hate comedy jokers of wwe like santino marella who have the title i dont mind his jokes and him as a wrestler i just dont think they need the title when it could be on someone better. with that said its a shame that its not on the ppv i would love to see miz win it he had a great run with the us title. we wont be santino marella lose sucks but true

 

[VencomHardcore]

I WILL GO ON A LIMB AND BE IN THE MINORTY ON THIS ONE.

I like the fact that it is on the pre-show. We all know that WWE Needs more PPV buys and that the US Belts hasn't been featured in a major fashion in some time. So the FREE Match before the PPV is the BEST THING FOR THE US BELT.

That FREE match will be seen by more people that those that purchase the PPV and for MIZ , it is a great way to get his face in front of more people. So on the grand scale , its a BIG WIN for him.

Santino DOESN'T need the belt. He is one of the most over talents on the roster that has been consistent with the fans. And he's the WWE'S go to guy to help get people over in a nontraditional way. [ Koslov , Beth Pheonix , Shaemus {{ London Tea Skit } ] Hell everyone that has worked with Santino has been better for it.

I think Santino will LOOSE giving MIZ the push back up the charts and BRODUS CLAY the HELP he needs to become a mainstay. Say what you will about the Milan Miracle but He is the person you want to be aligned with if you are in lower card hell or if creative has nothing for you.

If I was Tyler Reks, Hawkins, Kidd, JTG , Yoshi, I would be doing everything to get in a program with him because Santino is gold. Like him or not.

 

[rerun406]

^ well yeah good way to look at it, by being featured exclusively on the youtube pre-show this U.S. title match does get a bit more special attention ... oppose to just being another title match thrown on the PPV. And I am hoping for a win by the Miz as well.

**plus think about the night after on RAW, Miz could make a big fuss about how he won the title and it wasn't even on the PPV portion of Extreme Rules