Extreme Rules, credit: wwe.com
Ranking all 8 pay-per-views in the history of WWE’s Extreme Rules.
The concept of having a full card of gimmick matches began in 2007 for the WWE. Operating ECW’s original show, “One Night Only” it only seemed fitting that all the matches should be contested the same way old-school ECW was, without any rules. So for the 07′ and 08′ One Night Stand pay-per-views, the company tagged on “Extreme Rules” to it. It was the following year in 2009 when the One Night Stand portion was dropped from it due to the imminent demise of the ECW brand and Extreme Rules became it’s very own PPV.
From that first show in 2009 until present day, for the most part, the Extreme Rules PPVs have been solid. Some, in fact, have been outstanding. And it makes sense because a lot of times the gimmick match can really ramp up the aggression in a feud. Two guys who’ve been ready to tear each other to shreds over the course of a couple months now get to do so with a bevy of weapons and gadgets. It’s only when the matches at this show get silly that the product suffers. And by silly, it’s matches like extreme pudding and extreme makeover should have no place in the proceedings.
So with the next installment of Extreme Rules set to run in just a couple of weeks, it’s time to look back and rank all 8 of the past PPVs.
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8. Extreme Rules 2015
As alluded to in the opener, none of the Extreme Rules shows have been bad per se, but the 2015 installment was the weakest. But let’s start with the good. The New Day won their first of two tag titles in a very good match Cesaro and Tyson Kidd. Dolph Ziggler’s “Kiss Me Arse” bout with Sheamus was a decent, although the ending was pretty silly. And believe it or not, the Roman Reigns vs. Big Show Last Man Standing Match was quite possibly the bout of the night.
But on to the bad. The Dean Ambrose vs. Luke Harper Chicago Street Fight was just lazy. The two started off in the ring, then went backstage and commandeered a vehicle together, only to come back about half hour later to finish the bout. The main event was about as disappointing as it gets as Randy Orton and Seth Rollins battled for WWE Championship in a cage. On paper, that should’ve been really good. It wasn’t. It was marred by outside interference by Kane and J&J Security and it just never reached the level it should of.
Throw in a boring Russian Chain Match between John Cena and Rusev and 7-minute Divas Title Match between Nikki Bella and Naomi and you have clear cut number 8 for this list.
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7. Extreme Rules 2013
What hurts the 2013 Extreme Rules show is that there really wasn’t a truly great match. Sure, John Cena got the most he could out of Ryback in a Last Man Standing Match that turned out to be just decent and the Triple H vs. Brock Lesnar cage Match was also a solid bout. But outside of those two, the card was bit dull. Between the horrendous Sheamus vs. Mark Henry Strap Match, the boring Randy Orton vs. Big Show Extreme Rules Match, and the burial of Fandango, an argument can be made that this card should be at No. 8.
But with all that aside, this night became about one thing: The Shield. Having debuted on the main roster just six months earlier and after running roughshod through the WWE roster, the heel trio all walked out of St. Louis that night with title belts. Dean Ambrose dethroned Kofi Kingston for the United States title and Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns captured the World Tag Team titles from Team Hell No. Sure, the group had already made their mark on the WWE with their brute force, but this was the night they proved they were three of the best young talents in the company.
These days all three members of The Shield are major players in the main event scene and all three have been world champions. So when going back and critiquing this card, maybe the matches weren’t up to snuff but it’s future implications are immeasurable.
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6. Extreme Rules 2010
The 2010 Extreme Rules may not be the worst of it’s kind but it might just be it’s most disappointing. This card was absolutely stacked. Listen to these three matches. Randy Orton versus Jack Swagger in an Extreme Rules Match for World Heavyweight Championship. Triple H versus Sheamus in a Street Fight. And Edge vs. Chris Jericho in a steel cage. Sounds great, right? Unfortunately, none of those matches lived up to their expectations, although the Edge vs. Jericho match wasn’t that bad. But fans were expecting so much more.
But it wasn’t all bad. CM Punk and Rey Mysterio did battle in their amazingly underrated feud of 2010. On this night in Baltimore, they dueled it out in a match where if Punk lost, he’d have to shave his head. Punk prevailed in a very good match. The main event was a Last Man Stranding Match between John Cena and Batista for the WWE Championship. Not the greatest version of this bout of all-time, but close.
If the three matches that disappointed had lived upitsit’s expectations, this could’ve been one of the best Extreme Rules of all-time. But they didn’t and it falls to third worst. What a shame.
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5. Extreme Rules 2014
The strength of the 2014 Extreme Rules came on the back of one match. However, this match was a classic. One of the best in Extreme Rules history. The match in question was the 6-man, No Holds Barred Match between all three members of The Shield against former Evolution members Triple H, Randy Orton, and Batista. It was the old guard versus the young guns and over the course of 20 minutes, the six men involved put on an absolute clinic. The back and forth was just breathtaking and the near 16,000 in attendance at The Izod Center in New Jersey stood for practically the whole thing. Amazing stuff.
At the 14′ show we also got to see Daniel Bryan make his one and only world title pay per defense against Kane in an Extreme Rules Match main event. That was decent, if not spectacular. However, the rest of the card was pretty dull. The John Cena/Bray Wyatt cage match seemed to go on forever. The Cesaro/Rob Van Dam/Jack Swagger match was a dud, and Rusev squashed Xavier Woods and R-Truth. There were a couple of matches but you get the picture.
If the 2013 Extreme Rules was The Shield’s coming out party, the 2014 one was the coronation of their futures. About 6 weeks after this classic, the trio disbanded and started a major feud that occupied the WWE for over a year. Sure, one match does not make a whole show but this one did enough to get the 14′ Extreme Rules to number 5.
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4. Extreme Rules 2009
If the 2014 Extreme Rules was all about one match carrying it, then the 2009 show was all about two. But before we get to them let’s get the rest of the card out of the way first. Batista and Tommy Dreamer both won world titles that night, the WWE Championship and the ECW title respectively. But those matches were nothing special. Kofi Kingston retained his United States belt in a decent four-way match and Umaga beat CM Punk in a solid, if not great Strap Match. But then there’s that forgettable Hog Pen Match, with Santino Marella’s win over Vicki and Chavo Guerrero.
The first of the two aforementioned classics was in the form of a thrilling No Holds Barred Match between Chris Jericho and Rey Misterio. Y2J was always the best as a heel. He could bring such rage to his opponents and their fans and that was on full display New Orleans that night. Jericho got the victory and the Intercontinental title belt by tearing off Mysterio’s mask while he going for a 619 and rolling Rey up for the three. Does it get any more heel than that?
The second match that stole the show was the ladder match for the World heavyweight Championship between Edge and Jeff Hardy. And of course it was insane. The duos ladder match history had gone back close to a decade at that point and they were both pioneers of TLC. Hardy won the match and after 10 years had finally climbed the world title mountain. But it was short-lived. CM Punk seized the opportunity and cashed in his Money in the Bank briefcase to end Hardy’s reign at about five minutes. four title changes, two of them for world titles, a MITB cash-in, and two classic matches. That’s a good show.
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3. Extreme Rules 2016
Much like the 09 Extreme Rules, the 2016 PPV was the tale of two matches. The reason this show ranks a little higher is basically because these two matches were collectively just a little bit better. The main event pitted WWE Champion Roman Reigns taking on AJ Styles in an Extreme Rules Match. It was, in a word, awesome. Reigns, the habitually chided baby face who people consistently chant “you can’t wrestle” at, did a great job in this 22-minute battle. But who are we kidding? Styles was the reason this match was so good. The guy is a once in a generation type talent and even at 39 is still one of the very best in the world. Throw in the return of Seth Rollins to attack Reigns after the match and that’s a very great way to send people home.
Mixed throughout the show was some ho-hum kind of stuff. Rusev won the U.S. title from Kalisto, The Club won a Texas Tornado Match again The Usos, Charlotte beat Natalya in a Submission Match, The New Day beat The Vaudevillains, and Dean Ambrose and Chris Jericho partook in one of the most confusingly boring fight of all time in an Asylum match.
But the real gem of the night was the Fatal Four-Way Match for the Intercontinental title between The Miz, Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, and Cesaro. This match will go on a lot of top 10 lists, and it’s the best Extreme Rules PPV match ever, the best fatal 4-way ever, and it was one of the best matches of 2016. Each man played their role perfectly and even managed to further a couple of feuds. A match of this magnitude for a secondary belt is so important for the company. It not only elevates that title, but every belt above it. Even if it wasn’t for the wonderful main event, this match would’ve carried this show to or near this same rank.
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2. Extreme Rules 2011
Following a pretty lackluster Wrestlemania, the 2011 Extreme Rules needed to be strong. And strong it was. With four matches that produced fireworks, this might be the most consistent show of all 8. It had some weak moments, of course. One of the matches was a tag team strap match with Michael Cole and Jack Swagger in one corner and Jerry Lawler and Jim Ross in the other. Nonsense. There was also a lumberjack tag match between the team of Kane and The Big Show against Wade Barrett and Ezekiel Jackson. I don’t have a problem with any of those guys individually but this match was bad. Really bad.
There were really some great moments though. The opening match of the night was a Last Man Standing match between Randy Orton and CM Punk which was vicious and had an amazing ending. The Rey Misterio vs. Cody Rhodes Falls Count Anywhere bout was short but exciting. And the main event pitting John Cena, John Morrison, and The Miz in a Triple Threat Cage Match far exceeded any expectations.
However, the crowning jewel on this night in Tampa, Florida was the Christian/Alberto Del Rio ladder match for the World Heavyweight Championship. After 13 years and a slew of attempts to become a world champion, “Captain Charisma” finally achieved his goal. And did he ever earn it in this match. Maybe not the greatest ladder match in history, fine, but considering that Christian had to battle through both Del Rio and his buddy Brodus Clay, the courage in this performance was immense. In one of the most emotional WWE moments, he got to celebrate alongside his best friend and recent retiree Edge. Truly a remarkable show.
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1. Extreme Rules 2012
Here it is. The best Extreme Rules show of all-time. This card featured three potential Match of the Year candidates and parts of it seemed like a throwback to the pre-PG era. But let’s get some dirty laundry out of the way first. The Orton/Kane Last Man Standing Match was a plodder. Both Cody Rhodes Intercontinental title and Layla’s Women’s title wins were both less than 5 minutes long. Brodus Clay picked up a win over Vince’s favorite whipping boy, Dolph Ziggler, which was pretty bad because, well it included Brodus Clay. And Ryback squashed a couple of local jobbers.
On to the good stuff. A month earlier at WrestleMania 28, Sheamus defeated Daniel Bryan in embarrassing fashion in just 18 seconds. What a joke. So at Extreme Rules they got 22 minutes to work a 2 out of 3 falls match that was an absolute psychological mat clinic. That’s what 2 of your brightest young stars deserved at Wrestlemania. That was followed by a scintillating Chicago Street Fight between CM Punk and Chris Jericho. It was particularly nice that Punk got to pick up a victory in front of his hometown fans.
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But at the end of the day, the best match of the night was the main event, an Extreme Rules match between John Cena and Brock Lesnar. Both guys bled and battered each other silly. Cena, particularly took a savage beating from Lesnar who was competing in his first match in the WWE in over eight years. Say what you want about the Cena superman-booking finish but it honestly made sense and it really didn’t matter who won. Both guys looked great. Extreme Rules was not only the best PPV of 2012 but it’s also a top 15 PPV of all time. Tough to beat that.