Extreme Rules (2011)

Extreme Rules (2011)
Promotional poster featuring John Cena
Tagline(s)	WWE goes extreme
Theme song(s)	"Justice" by Rev Theory
Information
Promotion	WWE
Brand (s)	Raw SmackDown
Sponsor	WowWee
Date	May 1, 2011
Attendance	10,000
Venue	St. Pete Times Forum
City	Tampa, Florida
Pay-per-view chronology
WrestleMania XXVII Extreme Rules (2011) Over the Limit (2011)
WWE Extreme Rules chronology
Extreme Rules (2010) Extreme Rules (2011) Extreme Rules (2012)

Extreme Rules was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by WWE and presented by WowWee's Paper Jamz, which took place on May 1, 2011 at the St. Pete Times Forum in Tampa, Florida. It was the third Extreme Rules event.

The event received 209,000 pay-per-view buys, up from last year's event of 182,000.

Background

See also: Professional wrestling

Extreme Rules featured professional wrestling matches that involved different wrestlers from pre-existing feuds, plots, and storylines which were played out on WWE's primary television programs. Wrestlers portrayed villains or heroes as they followed a series of events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches.

Edge was originally scheduled to defend his World Heavyweight Championship against Alberto Del Rio in a ladder match. However, Edge announced that he is forced to retire on the April 11th episode of Raw due to being diagnosed with cervical spinal stenosis stemming from his neck injury. Edge vacated the World Heavyweight Championship on the April 15th episode of Smackdown and the match was scrapped. It was later announced the winner of a 20-man battle royal would face Alberto in the ladder match; Edge's best friend in both the storyline and real life, Christian, won the right to face Del Rio for the title. In the interim, Del Rio was drafted to Raw in the 2011 WWE Draft.

On the April 11th edition of Monday Night Raw there was a 5-man gauntlet match which would decide the number one contender to face The Miz for the WWE Championship. This match featured John Cena, Randy Orton, John Morrison, R-Truth and Dolph Ziggler. The last two men in the final round were John Cena and R-Truth. After an interference from The Miz and Alex Riley the match was resulted in a double disqualification, which would then lead to the anonymous Raw general manager stating that both John Cena and R-Truth would compete for the WWE Championship against The Miz in a Triple Threat match. On the April 18 edition of Raw, John Morrison challenged R-Truth for Truth's spot in the match and won the opportunity, but Truth turned heel and attacked Morrison after the match. Later in the night, it was revealed that the match would be contested inside a steel cage.

An ongoing feud involves Raw commentators Michael Cole and Jerry Lawler. At WrestleMania XXVII, Lawler made Cole submit to the ankle lock, but the anonymous Raw General Manager reversed special guest referee Stone Cold Steve Austin's decision, thus making Cole the winner via disqualification. On the April 11 episode of Raw, Lawler defeated Cole's trainer, Jack Swagger, allowing him to announce that he would team up with his former broadcast partner, Jim Ross, to face Cole and Swagger at Extreme Rules. Two weeks later, the Raw General Manager declared that the teams would face each other in a Country Whipping match.

Another feud from the SmackDown brand is between Layla and Michelle McCool, formerly known together as LayCool. Dissension between the two divas started on the April 8 edition of SmackDown when McCool refused to tag Layla in a tag team match against Beth Phoenix and Kelly Kelly. Also, tension grew since they failed to get back the WWE Divas Championship several times and lost a six person tag-team match in WrestleMania XXVII against Trish Stratus, John Morrison, and Snooki from Jersey Shore. The following two weeks, the two attended couple's therapy sessions, but the latter session ended with McCool attacking Layla, solidifying their break up. During the 2011 WWE Draft, after Layla lost her match against Eve, she attacked McCool for distracting her. On the April 29 edition of SmackDown, after fighting to a double count-out in their match, Layla and McCool agreed to have a No Count-out, No Disqualification match at Extreme Rules with the loser leaving WWE.

Another feud between Raw and SmackDown is Rey Mysterio and Cody Rhodes. At WrestleMania XXVII, Cody Rhodes defeated Rey Mysterio by using Mysterio's knee brace, then the following Cross Rhodes. On the April 22 edition of Friday Night SmackDown, Rhodes and Mysterio would have a rematch; however, Mysterio defeated Rhodes. After the match, Rhodes attacked Mysterio from behind, performed a Cross Rhodes on a concrete floor, and puts a paper bag on Mysterio. It was announced that Mysterio would face Rhodes in a Falls Count Anywhere match at Extreme Rules. At the 2011 WWE Draft, Mysterio would be drafted from SmackDown to Raw.

Two matches were added to the card during the event. SmackDown General Manager Theodore Long added a bonus match between Sheamus and Kofi Kingston for the WWE United States Championship. Also a Lumberjack match featuring the WWE Tag Team Champions, Big Show and Kane against The Corre (Wade Barrett and Ezekiel Jackson) was added.

Event

Pre-show

Before the event aired, a dark match took place. In this non-televised match, Sin Cara defeated Tyson Kidd after a moonsault side slam.

Preliminary matches

The first televised match of the night saw CM Punk taking on Randy Orton in a Last Man Standing Match. While Punk made his way to the ring with the members of The New Nexus, the anonymous Raw general manager declared that the members of The New Nexus were banned from ringside. After a back and forth match for quite some time, Punk brought in kendo sticks and the two proceeded to beat one another with them. After both men abandoned the use of the kendo sticks, Punk threw Orton into the exposed metal turnbuckle. The match then spilled to the matted area around the ring where Orton delivered a PowerSlam. At approximately ten minutes into the match, Punk executed a GTS on Orton who barely managed to answer the referee's count. The match was moved back into the ring where Punk delivered a slam to Orton on top of a chair hoping to knock the man out and win the match to no such luck. Randy retaliated by hitting Punk with the RKO, but Punk managed to answer the ref's call. After going outside of the ring again, Punk put a chair around Orton's neck and drove him into the ring post. Orton then nailed Punk with an RKO on the announce table, with Punk again managing to get to his feet before the count of ten. Punk then hit Orton with a variation of the GTS on the steel steps. Back in the ring, Punk ascended to the top rope only to be caught by Orton, who repeatedly hit him with a kendo stick. After abandoning the kendo stick, Orton managed to hit Punk with a third and final RKO from the top rope. Punk could not answer the count following the blow, and the referee declared Orton the winner.

Before the second match, in a backstage segment, the general manager of SmackDown Theodore Long informed Sheamus that he would be defending the WWE United States Championship against Kofi Kingston in a tables match. In the match, both Superstars managed to avoid hitting the tables for quite some time. Sheamus hit the Brogue Kick and Kingston nailed the Trouble in Paradise (both moves being signature moves of each wrestler), but they both managed to not go through the tables. Kingston was finally successful in winning the United States Championship after putting Sheamus through a table with a Boom Drop off the top rope, winning his second United States Championship and taking the title back to Raw.

The following match was a tag team Country Whipping match featuring Michael Cole and Jack Swagger against WWE Hall of Famers, Jerry Lawler and Jim Ross. Swagger and Cole dominated the match early on until Lawler made the hot tag to Ross. After taking Cole down, Ross locked in the AnCole lock in an attempt to make Cole tap out. However, Swagger entered the ring and pulled Ross off of Cole. Ross answered with a low blow on Swagger, but was then rolled up by Cole for the win.

The next match pitted Cody Rhodes and Rey Mysterio against one another in a Falls Count Anywhere match. The first big spot of this match was Mysterio running off the entrance ramp and executing a seated senton on Rhodes. The brawl then headed into the arena's concourse where Mysterio tackled Rhodes into a stand. After getting back inside the arena, Rhodes hip tossed Mysterio over a barricade onto the padded floor outside the ring. The finish came when Mysterio spit mist into Rhodes' face, followed by the 619 and a Springboard splash for the pin.

Main event matches

The following match was a no disqualification, no countout, Loser Leaves WWE match featuring Layla and Michelle McCool. The match started with McCool attacking Layla during her entrance routine. McCool was then able to hit the Faithbreaker, but her pin was reversed by Layla into a crucifix for the win. After the match, the debuting Kharma attacked McCool, hitting her with an Implant Buster.

The next match was for the vacant World Heayweight Championship featuring Christian and Alberto Del Rio in a ladder match. The first big spot of the match came when Christian backdropped Del Rio onto a ladder. After a back and forth match, Del Rio was able to hit an enzuigiri on Christian, knocking him off the top rope. Del Rio then attempted to free the championship, but was unsuccessful. About sixteen minutes into the match, Christian used a spear on Del Rio as a tribute to his fellow wrestler and long-time friend Edge who was recently forced to retire due to a spinal injury. After Christian was about to unhook the championship, Brodus Clay ran down to ringside, preventing Christian from winning the match. Clay was busted open after taking a shot from a ladder and then thrown to the outside by Christian. After this, Del Rio applied the cross armbreaker on Christian and began scaling the ladder. However, Del Rio was distracted by a car horn coming from the retired Edge who was in a jeep. Christian took advantage of this and knocked Del Rio off the ladder onto Brodus Clay and Ricardo Rodriguez at ringside. Christian went on to unhook the World Heavyweight Championship and become the eleventh Grand Slam Champion in WWE history. Edge then celebrated in the ring with Christian to congratulate him.

The next match was for the WWE Tag Team Championship which featured The Corre (Wade Barrett and Ezekiel Jackson) against Kane and Big Show in a lumberjack match. The finish came after Barrett tagged himself in once Jackson had Show down. After this, Barrett was caught by Big Show and then hit with a chokeslam for the win.

The last match of the night was a steel cage triple threat match for the WWE Championship featuring John Cena, John Morrison and The Miz. The match started with Morrison and Cena teaming up against The Miz. Cena nailed a diving bulldog on the Miz from the top rope, while Morrison tried to escape the cage, only to be stopped by Cena. As Morrison made another attempt to escape, The Miz stopped him. Cena hit the Five Knuckle Shuffle on Morrison, but The Miz nailed John Cena with the Skull Crushing Finale. The Miz tried to climb the cage but was, again, teamed up on by Morrison and Cena as they hit The Miz with a double suplex from the top of the cage. Morrison then tried a variation of the flying chuck using the cage wall instead of the ropes, aiming for Cena, but hit The Miz instead. Morrison hit a huge standing moonsault side slam on Cena, but after that was powerbombed into the steel cage wall by The Miz. Cena then applied the STF on The Miz as he tried exiting the ring by the door, but Morrison climbed the cage and shut the door, which nailed The Miz on the head. Cena then pushed Morrison who landed on the door on his groin. Back in the ring, The Miz hit a Swift DDT on Cena, and hit a running boot as well. As Morrison tried to escape the cage, both Cena and The Miz tried to stop him, but Morrison hit the Starship Pain from the top of the cage. Later in the match, Morrison was about to escape the cage to win the WWE Championship, when R-Truth came to ringside and took Morrison out with a running knee. He then took Morrison back into the ring and began repeatedly hitting him, finally ending the assault with the What's Up. Truth went on to deliver a Truth Axe on Cena before symbolically climbing over the cage. The match ended as Cena delivered a massive Attitude Adjustment on The Miz from the top rope for the pinfall victory, winning him his eighth WWE Championship (tying the record for most WWE Title wins with Triple H) and tenth world championship overall.

Reception

Extreme Rules 2011 received extremely positive reviews. In his review for The Sun, Rob McNichol reported that the event was "a stunning return to form by WWE." CM Punk and Randy Orton's opening Last Man Standing Match was deemed a very strong opening bout which swung each way several times. CM Punk was not shamed in defeat, being made to look Orton's equal for twenty minutes. The Country Whipping match was described as "unsatisfying and slow" whilst Rey Mysterio vs Cody Rhodes was hailed as "a high quality wrestling match.... It felt fresh, and it helped that Rey certainly had his flying and bumping boots on. Also why Rhodes deserves to be in high profile matches." The match between Michelle McCool and Layla was highly praised, with Diva-Dirt voting it "Best Televised Match of The Year" and Kharma's debut was heralded as a special moment sorely lacking from recent WWE PPVs. The Smackdown Ladder Match between Alberto Del Rio and Christian for the vacant World Heavyweight Championship was given praise, "The crowd's genuine elation and the celebration with his [Edge] former partner and best friend made it a very special moment. Both were great and Christian's title win was something that should have happened a long time ago"

"After a quick and forgettable Smackdown main event lumberjack match in which Big Show and Kane defeated Wade Barrett and Ezekiel Jackson, the main event saw The Miz defend his title against Cena and John Morrison in a steel cage. Cena prevailed after a top rope Attitude Adjustment to win his tenth world crown." John Morrison's performance was praised as "stunning". "The high-risk moves and Starship Pain of the top of the cage proves why Morrison is a future star in WWE."

"But the story was Christian's big win and the fact that WWE used the match stipulations — so often a restricting factor on their booking — to great effect."

The Sun gave praise in some matches calling them outstanding and "Extreme", McNichol said that the event lived up to its name, the Last Man Standing match was rated 9 out of 10, the World Championship Ladder match an 9.5 out of 10 and the WWE Championship Steel Cage was rated 9 out of 10, and rated the show 9.5 out of 10 overall.

Results

No.	Results	Stipulations	Times
Dark	Sin Cara defeated Tyson Kidd	Singles match	06:46
1	Randy Orton defeated CM Punk	Last Man Standing match The New Nexus were banned from ringside	20:07
2	Kofi Kingston defeated Sheamus (c)	Tables match for the WWE United States Championship	09:11
3	Michael Cole and Jack Swagger defeated Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler	Tag team Country Whipping match	07:02
4	Rey Mysterio defeated Cody Rhodes	Falls Count Anywhere match	11:43
5	Layla defeated Michelle McCool	No Count-Out No Disqualification Loser Leaves WWE match	05:04
6	Christian (with Edge) defeated Alberto Del Rio (with Ricardo Rodriguez and Brodus Clay)	Ladder match for the vacant World Heavyweight Championship	21:06
7	Big Show and Kane (c) defeated The Corre (Wade Barrett and Ezekiel Jackson)	Lumberjack match for the WWE Tag Team Championship	04:17
8	John Cena defeated The Miz (c) and John Morrison	Triple Threat Steel Cage match for the WWE Championship	19:53
(c) – refers to the champion heading into the match

• ^a SmackDown General Manager, Theodore Long added this as a bonus match during the pay-per view.
• ^b Kharma made her WWE debut by attacking Michelle McCool after the match.
• ^c Lumberjacks involved were the other members of The Corre (Justin Gabriel and Heath Slater), Evan Bourne, Johnny Curtis, Trent Barreta, Tyler Reks, Santino Marella, Primo, Yoshi Tatsu, Vladimir Kozlov, David Hart Smith, and the NXT Redemption Rookies (Byron Saxton, Conor O'Brian, Darren Young, Jacob Novak, Lucky Cannon, and Titus O'Neil).

Announcement of Osama bin Laden's death

See also: Reactions to the death of Osama bin Laden

Following the conclusion of Extreme Rules, news was breaking worldwide that Osama bin Laden had been killed by U.S. troops. New WWE Champion John Cena addressed the live audience with a speech about American pride, then declared "The President has just announced that we have caught and compromised to a permanent end Osama bin Laden". Cena's comments and the announcement drew a massive response from the audience including many USA chants.

Cena followed up on Twitter moments after leaving the ring saying "CeNation. Proud day in the war on terror. Many brave soldiers made the ultimate sacrifice in hopes of what happened tonight. I am not certain if this conflict is over. But tonight was a very very proud moment for the good guys. God bless America." The internal public address system of the St. Pete Times Forum then proceeded to play "Stars and Stripes Forever." Cena's announcement was replayed the next evening on WWE Raw, where Dwayne Johnson also addressed the issue prior to his birthday celebration and Lilian Garcia performed the national anthem in the beginning of the show. When Johnson got into the ring to address the fans, the very first words out of his mouth were "We got him!" referring to the death of Osama bin Laden, prompting a huge reaction from the crowd.

External links

• Official Extreme Rules website