Extreme Rules (2013)

Extreme Rules (2013)
Promotional poster featuring Sheamus
Promotion	WWE
Date	May 19, 2013
City	St. Louis, Missouri
Venue	Scottrade Center
Pay-per-view chronology
← Previous WrestleMania 29 Next → WWE Payback
Extreme Rules chronology
← Previous Extreme Rules (2012) Next → —

Extreme Rules (2013) is an upcoming professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced annually by WWE. The name of the event stems from the term "Extreme Rules," which WWE uses to refer to its bouts that are contested under hardcore wrestling regulations. This will be the fifth Extreme Rules pay per view and the seventh under the Extreme Rules slogan introduced in 2007. The show has been moved on different occasions, 2009 taking place in June, 2010 and 2012 in April and 2011 and 2013 in May.

Background

Extreme Rules will feature professional wrestling matches that involve wrestlers from pre-existing feuds, plots, and storylines that play out on WWE's primary television programs, Raw and SmackDown. Wrestlers will portray villains or heroes as they follow a series of events that build tension and culminate in a wrestling match or series of matches.

On the episode of Raw following WrestleMania 29, Alberto Del Rio lost the World Heavyweight Championship to Dolph Ziggler after Ziggler cashed in his Money in the Bank contract to take advantage of Del Rio being injured by Jack Swagger to become the new champion. Del Rio tried to invoke his rematch clause the following week, but was again impeded by Swagger. Teddy Long then set up a match between Ziggler and Swagger, and Swagger won. Booker T, irate at Long for going above him, rearranged the match into a triple threat match for the championship between Ziggler, Del Rio, and Swagger. On the April 29th edition of Raw, Del Rio's personal ring announcer Ricardo Rodriguez won a triple-threat match over Swagger's mentor Zeb Colter and Ziggler's bodyguard Big E Langston to pick the stipulation for the match, which would be a Ladder match selected by Del Rio.

At WrestleMania 29, Triple H defeated Brock Lesnar in their rematch. Lesnar's manager, Paul Heyman, then issued one final match to settle things between Triple H and Lesnar: a steel cage match at Extreme Rules. On the April 22 episode of Raw in London, England, Triple H accepted the match by assaulting Heyman with a Pedigree. Two weeks later on RAW, Lesnar would respond by coming to the WWE headquarters and trashing Triple H's office.

A day after Wrestlemania on Raw, John Cena, who defeated The Rock for the WWE Championship, would issue a challenge to anybody to face him for the title after news broke out that Rock would undergo surgery. Mark Henry would come forward and face him in a match for a shot at the title later in the night, but he would lose via count-out. Henry would assault Cena afterward until Ryback seemingly came to save Cena, but Ryback would attack Cena and hold the title up high. A week later, Ryback explained that he was living in Cena's shadow and Cena never helped him against The Shield. Ryback would watch The Shield attack Cena from the ramp. Prior to the April 22 edition of Raw, it was announced that Cena would defend the WWE Championship against Ryback. Later that night, Ryback would confront Mick Foley about his decision to attack Cena. Cena would come and save Foley, but The Shield would come out to attack the two men. Cena retreated up to the ramp to see Ryback get assaulted by The Shield, but he would assault all three members with a chair, forcing The Shield to retreat, and gave Ryback an Attitude Adjustment. On the May 6th edition of RAW, Ryback would make the title match a Last Man Standing Match. Later that night, both John Cena and Ryback would drive away The Shield only for Ryback to attack Cena with a chair in retaliation.

Mark Henry would attack Sheamus backstage twice on the April 12th, 2013 edition of Smackdown and on the April 15th, 2013 edition of RAW. Sheamus would attack Henry backstage as result before going on to embarrass Henry in a Tug of War contest on the April 29th, 2013 edition of Raw and an Arm Wrestling contest on the May 3rd, 2013 edition of Smackdown. A few days later on Smackdown, both men agreed to a match on the PPV. After Sheamus defeated Wade Barrett in a singles match, Henry would immediately attack Sheamus with a belt.

Matches

No.	Match	Stipulations
1	Dolph Ziggler (c) vs. Alberto Del Rio vs. Jack Swagger	Triple Threat Ladder match for the World Heavyweight Championship
2	John Cena (c) vs. Ryback	Last Man Standing match for the WWE Championship
3	Brock Lesnar vs. Triple H	Steel Cage match
4	Sheamus vs. Mark Henry	Singles Match
(c) – refers to the champion(s) heading into the match

External links

• Extreme Rules website