Extreme Rules

Where the rules are extreme and the action is hardcore.

WWE Extreme Rules was an annual professional wrestling event produced by WWE, a Connecticut-based promotion. It was broadcast live and available only through pay-per-view (PPV) and WWE's livestreaming services. The name of the event stemmed from various matches on the card being contested under hardcore wrestling regulations with generally one match being an Extreme Rules match, which was introduced at the 2010 event. The defunct Extreme Championship Wrestling promotion, which WWE acquired in 2003, originally used the "extreme rules" term to describe the regulations for all of its matches.

Quick Facts

First held: June 7, 2009

Lore & Background

The event name was established in 2009; however, its theme began with its predecessor, One Night Stand, which was promoted in 2005 and 2006 as an Extreme Championship Wrestling reunion show. In 2007, WWE promoted the show as one of its own regular PPV events but kept the concept of hardcore-based matches. In 2009, WWE renamed One Night Stand as Extreme Rules. The 2009 Extreme Rules event was noted by WWE to be a direct continuation of the One Night Stand chronology; however, the 2010 event was later promoted as only the second event under a new chronology, one that was no longer a direct continuation of the One Night Stand events. Starting in 2010, Extreme Rules was moved from June to late April/early May to replace Backlash as the post-WrestleMania PPV event. For 2013, the event replaced Over the Limit as that year's May PPV. After the reinstated brand extension took effect in mid-2016, the event returned to the June slot of WWE's PPV calendar in 2017 and was held as a Raw-exclusive event. Following WrestleMania 34 in 2018, however, WWE discontinued brand-exclusive PPVs, and Extreme Rules moved to the July slot. For the 2020 edition only, the event was titled The Horror Show at Extreme Rules. The 2021 event was then moved to September, replacing Clash of Champions. The 2022 event was then moved to October, which was the only time the event was held on a Saturday. As of 2023, the event has not been officially confirmed as permanently discontinued, nor has WWE stated it was replaced by Fastlane.

Reader's Guide

An "Extreme Rules match" is a type of hardcore match in which there are no disqualifications and no countouts and weapons are incentivized, but pinfalls and submissions must take place in the ring. Although the Extreme Rules event was established in 2009, it was not until 2010 when the Extreme Rules match began to be held at the titular event. Only two other Extreme Rules events did not include the namesake match, which were the 2011 and 2015 events. After being introduced at the 2010 event, the events that included an Extreme Rules match only had one such match on the card. The other matches were another type of hardcore match or just standard rules matches.