With WWE having put on a dozen Extreme Rules pay-per-views, it could be expected that some of the matches haven’t lived up to the show’s extreme monicker.
The early years of the event had different stipulations for every match ranging from violent to ridiculous. Unfortunately, many of the latter have found their way onto this list.
In the 12 years since the inception of the Extreme Rules pay-per-view, some of these matches have gotten very bizarre. For various reasons, as well.
Some make this list because of nonsensical stipulations, others for wacky finishes, and some just because the story told in the match just don’t make no snense.
Regardless of the reasons for their inclusion, these are the 12 most bizarre matches from WWE Extreme Rules.
12. Seth Rollins vs. Randy Orton – Extreme Rules 2015
Randy Orton being Seth Rollins’ first challenger for the WWE Championship made all the sense in the world. He had just beaten him at WrestleMania and was an established main event star.
However, the match they had could not have been made more complicated if they had tried. Orton gave the match a Steel Cage stipulation, which was by far the most normal thing about it.
The Authority then added Kane as the “Guardian of the Gate”, a classic YuGiOh card that.
But Seth Rollins banned the RKO from being used in the match. Not only did this kill most of the crowd engagement but it also led to one very messed up finish. As things broke down Rollins hit the RKO and won.
Wasn’t it banned? Was it banned for just Orton? Did Rollins just disqualify himself? Who knows? Needlessly complicated this was.
11. Jerry Lawler & Jim Ross vs. Michael Cole & Jack Swagger – Extreme Rules 2011
Who doesn’t want to see three announcers wrestle? The better question is “who does”? On pay-per-view, no less. People had to pay to watch this “match” and that is what is truly offensive about it.
Amidst Michael Cole’s insufferable heel commentator run from 2010-2012, he had a feud with Jerry Lawler and Jim Ross. At Extreme Rules, the Hall of Fame duo took on Cole and Jack Swagger in a Country Whipping Match.
They just had straps. Michael Cole came out wrapped in bubble wrap. And only two men involved were trained wrestlers and one of them was 61. Just a mess.
10. Asuka vs. Carmella – Extreme Rules 2018
WWE sure had an obsession with Shark Cage matches for a while, didn’t they?
An average stipulation at best, WWE fans were forced to be distracted by James Ellsworth hanging above the ring for this Women’s Championship match.
The same Asuka who was undefeated in NXT for two years was now unable to beat Carmella with Ellsworth hanging above the ring. Not only was this bad, it was also disheartening to see Asuka in this position.
9. Sheamus vs. Dolph Ziggler – Extreme Rules 2015
Whenever the topic of WWE not honoring stipulations comes up, I point to this match.
At Extreme Rules 2015, Dolph Ziggler took on Sheamus in a “Kiss Me Arse” match. Not only is the Kiss My Ass match a dumb stipulation by today’s standards, but slapping a mock Irish accent on the name made it that much more trivial.
The match itself was fine enough as both men are capable workers but then it came time for the kissing.
Ziggler won and hiked up his tights only for Sheamus to give him a low blow and rub his face on Sheamus’ asscheek. If you paid money to see this match, you did not get what you paid for in the slightest.
8. Dean Ambrose vs. Luke Harper – Extreme Rules 2015
If you just saw “Dean Ambrose vs. Luke Harper in a Chicago Street Fight” on paper, it would seem out of place. Those two are good wrestlers and that stipulation doesn’t seem too odd.
Well this is a case where the content of the match itself is what makes it so bizarre. Shortly into their match, Harper and Ambrose jumped into a car and sped off into the Chicago streets.
The show hit pause for a moment, the commentators puzzled, and then continued on with the next match.
About an hour later, the two pulled back up to the building and finished their match. We were led to believe that they had been brawling around Chicago off-screen the entire time which, is indeed bizarre.
7. Seth Rollins vs. Dolph Ziggler – Extreme Rules 2018
Everything about this match was a trainwreck. The Intercontinental Championship being defended in the main event of a pay-per-view in an Iron Man match with two good workers sounds great. But alas, it was not.
The fans only seemed interested in counting down with the clock each minute when it hit zero. WWE fans are just a different breed sometimes.
WWE then took the clock off the screen because fans should be watching the match, not a sodding clock. Fans did not like this, booing and chanting to bring back the clock, which WWE eventually did, only for the fans to once again neglect the work in the ring.
As for the work itself, there were eight decisions in a half-hour match. EIGHT. Lunacy.
6. Beth Phoenix vs. Michelle McCool – Extreme Rules 2010
WWE was in the thick of their Divas era at Extreme Rules 2010. While Beth Phoenix was a very capable performer, she was stuck having an “Extreme Makeover Match” with Michelle McCool.
The match was a fairly standard weapons-filled WWE match, except they used things like an ironing board and hairspray cans. Because they are women, you see.
This was essentially the Good Housekeeping match Chyna and Jeff Jarrett had in 1999 except this was 2010 and we should probably have been past this by this point.
5. Santina Marella vs. Vickie Guerrero & Chavo Guerrero – Extreme Rules 2009
On one hand this involved comedy characters like Santino(a) and Vickie Guerrero. On the other hand, it was one of the worst things WWE has put on pay-per-view.
At Extreme Rules 2009, Santino (Santina? I don’t know) challenged Vickie to a Hogpen match. Vickie added her nephew Chavo to the match, I guess to give Santino someone to wrestle? And the horror ensued.
It was minutes of people slipping around in slop and throwing buckets of filth at each other as Vickie screamed.
Santino won, regaining the Miss WrestleMania sash, before the Santina character was written of TV the next day with the sash along with it. An utter waste of time.
4. Dean Ambrose vs. Chris Jericho – Extreme Rules 2016
Chris Jericho will defend this match with his every breath, but he is not fooling us. The Asylum match at Extreme Rules 2016 probably could have been good, but boy it sure wasn’t.
Jericho and Dean Ambrose did battle in this weapons-filled cage match, but for some reason, the match was played for comedy. This feud which had had serious matches, was decided by loads of dumb prop comedy.
Jericho would grab a weapon, Ambrose would grab a potted plant. Jericho would grab a weapon, Ambrose would grab nunchucks. It was impossible to get invested in.
Then to make matters worse, this was a rare WWE match that involved thumbtacks.
I could go into a tirade about how badly they misused the thumbtacks in this match but for the sake of time, I will say that doing a thumbtack spot in a comedy match is probably the worst time to do them.
3. Braun Strowman vs. Bray Wyatt – Extreme Rules
WWE fell in love with doing Cinematic matches in 2020. You got an occasional gem like the Boneyard match and most of the time you got tripe like this.
The main event of The Horror Show at Extreme Rules, Bray Wyatt took on Braun Strowman in a Swamp Fight. It sure was a horror show, Jesus Christ.
This was WWE trying to film a horror movie on the old Wyatt Family compound filled with ghosts and doppelgangers.
If you like this sort of thing, more power to you but needless to say this is one of the most bizarre things WWE has ever produced.
2. Alexa Bliss vs. Bayley – Extreme Rules 2017
If any match killed the momentum of Bayley early in her career, it was this one.
At Extreme Rules 2017, Bayley took on Alexa Bliss in a Kendo Stick on a Pole match. The only problem was Bayley was too much of a goodie two shoes to actually use the weapon.
This would be a fine story if she was able to overcome Bliss’ assault and use her skill as a wrestler to beat her opponent without a weapon. But no, Bayley was soundly defeated because of her inability to hit someone with a stick.
This is one of the finest examples of WWE performing character assassination on one of their babyfaces and it is especially bizarre after having seen Bayley’s excellent run as a heel.
1. Seth Rollins vs. Rey Mysterio – Extreme Rules 2020
I mean what else could top this list? If you wanted to put together an excellent feud in WWE, Seth Rollins and Rey Mysterio would be a good place to start.
Having them fight in a match where the goal is to remove your opponent’s eyeball, is not the best follow-up.
At Extreme Rules 2020, Rollins and Mysterio had WWE’s only Eye for an Eye match. A match so dumb it deserved the top spot on this list.
The stipulation made most of the offense in this match nonsensical as there are only so many ways to perform eye-based attacks. Ultimately, Rollins somehow got Mysterio’s eye out by pushing it into his head, and then the eye was CGI and Rollins puked on the floor.
This is about as bizarre as it gets in a WWE match and it seems unlikely we will see this stipulation again.
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