The Miz def. Cody Rhodes (Pre-Show Match)
Chris Jericho def. Fandango
Dean Ambrose def. Kofi Kingston to become new U.S. Champion
Sheamus def. Mark Henry (Strap Match)
Alberto Del Rio def. Jack Swagger to become World Heavyweight Championship No. 1 Contender ("I Quit" Match)
The barbarous action took off moments later, a festival of pain that incorporated Kendo sticks, a dismantled ring barricade, the unforgiving steel steps and ring post, a steel chair, the ring ropes themselves and even the referee’s microphone — all the while, the official stood close by and repeatedly asked whether Del Rio or Swagger wished to give in to the continuing barrage of anguish.
Then, a towel was added to the list of weapons, when Zeb Colter suddenly threw Ricardo Rodriguez’s white flag into the ring and then made it look like Del Rio’s friend had literally thrown in the towel. Though the referee called for the bell and it looked as if Swagger would be triumphant, additional referee involvement and an extremely rare use of instant replay caused the match to be restarted.
And in the continued struggle, Del Rio roared back, locking Swagger in the Cross Armbreaker to make his opponent scream his concede.
The Shield's Seth Rollins & Roman Reigns def. Team Hell No to become new WWE Tag Team Champions (Tornado Tag Match)
Randy Orton def. Big Show (Extreme Rules Match)
WWE Champion John Cena and Ryback wrestled to a No Contest in a Last Man Standing
The bout was ruled a No Contest after 20-plus minutes of hard-hitting action culminated with a spectacular collision that not only brought the bout to an end, but also endangered the near-term careers of the WWE Champion and his top contender. While fighting on the entrance stage, Ryback bulldozed the Cenation leader through the entrance stage wall, sending sparks from broken light bulbs flying in the process.
Per the rules of the contest, which stipulated the winner must incapacitate his foe to the point of being unable to respond to a 10 count, official Charles Robinson had no choice but to rule the match over when neither The Champ nor Ryback could rise to his feet and break the count.
As WWE officials and medical personnel rushed to tend to the battered warriors, the WWE Universe inside Scottrade Center buzzed with excitement over the scene that transpired. Although it is too early to know the condition of either Superstar, Cena was removed from the scene on a stretcher, while Ryback left with assistance from officials. On the Extreme Rules Post-Show, cameras caught Cena removing his neck brace, getting off the gurney under his own power, and refusing further medical attention.
It was clear from the get-go that the Cenation leader was competing at less than full health. To even fight in the No-Disqualification, No-Count-out Match in the first place, The Champ courageously had to battle through a lingering Achilles tendon injury that would portend trouble in the most conventional of match types, let alone a Last Man Standing Match.
As it turns out, Ryback did not need to exploit Cena’s heavily taped ankle to gain an early upper hand. At the bout’s outset, the matchup looked wholly lopsided in the challenger’s favor.
Ryback plowed through Cena with his powerhouse offense. Although The Champ attempted his tried and true combinations, the effort seemed almost futile: Ryback brushed off Cena’s classic bulldog variation and ran through The Champ with a Lou Thesz press variant.
The top contender easily maneuvered the outsized Cenation leader. Screaming “easy” as he lifted Cena overhead in a gorilla press slam, Ryback demonstrated his power time and time again. He used a deadlift powerbomb on Cena, as well as a fallaway slam through a table. The latter impact kept the tenacious Cena down for a count of eight.
Ryback averted an Attitude Adjustment and connected with his “Meat hook” Clothesline, but a second attempt at his well-known lariat was reversed into an STF by the cagey WWE Champion. Cena appeared to knock Ryback unconscious, but the challenger made it to his feet at the count of nine.
Cena kept the momentum going when he countered a Shell Shocked into an Attitude Adjustment through a table — the second splintered table of the contest. Living up to his indestructible reputation, Ryback made it to his feet with one second left on the referee’s count.
As the action spilled into the WWE Universe, fans in the Scottrade Center got a close-up view of the heated battle. In fierce impact, Ryback slammed a piece of board, seemingly from a penalty box, against Cena’s skull. The Cenation leader joined his opponent in pulling out all the stops, later leaping out of the stands to splash Ryback through yet another table. The strategic Cena then got hold of a fire extinguisher, which he used to chase Ryback onto the stage. Two successive strikes with the fire extinguisher almost dropped Ryback for good.
Then, with Ryback positioned for an AA on the stage, fate took a turn for the worse, with Ryback spearing Cena directly into the set. EMTs were called for almost immediately as officials inspected the two warriors’ prone bodies.
The scary conclusion of the WWE Championship Match leaves in question the status of the WWE Championship scene and Ryback’s position as the top contender. As details emerge about the extent of any injuries suffered tonight, the WWE Universe is left to wonder just how the Cenation leader will recover from his first defense on pay-per-view of his 11th WWE Championship.
Brock Lesnar def. Triple H (Steel Cage Match)
All this is not to say that Lesnar ran away with the bout by any means. In fact, The Game didn’t bother waiting to take the fight to Lesnar, ambushing The Anomaly from behind during Brock’s entrance and slamming him headlong into the cage wall, following that up with a top-rope strike that left Lesnar reeling.
And
then the bell rang.
The Anomaly roared back immediately, hurling Triple H against opposite ends of the cage like a ping-pong ball before trapping him between the ropes and chain link, pounding away as if The Game were a heavy bag. Lesnar’s enthusiasm cost him in the process when a flying knee missed Triple H’s head and collided with the cage instead, hobbling “The Beast Incarnate” and giving Triple H a target to keep the fight at an even keel.
With his knee — and by association, the F-5 — taken away from him, The Anomaly turned to the Kimura Lock and a steel chair tossed into the ring by Heyman. But Triple H was ready for that as well, assaulting Lesnar’s leg before applying a Figure-Four Leglock and, later, a Sharpshooter, in a bid to make Lesnar submit. The Anomaly’s refusal to tap out kept him in the hunt, but The Game again raised the bar with the use of the chair and a hidden sledgehammer painted silver to match the hue of the steel.
The mix of strategy and hubris (Triple H grinned wildly when he first retrieved his signature implement) would come back to haunt The Game, though. The hammer that has so often been the difference-maker for The King of Kings proved again to be the deciding factor in this bout, but not in the way the 13-time World Champion had hoped.
Another intrusion inside the steel by Heyman distracted The King of Kings from his opponent long enough for Lesnar to seize the sledgehammer and take a shot at The Game’s dome, but Triple H was ready for both men, cutting the cheap shot short and dishing out Pedigrees to both manager and client. Lesnar kicked out and Heyman landed the shot that would ultimately swing the contest in his client’s favor, hitting Triple H with a low blow that returned the sledgehammer to Lesnar’s hands.
The Anomaly struck again and this time the steel hit home, felling The Game in receipt for the sledgehammer strike that defeated Lesnar at WrestleMania. With Triple H seeing stars, Lesnar hauled his opponent up on an unstable knee and delivered one final F-5 that sent the already motionless WWE COO crashing, literally and figuratively, down to earth. One three-count later and the deed was done, but Lesnar would not depart before he got his final gloating in.
Having gone through hell and back to claim his revenge, “The Beast Incarnate” laid the sledgehammer on Triple H’s chest in a macabre, funereal display of dominance over the conquered King of Kings. In the end, Lesnar sauntered off into clear skies with Heyman at his side, while Triple H was helped up from a limp heap inside his formerly comforting confines, once claimed as
his home and now nothing less than his iron-wrought house of pain.
Credit: www.wwe.com/shows/extremerules
+logo.jpg)
+logo.jpg)
