WWE pay-per-view and livestreaming event
The 2019 Extreme Rules was the 11th annual Extreme Rules professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) and livestreaming event produced by WWE. It was held for wrestlers from the promotion's Raw, SmackDown, and 205 Live brand divisions. The event took place on July 14, 2019, at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The concept of Extreme Rules is that the event features various hardcore-based matches.
Thirteen matches were contested at the event, including two on the Kickoff pre-show. Only three of the main card's matches were contested under a hardcore stipulation. In an impromptu main event, Brock Lesnar cashed in his Money in the Bank contract on Seth Rollins to win Raw's Universal Championship for a record third time, right after Rollins and Raw Women's Champion Becky Lynch retained their respective titles against Baron Corbin and Lacey Evans in a Last Chance Winners Take All Extreme Rules mixed tag team match. In other prominent matches, Kofi Kingston retained SmackDown's WWE Championship against Samoa Joe, AJ Styles defeated Ricochet to win Raw's United States Championship for a third time, The New Day's Big E and Xavier Woods defeated Heavy Machinery (Otis and Tucker) and defending champions Daniel Bryan and Rowan to win the SmackDown Tag Team Championship for a record-tying fourth time, and in the opening bout, The Undertaker and Roman Reigns defeated Shane McMahon and Drew McIntyre in a No Holds Barred tag team match, which proved to be The Undertaker's final match in front of a live audience in the United States before his retirement in 2020.
Production.
Background.
Extreme Rules was an annual professional wrestling event produced by WWE since 2009. The concept of the event was that it featured various matches that were contested under hardcore rules and generally featured one Extreme Rules match. The defunct Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) promotion, which WWE acquired in 2003, originally used the "extreme rules" term to describe the regulations for all of its matches; WWE adopted the term and has since used it in place of "hardcore match" or "hardcore rules". As first reported on March 4, 2019, and later confirmed on March 18, the 2019 Extreme Rules event was the 11th Extreme Rules and featured wrestlers from the Raw, SmackDown, and 205 Live brand divisions. It took place on July 14, 2019, at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The event aired on pay-per-view (PPV) worldwide and was livestreamed on the WWE Network. Tickets went on sale on March 29. Philadelphia was the home of the former ECW promotion from 1993 to 2001.
Storylines.
The event comprised 13 matches, including two on the Kickoff pre-show, that resulted from scripted storylines. Results were predetermined by WWE's writers on the Raw, SmackDown, and 205 Live brands, while storylines were produced on WWE's weekly television shows, "Monday Night Raw", "SmackDown Live", and the cruiserweight-exclusive "205 Live".
At Stomping Grounds, Becky Lynch retained the Raw Women's Championship against Lacey Evans, and later that night, Seth Rollins defended the Universal Championship against Baron Corbin with a special guest referee of Corbin's choice. Corbin chose Evans, who changed the match to a no countout, no disqualification match and Evans eventually attacked Rollins, prompting Lynch to come to his aid. Rollins subsequently retained his title. The following night on "Raw", Corbin and Evans brawled with Rollins and Lynch and challenged them to a mixed tag team match. Rollins and Lynch agreed as long as it would mean the end of their respective feuds, while Corbin and Evans insisted that their opponents put their respective titles on the line. As a result, a last chance winners take all mixed tag team match for both the Universal and Raw Women's championships was scheduled for Extreme Rules, with an extreme rules stipulation added the following week.
After Ricochet won the United States Championship at Stomping Grounds, Luke Gallows, Karl Anderson, and AJ Styles interrupted a photoshoot, congratulating the new champion. The following night on "Raw", Styles defeated Ricochet in a non-title match, and following the match, Styles and Ricochet showed mutual respect to each other. In a title match the following week, Ricochet retained against Styles. After the match, Gallows and Anderson attempted to enter the ring and taunted Styles, who held them off, only to attack Ricochet himself, turning heel. Gallows and Anderson also joined in on the attack, reuniting The Club, and another title match between Ricochet and Styles was scheduled for Extreme Rules.
At Super ShowDown, Braun Strowman defeated Bobby Lashley. On the June 17 episode of "Raw", Strowman eliminated Lashley from a fatal five-way elimination match for an opportunity at the United States Championship; Lashley in turn helped in Strowman's elimination. The following week, Lashley attacked Strowman after losing a tug of war match. A falls count anywhere match on the July 1 episode ended in a no contest after Strowman tackled Lashley through the LED video wall of the entrance and both were taken to a local medical facility. A Last Man Standing match between the two was then scheduled for Extreme Rules.
On the Super ShowDown Kickoff pre-show, The Usos (Jey Uso and Jimmy Uso) defeated The Revival (Scott Dawson and Dash Wilder). On the following episode of "Raw", The Revival defeated former champions Curt Hawkins and Zack Ryder and The Usos to win the Raw Tag Team Championship. After more feuding on subsequent episodes, The Revival were scheduled to defend the championship against The Usos at Extreme Rules.
At Super ShowDown, Shane McMahon defeated Roman Reigns thanks to interference from Drew McIntyre. This led to a match between Reigns and McIntyre at Stomping Grounds that Reigns won, despite Shane's multiple attempts to distract Reigns. On the following "Raw", Shane and McIntyre dominated wild card guest Reigns in a handicap match until The Undertaker appeared and attacked both Shane and McIntyre. A tag team match featuring Reigns and Undertaker against Shane and McIntyre was then scheduled for Extreme Rules, which was made a No Holds Barred match the following week.
On the June 24 episode of "Raw", after WWE Champion Kofi Kingston defeated both Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn in consecutive singles matches (both Kingston and Owens appearing via the wild card rule), Kingston was randomly attacked by Samoa Joe, who performed a uranage on Kingston. As referees tended to Kingston, Joe returned and applied the Coquina Clutch on him. Kingston was subsequently scheduled to defend the WWE Championship against Joe at Extreme Rules. On the following "SmackDown", Dolph Ziggler, whom Kingston defeated to retain the title at Stomping Grounds, faced Kingston in a two out of three falls match in which if Ziggler won, he would have been added to the championship match, however, he was unsuccessful.
At Stomping Grounds, Bayley retained the SmackDown Women's Championship against Raw's Alexa Bliss. Nikki Cross, who was in Bliss' corner, felt it was her fault that Bliss lost as she tried attacking Bayley during the match. On the following "SmackDown", wild card guest Cross defeated Bayley, thus earning Bliss a rematch for the title at Extreme Rules. On the July 8 episode of "Raw", Cross and wild card guest Bayley both competed in a Beat the Clock Challenge with the winner deciding the stipulation of Bayley and Bliss' championship match. Cross won and decided that the championship match would be a handicap match with Cross teaming with Bliss against Bayley.
At Stomping Grounds, Daniel Bryan and Rowan retained the SmackDown Tag Team Championship against Heavy Machinery (Otis and Tucker). On the following "SmackDown", The New Day's Big E and Xavier Woods defeated Bryan and Rowan in a non-title match, thus earning a title match at Extreme Rules. The following week, Heavy Machinery were added to the title match after defeating the team of Kevin Owens and Dolph Ziggler, thus changing the title match into a triple threat tag team match.
Since being drafted to SmackDown during the 2019 WWE Superstar Shake-up in April, Aleister Black began appearing in ominous backstage promos in a dark room, awaiting a challenger. On the June 25 episode of "SmackDown", there was a knock on Black's door, indicating that someone had accepted his challenge. The following week, however, Black stated that no one was at his door when he answered and said he would be waiting for them at Extreme Rules. On the July 9 episode, Raw's Cesaro was revealed as the mystery challenger.
On the Stomping Grounds Kickoff pre-show, Drew Gulak defeated former champion Tony Nese and Akira Tozawa in a triple threat match by pinning Tozawa to win the WWE Cruiserweight Championship. On the following episode of "205 Live", Nese defeated Tozawa to earn a rematch against Gulak on the Extreme Rules Kickoff pre-show.
On the June 25 episode of "SmackDown", Intercontinental Champion Finn Bálor talked about his title reign backstage when he was interrupted by Shinsuke Nakamura, who state that he would be going after the title. On the July 9 episode, Nakamura defeated Bálor in a non-title match. The day of the event, a title match between the two was scheduled for the Kickoff pre-show.
On the July 9 episode of "SmackDown", Dolph Ziggler took exception to referring to Kevin Owens as his partner the previous week. Owens and Ziggler then fought each other in the parking lot, and Owens got involved in Ziggler's match that night. The day of the event, a match between the two was scheduled for Extreme Rules.
Event.
Pre-show.
Two matches were contested on the Extreme Rules Kickoff pre-show. In the first match, Finn Bálor defended SmackDown's Intercontinental Championship against Shinsuke Nakamura. In the end, Bálor missed a Coup de Grâce, which allowed Nakamura to perform a Kinshasa on Bálor to win the title.
In the second and final pre-show match, Drew Gulak defended 205 Live's WWE Cruiserweight Championship against Tony Nese. Gulak performed an Argentine Neckbreaker on Nese to retain the title.
Preliminary matches.
The actual pay-per-view opened with The Undertaker and Roman Reigns facing Shane McMahon and Drew McIntyre in a No Holds Barred tag team match. Midway through the match, as The Undertaker attempted a Last Ride on Shane, Elias intervened and attacked The Undertaker. Reigns attempted to fend off Elias, only for McIntyre to perform Claymore Kicks on both Reigns and The Undertaker. Shane then went to the top rope and performed a diving elbow drop on Undertaker through the English announce table. Back in the ring, with a trashcan positioned on The Undertaker, Shane performed a Coast-to-Coast, however, before Shane could pin The Undertaker, The Undertaker performed his signature sit-up. The Undertaker then performed Chokeslams on Shane and Elias. As McIntyre attempted to perform another Claymore on The Undertaker, Reigns intercepted him with a Spear. Afterwards, Reigns threw Shane into The Undertaker, who performed a "Tombstone Piledriver" on Shane to win the match. Afterwards, The Undertaker gave a nod of approval to Reigns, and told him "it's your yard."
Next, The Revival (Scott Dawson and Dash Wilder) defended the Raw Tag Team Championship against The Usos (Jey Uso and Jimmy Uso). In the end, The Revival performed the Shatter Machine on Jimmy to retain the titles.
After that, SmackDown's Aleister Black faced Raw's Cesaro. In the end, as Cesaro went for a Neutralizer, Black countered and performed the Black Mass to win the match.
In the fourth match, Bayley defended the SmackDown Women's Championship in a handicap match against Raw's Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross. In the end, Bayley countered Bliss' Twisted Bliss by raising her knees and performed a Diving Elbow Drop on Cross to retain the title.
In the fifth match, Bobby Lashley faced Braun Strowman in a Last Man Standing match. During the match, as Strowman ran around the ring, Lashley intercepted him with a Spear. They then fought into the crowd and into the concourse area. There, Strowman suplexed him into a wall. When the fight returned back to the crowd, Lashley sent Strowman through the barricade. Lashley then ran around the ring to send Strowman through the German announce table. Lashley then flipped it over, but Strowman stood before the ten count. Lashley then leapt over the barricade, only for Strowman to catch him and send him over the international announcer's tables. In the closing moments, after Lashley and Strowman fought up the steps at a different part of the arena, Strowman performed a powerslam on Lashley from an elevated platform. Strowman got to his feet, but Lashley was unable to make the