The 2018 Extreme Rules was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) and livestreaming event produced by WWE, held for wrestlers from the promotion's main roster brands, Raw and SmackDown. It was the 10th annual Extreme Rules event and took place on July 15, 2018, at the PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The theme of the event was that it featured various hardcore-based matches.
The card consisted of 12 matches, including two on the Kickoff pre-show. Only three matches, including one pre-show match, were contested under a hardcore stipulation. In the main event, Dolph Ziggler retained Raw's Intercontinental Championship by defeating Seth Rollins by 5–4 in a 30-minute Iron Man match that went into sudden death overtime. This was the first time that an Intercontinental Championship match was the main event of a WWE pay-per-view since Backlash in April 2001. In the penultimate match, AJ Styles retained SmackDown's WWE Championship against Rusev. In other prominent matches, Alexa Bliss retained the Raw Women's Championship against Nia Jax in an Extreme Rules match, Bobby Lashley defeated Roman Reigns, and Shinsuke Nakamura defeated Jeff Hardy to win SmackDown's United States Championship.
The event was originally planned to be held exclusively for the Raw brand, like the previous year, and it was also originally planned to be held on September 16 at the AT&T Center in San Antonio, Texas, but after April's WrestleMania 34, brand-exclusive PPV and livestreaming events for the main roster under the second brand split were discontinued. As a result, Extreme Rules was moved up to replace Battleground that was originally planned for this date and location, with Extreme Rules's original date and location given to Hell in a Cell. This also made it the first Extreme Rules since 2011 to feature multiple brands during a brand split.
Production Background
Extreme Rules was an annual professional wrestling event produced by WWE since 2009. It was originally broadcast exclusively via pay-per-view (PPV) before it began simultaneously livestreaming on the WWE Network in 2014. 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 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, using it in place of "hardcore match" or "hardcore rules".
On November 22, 2017, the 10th Extreme Rules event was originally announced to be held on September 16, 2018, at the AT&T Center in San Antonio, Texas, and was to be held exclusively for wrestlers from Raw, like the 2017 event. However, following the discontinuation of brand-exclusive PPV and livestreaming events for the main roster after WrestleMania 34 in April, the event was subsequently moved up to July 15 with a new location of the PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and featured wrestlers from both Raw and SmackDown. This made it the first Extreme Rules event since 2011 to feature multiple brands during a brand split, and the event's new date and location replaced an originally planned Battleground that was canceled as a result of the discontinuation of brand-exclusive PPV and livestreaming events for the main roster, with Extreme Rules's original date and location given to Hell in a Cell. Tickets went on sale on April 13 through Ticketmaster.
Storylines The event comprised 12 matches, including two on the Kickoff pre-show, that resulted from scripted storylines. Results were predetermined by WWE's writers on the Raw and SmackDown brands, while storylines were produced on WWE's weekly television shows, Monday Night Raw and SmackDown Live.
Raw On the June 18 episode of Raw, Dolph Ziggler defeated Seth Rollins to win his sixth Intercontinental Championship after Drew McIntyre, Ziggler's tag team partner, distracted Rollins. The following week, Rollins won a rematch for the title by disqualification after McIntyre interfered on Ziggler's behalf. On July 2, a 30-minute Iron Man match between the two was scheduled for Extreme Rules. On the July 9 episode, McIntyre defeated Rollins, ensuring that McIntyre would be in Ziggler's corner during the match.
At Money in the Bank, Alexa Bliss won the women's Money in the Bank ladder match. Later in the night, she interrupted the Raw Women's Championship match between Ronda Rousey and champion Nia Jax, causing a disqualification, and cashed in her Money in the Bank contract to win the championship. The following night on Raw, Jax invoked her championship rematch clause for Extreme Rules. Rousey was also suspended for 30 days as she attacked Raw General Manager Kurt Angle, who was trying to break up the fight between Rousey and Bliss. On the July 2 episode of Raw, the match at Extreme Rules was made an Extreme Rules match, and Rousey stated her intentions to be in the front row for the match.
On the June 4 episode of Raw, The B-Team (Bo Dallas and Curtis Axel) won a tag team battle royal to earn the right to face "Woken" Matt Hardy and Bray Wyatt for the Raw Tag Team Championship. On the June 25 episode of Raw, Axel defeated Hardy and the tag team title match was scheduled for Extreme Rules.
On the June 18 episode of Raw, Raw General Manager Kurt Angle scheduled a multi-man match for Extreme Rules, with the winner facing Brock Lesnar for the Universal Championship. Roman Reigns, claiming to be the "uncrowned champion" due to the controversial finish of his championship match at Greatest Royal Rumble, and Bobby Lashley, claiming to be the only person who could legitimately match Lesnar, were the first two participants confirmed for the match. The following week, however, the match was canceled over contract disputes with Lesnar. Reigns and Lashley wanted to face each other, but Angle instead had them team up against The Revival (Scott Dawson and Dash Wilder). The Revival won and in a rematch the following week, Reigns refused to tag in Lashley and Lashley abandoned Reigns to a post-match beat down by The Revival. A match between Lashley and Reigns was subsequently scheduled for Extreme Rules.
At Money in the Bank, Braun Strowman won the men's Money in the Bank ladder match. During the match, Strowman threw fellow competitor Kevin Owens off a ladder through two tables. The next night on Raw, Owens attempted to befriend Strowman by saying he would protect him now that he had the contract. Strowman attempted a powerslam on Owens but Owens escaped. Over the next few weeks, Strowman continuously embarrassed Owens including flipping his car over in the parking lot, and locking him inside a portable toilet. On the July 9 episode, a Steel Cage match between the two was scheduled for Extreme Rules.
SmackDown On the June 19 episode of SmackDown, Rusev won a gauntlet match to become the number one contender for AJ Styles' WWE Championship at Extreme Rules.
Prior to the gauntlet match, Daniel Bryan had a stare down with SmackDown Tag Team Champions The Bludgeon Brothers (Harper and Rowan). During the gauntlet match, The Bludgeon Brothers attacked Bryan, thus ensuring Bryan's elimination. On the June 26 episode of SmackDown, Kane returned to save Bryan from a post-match assault from The Bludgeon Brothers, reuniting Team Hell No. SmackDown General Manager Paige then scheduled Team Hell No to face The Bludgeon Brothers for the tag titles at Extreme Rules.
At Money in the Bank, Carmella defeated Asuka to retain the SmackDown Women's Championship with the help of the returning James Ellsworth. On the following episode of SmackDown, Carmella attacked Asuka after a distraction by Ellsworth. On the June 26 episode of SmackDown, General Manager Paige scheduled a rematch for the title at Extreme Rules. On the July 10 episode, after Asuka defeated Ellsworth in a lumberjack match, Carmella laid out Asuka with a superkick. Later, it was announced that Ellsworth would be suspended above the ring in a shark cage during the championship match.
On the July 3 episode of SmackDown, The New Day's (Kofi Kingston, Big E, and Xavier Woods) were having a pancake-eating competition when they were interrupted by Sanity (Eric Young, Alexander Wolfe, and Killian Dain), who laid out The New Day, including putting Woods through a table. A tables match between the two teams was then scheduled for the Extreme Rules Kickoff pre-show.
Event + Other on-screen personnelRole:Name:English commentatorsMichael Cole Corey Graves (Raw/SmackdownJonathan Coachman Tom Phillips Byron Saxton Spanish commentatorsCarlos CabreraMarcelo RodríguezGerman commentatorsCarsten SchaeferTim HaberCalvin KnieRing announcersGreg Hamilton JoJo RefereesDanilo AnfibioShawn BennettMike ChiodaJohn ConeDan EnglerDarrick MooreRyan TranInterviewersRenee YoungCharly CarusoPre-show panelRenee YoungBooker TSam RobertsDavid OtungaPost-show panelRenee YoungSam Roberts
Pre-show Two matches occurred during the Extreme Rules Kickoff pre-show. In the first, Andrade "Cien" Almas, accompanied by Zelina Vega, faced Sin Cara. The ending saw Vega distract Cara, allowing Almas to perform a running double knee smash on Cara, who was seated in the corner. Almas performed a hammerlock DDT on Cara to win the match.
Next, The New Day (Big E, Kofi Kingston, and Xavier Woods) faced Sanity (Eric Young, Alexander Wolfe, and Killian Dain) in a tables match. In the end, Wolfe restrained Kingston to allow Young to execute a diving elbow drop on Kingston through a table to win the match.
Preliminary matches The actual pay-per-view opened with Matt Hardy and Bray Wyatt defending the Raw Tag Team Championship against The B-Team (Bo Dallas and Curtis Axel). In the climax, Dallas performed an elevated whiplash on Hardy to win the titles.
Next, Finn Bálor faced "Constable" Baron Corbin. In the end, Balor pinned Corbin with a small package to win the match.
After that, Carmella defended the SmackDown Women's Championship against Asuka, with James Ellsworth suspended above the ring in a shark cage. As Ellsworth unlocked the cage door by picking the lock, Ellsworth's foot was caught in the cage. Asuka then attacked Ellsworth. Production staff attempted to liberate Ellsworth from the cage only for Asuka to attack them, and continue to attack Ellsworth. Whilst the referee was distracted by Ellsworth, Carmella shoved Asuka into the cage and pinned her to retain the title. After the match, Asuka applied the "Asuka Lock" on Ellsworth.
Later, Jeff Hardy defended SmackDown's United States Championship against Shinsuke Nakamura. Before the match, Nakamura attacked Hardy with a low blow. Once Hardy was ruled able to compete, Nakamura performed a "Kinshasa" on Hardy to win the title in six seconds. After the match, Randy Orton appeared, making his return, and stared down with Nakamura, who was standing on top of the announce table. Orton attacked Hardy with a low blow before leaving, thus turning heel for the first time since November 2016.
In the fifth match, Braun Strowman faced Kevin Owens in a steel cage match. Owens used handcuffs to bound Strowman to the ring rope and attacked Strowman. As Owens attempted to escape, Strowman broke the handcuffs and performed a chokeslam on Owens off the top of the cage through an announce table. As Owens touched the floor first, he was ruled the winner. After the match, medical personnel carted Owens out on a stretcher.
Next, The Bludgeon Brothers (Harper and Rowan) defended the SmackDown Tag Team Championship against Team Hell No (Daniel Bryan and Kane). Due to an attack by Harper and Rowan earlier in the event that injured Kane's ankle, Bryan initially competed alone. Midway through the match, Kane appeared to participate and performed chokeslams on Harper and Rowan. In the end, Rowan and Harper performed a powerbomb/diving clothesline combination on Bryan to retain the titles.