Extreme Rules (2015) was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by WWE.[1] It was the seventh event under the Extreme Rules chronology. Extreme Rules was available for free to new subscribers on WWE's monthly subscription service, the WWE Network in over 140 countries.[2][3]
Eight matches took place at the event with one match on the pre-show. In the main event, Seth Rollins defeated Randy Orton in a Steel Cage match to retain the WWE World Heavyweight Championship.
Background
See also: Professional wrestling
Extreme Rules featured professional wrestling matches that involved wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds, plots, and storylines that played out on WWE's primary television programs, Raw and SmackDown. Wrestlers portrayed heroes or villains as they followed a series of events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches.[4][5]
At WrestleMania 31, John Cena defeated Rusev to win the United States Championship, marking Rusev's first loss via pinfall.[6] On the March 30 episode of Raw, Cena announced that he would begin a weekly open challenge, in which anyone on the roster would be allowed to face him for the title.[7] On the April 2 episode of SmackDown, Rusev invoked his rematch clause to face Cena for the title at the event.[8] On the April 13 episode of Raw, after Cena retained the title against Bad News Barrett, Rusev attacked Cena with a chain. Lana then announced that the match would be a Russian Chain match.[9]
At WrestleMania 31, Daniel Bryan won the ladder match for the Intercontinental Championship.[6] On the March 30 episode of Raw, previous champion Bad News Barrett attacked Bryan after Bryan retained the title against Dolph Ziggler.[7] On the April 2 episode of SmackDown, Barrett attacked Bryan during his match against Sheamus, causing Sheamus to win by countout.[8] On the April 6 episode of Raw, Barrett invoked his rematch clause on the WWE App to face Bryan for the title at the event.[10] On April 26, it was announced on WWE.com that Bryan would be unable to compete at the event due to injury and the bout was cancelled, but it was announced that Barrett would instead face Neville on the Extreme Rules pre-show.
At WrestleMania 31, Randy Orton defeated Seth Rollins. Later in the event, Rollins cashed in his Money in the Bank contract during the scheduled WWE World Heavyweight Championship match between Brock Lesnar and Roman Reigns and pinned Reigns to win the title.[6] On the April 6 episode of Raw, Orton defeated Ryback and Reigns in a triple threat match to face Rollins for the title at the event.[10] On the April 13 episode of Raw, Orton defeated Tyson Kidd and Cesaro in a Handicap match to earn the right to choose a stipulation, while Rollins defeated Kane to also earn the right to choose a stipulation. Rollins chose to ban Orton's finisher, the RKO, while Orton announced that the match would be a Steel Cage match.[9] On the April 20 episode of Raw, Triple H announced that Kane would be the gatekeeper to the cage for the match.[11]
On the April 13 episode of Raw, Paige won a Battle Royal to face Divas Champion Nikki Bella for the title at the event.[9] After the match, Naomi turned heel by attacking Paige, who suffered a storyline injury and was later deemed unable to compete at the event.[12] On the April 20 edition of Raw, Naomi defeated Brie Bella, earning a title match against Nikki at the event.[11]
On the March 30 episode of Raw, Sheamus returned from injury, appearing to save Bryan and Ziggler from an attack by Bad News Barrett, but then attacked Bryan and Ziggler, turning heel in the process.[7] On the April 13 episode of Raw, Sheamus attacked Ziggler after Ziggler defeated Neville.[9] On the April 16 episode of SmackDown, Sheamus announced that he would face Ziggler in a Kiss Me Arse match at the event.[13]
On the April 6 episode of Raw, Big Show attacked Reigns during his triple threat match against Orton and Ryback.[10] On the April 26/4/2015 
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