Extreme Rules 2011 Extreme Rules 2011 was a professional wrestling pay - per - view ( PPV ) event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment ( WWE ) , which took place on May 1 , 2011 at the St . Pete Times Forum in Tampa , Florida . It was the third annual Extreme Rules event . Background . Extreme Rules featured professional wrestling matches that involve different wrestlers from pre - existing feuds , plots , and storylines which were played out on WWE ' s primary television programs . Wrestlers will portray villains or heroes as they follow a series of events that build tension and culminate in a wrestling match or series of matches . Due to the new rules , WWE is no longer allowed to use the terms ' wrestler or wrestling ' as it is too reminiscent of the attitude era . Edge was originally scheduled to defend his World Heavyweight Championship against Alberto Del Rio in a ladder match . However , Edge retired on the April 11 episode of " Raw " due to being diagnosed with cervical spinal stenosis stemming from previously sustained injuries . Edge vacated the World Heavyweight Championship and the match was cancelled . It was later announced the winner of a 20 - man battle royal would face Alberto in the ladder match ; Edge ' s real life best friend and story line best friend Christian won the right to face Del Rio for the title . In the interim , Del Rio was drafted to Raw in the 2011 WWE Draft . On the April 11th edition of Monday Night Raw there was a 5 - man gauntlet match which would decide the number one contender to face The Miz for the WWE Championship . This match featured John Cena , Randy Orton , John Morrison , R - Truth and Dolph Ziggler . The last two men in the final round were John Cena and R - Truth . After an interference from The Miz and Alex Riley the match was resulted in a double disqualification , which would then lead to the anonymous Raw general manager stating that both John Cena and R - Truth would compete for the WWE Championship against The Miz in a Triple Threat match . On the April 18 edition of " Raw " , John Morrison challenged R - Truth for Truth ' s spot in the match and won the opportunity , but Truth turned heel and attacked Morrison after the match . Later in the night , it was revealed that the match would be contested inside a steel cage . An ongoing feud involves " Raw " commentators Michael Cole and Jerry Lawler . At WrestleMania XXVII , Lawler made Cole submit to the ankle lock , but the anonymous Raw General Manager reversed special guest referee Stone Cold Steve Austin ' s decision , thus making Cole the winner via disqualification . On the April 11 episode of " Raw " , Lawler defeated Cole ' s trainer , Jack Swagger , allowing him to announce that he would team up with his former broadcast partner , Jim Ross , to face Cole and Swagger at Extreme Rules . Two weeks later , the Raw General Manager declared that the teams would face each other in a Country Whipping match . Another feud from the SmackDown brand is between Layla and Michelle McCool , formerly known together as LayCool . Dissension between the two divas started on the April 8 edition of " SmackDown " when McCool refused to tag Layla in a tag team match against Beth Phoenix and Kelly Kelly . The following two weeks , the two attended couple ' s therapy sessions , but the latter session ended with McCool attacking Layla , solidifying their break up . During the 2011 WWE Draft , after Layla lost her match against Eve , she attacked McCool for distracting her . On the April 29 edition of " SmackDown " , after fighting to a double count - out in their match , Layla and McCool agreed to have a No Count - out , No Disqualification match at Extreme Rules with the loser leaving WWE . Another feud between Raw and SmackDown is Rey Mysterio and Cody Rhodes . At WrestleMania XXVII , Cody Rhodes defeated Rey Mysterio by using Mysterio ' s knee brace , then the following Cross Rhodes . On the April 22 edition of Friday Night SmackDown , Rhodes and Mysterio would have a rematch ; however , Mysterio defeated Rhodes . After the match , Rhodes attacked Mysterio from behind , performed a Cross Rhodes on a concrete floor , and puts a paper bag on Mysterio . It was announced that Mysterio would face Rhodes in a Falls Count Anywhere match at Extreme Rules . At the 2011 WWE Draft , Mysterio would be drafted from SmackDown to Raw . Two matches were added to the card during the event . Teddy Long added a bonus match between Sheamus and Kofi Kingston for the WWE United States Championship . Also a Lumberjack match featuring the WWE Tag Team Champions , Big Show and Kane against Wade Barrett and Ezekiel Jackson was added . Event . Pre - show . Before the event aired , a dark match took place . In this non - televised match , Sin Cara defeated Tyson Kidd after a moonsault side slam . Preliminary matches . The first televised match of the night saw CM Punk taking on Randy Orton in a Last Man Standing Match . While Punk made his way to the ring with the members of The New Nexus , the anonymous Raw general manager declared that the members of The New Nexus were banned from ringside . The first big spot of the match happened when Orton delivered a snap scoop powerslam on the outside of the ring . About ten minutes into the match , Punk executed GTS , on Orton who barely managed to beat the count . The finish came after Punk got caught in the top rope by Orton , and was then hit with an RKO . Once Punk could not answer the count , the referee declared Orton the winner . After the match , in a backstage segment , the general manager of SmackDown Theodore Long informed Sheamus that he would be defending the WWE United States Championship against Kofi Kingston in a tables match . In the match , Kingston was successful in winning the United States Championship after putting Sheamus through a table with a double leg drop off the top rope . The following match was a tag team Country Whipping match featuring Michael Cole and Jack Swagger against WWE Hall of Famers , Jerry Lawler and Jim Ross . Swagger and Cole dominated the match early on until Lawler made the hot tag to Ross . After taking Cole down , Ross locked in the AnCole lock in an attempt to make Cole tap out . However , Swagger entered the ring and pulled Ross off Cole . Ross answered with a low blow on Swagger , but was then rolled up by Cole for the win . The next match pitted Cody Rhodes and Rey Mysterio against each other in a Falls Count Anywhere match . The first big spot of this match was Mysterio running off the entrance ramp and executing a seated senton on Rhodes . The brawl then headed into the arena ' s concourse where Mysterio tackled Rhodes into a stand . After getting back inside the arena , Rhodes hip tossed Mysterio over a barricade onto the padded floor outside the ring . The finish came when Mysterio spit mist into Rhodes ' face , followed by the 619 and a Springboard splash for the pin . Main event matches . The following match was a no disqualification , no countout , Loser Leaves WWE match featuring Layla and Michelle McCool . The match started with McCool attacking Layla during her entrance routine . McCool was then able to hit the Faithbreaker , but her pin was reversed by Layla into a crucifix for the win . After the match , the debuting Kharma attacked McCool , hitting her with a lifting double underhook facebuster . The next match was for the vacant World Heayweight Championship featuring Christian and Alberto Del Rio in a ladder match . The first big spot of the match came when Christian backdropped Del Rio onto a ladder . After a back and forth match , Del Rio was able to hit an enzuigiri on Christian , knocking him off the top rope . Del Rio then attempted to free the championship , but was unsuccessful . About sixteen minutes into the match , Christian used a spear on Del Rio . After Christian was about to unhook the championship , Brodus Clay ran down to ringside , preventing Christian from winning the match . Clay was busted open after taking a shot from a ladder and then thrown to the outside by Christian . After this , Del Rio applied the cross armbreaker on Christian and began scaling the ladder . However , Del Rio was distracted by a car horn , coming from the retired Edge , who was in a jeep . Christian took advantage of this and threw Del Rio off the ladder onto Brodus Clay and Ricardo Rodriguez at ringside . Christian went on to unhook the World Heavyweight Championship and become the eleventh Grand Slam Champion in WWE history . The next match was for the WWE Tag Team Championship which featured Wade Barrett and Ezekiel Jackson against Kane and Big Show in a lumberjack match . The finish came after Barrett tagged himself in once Jackson had Show down . After this , Barrett was caught by Big Show and then hit with a chokeslam for the win . The last match of the night was a steel cage triple threat match for the WWE Championship featuring John Cena , John Morrison and The Miz . The match started with Morrison and Cena double teaming The Miz . Cena nailed a diving bulldog on the Miz from the top rope , while Morrison tried to escape the cage , only to be stopped by Cena . As morrison made another attempt to escape , Miz stopped him . Cena hit the Five Knuckle Shuffle on Morrison but The Miz nailed John Cena with the Skull Crushing Finale . The Miz tried to climb the cage but was again double teamed , and Morrison and Cena hit Miz with a double suplex from the top of the cage . Morrison then tried a variation of the flying chuck using the cage wall instead of the ropes , aiming for Cena , but hit The Miz instead . Morrison hit a huge standing moonsault side slam on Cena , but after that was powerbomb ed into the steel cage wall by The Miz . Then Cena applied the STF on Miz as he tried exiting the ring by the door , but then Morrison climbed the cage and shut the door , which nailed The Miz on the head . Cena then pushed Morrison who landed on the door on his groin . Back in the ring , Miz hit a Swift DDT on Cena , and hit a running boot as well . As Morrison tried to escape the cage , both Cena and Miz tried to stop him , but Morrison hit the Starship Pain from the top of the cage . Later in the match , Morrison was about to escape the cage to win the WWE Championship , when R - Truth came to ringside and took Morrison out with a running knee , and took him back in the ring and kept hitting him , finally ending the assault with the What ' s Up . Truth went on to deliver a Truth Axe on Cena before symbolically climbing over the cage . The match ended as Cena delivered a massive Attitude Adjustment on The Miz from the top rope for the pinfall victory and thus won his eighth WWE Championship , and tied the record for most WWE Title wins with Triple H , and thus by winning the WWE Champioship John Cena began his Tenth World Championship reign . Reception . Extreme Rules 2011 received generally positive reviews . In his review for The Sun , Rob McNichol reported that the event was " a stunning return to form by WWE . " CM Punk and Randy Orton ' s opening Last Man Standing Match was deemed a very strong opening bout which swung each way several times . CM Punk was not shamed in defeat , being made to look Orton ' s equal for twenty minutes . The Country Whipping match was described as " unsatisfying " whilst Rey Mysterio vs Cody Rhodes was hailed as " a high quality wrestling match . . it felt fresh , and it helped that Rey certainly had his flying and bumping boots on . " Kharma ' s debut was heralded as a special moment sorely lacking from recent WWE PPVs . The Smackdown main event Ladder Match between Alberto Del Rio and Christian for the vacant World Heavyweight Championship was given praise , " The crowd ' s genuine elation and the celebration with his former partner and best friend made it a very special moment . " " After a quick and forgettable lumberjack match in which Big Show and Kane defeated Wade Barrett and Ezekiel Jackson , the main event saw The Miz defend against Cena and John Morrison in a cage . Cena prevailed after a top rope Attitude Adjustment to win his tenth world crown . " " But the story was Christian ' s big win and the fact that WWE used the match stipulations — so often a restricting factor on their booking — to great effect . " The Sun gave praise in some matches calling them outstanding and " Extreme " , McNicol said that the event lived up to its name , the Last Man Standing match was rated 8 out of 10 , the World Championship Ladder match an 9 out of 10 and the WWE Championship Steel Cage was rated 8 out of 10 , and rated the show 8 out of 10 overall . Death of Osama bin Laden . Following the conclusion of Extreme Rules , news was breaking worldwide that Osama bin Laden , the leader and co - founder of the Islamist terrorist group , Al - Qaeda , had been killed by the US Navy ' s SEAL Team Six in Abbottabad , Pakistan . New WWE Champion John Cena addressed the live audience with a speech about American pride , then declared " The President has just announced that we have caught , and compromised to a permanent end , Osama bin Laden " . Cena ' s comments and the announcement drew a massive response from the audience including many " U - S - A ! " chants . Cena followed up on Twitter moments after leaving the ring saying " CeNation . Proud day in the war on terror . Many brave soldiers made the ultimate sacrifice in hopes of what happened tonight . I am not certain if this conflict is over . But tonight was a very very proud moment for the good guys . God bless America . " The internal public address system of the St . Pete Times Forum then proceeded to play " Stars and Stripes Forever . " Cena ' s announcement was replayed the next evening on " WWE Raw " , where Dwayne " The Rock " Johnson also addressed the issue prior to his birthday celebration and Lilian Garcia performed the national anthem in the beginning of the show .