Extreme Rules (2010)

Extreme Rules (2010) was a professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment's (WWE) Raw and ECW brands, which took place on January 10, 2010 at the TBC in TBC. This was the sixty-seventh pay-per-view and the fifth event in the Extreme Rules chronology to be held in WWEbrand.

The theme of this pay-per-view was two fold: the gimmick matches theme from previous events; and a series of matches between the Raw and ECW brands to determine which brand was better. The brand that lost the most matches resulted in their General Manager leaving their position of authority. The main event was an Extreme Rules Lumberjack match between the WWE Champion John Cena and the ECW Champion Mr. Kennedy. Only Cena's title was on the line in the match. The other predominant bout on the card was a Steel Cage match between Raw's Chris Jericho and ECW's Christian. Altogether, seven matches were on the event, including a Ladder match for the Intercontinental Championship between John Morrison from Raw and ECW's Evan Bourne; Jeff Hardy battled his brother Matt Hardy; and a Tables match between The Gatecrashers and Rob Van Dam and Daniel Bryan.

WWE Champion John Cena vs. Mr. Kennedy (Extreme Rules Lumberjack match)
On October 5, 2009, Raw General Manager William Regal announced that the talent exchange between the Raw and ECW brands had come to an end, meaning that talent and championships were now once again exclusive to either Raw or ECW. Over the next few months, the effectiveness of Regal in an authoritative position was being questioned by many in WWE, including many of his employees. His biggest mistake was allowing SmackDown's Randy Orton to win Raw's World Heavyweight Championship from Shawn Michaels at Survivor Series due to a contractural loophole, leaving the Raw brand without a world title. With many calling for his resignation, on the December 14 edition of Raw, Regal announced that he had signed the new WWE Champion John Cena to the brand, effectively saving his job for now. Regal turned to blame what had happened to the Raw brand over the latter part of the year to ECW and its General Manager Paul Heyman, arguing that they were using valuable airtime for their "garbage". Heyman responded by challenging Regal to allow the ECW Champion Mr. Kennedy to appear on Raw and defend his title against any Raw wrestler. Kennedy defeated Raw's Eddie Guerrero on the December 21 edition of Raw. On that same night, the ECW Champion Mr. Kennedy challenged the WWE Champion John Cena to a match at Extreme Rules. The following week, a coin toss took place to determine which championship would be defended at the pay-per-view, resulting in Cena's title being on the line. It would also be announced that they would compete in an Extreme Rules Lumberjack match, with members of both rosters at ringside. Cena and Kennedy chose "chief lumberjacks" to recruit other wrestlers to become lumberjacks. Cena chose Shelton Benjamin whereas Kennedy selected Sheamus. In a tag team match on January 4, Kennedy and Sheamus defeated Cena and Benjamin in a tag team match.

Chris Jericho vs. Christian (Steel Cage match)
Chris Jericho's feud with Christian began at Unforgiven. Following his match that night, a mysterious video played, and would do so for several weeks after whenever Jericho was in the ring. At Night of Champions in October, after an unsuccessful attempt at the World Heavyweight Championship, a masked figure appeared on screen, startling Jericho. The masked individual would appear on screen until the last edition of Raw before Survivor Series, when he would appear in the ring whilst Jericho was addressing the fans on the stage. By the time Jericho reached the ring, the lights would go out and the individual would be gone. Jericho challenged the person to show up at Survivor Series. The masked man would reveal himself to be Christian, who hadn't been seen in WWE since late 2006. On December 8, it was announced that Christian had been signed to work on the ECW brand. Jericho challenged Christian to a match at Extreme Rules. As they were on opposing brands, the match was made part of the Raw vs. ECW series for the night. The match was made a Steel Cage match on the December 29 edition of ECW.

Rob Van Dam & Daniel Bryan vs. The Gatecrashers (Tag Team Tables match)
Originally the match was booked as Rob Van Dam and Eddie Guerrero vs. The Gatecrashers in a non-title match at the pay-per-view, Guerrero left WWE after the expiration of his contract on January 5, resulting in Daniel Bryan being recruited as a replacement partner for Van Dam.

Tommy Dreamer vs. Matt Morgan (Hardcore match)
On the December 29 edition of ECW, Tommy Dreamer announced that he was retiring from in-ring competition. However, following a plea from Paul Heyman to help defeat Raw at Extreme Rules, Dreamer agreed to stay until the pay-per-view. He was challenged to a match by Raw's Matt Morgan who wanted to be known as a "career killer". Dreamer accepted one final match to take place at the event.

Bottom Line
Prior to the pay-per-view, the pre-show Bottom Line featured an interpromotional tag team match between Raw's Ted DiBiase and MVP against Cody Rhodes and Hurricane Helms from ECW. This match was not included in the series that took place at the event.