The 2012 WWE Extreme Rules Pay-Per-View starts with a video hyping the match to take place later on between John Cena and Brock Lesnar, followed by a video recapping the events leading to the upcoming match, and Kane taking on Randy Orton in a Falls Count Anywhere match to kick off the show.

The match sees the action spill backstage at one point, with Zack Ryder unsuccessfully attempting to attack Kane when it reaches where the Superstars are watching backstage, but the match sees Randy Orton get the victory, when he hits Kane with an RKO on a steel chair in the ring for the 3-count.

After an interaction involving John Laurinaitis, Eve Torres, and Teddy Long, in which Laurinaitis receives a call from Triple H, Dolph Ziggler (accompanied by Vickie Guerrero and Jack Swagger) is pitted against “Funkasaurus” Brodus Clay (accompanied by Cameron, Naomi, and Hornswoggle) in a match which sees Clay get the victory, when he hits Ziggler with a jumping body splash for the 3-count.

After a video recapping the events of the Pre-Show which saw a wheel spun to determine the stipulation of the upcoming match (click here to view the Extreme Rules Pre-Show), The Big Show goes against Cody Rhodes in a Tables match for the Intercontinental Championship which sees Rhodes get the victory and become the new Intercontinental Champion, when he dropkicks Show’s leg as he attempts to re-enter the ring, and due to Show’s weight, the table breaks when he puts his foot down on it.

Afterwards, Show gets angry about the situation and re-enters the ring, where he hits Rhodes with a spear, followed by setting a table up and chokeslamming him through it. The punishment does not stop there however, as he picks Rhodes up in a military press, and throws him over the top rope and through a table on the outside of the ring.

After a video hyping the release of “You Think You Know Me? The Story Of Edge” on Blu-Ray and DVD, Matt Striker interviews Daniel Bryan about why he feels that he has the advantage in his 2 Out Of 3 Falls match against Sheamus.

Bryan calls that a stupid question, and says that it is teachers like Striker who are the reason that the American educational system has fallen out of the top twenty world rankings. He says that advantages that he has over Sheamus is that he gets more chicks than Sheamus, his beard is more manlier than Sheamus’ ever will be, and unlike Sheamus, his stomach is not weighed down by five pounds of corned beef.

He says that he is better than Sheamus in every way imaginable, and that Sheamus is like the crowd in Chicago. Bryan says that the Chicago crowd think that they are the best crowd in the WWE Universe, but that like Sheamus, they are overrated and unoriginal.

Bryan says that as for the answers to the key questions, is he smarter than Sheamus? Yes. Is he in better condition than Sheamus? Yes. Will he become the two-time World Heavyweight Champion? Yes! Yes! Yes!

As Bryan walks off chanting “Yes!”, AJ appears from nearby, having apparently been watching the interview, and perhaps missing what she had with Daniel Bryan.

After a video recapping the events leading the upcoming match, in particular the eighteen second match at WrestleMania (click here for our WrestleMania XXVIII report), Daniel Bryan takes on Sheamus for the World Heavyweight Championship in a 2 Out Of 3 Falls match.

The match sees Sheamus declared the winner of the first fall, as a result of the referee disqualifying Bryan when he won’t cease his attack on Sheamus. The winner of the second fall is declared as Bryan, as the referee awards the decision to Bryan due to Sheamus apparently passing out in the Yes Lock.

Sheamus gets the victory and retains his title as a result of winning the third fall and thus the match, when he hits Bryan with a Brogue Kick for the 3-count.

As Santino and The Great Khali watch on a monitor backstage, Aaron Relic and Jay Hatton are pitted against Ryback in a handicap match which sees the crowd chanting “Goldberg” the whole match, and also sees Ryback get the victory, when he hits one of them in what appears to be a modified stunner, and the other with a muscle-buster, before dragging one over the other and pinning both for the 3-count.

After Matt Striker interviews CM Punk about his upcoming match with Chris Jericho, in which Punk says that Jericho will be waking up the next morning with a hangover that is not due to booze, but due to Punk putting him to sleep, and a video recapping the events leading to the upcoming match, Chris Jericho goes against CM Punk for the WWE Championship in a Chicago Street Fight.

The match sees Punk get the victory and retain his title, when he counters Jericho’s attempt at the GTS into a slingshot to the exposed turnbuckle, and then follows it up with the GTS for the 3-count.

After a video recapping the United States Championship match between The Miz and Santino Marella from the Pre-Show, an interaction involving Beth Phoenix, Eve Torres, and The Bella Twins, sees Eve inform Beth that she has not been medically cleared to compete and thus Nikki Bella will be facing a surprise opponent instead – whom Eve says is not Kharma, much to the relief of Nikki and Brie.

Now, Nikki Bella (accompanied by Brie) takes on a surprise opponent for the Divas Championship, but before the match takes place, The Bella Twins brag about how Nikki will be the longest reigning Divas Champion in history, and suggest that maybe the surprise opponent is too scared to show.

The surprise opponent is not too scared to show up, as they are revealed to be the returning Layla, and the match sees Layla get the victory to become the new Divas Champion, when despite Nikki and Brie employing “Twin Magic” and switching with each other behind the back of the referee, Layla counters Brie’s jumping facebuster attempt, and hits the Layout-neckbreaker for the 3-count.

After a video recapping the return of Brock Lesnar and the events between him and John Cena that lead to the upcoming match, Brock Lesnar is pitted against John Cena in a match which sees Lesnar quickly bust Cena open and result in the match being halted a couple of times to deal with the blood.

The match sees referees get knocked out at a couple of points, the first is inadvertently as the referee is behind Lesnar when Cena knocks Lesnar down, and Lesnar thus ends up knocking the referee down and out of the ring.

The second referee is knocked out when Lesnar attacks the replacement, not happy Cena kicking out, but the match sees Cena get the victory, when Cena hits Lesnar with an Attitude Adjustment on the steel steps for the 3-count.

Afterwards, John Cena still has blood running down his face as he grabs a microphone and says that he knows that Chicago is CM Punk’s town, but that above all it is a wrestling town. He says that the fans were supposed to see the extreme, and he says that he’s got no left arm and can taste his own blood, and is damn proud to say that it was in Chicago, Illinois.

He talks about how all of the wrestlers give everything they have for the fans, and if he has to take a vacation then so be it, but before he goes he wants to say thanks for one hell of a last ride, and that he feels great even with a Chicago crowd that may or may not like him.

John Cena celebrates at the entrance, as Extreme Rules goes off the air.