Wrestling

"I Quit" Match to determine the #1 Contender for the World Heavyweight Championship Alberto Del Rio vs. Jack Swagger Extreme Rules was to be the venue for Dolph Ziggler's first-ever World World Heavyweight Championship (WHC) defense. But with Ziggler out of commission thanks to a concussion caused by a kick from Jack Swagger, the self-professed Real American and Alberto Del Rio are left to duke it out for the Number One Contender spot. The Road to Extreme Rules Jack Swagger and Alberto Del Rio have been in conflict since Swagger's return to WWE television (with the jingoistic Zeb Colter at his side) in February after a long absence. Swagger and Coulter took issue with the Mexican then-Heavyweight Champion, seizing every opportunity to spout nativist vitriol aimed at Del Rio and immigrants generally. A feud developed - one the enveloped Colter and Ricardo Rodriguez, Del Rio's personal ring announcer - and led all the way to WrestleMania 29, where Alberto was able to defeat the former amateur wrestler and retain his belt. When Dolph Ziggler successfully cashed in his Money in the Bank briefcase on Del Rio on first episode of Monday Night Raw after WrestleMania on April 8, 2013, The Mexican Aristocrat became the #1 Contender for the Showoff's new title, seemingly scuttling a rematch between Swagger and ADR. But after the All American American won an upset victory over the newly-minted champion (and his former tag team partner) on the very next week's show, Smackdown General Manager Booker T decided that the only way to settle the score was to declare a triple threat match match among the three SmackDown Superstars to take place at Extreme Rules. On the April 29, 2013, episode of SmackDown, Rodriguez pinned Colter in a three-way match, which also included Ziggler's heavy, Big E Langston, for the right to choose the stipulation that would apply to his boss' match at Extreme Rules, and the pair of amigos opted for a ladder match. However, as the poet Robert Burns famously said, the best laid plans of mice and Booker T often go awry. Or something like that. On the May 3, 2013, edition of SmackDown, The Showoff interfered in a match between Swagger and Langston and received a kick to the head from Swagger and a concussion for his trouble. With Ziggler sidelined until after Extreme Rules, Teddy Long re-imagined the match as a Number One Contender's "I Quit" Match. What's at stake? The right to challenge the World Heavyweight Champion in his first title defense. Each of Del Rio and Swagger is a former champion himself, and each has a legitimate claim to the Number One Contender's spot: Del Rio, as the immediately preceding champion, would normally be afforded the privilege, but Swagger has defeated the reigning champion. So these two will grapple again for an opportunity to reclaim the big gold belt. Whose thirst for gold is greater? Who will refuse to quit? What do you think, Cagesiders? Find out who walks away with a title shot tonight here on Cagesideseats!

Everybody who comes to Cageside Seats has an opinion about what's going on in pro wrestling - The Smark's Shoot Standings (S3) are where YOU let us know YOURS. Cast a vote in the comments. Give us the three performers you think entertained or impressed the most in the last week, and feel free to talk about why. And/or vote for your top performer in our poll. We also have the outcome of last week's voting, the results of which make up our annual competition for Performer of the Year. Remember, the Standings are for the previous week - the May 13th episode of WWE Monday Night Raw, Wednesday night's WWE Main Event, TNA Impact from May 16th and the WWE SmackDown that aired on Friday the 17th. Make YOUR mark, smarks! _______________________________________ That seems a little sexist, but you are a multiple time S3 weekly champ... Found flyer at Bluegrass Kitchen in Charleston, WV "Without a beard, you’re the same as every other woman and child." twitter.com/WWEDanielBryan… — Daniel Bryan (@WWEDanielBryan) May 5, 2013 So who am I to say. • Current cause célèbre Antonio Cesaro continues to earn votes and rack up Standings points, regardless of wins and losses, or who finds him "boring". Once (and future?) cause célèbre Damien Sandow sang a little song about Randall K Orton. • Dean Ambrose showed signs of becoming a one-man wolfpack with all the singles action he's been getting. Abyss broke up a main event in TNA and added intrigue to the story of he and his "brother", Joseph Park. • Both Mark Henry and Paul Heyman continue to break the stereotype that smarks only love guys who can go, go, go in the ring. • Brock Lesnar gets credit for tearing shit up. Bobby Roode gets credit for not sticking his junk in anyone's face. • I just hope that everybody who finished in the 8 way tie for 10th last week earns some more points throughout the year, or the .125 next to their names in the full Standings will look kind of sad. The S3: 2013-14, Week 5 1. Daniel Bryan2. Antonio Cesaro3. Damien Sandow4. Dean Ambrose5. Abyss6. Mark Henry7. Paul Heyman 8. (tie) Bobby Roode8. (tie) Brock Lesnar10. (tie) AJ Lee10. (tie) Chris Jericho10. (tie) Great Khali10. (tie) Gail Kim10. (tie) Frankie Kazarian10. (tie) Christopher Daniels10. (tie) Kane10. (tie) Kenny King And this...this is a smarky looking list: The S3 Performer of the Year - through the Week Ending May 11 1. Daniel Bryan - 32 points2. Dean Ambrose - 263. Antonio Cesaro - 24.5 4. Dolph Ziggler - 155. Fandango - 14.56. (tie) Seth Rollins - 146. (tie) Roman Reigns - 14 8. Brock Lesnar - 12.5 9. Mark Henry - 1210. Ryback - 10.5 _______________________________________ This is our first attempt at having a Sunday pay-per-view (PPV) not cap a week of voting. Should be interesting...remember that you're voting for the nationally televised wrestling-related action from Raw on the 13th through Smackdown on the 17th. Extreme Rules will factor into our votes next week, along with the shows that follow it. Clear as mud? In case you're not confused enough already - and for any newcomers who might be swinging by the ol' cSs to read up on Sunday's show - let's reprint our S3 primer: If you choose to vote in the comments (and we hope you do), you have three "slots". If you place one performer in each, first place is assigned three points for the week, second two and third one. Weekly points are assigned to everyone's comment for ranking. You can list more than one wrestler per slot, either as a tag team or a tie between unrelated workers. If you use all three slots and have people tied in any of them, those performers will split the points assigned to that slot. For instance: 1. Damien Sandow 2. HHH/Hulk Hogan 3. Aksana results in Sandow getting three weekly points, HHH and Hogan getting a point each (splitting the two points assigned to a second place vote) while Aksana al

No different than it did for WrestleMania 29, WWE will once again offer a free live pre-show using its various online platforms following the Extreme Rules pay-per-view (PPV) tonight (Sun., May 19, 2013) from the Scottrade Center in St. Louis, Missouri. Once Triple H and Brock Lesnar settle up their longstanding feud inside a steel cage, you'll be able to tune in to check out all the post-event action. But what exactly will that be? As described by WWE, here's what we can expect: To catch all the action of WWE's most out-of-control event of the year, tune in for the interactive Pre-Show starting at 7:30 p.m. ET/4:30 p.m. PT. Both the Pre-Show and Post-Show will be available for viewing on WWE.com, the WWE App, YouTube, Yahoo!, Facebook, Twitter, Samsung SMART TVs and Xbox 360. While The Miz and Cody Rhodes look to one-up each other in singles competition on the Pre-Show, the Post-Show will provide continued analysis of the night's biggest matches, as well as exclusive interviews with top Superstars. You won't want to miss the immediate reactions from that night's winners and losers. And here's the video:

WWE Extreme Rules goes live on pay-per-view (PPV) tonight (Sun., May 19, 2013) at 8 p.m. ET from the Scottrade Center in St. Louis, Missouri, but the promotion is also offering a free live stream of its pre-show starting at 7:30 p.m. ET. The featured match to get the crowd nice and warmed up for the main show will be a simple singles encounter between two guys who haven't really been feuding but didn't really have anything else to do: The Miz vs. Cody Rhodes. The two have crossed paths a few times over the past couple weeks and while their program isn't exactly rocking anyone's socks off, it doesn't really need to. It just needs to be good enough to work a pre-show match to get the St. Louis faithful ready to go for the main card. And that's exactly what it will do. The show starts at 7:30 p.m. ET, so remember to come back and join us here for the live stream below: See you tonight, Cagesiders.

WWE Extreme Rules is all set to pop off tonight (Sun., May 19, 2013) from the Scottrade Center in St. Louis, Missouri, at 8 p.m. ET, live on pay-per-view (PPV). CageSideSeats.com will provide LIVE blow-by-blow, match-by-match coverage of Extreme Rules below, beginning with the first match of the evening and right on through to the main event. Tonight's show will feature Triple H vs. Brock Lesnar in their trilogy bout inside a steel cage, John Cena defending the WWE championship against Ryback in a Last Man Standing match, Alberto Del Rio vs. Jack Swagger in a number one contender I Quit match, and much, much more. Kick your shoes off, relax, and enjoy all the action with your favorite pro wrestling website. And remember to keep refreshing! __________________________________ WWE Extreme Rules 2013 Quick Results Triple H vs. Brock LesnarJohn Cena vs. RybackAlberto Del Rio vs. Jack SwaggerSheamus vs. Mark HenryRandy Orton vs. Big ShowChris Jericho vs. FandangoDean Ambrose vs. Kofi KingstonThe Shield vs. Team Hell NoThe Miz vs. Cody Rhodes __________________________________ WWE Extreme Rules 2013 Live Blog & Match Coverage Eric here, taking a break from the rumor mill to do some live blogging.

The first round of the Cageside Seats Greatest Finisher Tournament continues today with a match-up pitting number two seed the Diamond Cutter, as performed by Diamond Dallas Page, against number 15 seed the Alabama Slam, as performed by Bob Holly. Remember, voting closes at midnight CT. In order to cast your vote, leave a comment and in the subject line make sure you adhere to the guidelines as follows: To vote Diamond Cutter simply write: Vote - CutterTo vote Alabama Slam simply write: Vote - Slam Here are videos showcasing each move. Diamond Cutter: Alabama Slam: Updated bracket: (Click Image to Enlarge)

Wrestling Observer Radio with Bryan Alvarez and Dave Meltzer returns tonight to talk all the news in MMA and pro-wrestling including full results of the UFC on FX 8 show from Brazil on Saturday night, Vitor Belfort's big win and controversy, Nate Diaz big-ass fine, Bryan Caraway controversy, latest on Rock's injury, TNA ratings from Thursday night plus thoughts on the show, a quick preview of WWE Extreme Rules on Sunday, and more. A fun show as always so check it out~! {radioShow dmdocuments/051813wo.mp3}

Straight from our Cageside Features Section, we bring you the results for our fifth CSS Pro Wrestling Championship Series of tournaments here at Cageside Seats. Our latest match-up in the first round of our tourney is complete, and so are your results. Yesterday, (Sat., May 18) our number six-seeded Pedigree was actually defeated in another seeding upset, by our eleventh-seeded Shining Wizard... by 21 votes! Thus bringing the Shining Wizard one-step closer to being crowned the Greatest Finisher of All Time. The final tally was: (Click Image to Enlarge) Be sure to vote today (Sun., May 19) as the CSSGFT continues our next first round match: (2) Diamond Cutter vs. (15) Alabama Slam. Voting will remain open in the comments section of the new match thread from 6 a.m. ET today, right up until midnight-CT tonight -- with the results announced tomorrow (Mon., May 20). Our bracket will continue to be narrowed down by you, the Cagesiders, in order to determine which finisher CSS believes to be the Greatest Finisher of All Time.

Here we are with our Extreme Rules predictions and thoughts! I’m joined this month by Jee-S and Mike Lightning with their very talented writing. Let’s get down to business! Pre Show Match: The Miz vs Cody Rhodes Jee-S: I expect Miz to win this. Cody Rhodes is on a losing streak and Miz is coming back from a movie; he needs the momentum big time. The WWE has never hesitated to make Miz look good but they seem to have troubles building Rhodes. ML: Correct me if I’m wrong here, but isn’t this Miz’s THIRD pre-show match THIS year? He went from Main Eventing WrestleMania 27 to becoming the resident scapegoat for everything wrong with the company. Another thing wrong with this match is Cody Rhodes’ participation. Why are these two guys being relegated to the pre-show with ZERO build up and no feud? It makes no damn sense. Not to mention, The Miz’s booking is all over the map more than Carmen SanDiego. After a brief and mediocre feud with Wade Barrett for the IC Title, which he held for exactly one day before dropping it back to Barrett, he disappeared to film….what was it? Christmas Bounty? His booking has not been awesome. Prediction: Cody Rhodes with help from Sandow to set-up a rematch at Payback. JT: Rhodes and Miz are both too good to be on the pre-show, but here they are. I’m assuming they’ll make the most of their minutes, and I’m guessing Miz will pick up the win here coming off his return from filming his movies. Extreme Rules Match: Randy Orton vs Big Show Jee-S: Unless a major twist, I think Randy Orton is going to win this match. Big Show is getting older and Randy Orton is still in his prime; he needs the win more than Show does. ML: Well, we knew that the Big Show was no longer going to be a part of the World Title or WWE Title pictures after he dropped the World Title to Alberto Del Rio. Neither him, nor his opponent, NEED another World Title run. Orton has become almost as stale as John Cena, I only say “almost” because he still hits rKo’s “from somewhere” time to time. This match has grown pretty physical since WrestleMania and it should come full circle with this match. I expect this match to be one of the more brutal matches on the card – though, I believe Orton’s “Extreme Rules” match with Kane last year was everything but extreme. Prediction: Big Show setting up Orton-Show at Payback. JT: The Miz referred to this match as one that we are all looking forward to, but I’m not sure how overly excited I am for this contest. I’m sure they’ll deliver something solid, but I just wish there was some potential prize coming for the winner of this match. Where will they go from here? I expect Orton to get the win, because that’s what he does. Chris Jericho vs Fandango Jee-S: I’m not quite sure about this one. I think Chris Jericho could definitely benefit from a pay-per-view win but then again so could Fandango. I think I’ll say Fandango just because the character has to build and he still needs to get over to properly establish himself as an important performer in the company. ML: Jericho has continually put on high quality match after high quality match week in and week out since coming back to the WWE. His match with Fandango? Not so much. I’m hoping for a lot better match between these two this time around. Everyone knows my personal disdain for the Fandango gimmick, but there are elements I like: his aggression, cockiness and ability on the microphone are the three things I like the most. I’ve never been a fan of the man formerly known as Johnny Curtis but I continue to remain optimistic. I just want this match to be better than their WrestleMania 29 affair. Prediction: Chris Jericho to set up the rubber match at Payback. JT: Fan…dan…go! I’m not in love with the guy, but his popularity has soared and his aggressive style has impressed me. I see big things happening in the future for him. As for this match,

Former NXT Star Brandon Traven (@TravenWWE) now known as Brian Breaker has posted a YouTube video which explains his character. He is currently available for independent bookings.