Extreme Rules (2016)

The 2016 Extreme Rules was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) and livestreaming event produced by WWE. It was the eighth annual Extreme Rules event and took place on May 22, 2016, at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. The theme of the event was that it featured various hardcore-based matches. Eight matches were contested at the event, including one on the Kickoff pre-show. Only three matches, including the pre-show match, were contested under a hardcore stipulation. In the main event, Roman Reigns defeated AJ Styles in an Extreme Rules match to retain the WWE World Heavyweight Championship; after the match, Seth Rollins made his return from injury and attacked Reigns. The event received mixed-to-positive reviews from critics, with praise directed at the fatal four-way match for the Intercontinental Championship and the main event match. The event was originally scheduled to be held on May 1, 2016, at the Allstate Arena in the Chicago suburb of Rosemont, Illinois, which would have been the third Extreme Rules at the venue, after 2012 and 2015, but WWE switched its date and venue with that year's Payback. This was the last Extreme Rules event to be held before the reintroduction of the brand extension in July.