"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!