The event name was established in 2009; however, its theme began with its predecessor, One Night Stand, which was promoted in 2005 and 2006 as an Extreme Championship Wrestling reunion show.

Starting in 2010, Extreme Rules was moved from June to late April/early May to replace Backlash as the post-WrestleMania PPV event.

Following WrestleMania 34 in 2018, however, WWE discontinued brand-exclusive PPVs, and Extreme Rules moved to the July slot.

From 2005 to 2008, World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) ran a pay-per-view (PPV) event entitled One Night Stand.

While originally a reunion show for the defunct Extreme Championship Wrestling promotion, the assets of which WWE acquired in 2003, the concept of One Night Stand was that the event featured various matches that were contested under hardcore rules.

[19] The 2019 event was held at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the city that was the home of Extreme Championship Wrestling from 1993 to 2001.

[20] Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which began affecting the industry in mid-March 2020, WWE had to relocate its programming to a behind closed doors set.

Raw and SmackDown's shows were moved to the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida, with no fans in attendance,[21] although in late May, the promotion began using Performance Center trainees to serve as the live audience,[22] which was further expanded to friends and family members of the wrestlers in mid-June.

[23] With the change in location and format, WWE titled the 2020 event as The Horror Show at Extreme Rules.

[31] In June 2022, WWE announced that the 2022 Extreme Rules would be held on October 8 and return the event to the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

1The main event match, which was the Wyatt Swamp Fight, was pre-recorded at an undisclosed location about two hours outside of Orlando on July 16–17.