Extreme Rules 2012: 10 Weirdest Places Wrestling Matches Have Ever Taken Place

Extreme Rules 2012 will offer a plethora of gimmick matches.  Will any of them be fought in a place outside the ring?

Location-based matches have seen wrestlers fight anywhere from the back of a truck to the middle of a forest. 

A steel cage or a set of ladders may improve a match, adding an element of danger and excitement. 

There have been more bad ideas than good ones with gimmick matches.  The following are matches where the action was moved from the ring to, let's say, a parking lot, and the results varied.  

10. Empty Arena

Take away the fans, the signs, the cheering and you're left with an awkward brawl. 

The Rock and Mankind fought out in front of thousands of empty chairs during Super Bowl XXXIII's halftime. 

Terry Funk and Jerry Lawler began the tradition in '81.  The match itself isn't anything special, but Funk delivers a great performance on the mic and in selling that his eye was stabbed. 

TNA recently joined the fun when they pitted Sting vs. Kurt Angle without an audience. 

As great as those competitors are and as hard as they tried to make it work, the Empty Arena match always seemed to fall flat.  Gimmick matches should add an interesting element to a standard match.

The Empty Arena match only adds silence. 

Chances of this match happening at Extreme Rules 2012: very slim.

Were Kane and John Cena still feuding, perhaps they could have started with this, but then you rob the crowd that chance of chanting "Let's go Cena" or "Cena sucks."

9. Parking Lot

Sometimes two wrestlers' hatred for each other can't be contained in the ring or even the arena.  They have to battle it out in the parking lot.

Basically this is a falls-count-anywhere match that involves a lot of cars.

Wrestlers may get slammed or suplexed onto the hood of a car.  The added revenue that this might bring probably doesn't cover all of the car repair bills. 

Another version of this match, the Hardcore Junkyard, happened in 1999 in WCW.  Chaos and poor camera angles made it a forgettable affair. 

Chances of this match happening at Extreme Rules 2012: slim.

Randy Orton and Wade Barrett could have pulled this off during their interrupted feud.  The aforementioned Cena and Kane feud would have been a good fit as well.

Unless some brawlers get into with each other in the near future, this won't be an Extreme Rules addition. 

8. Boiler Room

A specialty of Mankind, the Boiler Room Brawl has simple rules.

The first one to escape wins. 

The two wrestlers fight in the confines of the room, using any weapons they may find.  With the right stars—Foley and the Undertaker or Foley vs. Triple H—this can be an intriguing brawl. 

The match has been done too many times now to maintain its novelty, though. 

Chances of this match happening at Extreme Rules 2012: very unlikely.

This is a product of a past era.  A Boiler Room Brawl without Mick Foley would be like a Casket Match without the Undertaker or Kane. 

And while Foley is still currently a part of WWE, he's not in great shape and probably not physically ready for a match that grueling.

7. Bar Room

Vengeance 2003 featured a match where over 20 wrestlers fought in a fake saloon until the last person was standing/drinking. 

Matt Hardy and a host of other guys beat down on the Easter Bunny right away.

As busy and overcrowded as this match was, it was still fun.  Don't expect a well-told story here, just some random bashing and brawling. 

Chances of this match happening at Extreme Rules 2012: minuscule.

This was a one-time deal brought to life by the drinking element of the Acolytes' gimmick.  Drinking beer and breaking pool cues over people's heads doesn't seem like something the current WWE is interested in. 

6. Pool Filled with Water, Gravy, Jell-O, Etc.

This is the kind of event you might see at a frat-sponsored party or some shady bar in a small town. 

The male-heavy audience ogles the wet females jostling inside a pool. 

At Armageddon '99, Miss Kitty, Jackie, Ivory and B.B. fought for the WWE Women's Championship in an Evening Gown Pool Match, stripping the last shreds of credibility that title had.

When women splashing in water isn't titillating enough, WWE has resorted to filling the pool with gravy. 

Chances of this match happening at Extreme Rules 2012: too likely for my taste.

This is an instance where the PG rating is actually a blessing, as it might be the only thing preventing us from seeing Kelly Kelly vs. Eve in an Ice Cream Sundae match. 

5. Truck Trailer

The King of the Road match had wrestlers settle their differences in the back of a moving truck.

Among bales of hay, Dustin Rhodes and Blacktop Bully fought at WCW's 1995 Uncensored until one man (Bully) pulled the horn at the top of the trailer's cage.

This didn't produce the excitement bookers were hoping for.  It ended up being the worst match on a bad card.    

It's hard to appreciate two guys throwing hay on each other. 

Not only was the match boring and hard to see, much of it was edited, as Rhodes bladed despite a no-bleeding policy. 

Chances of this match happening at Extreme Rules 2012: extremely unlikely.

A match that nobody cares about shouldn't cost as much as this kind of match does. 

(The insanity begins at about 3:25 in the video.)

4. Hog Pen

Triple H and Henry Godwinn fought in an Arkansas Hog Pen match at In Your House 5 in 1995.  This match started in the ring and ended up in the mud and sludge of the hog pen.

At Extreme Rules 2009, WWE decided to revive and "improve" the same gimmick match.

Santino (as Santina) took on Vickie and Chavo Guerrero.  The sloppy battle did not take home any awards.   

When a man in drag wins a match with a push, you know you've done something wrong.  

Chances of this match happening at Extreme Rules 2012: too likely for my taste.

WWE wouldn't be above sticking Santino in a match like this again. 

3. Gulf of Mexico

Chavo Guerrero has a number of odd gimmick matches on his resume.

In 2008, an episode of ECW featured a match where to win, one has to throw his opponent in the Gulf of Mexico. 

Chavo fought CM Punk with much of the action on a poorly-lit dock.  Punk used a GTS to send Chavo into the gulf and ended one of the oddest matches ever conceived. 

Chances of this match happening at Extreme Rules 2012: zero.

The Gulf of Mexico is a bit far from Chicago to make this feasible.  However, the Chicago River is a lot closer.  Who knows...

2. Campgrounds

Japanese promotion Dramatic Dream Team is all about the lighter side of wrestling.

A company that had a chihuahua defeat a ladder for the DDT Ironman Heavymetalweight Championship is certainly going to have its fair share of crazy gimmick matches. 

One of them is an insane fracas in a campsite where guys in backpacks, blow-up dolls and a guy named Mammoth all tussle. 

The action spills onto rooftops and into toilets.  The unique match has enough bizarreness to satisfy anyone seeking weird wrestling.

Chances of this match happening at Extreme Rules 2012: astronomical.

This is far too silly, even for WWE. 

1. Ganryujima Island

Japanese legend Antonio Inoki faced off against Masa Saito in a battle contested on a famous island.

Ganryujima Island was the site for a 17th century duel between swordsmen Sasaki Kojiro and Miyamoto Musashi. 

The Island Death match featured the two men fighting in a ring and on the grass with no audience, long into the night.

Hiroshi Hase and Tiger Jeet Singh returned to the island in 1991 for another grueling battle. 

Chances of this match happening at Extreme Rules 2012: none.

Americans don't know about Ganryujima Island's history and there is no WWE feud where it makes sense to end it on an island miles and miles away from Chicago.