Two nights after Judgment Day, ECW welcomed the new ECW Champion Austin Aries to the ring. A-Double arrived to a standing ovation, and some "You Deserve It!" chants. After a couple minutes of taking in the audience reception, Aries thanked the fans for their support. He said that he never thought this would happen to a guy like him. For years, people told him he wasn't good enough to make it in wrestling. He was too small, he was too energetic, he wasn't cut from the same mold as other guys in the WWE. Then when he signed to ECW, it got worse. Most of the veterans in the locker room had a hard time embracing him and didn't understand his style. The younger guys saw Aries as a threat because they were trying to get to the same place he's at now. But none of that matters anymore, because he proved that he had what it takes to be the best in the world. And the ECW Championship validates his claim.

That's when Tommy Dreamer came out. Dreamer congratulated Aries, telling him that he was the better man at Judgment Day. However, they have unfinished business. "Any man can be beaten on any given day, but you can't just beat any man twice," Dreamer said. He invoked his rematch clause to challenge Aries at Extreme Rules. A-Double immediately accepted, and said that he had no problem proving to Dreamer that he was the better man one more time. ECW General Manager Armando Estrada came out, stating that because Extreme Rules is the one night a year where WWE goes hardcore, the Aries/Dreamer rematch needed a stipulation, which he was going to choose. However, he would make his decision later. In the meantime, both Aries and Dreamer would be in action tonight. Aries would face Hardcore Holly in the main event, while Dreamer would face Desmond Wolfe.

Dreamer and Wolfe worked stiff in their match. It was played up on commentary that both Dreamer and Aries were being looked at closely by Estrada, because the stipulation for their title match had to play to their strengths. Near the end of the match, with the referee down, Wolfe tried to hit Dreamer with the Wolfe Championship, but Dreamer sidestepped it and hit Wolfe with the Dreamer DDT. He then landed the Dreamer Driver 2.0, and with the referee conscious, he counted the one-two-three. Later that night, Aries faced Holly, with Dreamer joining Stevie Richards and Balls Mahoney on commentary. At one point, Holly tossed Aries right into Dreamer, knocking him down. The finish came when Aries locked Holly in the Last Chancery, but Dreamer interfered and attacked Holly, giving him the win by disqualification. Aries got in Dreamer's face and yelled at him for costing him the victory, and then the two brawled in the ring until Estrada came out. He said that he decided what the stipulation would be at Extreme Rules...a Falls Count Anywhere Match! ECW ended with Aries and Dreamer staring each other down.


A week later, A-Double opened the show and said that he respects Dreamer. But what he won't accept is him getting involved in his matches. Aries says that Dreamer hasn't proven that he can beat him yet, and at Extreme Rules, the outcome won't be any different. That's when Wolfe arrived, stating that Dreamer doesn't deserve to face Aries at Extreme Rules, but he does. In terms of talent, he's the best of the three, and a better representative of the ECW brand than anyone else could be. That's when he demanded that he be added to the title match at Extreme Rules, and when he does, he'll leave Aries and Dreamer broken men while he walks out with the ECW Championship. A-Double said that Wolfe didn't earn it, and all he does is lose when the chance comes to prove himself. Estrada came out and said that Wolfe makes an interesting point, but like Aries said, he hasn't earned the opportunity to compete for the title. But he would be able to prove himself tonight. In the main event, he would face Aries, and if he won, the ECW Championship match at Extreme Rules would become a Falls Count Anywhere Triple Threat Match.

In the main event, Wolfe was closing in on the victory when he hit the Rebound Lariat. However, Aries kicked out. Wolfe was enraged, and took Aries to the top rope where he would go for the Tower of London. Aries shifted his weight and countered it into a stunner. The ECW Champion then hit the Brainbuster, and went for the cover. Three seconds later, and Wolfe was out of the title picture. As Aries was celebrating, Dreamer appeared for the first time of the night and laid him out with a DDT. He then held up the title and posed with it for the crowd. "It's easy to win a title, but it's much harder to defend it. If Dreamer hits that DDT in two weeks, we could be looking at a very short title reign for Austin Aries," Richards said.


Extreme Rules was now five nights away, and much like Judgment Day, it was necessary to have the paperwork signed. That's why Estrada organized a contract signing that night between Aries and Dreamer. However, there was an added caveat: No physicality. Estrada said that he's tired of contract signings ending in chaos, and both guys needed to be at one hundred percent for Sunday. So if either guy touches the other during the signing, the match is off. Both men agreed to the terms during separate interviews backstage.

Later that night, Aries and Dreamer had the signing and as expected, exchanged words. Aries said that even though he won the ECW Championship at Judgment Day, part of him still feels like he's not respected, especially by Dreamer. Some looked at his title win as a fluke, including some of the boys in the back. But all that does is fuel him. It makes him an even more serious competitor because he has to prove he can last as ECW's #1 man. And at Extreme Rules, if he retains the title, then he deserves to lead ECW into the future. A-Double signed the contract.

Dreamer said that he knows how good Aries is, and he does respect him. But the ECW Championship is his life, and he doesn't know who he is without the title. He's faced many men that he's respected, but at the end of the day, it was always about being the ECW Champion. And he's willing to push himself as far as he can go on Sunday to regain the title. "Because this is Falls Count Anywhere, Austin. We can do whatever we want. We don't need to climb a ladder or escape from a steel cage to be champion. We're just two guys beating the hell out of each other all over the arena, because that's what it takes to be ECW Champion. If you beat me again, then I'll accept it. I'll go to the back of the line and earn another title match, but if you don't, you don't deserve to be the #1 man on this show." Dreamer signed the contract. Estrada said the signing was over and left the ring. It looked like another altercation was coming when Aries slid back his chair and got up. "At Extreme Rules, if you want this title back, you're not just gonna have to beat me. You're gonna have to kill me." Aries took the ECW Championship and left the ring while his music played. The show ended with another staredown, with Aries holding up the belt and walking backwards up the ramp while Dreamer watched.


At Extreme Rules, in a rematch from Judgment Day, Austin Aries defends his newly-won ECW Championship against Tommy Dreamer. But this time, it's a Falls Count Anywhere Match. No countouts, no disqualifications. And you can pin your opponent or make them submit anywhere. Outside the ring, on the announce table, in the crowd, at the concession stand, in the parking lot, on the streets. Will Aries prove that he deserves his place as the ECW Champion? Or will Dreamer make the world see that Judgment Day was a fluke and capture his third ECW title in less than six months?

It won't take long to find out, because WWE Extreme Rules...starts now.