10 Things WWE Regrets About Extreme Rules

6. Announcing The Death Of Osama Bin Laden

Chris Jericho Cm Punk
WWE

Extreme Rules 2011 featured a main event of John Cena defending his WWE Championship against John Morrison and The Miz. This was prime Super Cena era, meaning Cena of course got the victory. But while the PPV itself was largely unforgettable – bar Christian beating Alberto Del Rio in a Ladder Match to become World Heavyweight Champion – it was the aftermath of Extreme Rules that grabbed the headlines.

As Extreme Rules came to a close, news broke that Osama bin Laden had been found and killed by US troops - a message Cena was tasked with announcing to those in attendance. Now, there’s literally hundreds of different ways to look at this, and we most certainly aren’t going to let any personal political leanings guide us, but the fact that WWE had its hottest star proudly announce the death of somebody to an audience of thousands just felt, well, wrong.

Initially, you can argue that Cena’s talk of bin Laden took place purely for the live crowd after Extreme Rules went off the air. Okay. But the problem with that is, WWE replayed the Cena promo on the very next night’s Raw.

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Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.