Hardcore takes center stage at Sunday’s Extreme Rules pay-per-view, when the top Superstars of WWE will be pushed to their limits — employing a slew of nasty match stipulations that will decide their fate. WWE.com explores the specific types of danger in store for the combatants as they step into the extreme.

Strap Match

In a highly volatile confrontation, rough-and-ready warriors Sheamus and Mark Henry will battle in a classic Strap Match. This excruciating contest demands that both Superstars tether themselves to each other by the wrist. And a winner can only be declared when one of the irate grapplers manages to tag all four corners of the ring in succession.

Extreme Rules Match

What will be the big problem facing WWE’s Apex Predator, Randy Orton, this Sunday? Try this on for size. The nine-time World Champion will be standing across the ring from The World’s Largest Athlete, Big Show, in an absolutely brutal Extreme Rules Match.

In this contest of unspeakable mayhem, disqualification and count-outs will be nowhere to be found — kicking the door open for the relentless utilization of foreign objects of all kinds as The Viper and the giant try to destroy each other in Orton’s hometown, St. Louis.

“I Quit” Match

No question about it, the idealistically opposed Alberto Del Rio and Jack Swagger hate each other with a passion. And it is hard to imagine that either one of the determined athletes would ever give in to the other, especially when a World Heavyweight Title opportunity is on the line.

Enter the “I Quit” Match, where the only way for a Superstar to win is to make his adversary utter the words “I Quit.” Considering that you can do anything you want to your opponent to make that happen, the battle over “Jack Swagger’s America” will, without a doubt, reach a new level of anguish this Sunday.

Last Man Standing Match

WWE Champion John Cena will take on Ryback in what is sure to be an excruciating Last Man Standing Match. The rules of that match are simple. There are no disqualifications, no count-out, no pinfalls and no submissions.

The only way to win the match is to keep one’s foe from answering the referee’s 10-count. And with The Champ already injured, it remains to be seen whether he can possibly withstand the imminent onslaught of “The Human Wrecking Ball.”

Steel Cage Match

In the ultra-personal  Steel Cage Match between Triple H and Brock Lesnar, the two highly destructive forces will be trapped inside the steel walls on four sides and can reign supreme by pinfall, submission by escaping over the top or going through the door (often easier said than done) and then touching both feet to the floor. But, make no mistake about it, there will be nothing but mass  bedlam along the way. Who will survive in the unforgiving steel structure in this “rubber match” of pain?

Tag Team Tornado Match

The Shield have proven themselves to be a completely dominant faction, using the numbers advantage to their favor to take out everyone who has stood in their way in the name of “justice.” So what will happen when they get the opportunity to take the WWE Tag Team Championships in a Tornado Tag Team Match?

The very nature of such a contest provides a unique alteration to the traditional tag battle — in that, well, there is no tagging. Instead, the special stipulation gives all combatants license to fight at the same time until a pinfall or submission decides who walks away with the championship gold. Will Team Hell No be forced to believe in The Shield?