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With the first year of the new brand extension in the books we rank the RAW exclusive PPV’s from this past year from the worst to the best.
Around this time last July WWE was preparing to once again enter the Brand Extension era in the company. Come mid-July the roster was split in half as RAW and Smackdown Live became brands with their own superstars.
To concede with the new brands WWE decided that after Summerslam last year that the brands would run exclusive pay per views with Survivor Series, Summerslam, Royal Rumble and WrestleMania being the only co-branded events.
This was done to give talents a chance to compete on a pay per view show and with the brands not having to share a show more of their talents could get the experience compared to only the top stars if they were all co-branded.
With Great Balls of Fire now in the books RAW has now ran 7 exclusive pay per views this past year. Some of the pay per views created some memorable moments that really gave fans an exciting show to watch.
Other events were viewed as complete duds that fans have forgotten about due to their not being anything that memorable. With seven RAW exclusive pay per views now in the books we rank the events from worst to best.
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7. Fastlane
Throughout the history of WWE its always been tough for the pay per view before WrestleMania to cause any real buzz. Fans seem invested in the big show around the corner and don’t feel anything major will occur before WrestleMania.
Fastlane was an event that was surrounded with terrible booking forgettable matches and a main event that angered many. Poor booking came in the hands of WWE having both Charlotte and Braun Strowman lose at the events.
Charlotte was riding an undefeated pay per view streak heading into WrestleMania. The Queen had just lost her RAW Women’s Championship to Bayley on an episode of RAW and was granted her rematch at Payback.
Instead of Charlotte losing she should’ve won by disqualification it would’ve kept the title on Bayley and kept Charlotte’s undefeated streak heading into WrestleMania. The other poor booking came in the hands of Braun Strowman.
Strowman had become one of the view bright spots on RAW as his rise had really drawn the interest of the fans. Strowman faced the big dog Roman Reigns at Fastlane and lost to Reigns cleanly.
For the time being this hurt Strowman as his momentum stalled for a short period as he was left off the main WrestleMania card. Along with poor booking the card was filled with useless matches like Rusev vs The Big Show and Jinder Mahal vs Cesaro.
The event will be known as the night Goldberg winning the Universal Title from Kevin Owens winning the match in 22 seconds. This main event angered many as they felt Owens was made to look bad and continued to tarnish the early reputation of the Universal Championship.
A forgetful show, Payback is certainly the worst of the RAW pay per views.
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6. Extreme Rules
A fantastic main event match is the only thing that keeps Extreme Rules from not being the worst pay per view RAW has ran. This event will be remembered for the matches being confusing and not that entertaining.
The show opened with The Miz and Dean Ambrose for the Intercontinental Championship with the stipulation if Ambrose was disqualified he would lose the title. Instead of using this technicality throughout the match Miz wrestled a straight forward match.
Miz would win the match by pinfall and not by DQ which left fans scratching their heads if they weren’t going to use the stipulation they why would they initiate it? Another match that made no sense was Bayley vs Alexa Bliss.
The two competed in a Kendo Stick match and it ended up being five minutes of confusion. The two seemed like they had no idea what to do with the match and it ended up being possibly the worst match of 2017.
The next match would see The Hardys face Sheamus and Cesaro in a Steel Cage match. From the beginning of the match their was nothing but confusion. The four seemed like they had no idea how to handle this match and it was filled with confusion.
The match featured a cool spot with Jeff Hardy hitting a Whisper in the Wind from the top of the cage but that was the only thing this match had that was worth seeing. The saving grace in the event came in the main event.
The main was an extreme rules match featuring Finn Balor, Samoa Joe, Bray Wyatt, Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns. The match was non-stop action and was exciting from bell to bell with everyone having a chance to win.
In the end, Samoa Joe would win the match and earn the right to face Brock Lesnar at Great Balls of Fire. Extreme Rules will end up as a event with a lot of confusion headlined by a fantastic main event.
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5. Clash of Champions
With the two dud pay per views now out of the way we now look the stronger events that RAW has ran this past year. The first one up on the list is Clash of Champions.
Clash of Champions marked the first pay per view that RAW ran after the brand extension occurred in July. The show ended up being a pretty solid show from top to bottom but nothing stands out as memorable.
The undercard featured solid matches and really good competition but their was noting that ended up being must watch. The undercard had a good match with Chris Jericho beating Sami Zayn and Cesaro and Sheamus having the final match in their best to seven series.
The event also showcased Charlotte, Bayley and Sasha Banks. The three women put on a solid triple threat and the match continued to progress the ongoing feud between Banks and Charlotte over the RAW Women’s Championship.
The main events of the card showed Roman Reigns defeat Rusev for the United States Championship and Kevin Owens defeating Seth Rollins for the United States Championship. Both matches were highly entertaining.
Clash of Champions was a solid show from top to bottom but it was more of a show that either continued shows or began storylines. The event continued the feud of Charlotte and Sasha Banks as the two would feud into December.
Feuds and storylines that began around this event, was the pairing of Cesaro and Sheamus as a tag team, and the relationship between Jericho and Owens as Y2J was a key reason that Owens retained his title.
Clash of Champions was a truly good show from top to bottom and it started RAW on a good foot going forward into the brand extension. The fact that their was no true memorable match on the card is why it ended up in this spot.
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4. Roadblock
The RAW brand closed out 2016 with Roadblock: End of the Line, and the pay per view gave the brand a good note to leave 2016 on. The event had solid matches and brought the conclusion to one of the biggest feuds of the year.
The event started off with one of the more shocking moments of the year when The New Day were finally dethroned of their Tag Team titles. The newly formed team of Cesaro and Sheamus were able to take down The New Day in a back and forth match that left fans at the edge of their seats.
The undercard also featured Sami Zayn proving his toughness lasting ten minutes against the monster Braun Strowman, and Seth Rollins and Chris Jericho having a great back and forth contest that The Architect would win.
The first main event of the night would see the conclusion of the highly entertaining and memorable feud between Sasha Banks and Charlotte. These two women had begun their feud during the Summer and the two had switched off wins for the good part of six months.
After competing in the first ever Women’s Hell in a Cell match in October, the two were now competing in the first ever Women’s Iron Man match on the main roster. Going into the final minutes Sasha Banks was up 2-1.
However, Charlotte would lock in the figure 8 and with just seconds left in the match Banks would tap out sending the women to sudden death overtime. Charlotte would earn the fall in overtime winning the Women’s Championship and ending this legendary feud.
The main event featured Kevin Owens and Roman Reigns battling over the Universal Championship. Owens would win the match when his best friend Chris Jericho hit Owens with codebreaker giving Owens the win by DQ.
This would set up a rematch between Owens and Reigns at the Royal Rumble. A solid card from top to bottom with an epic conclusion to a classic feud, Roadblock gave RAW an excellent way to close out 2016.
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3. Hell in a Cell
In October, the RAW brand gave fans a fantastic pay per view that was highlighted by a monumental match. The event gave fans three fantastic Hell in a Cell matches with one of them being the first ever Women’s Hell in a Cell.
The event started with Roman Reigns battling Rusev inside the Cell for the United States Championship. The two beat the tar out of each other using weapons and the cell to cause damage to one another.
After 25 minutes of battling inside of the structure, Roman Reigns was able to hit the spear on Rusev and win the match. The second Hell in a Cell would feature Kevin Owens and Seth Rollins for The Universal Championship.
Owens and Rollins brought the absolute best out of one another during this match and at times it seemed it could go either way. However, Owens best friend Chris Jericho was able to steal the key to the door from the referee locking himself in with Owens and Rollins.
With Jericho in the Cell, Owens was able to double team Rollins with his best friend ending Rollins bid to win the Universal Championship. The third and final Hell in a Cell would be a history-making moment as Sasha Banks and Charlotte would battle in the first ever Women’s Hell in a Cell.
The two would mark history as they would be the first women to ever main event a WWE pay per view. The two lived up to the hype as they put on another classic bout in their legendary rivalry. The two beat each other to a pulp using weapons, tables and chairs.
The two would go back and forth until Charlotte was able to keep Sasha down for the pinfall reclaiming the RAW Women’s Championship and defeating Sasha Banks in her hometown of Boston.
Hell in a Cell gave fans three classic Cell matches and was a landmark event as Women finally main evented a pay per view. Despite all the history and three classic matches the rest of the card was more filler which is why Hell in a Cell lands at number three on the list.
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2. Payback
Coming off one of the better WrestleMania’s WWE has had over the last number of years, many feared Payback would be a weak show due to Mania hangover. However, the RAW brand provided fans with an excellent card from top to bottom.
The card started off with a WrestleMania rematch where the former best friends of Owens and Jericho battled over the United States Championship. Owens who had been drafted to Smackdown Live a few weeks earlier was scheduled for this match before he was drafted.
If Jericho won the match he would join Owens on the blue roster. In what was considered a shocking twist Jericho won the match and ended up going to Smackdown Live with Kevin Owens. The card would also feature The Hardys battling Sheamus and Cesaro.
This tag match got very physical and hard hitting with Jeff Hardy even losing a tooth during the match. The Hardy’s would pick up the win but Sheamus and Cesaro would get the last laugh as they would attack The Hardy’s after the match.
Payback would also have a historical moment as Alexa Bliss would become the first women to win both the RAW and Smackdown Women’s Championships. Bliss would beat Bayley in her hometown of San Jose, proving that she is indeed the goddess of WWE.
The event would also hold one of the most talked about matches in recent memory in the House of Horrors match featuring Randy Orton against Bray Wyatt. Some loved it and some hated it but the match nonetheless got a response.
The match would see the two battle in a haunted house and then return eventually back to the arena. Thanks to help from Jinder Mahal, Wyatt was able to defeat Randy Orton ending their long feud.
The event would also see Seth Rollins get revenge on Samoa Joe, who had injured Rollins in February almost costing Rollins the chance to compete at WrestleMania for the second year in a row.
The main event would see Braun Strowman cement himself as a main eventer when he was able to defeat Roman Reigns. Payback gave fans a great event and started RAW on the right foot entering the new year in WWE.
1. Great Balls of Fire
Despite it’s corny name the latest pay per view event that the RAW brand has held has by far been their best. The card was loaded from top to bottom with marquee matches that all lived up to their hype.
The event started when the Bray Wyatt defeated Seth Rollins in what has been considered by many a bit of an upset. The match was then followed by one of the best tag team matches in recent memory when The Hardys battled Sheamus and Cesaro in an Iron Man Match.
With the score tied at 3-3, The Hardys seemed to have the match won until Cesaro pinned Jeff Hardy after Hardy hit the swanton bomb on Sheamus. Despite hitting a twist of fate not long after on Cesaro the clock ran out and Cesaro and Sheamus retained their RAW Tag Team titles.
The next match we would see would be the arguably the best two females on the RAW roster finally battling, Alexa Bliss and Sasha Banks. Sasha Banks would win the match via countout after Bliss seemed to be fed up with the match.
Furious that she was not leaving with the championship Banks, attacked Alexa up the walkway and then performed her diving knee drop off the announcer table on to Alexa Bliss. The next match we would see saw The Miz using his entourage to help defeat Dean Ambrose and retain the Intercontinental Championship.
The main events though are what made this event so memorable the first being Braun Strowman vs Roman Reigns. The two competed in an ambulance match and the two beat the tar out of one another.
After attempting a spear Braun moved out of the way and Regins went flying into the ambulance, Strowman closed the doors and one the match. However, Reigns was not done with Strowman as he came out of the ambulance attacked Strowman and threw him into the ambulance.
Reigns would then drive the ambulance out of the arena and crashed it into a truck with Strowman still in the back. After using the jaws of life to get Strowman out of the ambulance a bloody Braun refused medical help and through his own strength walked away from the wreckage.
The main event would show Samoa Joe giving Brock Lesnar his toughest match since becoming champion. Joe brought everything he could to defeat Lesnar even getting Lesnar in his chokehold twice.
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However, Brock was able to power through hit an F-5 and leave the event as still the Universal Champion. Despite its goofy name Great Balls of Fire proved to be the best RAW pay per view since the brand extension.