WWE’s 25 Greatest Pay-Per-Views of All Time
By Tim Sherry
credit: wwe.com
2. Money In The Bank – 2011
Man, I’ve gone back and forth with numbers 1 and 2 on this list more times than I’d like to admit. So it came down to a simple question: which of the final 2 pay-per-views were more important on a grand scale for the WWE? At the end of the day, I feel that the 2011 Money In The Bank pay-per-view, from just a pure in-ring wrestling perspective, was the greatest show of all time. However, there was one other show that could match its wrestling quality but have more impact on the company. But we’ll get to that.
As far the 2011 MITB goes, it was a nearly flawless night in Chicago. The card consisted of two of the very best match briefcase matches of all-time. The first one of the night in which Daniel Bryan captured the case, was an octane-fueled war that resembled more of a car wreck than a wrestling match. All 8 men involved had huge moments and outside of the very first MITB match, this was the best of them all. The pre-main event, in which Randy Orton defended the World Heavyweight Championship against Christian turned out to be one of the greatest double turns in WWE history as Christian, used trickery into picking up his second world title, sending Orton into a rage that turned all his cheers into boos. It was absolutely genius booking and certainly a must-see match.
But like any great pay-per-view, the main event was made the 2011 MITB what it is. In it, John Cena and CM Punk produced what, when it’s all said and one, could be a top 5 match in WWE history. Given nearly 34 minutes to work, Cena and Punk managed to put on one of the most exciting, edge-of-your-seat, pure wrestling matches the world had ever seen. Being in Punk’s hometown, the crowd was about as hot as ever and that passion seethed all night leading up to it culminating in this brilliance. All 180 minutes of this show burned with passion and it was the type of show that made anyone watching proud to be a wrestling fan.