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Analyzing the top 25 greatest pay-per-views in the history of the WWE.
On March 31, 1985, the then WWF held their very first pay-per-view event, Wrestlemania. Their only real competition in American wrestling, the National Wrestling Alliance, had already begun dabbling in pay-per-view wrestling having held shows in back to back Decembers in 1984 and 1985. Their events, dubbed Starrcade, were just the tip of what would eventually become commonplace in the wrestling world. Since the very first Starrcade, there have been close to 1900 PPV’s produced throughout the world and that trend is continuing. As of today, there have been 87 PPV’s so far just this year alone.
Of those near 1990 shows, the WWE has produced 341 of them. So with all that material, trying to single out just 25 was a very daunting task. However, the credentials to make this list are simple. A great PPV has to have great matches, a consistent flow of the entertainment, and their results need to have ramifications that mean something to the future of the company. Every show on this list was the type of show that fans knew was something special while they were watching. The type of shows that are and were must watch on the WWE Network to this very day.
Ahead we count down the top 25 pay-per-views in WWE history.
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25. Royal Rumble – 1992
The 1992 Royal Rumble card was certainly far from the best ever. Outside of a solid tag match between The New Foundation and The Orient Express and a surprising Intercontinental title win from “Rowdy” Roddy Piper over The Mountie, the under-card was good, but not spectacular. But what this PPV will always be remembered for is the pure genius that was “The Nature Boy” Ric Flair on this night in Albany, New York.
In what is considered one of the top 5 Royal Rumble matches of all-time, Flair, over the course of 60 minutes, outlasted 29 other opponents, eliminated 5 of them, and won the match and the vacant WWF World Heavyweight Championship. It was a scintillating performance from Flair who at that point in time had only been with the company for about 4 months. He entered 3rd and fought through 6 men who either had already been world champion or would eventually go on to do so. “The Dirtiest Player In The Game” used every devious tactic he ever knew and in one night reminded the wrestling world that he was one of the best who had ever stepped inside the squared circle.
On a night that most people assumed would be Hulk Hogan’s due to the fact that he’d won the previous two rumbles and appeared to be on a collision course over the title with Psycho Sid, the WWF completely flipped the script and ushered in the Flair era. It was a refreshing way to shake up the company and in doing so introduced “The Nature Boy” as another major star now in the WWF. And although Flair’s first run with the company was short-lived, he still managed to delight the fans with this performance during this historic night.
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24. Summerslam 2001
2001 was a very entertaining and transitional kind of year for the then WWF. In March of that year, the company bought out a long-time rival, World Championship Wrestling, and in doing so, absorbed the contracts of its talent. The roster that was currently in place consisted of established stars like Chris Benoit, Chris Jericho, Steve Austin, The Rock, Kurt Angle, the list goes on and on. Now added to that were WCW superstars like Booker T, Lance Storm, and Diamond Dallas Page. To say that the roster was stacked at that time is an understatement.
A month before the 2001 Summerslam, the Invasion PPV occurred but it ended with more questions than answers. Steve Austin who, just 4 months earlier, aligned himself with long-time rival Vince McMahon and hijacked the WWF Championship from The Rock in the main event of Wrestlemania XVII, once again turned and joined Shane McMahon’s “Alliance”. So when Summerslam rolled around, a lot of things had to be ironed out. And not only did that happen, the company put on a terrific card that was one of the years best events.
The show kicked off with an exciting scrap for the Intercontinental title between Edge and Lance Storm. Two matches later, X-Pac and Tajiri had a decent tilt to unify the Light Heavyweight and Cruiserweight belts. Rob Van Dam and Jeff Hardy went toe to toe in a hard-hitting ladder match for the Hardcore title. The Rock returned and won the WCW title in the main event against Booker T. But the jewel of the night was the 23-minute war between Kurt Angle and Steve Austin for the WWF title. The two went at each other with reckless abandon which really turned up the heat in the Invasion rivalry story line. And although Angle walked out belt-less, it set the stage for his title win a month later over Austin at Unforgiven.
Now there was one bad part. Like criminally bad. And that was the cage match pitting Kane and The Undertaker against DDP and Kanyon to unify the tag titles. Eliminate that one match and we’re talking about a top 10 showing for the 2001 SummerSlam.
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23. Royal Rumble – 2000
Something extremely important happened in Madison Square Garden in January of 2000. At the Royal Rumble PPV, Triple H officially arrived as the superstar that he would eventually go on to become. Sure, “The Game” had plenty of success before this night in New York. After all, going into the match he was already in the midst of his 3rd world title run, but for many different reasons, he never seemed to be in the conversation with that generation’s superstars, The Rock and Steve Austin. That all changed at the Rumble as he and Cactus Jack put on what could be the greatest street fight match of all time and a no doubt top 20 match in WWE history.
The whole thing was almost surreal. The pain the two inflicted on each other was just stunning and Triple H lost what looked like a bucket of blood. Between the genius use of barbwire, the infinite chair shots, and the savagery with the thumbtacks, these two legends dazzled the near 20,000 fans in attendance as they incorporated their own brands of violence. What made this match work outside of just the moves was the fact their feud throughout the beginning of 200 was just so personal that it made this fight seem so real. And Foley, the guy who can get anybody over, did just that with Hunter and it launched “The Game’s” career even further.
The rest of the card was also quite good. Between Taz’s debut against Kurt Angle, a violent tag team tables match between The Hardy Boyz and The Dudley’s, and The Rock punching his ticket to Wrestlemania by winning the Royal Rumble match, this 2000 gem is an example of just how brilliant the Attitude Era could be at times and why in the current WWE climate, is sorely missed.
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22. Unforgiven – 2006
Live from the Air Canada Center in Toronto, the numerous members of the RAW brand brought their A-game and when it was all said and done, the 2006 installment of Unforgiven was one of the years very best. A month earlier, the two brands came together at Summerslam for what is always seen as the second biggest show of the year. Holding a card that featured matches between Edge and John Cena, Hulk Hogan and Randy Orton, Ric Flair and Mick Foley, and Booker T versus Batista, the 2006 show had huge expectations. Unfortunately those expectations weren’t realized as most of those matches fell short of the mark.
So it almost seemed like the red brand had a chip on their shoulder and wanted to prove their worth at Unforgiven. Everything just seemed to click on this night. Orton and Carlito had a solid match which featured one of the best RKO’s of all time. The handicapped tag match between D-X versus Shane, Vince, and Big Show, although a bit long, was quite good. The main event TLC war with John Cena and Edge was about as good as TLC gets and let’s be honest, those never had a bad match against each other.
But what stood out most was the Women’s title match between Lita and Trish Stratus. Nearly 2 years earlier, this pairing had a fantastic match on an episode of RAW which many critics called the best women’s match in recent memory. However, their tilt Unforgiven topped that one. Shortly before the match it was announced that after 6 years and 6 Women’s titles under her belt, Stratus was going to retire, win, lose, or draw. With that factored in, the 16,000 fans in attendance were hot for this one and the ladies gave them a treat. Trish picked up the victory for her 7th and final title and retired as a champion, and this match would hold up as one of the very best in women’s wrestling history for a very long time.
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21. Wrestlemania X
The first Wrestlemania to make it on this list, number 10 was a fantastic installment of “The Grand Daddy Of Them All” and featured two of greatest matches in WWE history. Apart from those two bouts, there was some other solid matches as well including an underrated WWF title match between Lex Luger and Yokozuna as well the first ever WWF Falls Count Anywhere match between Crush and Randy Savage. Were these matches classics? No, but they were solid bouts very worthy of the Mania spotlight.
Another first on that evening at Madison Square Garden was one of the aforementioned best ever WWE matches in the form of a ladder match between Shawn Michaels and Razor Ramon. Since that night, there have been a ton of ladder matches in the WWE, and these superstars are the reason why. It was just brilliant. Unlike new age ladder matches, these two men used just one ladder to batter each other senseless in the most innovative and violent ways the fans had ever seen. Since this match, there have been a whopping 50 straight-up ladder matches ever since. And we can all thank “The Heartbreak Kid” and “The Bad Guy” for that.
But the story of the night was the sibling rivalry between Owen and Bret Hart. The duo kicked off the night in the opener with what is arguably the best match the WWE has ever seen. Flat out, this was a masterpiece that blended perfectly executed technical wrestling with the added drama of the familial feud. Watching these two blood brothers so savagely tear into each other with no regards for each others safety was jaw-dropping. After 20 breath-taking minutes, Owen picked up the victory. But it was still Bret who would go on to the main event and recapture the WWF Championship. The show ended brilliantly as well, with Owen staring at Bret disapprovingly, an image that would touch off a rivalry that lasted for the rest of 1994.
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20. Armageddon 2008
On December 14th, 2008, in Buffalo, New York, something happened that many wrestling fans had been waiting a very long time for. At Armageddon that year, Jeff Hardy, after more than a decade with the company, and after numerous attempts, finally achieved his greatest goal as a wrestler. In a scintillating 3-way match with Triple and Edge, “The Enigmatic One”, finally became a WWE world champion.
Up until that night in Buffalo, Hardy had essentially done almost everything that a superstar in the WWE could do besides win a world title. At that point time, he already had won 13 secondary titles (not counting the Hardcore title because…..come on) and was seen as the best wrestler in the company to never have accomplished that feat. So it was actually a bit stunning to see Jeff pull it off and it was even sweeter for him to take the championship from Edge, who had always been and still was, Jeff’s biggest rival. It was one of the more emotional moments in pay-per-view history and much like Hardy, the near 13,000 fans in attendance basked in the moment.
And of course, like the rest of the shows on this list, other parts of the card was good too. Earlier on in the night, CM Punk proved that his star was just beginning to shine in a victorious performance over Rey Mysterio to become number 1 contender to the Intercontinental title. Chris Jericho and John Cena battled over the World Heavyweight title in another very good match. And the Randy Orton/Batista battle exceeded expectations. But for how good the rest of the show was, it’ll always be remembered as the night Jeff Hardy officially arrived as a main event player, thus making this a must-see show.
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19. Wrestlemania 31
Going into Wrestlemania 31, there was definitely some concern that the biggest show of the year would be a disappointment. When you look at the card, on paper, it didn’t seem all that impressive. Between the U.S. title being contested in a bit of a stale feud between Rusev and John Cena, a tag match featuring The Bella Twins, another match that had virtually no build up between The Undertaker and Bray Wyatt, and Roman Reigns in the main event, it’s easy to see why a fan would be skeptical.
But that’s why they wrestle the matches, right? Wrestlemania 31 exceeded expectations and then some. The opening match was a fantastic 7-way ladder match that saw everyone’s hero, Daniel Bryan, capture the strap. That was followed up an ultra-heated chess match between Randy Orton and Seth Rollins which ended in yet another one of the coolest RKO’s of all time. After that was the much-awaited showdown between Triple H and Sting where wrestling fans were treated to a major blast from the past as D-Generation X and the NWO made appearances. The next few matches stumbled a bit, although the Cena/Rusev match was solid.
And then the main event. What a spectacle it turned out to be. Reigns, everybody’s favorite whipping boy, didn’t seem like he stood a chance against Brock Lesnar, a guy that at the previous SummerSlam, ran roughshod over John Cena over the course of 16 minutes to win the WWE Championship. But shockingly, Reigns was game. He took a tremendous beating but kept coming back, even laughing at some points. But just when it seemed like, “The Big Dog” had a chance, Rollins reemerged and cashed in his MITB briefcase which touched off a 220 day title reign that carried the company for the remainder of the year. Wrestlemania 31 proved the point that the biggest shows aren’t always about just stacking the card but performing at your best when the chips are on the line.
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18. Wrestlemania 21
If we were to judge Wrestlemania 21 purely on the first two-thirds of the show, it might rank somewhere in the top 10 on this list. Unfortunately the final 3rd of this show is what took it from potentially one of the best ever, to one that was just really good. In the final 3 matches to close out the show, The Big Show faced Akebono in a silly, 3-minute sumo wrestling match, a clearly unqualified John Cena defeated JBL for the WWE Championship in awkward style, and Batista defeated Triple H for the World Heavyweight Championship in a highly anticipated match that ended up being staggeringly boring. This all left wrestling fans wondering what might have been if only the booking stayed strong throughout.
But on to the good stuff and what made this show so effective early on. It opened with a hard-hitting, fast-paced, 12-minute shootout between Eddie Guerrero and Rey Mysterio. That was followed by the very first ever and quite possibly still the very best Money In The Bank ladder match which Edge won. After that, The Undertaker extended The Streak by out-dueling a young and hungry Randy Orton who had really just come into his own.
But the gem of the evening went to Kurt Angle and Shawn Michaels who put on a masterpiece of a match that is not only one of Wrestlemania’s best matches, but quite possibly a top 20 match in the history of the WWE. Over the course of 27 minutes, the 2 legends battled back and forth in what was the first-ever meeting between each other. It was insane to watch Michaels out grapple Angle for long stretches, only for Angle to use every nasty trick in the book to get the victory. The role-reversal was perfectly executed. If only the show had stopped there. But it didn’t, so the ranking on this list suffered. But don’t take anything away from the show, that night in Los Angeles was still great, and very deserving of the top 25 ever.
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17. One Night Stand: Extreme Rules 2008
One Night Stand 2008 really only contained one classic, all-time match. And that was the TLC main event match between Edge and The Undertaker. But more on that in a minute. Now it’s not to say that the rest of the matches were bad, not that at all. Shockingly, the 5-way Singapore cane match between The Big Show, Tommy Dreamer, CM Punk, John Morrison, and Chavo Guerrero was quite good. As was the Shawn Michael/Batista stretcher match which was a surprise because there really has never been a good stretcher match in history other than this one.
But other than the main event, what really made One Night Stand 2008 so different is just how creative it was. Along with the aforementioned 3 gimmick matches, there was also a falls count anywhere match between Jeff Hardy and Umaga, a first blood match with Cena and JBL, and an “I Quit” match pitting Beth Phoenix against Maria, and a last man standing match between Triple H and Randy Orton. Talk about variety. So with all these fun gimmicks, One Night Stand 2008 turned out to be a really fun card. Sure, there were some missteps, but overall it worked.
And then of course there was the main event that basically took a night that was very good, and made it great. The drama was heavy in this match as the vacant World Heavyweight title was on the line as well as Taker’s WWE contract, and the two fought as you would think two people would with that much at stake. In what turned out to be one of best TLC matches of all time, Edge used all his resources to seemingly end “The Deadman’s” career and wrap up what was had been one the company’s best feuds for the better part of 18 months. The night played out perfectly, slowly but surely simmering until the climactic main event made it all worth the price of admission.
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16. Wrestlemania XX
Unquestionably, Wrestlemania XX in 2004 had some faults. For one, and much like most Mania’s since, it was way too long. There were 12 matches and at least 3 of them had absolutely no business being on the show and no bearing on long term story lines in the company. Those easily could’ve been eradicated and not only would that not have bothered anyone, it probably would’ve helped with the overall presentation. It was almost like the WWE just wanted to make sure they got every single person on the roster involved, and they basically did.
However, what Wrestlemania will undoubtedly be remembered for was the night that two of the sports biggest all-time underdogs successfully cemented their legacies as two of wrestling’s greatest superstars. That night in New York City, Eddie Guerrero out-dueled Kurt Angle in a fascinating battle, retaining his WWE Championship, and Chris Benoit captured the World Heavyweight Championship by way of one of the greatest professional wrestling matches in WWE history in a triple threat match with Shawn Michaels and Triple H. The latter of these two matches still holds up today, in my opinion at least, as the greatest Wrestlemania main event of all time and unquestionably the greatest triple threat match ever.
Outside of those two matches, the Chris Jericho/Christian match was very good, and the Legacy versus The Rock N’ Sock Connection was a ton of fun. But the best part of the night was the ending which saw the two world champions and best friends for the better part of two decades, share a teary embrace in the center of the ring. A sold out Madison Square Garden got to witness what may very well go down as the most emotional Wrestlemania moment of all time.
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15. Royal Rumble – 2007
The Royal Rumble pay-per-view is always one of the biggest events of the year and arguably it’s most important. Usually the first PPV of the year, the Rumble sets the stage for Wrestlemania and most of the time, a great Rumble show equates to a great Mania. With the 2007 show ahead of Wrestlemania 23, the WWE roster was all in and produced a tremendous card to a sell-out audience at the AT&T Center in San Antonio, Texas.
The action started off great with The Hardy Boyz defeating MNM in a high-octane, 15-minute tag match. Granted that was followed up by a pretty disappointing ECW title defense from Bobby Lashley against Test. Next, Batista defeated Mr. Kennedy cleanly to retain the ECW Heavyweight Championship and come on, it was always fun watching Kennedy get his mouth shut. But the match that stood out the most before the Rumble match itself, was the Last Man Standing match between John Cena and Umaga for the WWE Championship. The two engaged in a vicious, bloody war that turned out to be one of 2007’s very best matches and turned Umaga from prospect to serious contender.
But what stole the show was the main event Royal Rumble match. In what would turn out to be the best Rumble in history, slightly edging out the 2004 match, The Undertaker, after 17 years in the business finally captured his first win of that kind. The entire match was phenomenal but nothing could match the closing minutes between Taker and Shawn Michaels. HBK, in his hometown, and Taker, the Austin native from 100 miles away had the crowd going insane as they went back and forth in what would have a very similar feel to 2 and 3 years later during their Wrestlemania masterpieces. The two would go on to both receive title matches at Wrestlemania in what turned out to be a very good show. But make no mistake, of those two shows, the 2007 Royal Rumble easily takes the cake.
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14. Extreme Rules – 2012
Make no mistake, the 2012 Extreme Rules is one of the top 5 pay-per-views of the past 5 years. With 4 title matches, 3 matches that are very easily main-event quality, 10 former or current world champions on the card, and an appearance from Brock Lesnar, yeah this one was going to be good no matter what. And what did we get? Three hours of non-stop action that produced 3 matches that were in the top 10 of 2012.
The first of the three classics was the Daniel Bryan/Sheamus World Heavyweight title Wrestlemania rematch. After these young studs were given an insulting 18 seconds at Wrestlemania, they were allowed to shine at Extreme Rules in the form of a 22-minute 2 out of 3 falls match that was about as precise, hard-hitting, and technical as a match gets. CM Punk got to shine in his hometown of Chicago against long-standing rival Chris Jericho in their vicious Chicago Street Fight in the second of this amazing trio of matches. True to the matches namesake, Punk and Y2J beat each other senseless with a myriad of weapons and gimmicks which led to a win and the culmination of their feud.
The main event pitted John Cena and Brock Lesnar in an Extreme Rules match. Now, normally some people would be angry over Cena being in the main event with 2 world titles being contested on the under card, especially since Punk is a Chicago native. However, this was no ordinary occasion. This would be the first match “The Beast Incarnate” had wrestled in a WWE ring in over 8 years. And the result? The guy hadn’t lost a step as he and Cena went at it for 18 punishing minutes as Lesnar laid on Cena one of the biggest beatings of “Big Match John’s” career. And yes, Cena would go on to get pinfall but did he really win that night? Lesnar clearly did the most damage while cementing himself once again as the most dominant, dangerous force in the WWE. But the real winner that night? The WWE fans.
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13. No Way Out – 2001
The 2001 No Way Out pay-per-view was not just a success because it was the home of 3 of that year’s best matches, but because it so beautifully set up what would eventually be one of the greatest pay-per-views of all time, Wrestlemania 17. Most of 2001 fired on all cylinders for the WWE. Having arguably the best and most accomplished roster of all time, the company flourished and churned out great show after great show while delivering some of the best story lines in history. If Wrestlemania was the most important show that year, then No Way Out deserves a lot of its credit.
Much like a few of the other shows that have cracked this list, No Way Out was the story of 3 brilliant bouts. There was the Intercontinental Championship 4-way match between Chris Jericho, Chris Benoit, Eddie Guerrero, and X-Pac which managed to pack about 30 minutes of action into a 12-minute match. There was the main event for the WWF Championship in which The Rock won his 6th title of that kind in an intense back and forth battle with Kurt Angle. And then, of course, was the consensus 2001 match of the year contested in 3 Stages of Hell Match between Steve Austin and Triple H. It was a bloody war between two of the biggest stars of the Attitude Era in their prime.
Obviously there were impressive matches at No Way Out 2001 but where the show excels was how it set the stage so perfectly for Wrestlemania. So many of the matches on this night in Las Vegas were parlayed into “The Show of Shows”. The triple threat tables match with the Dudley Boyz, Edge and Christian, and Kane and The Undertaker wet the fans appetite for TLC 2 at Wrestlemania. Triple H used his stunning, victorious performance to propel himself into a match with The Undertaker. And The Rock’s title win set the stage for his rematch with Austin which turned into one of the biggest swerves in WWE history. No Way Out was pro wrestling booking at it’s very finest.
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12. Wrestlemania 30
From the middle of 2013 until his unfortunate retirement, Daniel Bryan was not only the face of the WWE, but undoubtedly one of the most popular superstars of all time. His “Yes” Movement and underdog story was about as compelling as any story the company has ever told and the fans of the WWE were at the forefront. So with Bryan book-ending the beginning and end of Wrestlemania 30, there was a chance that it could be an all-time great Mania. And that it was. But more on Bryan’s performances in a minute.
The rest of Wrestlemania 30 was pretty good too. Between The Shield breaking out in a major way in their destruction of Kane and The New Age Outlaws, to the inaugural Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal, to the terrific and intense match between John Cena and Bray Wyatt, Wrestlemania that year was off to a great start. Then the moment happened that took the show up another level: the ending of The Streak. In one of the most surreal moments in wrestling history, Brock Lesnar, after hitting a third F-5, pinned The Undertaker Wrestlemania streak at 21 wins. A pin could be heard dropped in the Superdome in New Orleans as the over 75,000 in attendance were hushed as their hero was finally defeated on the stage that always made him so great.
But make no mistake, Wrestlemania 30 was all about Bryan. He opened the show against Triple H in what would be turn out to be a top 5 match in 2014. The win propelled him into the main event with Randy Orton and Batista which most likely saved a riot from the fans on hand. After 23 minutes and another scintillating match, Bryan finally came through victoriously. There were no excuses, no reason to strip him of the title again, and no shenanigans. Bryan was the world champ and he closed out the show with both belts and “Yes!” chant in full effect. Truly an iconic moment.
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11. Backlash – 2007
Coming off a good, but not great, Wrestlemania 23, all 3 brands, RAW, Smackdown, and ECW all came together for Backlash. And for what wasn’t delivered a month earlier at Mania, the combatants on this night in Atlanta, Georgia made up for in a big way. Every match on the main card was for a title, 3 being world titles, and because of that, the whole night just seemed to have that big fight feel. Was this the flashiest show of all time? No. But what it was, was an exercise on how good wrestling can be when the bookers get out of the way and let the talent do their thing.
Backlash 2007 only featured 6 matches but each match was given time to play out and it paid off as far as the story telling for each feud. Everything had a purpose and there were no time-filler matches. Two of the more underrated programs were on display as tag champions The Hardy Boyz battled the duo of Lance Cade and Trevor Murdoch and Chris Benoit defended his United States title against MVP. In both cases it was the story of the veterans retaining their titles but making the young talent look good through two very solid matches. And yes, the Bobby Lashley versus the McMahons and Umaga was a little over the top, but honestly, it was still a lot of fun.
Like many of the other shows that made this list, the two main events were outstanding. Batista got his rematch for the World Heavyweight Championship that he lost at WM23 to The Undertaker as the two followed up that war with a Last Man Standing match at Backlash that was even better. And the main event pitted 4 legends against each other as John Cena defended the WWE Championship against Shawn Michaels, Randy Orton, and Edge in what would turn out to be one of the best Fatal 4-Ways of all time and set up a violent feud between Michaels and Orton. All in all, Backlash 2007 was just a really, really good show and narrowly the best pay-per-view of that entire year.
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10. Royal Rumble – 2001
It’s very apparent that any “best of” list when it comes to WWE pay-per-views will have Wrestlemania 17 at or near the top of the board. And yes, that will happen here. But for how great that show was, it was the two preceding pay-per-views that made it that much more successful. We just spotlighted No Way Out 2001 at number 13 but that year’s Royal Rumble show was even better. If this was countdown of the top 25 intense, high octane PPV’s of all time, this might be number 1.
Outside of a swing and a miss in the form of a Women’s Championship match between Ivory and Chyna, the show really had zero letdowns and a plethora of high spots. Anytime you start a show with The Dudley Boyz versus Edge and Christian, chances are the show is going to be good. And that’s what happened in yet another phenomenal show in New Orleans that night. Add in what would go down as one of the best ladder matches of all time between Chris Jericho and Chris Benoit for the Intercontinental title, and a back and forth brawl between Kurt Angle and Triple H for the WWF Championship and it’s no shock that the 17,000 fans in attendance stood for the majority of the night.
And of course there was the Rumble match itself. In what was arguably the best Rumble match of all-time, Steve Austin punched his Wrestlemania ticket but he went through the ringer to do it. Triple H looked to spoil the night for “The Rattlesnake” attacking him as he walked to the ring, rendering Austin beaten and bloody. However, the blood seemed to ignite Austin and his fans and made the winning moment that much more dramatic. Add on The Rock’s fun 40 minutes and a career-making moment for Kane as he eliminated a record 11 superstars and lasted nearly an hour before falling victim to Austin and you have yourself quite an event. All this was the beginning of what would eventually lead to one of the most iconic Wrestlemania moments of all time. Give the 2001 Royal Rumble a lot of credit. It was the event that got that ball rolling.
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9. Survivor Series – 2002
Okay, so before we get into just how good of a show this was, let’s take into account that an event named “Survivor Series” should probably have a standard Survivor Series style match. The 2002 show however, did not. Sure, there were elimination matches but not the traditional 5 on 5 variety. But you know what? It didn’t matter. The 2002 Survivor Series PPV didn’t need it. Because instead of having one of those matches, the WWE decided to have it’s first ever match that is now an institution: The Elimination Chamber. 15 years later and the chamber match is still one of the most popular type of matches in the company and has it’s own PPV dedicated to it. Yeah, that’s a successful idea.
As always, to make an idea stick, the match needs to be really good. Look no further than the Wrestlemania 10 ladder match between Razor Ramon and Shawn Michaels, and the Wrestlemania 21 Money In The Bank match as proof that a concept is only as good as it’s performers. And that idea was on full display at Madison Square Garden on this night as “The Heartbreak Kid” battled through Kane, Triple H, Booker T, Rob Van Dam, and Chris Jericho to win his final world championship in the WWE. Buckets of blood were spilled between the combatants and the drama was high as the near 18,000 in attendance screamed wildly for an HBK victory. To this day, this still holds up as a top 3 Elimination Chamber match and it paved the way for many others.
The rest of the 2002 Survivor was also very good and included 3 other title changes. One of those changes came in the form of a shocking betrayal by Paul Heyman on Brock Lesnar that enabled The Big Show to win the WWE Championship and turn Lesnar baby face for a little while. From beginning to end this show kept fans guessing and one of those landmark type events that every wrestling fan needs to see.
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8. Summerslam 2013
Wrestlemania 30 checked in at number 12 on this list. It was tremendous show with a storybook ending that gave fans everything they wanted out of Daniel Bryan’s main event title run. But quite frankly, there is no Wrestlemania 30 without the 2013 Summerslam. Taking place 7 months before WM30, this show from the Staples Center in Los Angeles is the reason that the second half of 2013 and the first half of 2014 was about as compelling to watch as the product had been in a very, very long time. Factor in that the 2 best matches of the entire year took place on this night and it’s very easy to understand why this show cracks the top 10.
Now, to be honest, this show didn’t get off to a great start. Although it was great to see Bray Wyatt make his PPV debut, his Ring of Fire match with Kane was, for lack of a better description, kind of ridiculous. But after that, things kicked into gear. Cody Rhodes had a quick, solid match with Damien Sandow. Alberto Del Rio successfully defended his World Heavyweight title in a very underrated, cerebral match with Christian. And then 2 matches later was “The Beast vs. The Best” as Brock Lesnar and CM Punk locked horns for the first and only time ever. And these two made their only encounter mean something. In the consensus best match of 2013, the two went at it for 25 minutes with Paul Heyman running interference at ringside. All 3 parties involved were just brilliant here and the swings in momentum kept the crowd in a frenzied state until Lesnar, with Heyman’s help, walked out victorious.
The main event featured Bryan versus John Cena for the WWE Championship with Triple H as guest referee. And what came as no shock to anyone, it was an outstanding match that saw Bryan come through for the win. But the real story came after as Randy Orton came to ringside, Money In The Bank briefcase in hand. Everyone knew what was coming next. Hunter Pedigreed Bryan and Orton cashed in. The next half hear was a major wave that every WWE fan went on alongside Bryan, going as far as hijacking an episode of RAW to get Daniel into Wrestlemania. It really was one of the most awe-inspiring runs of all time and Summerslam 2013 deserves a lot of the credit for it.
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7. Wrestlemania 24
Throughout this list it’s become apparent that you need at least one of two things to make a great pay-per-view. The show needs to have at least 2 amazing matches or the majority of the card as a whole, needs to be consistently good with effective pacing. Wrestlemania 24 has the unique distinction of being one of the very few shows of all-time that have both, and then some. Sure, the Chavo Guerrero/Kane ECW title match, Batista versus Umaga, and the women’s division tag matches didn’t exactly tear the roof off of the Citrus Bowl in Orlando that night, but those matches only accounted for about 13 minutes of in-ring time. The rest of show however, solid gold.
Outside of the top matches at Wrestlemania 24, there are also a couple of hidden gems. The JBL/Finlay Belfast Brawl was a lot of fun and although this is absolutely painful to say, The Big Show/Floyd Mayweather spectacle was done surprisingly well. The triple threat match for the WWE Heavyweight Championship was good, although maybe a bit underwhelming. And then what you’re left with was one of the best Money In The Bank matches of all-time and arguably the top 2 matches of 2008 as well as 2 top 25 matches in Wrestlemania history.
The main event of the night pitted The Undertaker and Edge in the midst of their off and on two-year battle. Edge was truly one of Taker’s biggest rivals in his career and this match was the perfect type of main event. It was simply two guys at the top of their game competing in an intense, hard-hitting battle that had the near 75,000 fans in attendance on the edge of their seats.
But it was the Shawn Michaels versus Ric Flair match that is the must-see event at this show. In what was billed as Flair’s retirement match, “The Nature Boy” left every thing he had left in the ring against Michaels and the match was as good as any fan could’ve imagined. And the emotions from both men alone was worth the price of admission. Truly a special night.
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5. Vengeance – 2005
I’ve gone back and forth repeatedly on how good the 2005 Vengeance was. On one hand, this is a 6-match card and for the most part, you can skip the first 3. But the fact of the matter is that the final 3 matches of this show from Las Vegas are so good that this show has cracked the top 5 of this list. These 3 matches totaled over 1 hour of in-ring wrestling and made the Monday Night Raw product look so good that it’s amazing that Smackdown lived through it. That’s an effective show.
The first of these 3 classics was the Wrestlemania 21 rematch between Shawn Michael and Kurt Angle. Their Mania clash is truly an all-time classic but this reboot at Vengeance was nearly just as good. The two hall of famers employed more technicality in this one and showed off why they’re considered two of the all-time greats. Michaels got his vengeance, true to the show’s name. This was followed up by a triple threat match between John Cena, Chris Jericho, and Christian for the WWE Championship. It was Christian’s first attempt at a world title and proved he belonged. Even when you watch this match back today knowing the ending, you still believe Cena might lose. That’s how much heat this one had.
And then there was the main event. In a match that still probably has plenty of WWE fans left with their hair standing up on the back of their necks, Batista and Triple H went to war in one the greatest Hell In A Cell matches in the company’s history. After having a surprisingly lackluster couple of PPV matches at Wrestlemania 21 and then Backlash, these two men wrapped up their trilogy in vicious fashion. The narrative of the story was simple. “The Game” couldn’t seem to find a way to beat his younger foe, so he challenged him into the cell, a match that he had never lost. They responded in a bloody, explosive way and when it was all over, Batista was not only still the champion, but he was finally the bonafide superstar many expected him to be. It may not be the flashiest show of all time, but it was still brilliant.
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4. One Night Stand – 2005
For those wrestling fans that were either too young or have never had the chance to see it, ECW was unquestionably one of the most fun organizations to be a fan of in the history of wrestling. In a time that the wrestling world was ruled by two major organizations who battled each other weekly for supremacy with two very similar products, ECW was an escape for the more avid wrestling fan who wanted to see what made wrestling so entertaining: the violence. Sure, ECW was home to some amazingly talented superstars, who actually used that company as a springboard to stardom, but from 1994 until 2001, if you wanted down and dirty wrestling, ECW was your place to go and the cult following around it was like a society of its own.
So when the company was bought out by the WWE in 2001, it was a sad day for its fans, though not exactly a shocker. The company had been running on fumes for a while and it seemed like just a matter of time. Some of ECW’s top talent was picked up and became very successful in the WWE but so many fans still thirsted for the extreme days. So when the WWE decided to recapture the old ECW magic and scheduled a PPV for the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York, ECW’s old stomping grounds, the wrestling world took notice and it would become one of the most anticipated events ever.
The night of the show came and went it seemed like everybody got exactly what they wanted. There were 3 outstanding matches. Fellow Canadians and former tag partners Chris Jericho and Lance Storm kicked off the show with a terrific technical match. Later on, Mike Awesome and Masato Tanaka rekindled their old violent rivalry in what was the match of the night. And old mainstays The Dudley Boyz, The Sandman, and Tommy Dreamer battled it in a tag match.
But this night was not just about the matches. It was a night that celebrated what was once one of the most popular, yet underdog companies of all-time and the passion from its fans. With only 2,500 in attendance that night, the place sounded like it could’ve been 10 times that. The WWE did the same type of show a year later and although it was good, it didn’t rival what happened on this night. In a throwback to what some would consider better times, the ECW legend managed to grow 3 years after it went out of business. Breathtaking stuff.
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3. Wrestlemania 19
Safeco Field in Seattle was the venue of Wrestlemania 19, and to say the 54,000 fans in attendance “got their money’s worth” is an understatement. Much like Wrestlemania 24, this show had both the intangibles that made a great PPV: great matches, perfect pacing. There was really no below average match. Sure, the first 4 matches of the night were quick-hitters but they were all solid tilts that the crowd was squarely behind. But it was the final 5 matches of the night that set this PPV apart from almost the rest of the crowd.
The double main event which was The Rock versus Steve Austin and Brock Lesnar versus Kurt Angle marked what was the best combined 2 closing matches in pay-per-view history. The Rock, after losing to Austin at 2 other Mania’s got his redemption in what would turn out to be “The Rattlesnake’s” final wrestling match. And as far as the Angle/Lesnar match went, everyone knew it was going to be a gem and these two went above and beyond that. In what was their first ever televised one on one match with each other, the two master technicians played pro wrestling chess over the course of 21 glorious minutes. And of course, there was Brock’s Shooting Star Press botch, which also adds to the “must-see” nature of this event.
And in what was no shock to any wrestling fan on Earth, the Shawn Michaels match stole the show. In his first ever match with Chris Jericho, a lifelong fan of Michaels, the duo put on a performance that should be on any top 10 list of Wrestlemania matches. It was beautifully woven story of a guy trying to top his idol, trying everything in his arsenal but still coming up short. The final image of Jericho crying before kicking Michaels in the groin is one Mania’s greatest moments and something that launched “Y2J”‘s career into another dimension. Amazing Wrestlemania, but there was one that was just a little bit better.
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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.
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1. Wrestlemania 17
And here it is. Wrestlemania 17 has absolutely everything a wrestling fan could possibly want out of a pay-per-view. Coming to fans from Astrodome in Houston, Texas, the card featured 11 matches, 6 for titles, 4 including some type of gimmick, and managed to cram in 28 superstars throughout the card, not counting the combatants of the 19-man gimmick battle royal. It was very clear that the WWE was taking this show extremely serious and it seemed like they were using it as a celebratory night. See, just 9 days earlier, the WWE had bought the WCW and with that, officially ended the half decade-long feud between the two rival companies as the clear cut winner. At Wrestlemania 17, the WWE officially wanted to show the entire world why they won and how they were the best in the world. And it worked.
Call it positive energy, call it a good feeling after winning a long battle, what ever the case, it seemed every superstar who participated at WM 17 had the volume turned up and then some. It was a long show for sure, but it just seemed to fly as each match was a showcase in brilliance. The top matches of the night were the Kurt Angle/Chris Benoit classic, a “streak” win for The Undertaker over Triple H, and of course the TLC match. Edge, Christian, The Hardy Boyz, and The Dudley Boyz completed their trilogy that night in what would turn out to be their best installment yet and to this day no TLC match has ever topped this one.
However, it was the main event that takes this show from being great, to the best of all-time. The match pitted the two biggest superstars of The Attitude Era in The Rock and Steve Austin and much like two years earlier at WM 15, the two brought the house down. In what was their best match of their feud, the two icons battled it out over the course of 28 minutes and it seemed like the crowd knew exactly what they were witnessing. Now, say what you want about the end. Austin aligning with Vince McMahon, his biggest rival, was a controversial decision that some fans absolutely hated. But the swerve was a tool that was used to write the next year’s worth of storylines while the image of Austin and Vince’s having celebratory beers gave the WWE yet another iconic Wrestlemania closing moment.
More wwe: Ranking All 16 Superstars to Win MITB
Any time I sit down to watch the WWE Network, Wrestlemania 17 is almost always my first choice of what to watch. It was the night that the WWE reaffirmed that no other company in this country could match what they could do and as such, was the best show in the company’s history.