Ranking All 7 WWE SmackDown PPVs Since the Brand Split

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1. Backlash 2016

We started this list with Backlash and we’ll finish with it too, as SmackDown Live’s first pay-per-view under the brand extension remains its best so far.

Team blue had its work cut out for it with the role of putting on the first post-draft brand-specific PPV, giving Raw an additional two weeks to get their rivalries in order for Clash of Champions. Still, Backlash ended up being a tremendous event that set the tone for what would soon be SmackDown emerging as the superior brand.

Following SummerSlam, Shane McMahon and Daniel Bryan announced that we would be getting two new championships on Tuesday nights for the women’s and tag divisions. Backlash would play host to the crowning of those new champions.

The first of those would come in a spectacular six-pack challenge involving the SmackDown women’s division, which would see Becky Lynch emerge victorious to break the curse of “always the bridesmaid, never the bride” that had plagued her.

In a similar, equally heart-warming tale, Heath Slater earned both a contract with SmackDown Live and a championship to sweeten the deal, as he and Rhyno defeated The Usos to win a tournament to crown the inaugural titleholders. This would all come after about two months of struggle for Heath Slater to be signed to either of WWE’s primary brands, a Cinderella story with a perfectly-executed payoff.

Throw in another decent Intercontinental Championship bout between Ziggler and Miz and you’ve already got a tremendous pay-per-view without the main event.

Next: WWE SummerSlam Match Card Predictions

That main event, however, would end the night in phenomenal fashion with AJ Styles living up to the nickname and defeating Dean Ambrose in a terrific match to capture his very first WWE Championship – cementing himself as the “champ that runs the camp.” Styles would go on to become the face of Tuesday nights, with his performance only serving to heighten SmackDown Live as the place to be in WWE.