WWE: Ranking every 2020 pay-per-view from worst to best

12-9

12: The Horror Show at Extreme Rules- WWE chose the right name for this PPV, though not for the reasons they think. The New Day/Cesaro and Shinsuke Nakamura tables match and the Nikki Cross/Bayley SmackDown Women’s Title match met expectations, but the rest of the card got bogged down with either unnecessary stipulations (Eye for an Eye with Seth Rollins vs. Rey Mysterio; a WWE Title match fought under extreme rules for only one person) or horrendous finishes (see: Sasha Banks vs. Asuka). The main event Swamp Fight between Braun Strowman and Bray Wyatt, while entertaining in spots, wasn’t enthralling enough to overcome the muck on the rest of the show.

11: Backlash- How you feel about this show largely depends on how close you think Edge and Randy Orton came to delivering “The Greatest Wrestling Match of All Time”. I thought the match was an acceptable main event contest, but fell well short of that billing and couldn’t make up for the deficiencies throughout the rest of the card, like a lame double countout finish to the Asuka/Nia Jax match and handicap Universal Championship bout.

10: TLC: Tables, Ladders, and Chairs- WWE runs far too many of these gimmick PPVs, and the lack of creativity really shines through when you look at the near-identical booking of the two heavyweight title matches that were contested under TLC rules. Also, only WWE would end their pre-Christmas PPV with one man setting another on fire.

9: Elimination Chamber- Let’s see: A no disqualification match between AJ Styles and Aleister Black that was a glorified handicap match, an actual handicap Intercontinental Title match, a tag team Elimination Chamber match that barely met the standards of the stipulation, and a women’s chamber match that worked a lot better in practice than it did in execution. At least Daniel Bryan vs. Drew Gulak was great.