As we head into 2019, I thought it would be the right time to rank every WWE PPV from this year. In this process of making this list, I’m pretty sure WWE Network may have just doubled their watch time. Well, after 65+ hours of painstakingly having to watch some great, some good & some outright terrible wrestling, I present to you my list ranking all 15 of the PPV’s WWE has put on this year.
15.
Crown Jewel.
Oh, dear god. I’m not going to get into the politics of this show and all the controversy surrounding it but I’d be damned if I didn’t give myself the opportunity to slate this show and how atrocious it was.
First, this show should be renamed to WWE’s Retirement Village. Secondly, Hulk Hogan was the host of a show in 2018, let that sink in for a second. And thirdly, this show was main evented by a half-an-hour matchup between the Brothers of Destruction and DX, what? Oh, and this show was so bad I almost forgot that Shane McMahon was crowned the best wrestler in the world. I’m surprised Vince didn’t turn up to have a match with Eric Bischoff.
3/10.
14.
Fastlane.
Yes, you weren’t the only person who forgot that this PPV happened.
4/10.
13.
Backlash.
What. A. Waste. This card was actually very solid for the first time in this list. Did the show live up to its potential, hell no. Styles and Nakamura were forced to face each other in a mid-card match for the WWE championship & Reigns and Joe main evented in a non-title match. To kick off the show, Seth Rollins and The Miz had an excellent 20+ minute match for the intercontinental championship but other than that match, this show was a huge let down.
4.5/10.
12.
Greatest Royal Rumble.
Saudi Arabia is paying Vince the big bucks. That’s the overwhelming message for this show. In the first ‘glorified-house-show’ of the year, we saw a mind-blowingly boring PPV and possibly the worst both of the whole year. Well, possibly both of the worst botches of the year. This show had some terrible, terrible moments. We saw Jinder Mahal react a good 3 seconds late to a whisper-in-the-wind. That happened. We also saw Titus O’Neil deliver a running splash to the floor underneath the ring. Not sure what the floor did to deserve that but… that happened too. We also saw Rusev take on 53-year-old Undertaker in a casket match in one of the most random matches of the year, if not the weirdest combination of wrestlers in WWE across the entire year. And, there was a 50-man Royal Rumble match which Braun Strowman won. Better not mention that one to Vince though, after all, this show was just a huge money grab.
4.75/10.
11.
Extreme Rules.
Now that we’re done with the completely terrible shows, this is getting a bit tough for me to call.
Despite being a ‘pretty big’ PPV throughout the years, Extreme Rules was pretty underwhelming for me. First of all, the show had far too many matches. The show had far too little extreme matches and the show had virtually no talking points. With 10 matches, only 3 of which were extreme and only 2 matches which actually meant something down the line, this was pretty poor. Braun vs KO had that big throw off the cage spot and Ziggler and Seth put on a decent main event iron man match. This is the first show on this list which I didn’t ‘hate’, but I can’t say I would like to optionally re-watch the show for a third time.
5.5/10.
10.
Elimination Chamber.
This show was incredibly underwhelming. Roman Reigns won the chamber match in very predictable fashion, The Bar & Titus Worldwide versed in a throwaway match and Bray Wyatt and Matt Hardy had an incredibly boring. I was looking forward to the women’s chamber match but that match was pretty boring with Alexa Bliss faking a face turn after the match.
5.75/10.
9.
Super Showdown.
Now we’re really getting into the tough choices. I was stuck between putting this show here or a few spots down the list but with the lack of build most of the show had gotten, I decided to put this show just about in the bottom half of my list. John Cena & Bobby Lashley disposed of Elias & Kevin Owens and the Undertaker & HHH had a… match? To be completely honest, it was a commendable effort by the pensioners. AJ Styles and Samoa Joe had an excellent match, Becky Lynch and Charlotte had their second singles match in their feud and Rousey and The Bellas took on the Riott Squad. Now, The Shield vs Strowman, Ziggler and McIntyre was absolutely superb and Buddy Murphy defeated Cedric Alexander to possibly the biggest pop of the whole year in a great match. The show dragged out a tiny bit but the wrestling was mostly to a very good quality.
7.25/10.
8.
Hell In A Cell.
This show was wasn’t that memorable but dear god, that screwdriver spot. You remember the show now… why did you have to torment me like that Randy. Jeff Hardy & Randy Orton put on the most brutal match of the show, Rousey defeated bliss, McIntyre and Ziggler retained and Brock Lesnar kicked down a door, used it as steps and created a no-contest in the main event. Dear god.
7.25/10.
7.
Summerslam.
This show was really solid but there were a lot of shows at a higher quality for me. Rollins and Ziggler had an amazing IC title match, Charlotte defeated Lynch & Carmella and New Day and the Bludgeon Brothers had a top tier match. Now, onto the negatives. Strowman squashed Owens, Jeff Hardy and Nakamura had a relatively poor match. The main event saw Reigns beat Lesnar to praise from the fans but sadly this led to Reigns’ leukemia announcement soon after. Get well soon Joe.
7.75/10.
6.
Money in the Bank.
Alexa Bliss won MITB and cashed in the same night to become champ. Probably the highlight of the show. There was a lot of trash in this show but Styles & Nakamura, Rollins & Elias and both MITB matches made up for that in my opinion. A good show, lots of poor matches but they did a lot of things right this show which helps MITB slot in 6th, just outside the top 5 shows this year.
7.75/10.
5.
Wrestlemania.
Well, well, well. Brock Lesnar retained. Undertaker squashed John Cena. Strowman buried the Raw Tag Team Championships. Jinder Mahal won the US title. Nia Jax won the women’s title. Well, other than that, this Wrestlemania was pretty damn good. Ronda Rousey had a superb debut match, the IC title was up for grabs in an amazing triple threat match and Charlotte vs Asuka didn’t disappoint.
7.75/10.
4.
Survivor Series.
Though I hated the booking and the Raw ‘clean sweep’, the wrestling in this show was probably the best through the entire year. The 5-on-5 women’s match saw Nia Jax win to severe hate from the crowd in a pretty poor match but everything else, loved it. Nakamura & Rollins had a great match, Murphy & Ali had a brilliant encounter and the 5-on-5 men’s match definitely kept RAW looking strong. Rousey and Charlotte had one of the matches of the night and the night finished splendidly with an absolute barn-burner of a match between Bryan and Lesnar.
8.5/10.
3.
Evolution.
This show was a first of its kind in the WWE and it lived up to the hype surrounding it. This show was revolutionary and if you haven’t already watched it, you need to. I won’t spoil anything surrounding this show if you haven’t watched it yet but Becky Lynch and Charlotte put on an absolute masterpiece.
8.5/10.
2.
TLC.
Charlotte, Asuka and Lynch put on a brilliant triple threat match, Balor had a great match with McIntyre, Rey Mysterio had a great match with Randy Orton. And that’s just the start of this great show. Strowman ousted Corbin as GM, Rousey managed to get a good match out of Jax and Bryan and Styles had a world-class, Tokyo Dome worthy match. Natalya and Ruby Riott put on a decent match given their situation and the MMC final was… something. This show was the last of the year and it was absolutely superb.
8.75/10.
1.
Royal Rumble.
This show makes the top of the list purely because of the two Royal Rumble matches. There weren’t too many other great matches on the show but the Royal Rumble matches tip this show into first for me. Asuka and Nakamura got the chance to headline Wrestlema… oh wait. Well, the show was amazing while it lasted.
8.8/10.
