Ranking the Worst PPVs of 2018

With the year's final PPV TLC, only a few days away we looked back at the top 5 Pay-Per-Views of 2018. But let's face it, not everything has gone WWE's way this year.

The ratings have been going for a toss with just recently Raw again recording its lowest ever rating.

PPVs have been arranged haphazardly and without storylines even attached to a few matches which have left fans befuddled at times with the proceedings and what to take from it. There has even been an instance of the audience walking out before the show is even over this year just to indicate the magnitude of how bad things have gotten at times.

With that in mind, we countdown to the worst of the PPVs of the year 2018.

---

#5 Super Show-Down

The entire event, "The Super Show-Down" was built around the Last Time Ever encounter between The Undertaker and Triple H, two icons who had previously done battle in an End of an Era Hell in a Cell match in 2012(wasn't that supposed to be the end?).

The announcers inadvertently stressed on the fact that their match-up would mark their final "one-on-one: meeting", which all but confirmed that a tag team matchup also involving Shawn Michaels and Kane was in the works for the next PPV.

The main event itself was slow, plodding and riddled with interference. It was more than indicative of the fact that both the wrestlers were way beyond their prime. Fans of the Attitude Era may have enjoyed it for the nostalgia factor that it had, but there was no reason for the match to headline the pay-per-view over potentially better bouts in the lineup.

Samoa Joe vs AJ Styles for the WWE Championship or The Shield vs Braun Strowman, Dolph Ziggler and Drew McIntyre were pushed ahead to accommodate the main event which was just too slow.

Australia's own Buddy Murphy's defeat over Cedric Alexander for the WWE Cruiserweight Championship in his native Melbourne was a cool moment.

The IIconics vs Asuka and Naomi was put in to fill some time while no one had a clue why there was a match between John Cena and Bobby Lashley vs Kevin Owens and Elias.

The women's six-man tag team match didn't have any takeaways while The New Day vs The Bar was at least able to put on a good show. All in all, the show left people bewildered at what to make of it because there was hardly any takeaway, just a bunch of matches put together with no background.

#4 Extreme Rules

The highlight really was the match the Between Braun Strowman and Kevin Owens

Roman Reigns vs Bobby Lashley was the featured attraction going into the event, and in their defence, the two men exceeded expectations and put together an amazing bout with Reigns ending on the losing side for once.

Sadly, there was nothing extreme about the outing whatsoever, and the biggest anomaly was the fact that the main event bout carried no stakes while the consequent bout between the two men on Raw was for the No. 1 Contender for the Universal Title which in a way demeaned the proceedings of the PPV.

AJ Styles vs Rusev for the WWE Championship was again AJ pulling something great out of the hat.

The B-Team overcame The Deleters of Worlds for the Raw Tag Team Championship, while Finn Balor vs Baron Corbin wasn't much to write home about, and Shinsuke Nakamura won the United States Championship against Jeff Hardy with a low blow even before the match.

Alexa Bliss and Nia Jax rekindled their rivalry in an Extreme Rules match for the Raw Women's Championship, but Ronda Rousey's predictable interference overshadowed everything they did.

Carmella vs Asuka was expected to be the point when Asuka finally got the title but it never really happened due to James Ellsworth's interferences.

A 30-minute Ironman match between Seth Rollins and Dolph Ziggler had as many as 9 pins which were hard to believe considering the duo had already fought in single pin matches going for more than 30 minutes.

The only highlight was the fall that Owens took from the top of the Steel Cage at the hands of Braun Strowman.

#3 Greatest Royal Rumble

Braun Strowman was the eventual winner of the Greatest Royal Rumble

Similar to Super Show-Down, Greatest Royal Rumble was built up massively by WWE but it ended up being nothing more than a glorified PPV with storylines not really getting any significance.

The show was built around a 50-man Royal Rumble match which was as we have seen in the past a bit too much. The Battle Royal largely consisted of enhancement talent, unknown athletes from NXT and sumo wrestlers that most fans had never heard of and maybe never will.

Stars such as Rey Mysterio, Chris Jericho, and even Hornswoggle were included but it didn't really much purpose because the buildup just wasn't there and some things just didn't make sense.

The match featuring Brock Lesnar vs Roman Reigns in a Steel Cage for the Universal Championship concluded in controversy while AJ Styles vs Shinsuke Nakamura for the WWE Championship ended with a double count-out meaning zero implications for the show even if one missed it.

John Cena vs Triple H yet again and The Undertaker vs Rusev in a Casket match hardly made any sense without any stakes attached and the audiences felt bewildered more than anything about what to take away from it.

#2 Backlash

There really wasn't much to write about for Backlash

Coming off the back of Wrestlemania, Backlash had a stacked lineup with many feuds spilling over from the previous PPV. It opened well with the match between Seth Rollins and The Miz for the Intercontinental Championship but it all went downhill from there.

Nia Jax defeated Alexa Bliss in a WrestleMania rematch to retain the Raw Women's Championship, but it was a drag at best. Jeff Hardy Vs Randy Orton was a fun encounter for the United States Championship with the veterans putting on a good show.

But then things really started taking a downward trend. Big Cass and Carmella haven't been rated highly in the ring anyways but it was expected that they would be carried through the match by Daniel Bryan and Charlotte Flair, respectively. Sadly, both the bouts were below expectations and didn't keep the audience engaged for long.

Reigns and Joe have always had strong in-ring chemistry, but with no stakes in their match at Backlash, the fans quickly showed their disinterest by leaving the event before it was over. The telltale way in which Reigns won almost ratified the audience's decision to leave early.

The match between AJ Styles and Shinsuke Nakamura was a draw while the tag team matchup between Braun Strowman and Bobby Lashley against Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn, on the other hand, didn't have any stakes attached to it.

#1 Crown Jewel

Shane Mcmahon was crowned the best in the world

It was almost a shock to see how WWE could go from delivering one of its best pay-per-views all year in Evolution to an absolute anomaly that was Crown Jewel within a matter of days. The vast majority of the fans were against the idea of the company holding Crown Jewel in Saudi Arabia after the disappearance of an exiled Saudi journalist in October.

The WWE World Cup (funnily with a majority of the talent American) took up most of the three-and-a-half hours, and none of the matches caught the eye. It was strange already to see the final coming down to Dolph Ziggler vs. The Miz but when Shane McMahon inserted himself on behalf of SmackDown Live and won the whole thing, it turned everything into a farce.

The Universal Championship match between Brock Lesnar and Braun Strowman was a huge disappointment. The main event, which saw D-Generation X reunite against The Brothers of Destruction, was an absolute shambles with almost every wrestler looking way past their expiry date.

All in all the Crown Jewel could easily be crowned as the worst PPV of the year.