Sportskeeda WWE Awards 2017: PPV of the Year

The year is coming to an end and that can only mean one thing: it’s time to give out our annual WWE Awards!

We will be dishing out numerous awards as 2017 comes to a close, ranging from Superstar of the Year to Heel of the Year, and you can get involved in the conversation by letting us know who you would’ve chosen in the comment box.

In this article, we focus on the 16 pay-per-views that WWE has produced over the last 12 months (Raw x6, SmackDown Live x6, dual-brand x4), narrowing our shortlist down to the final five before revealing the winner.

An honourable mention goes to SummerSlam, which had two great tag matches and an incredible main event but, due to the fact that the rest of the show was average and it went on for over six hours, it just fell short of making our top five.

---

#5 Survivor Series

Braun Strowman and Triple H were the survivors on Team Raw

The first thing that springs to mind when anybody thinks of Survivor Series is probably the disastrous five-on-five men’s elimination match which main-evented the pay-per-view and left a bad taste in everyone’s mouth.

However, having had over a month to calm ourselves down and reflect on the event as a whole, was it really that bad? Looking back, discounting the average kickoff show, every match on the main show lived up to and exceeded expectations except for the main event.

The Shield vs. The New Day was brilliant, Asuka emerged from the women’s match looking like an even bigger star than before, all four Champion vs. Champion matches delivered, and the story told in the Brock Lesnar vs. AJ Styles match was one of the best of 2017.

As great as the SummerSlam main event was and as awful as the Survivor Series main event was, the November pay-per-view steals this spot due to having a better overall show.

#4 Hell In A Cell

Shane McMahon and Kevin Owens battled at Hell In A Cell

The 2017 SmackDown Live-exclusive Hell In A Cell event will go down as one of the best in the pay-per-view’s nine-year history, largely thanks to the two incredible matches that took place inside the steel structure.

The night began with another classic match between The New Day and The Usos, this time inside Hell In A Cell, and it ended with Sami Zayn turning heel to help Kevin Owens defeat Shane McMahon, who had just jumped off the top of the 20ft-high cell.

The rest of the show was okay, if a little underwhelming, especially the WWE Championship match between Jinder Mahal and Shinsuke Nakamura and the SmackDown Women’s Championship match between Natalya and Charlotte Flair.

Still, add Baron Corbin’s surprise United States title win to the two brutal Hell In A Cell matches and it was a pay-per-view well worth watching.

#3 Great Balls of Fire

Braun Strowman defeated Roman Reigns in an Ambulance Match

When we narrowed down the list of 16 pay-per-views that WWE put on in 2017, some were unfortunate to miss out on the top five, most notably SummerSlam, No Mercy and TLC, but the first-ever Great Balls of Fire event was instantly added to the top three.

The highlight of the show was the aftermath of Braun Strowman’s victory over Roman Reigns, in which “The Big Dog” showed a more aggressive side to his character when he reversed an ambulance, with Strowman inside of it, into a production truck.

The main event between Brock Lesnar and Samoa Joe lived up to expectations, despite lasting less than seven minutes, while the final few moments of the Ironman match between Cesaro & Sheamus and The Hardy Boyz were among the most exciting you’ll ever get in WWE.

In short, it had a lot of good and not a lot of bad.

#2 Royal Rumble

John Cena won his 16th World Championship at the Royal Rumble

The most star-studded Royal Rumble match of all time was built around Goldberg, Brock Lesnar and The Undertaker – three guys who are certain Hall of Famers one day – but it’s the rest of the card from the event that earns it this placing on our list.

While the Rumble match itself, won by Randy Orton, was good but not spectacular, the matches for the Raw Women’s title, Cruiserweight title, Universal title and WWE title were among the best we saw on a single card in 2017.

John Cena vs. AJ Styles is many people’s pick for Match of the Year, while Roman Reigns vs. Kevin Owens was an underrated No Disqualification battle which featured Chris Jericho in a shark cage while it also kick-started the long-term feud between Reigns and Braun Strowman.

This pay-per-view could have finished anywhere in the top three and was certainly one of the best Royal Rumble events that WWE has produced in recent memory.

#1 WrestleMania 33

This iconic image sums up WrestleMania 33

It’s not very often WWE is able to match the lofty expectations that fans have come to expect from WrestleMania events, but 2017 saw them exceed those expectations to produce one of the best shows in the pay-per-view’s 33-year history.

It had its negative moments, such as the WWE Championship match between Randy Orton and Bray Wyatt and the fact that Braun Strowman was only on the kickoff show, but the good far outweighed the bad in Orlando.

AJ Styles vs. Shane McMahon and Brock Lesnar vs. Goldberg were both much better than anyone imagined they would be, while the surprise return of The Hardy Boyz – and their subsequent title win – provided a WrestleMania moment that people will remember forever.

And, of course, we can’t forget the main event. The Undertaker laid his hat, coat and gloves down in the middle of the ring following his loss to Roman Reigns, giving the impression that his legendary career had come to an end. If that turns out to be the case, then it was the perfect way to bid farewell to the WrestleMania stage.