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Hello and welcome back to part 2 of the 10 greatest WWE PPVs of the last decade. If you haven't seen the previous 5 entries, you can check it out by clicking on this link.
Nevertheless, here is a quick recap. We started the list with the first WrestleMania of the decade, WrestleMania XXVI. The Undertaker vs Shawn Michaels headliner edged out a few other PPVs to earn the #10 spot. The 2018 Royal Rumble followed it thanks to it's amazing Rumble matches and Ronda Rousey's debut. Extreme Rules 2012 became the first PPV outside WWE's big 4 to make the list at #8. SummerSlam 2013, which arguably is the greatest SummerSlam of all time followed and finally, WrestleMania 28 wrapped up the first half of this list.
So, without further ado, let's dive right into the 5 best PPVs of this decade.
5. Royal Rumble 2017
WWE had a hard time booking the Royal Rumble events between 2013 and 2015. In all these three years, the Rumble matches were heavily criticized. The 2014 and 2015 winners were booed heavily despite being babyfaces. They kind of got back on track with the 2016 Rumble but nailed it in 2017. In perhaps the greatest Royal Rumble PPV of all time, WWE gave us some iconic moments and legendary showdowns.
On the undercard, Charlotte defeated Bayley to retain her Raw Women's Title and Neville defeated Rich Swann to win the Cruiserweight Championship in a couple of great matches. Kevin Owens defeated Roman Reigns to retain his Universal Title in a brutal streetfight with Chris Jericho hung above the ring in a shark cage.
Finally, John Cena defeated AJ Styles to win his 16th World title. The two men brought the best out of each other and delivered one of the best WWE matches ever. The match was so good, even the biggest Cena haters in the crowd were on their feet to celebrate with Cena as he equaled Flair's record.
Lastly, the Royal Rumble match. The match was built on three superstars: Brock Lesnar, Goldberg, and The Undertaker. The early part of the Rumble was built around Braun Strowman as he was made to look like a proper monster. Baron Corbin finally eliminated him and the Rumble started to get crowded. The Wyatt Family had a great interaction until finally Brock Lesnar arrived at #26.
Lesnar tore the ring apart and eliminated a bunch of men. With everyone down and only Lesnar standing, Goldberg entered the ring at #28. Instantly, Goldberg hit Lesnar with a spear and eliminated him. Finally, Undertaker entered at #29 and eliminated Goldberg as the crowd absolutely went mental.
In the end, Roman Reigns shocked the crowd entering at #30 and eliminating The Undertaker. What seemed like a bad booking decision turned out to be a stroke of genius as it made everyone in the match, except Reigns, crowd favorites. In the end, Randy Orton eliminated the 'Big Dog' to win his second Rumble match.
4. Survivor Series 2016
Survivor Series is WWE's least celebrated Big Four PPV. The event reached a low point in 2015 when no traditional Survivor Series matches were even announced. But WWE bounced back and gave us what probably is the best Survivor Series show of all time. This event made the headlines even in mainstream media, thanks to Goldberg vs Brock Lesnar's main event, a match 12 years in the making.
Despite the blockbuster main event, the show's main theme was Raw vs SmackDown. Fresh off a new brand split WWE booked 3 Raw vs SmackDown Survivor Series matches, one each for the men, women and tag teams.
SmackDown's Intercontinental Champion The Miz retained his title against Raw's Sami Zayn and Raw's The Brian Kendrick retained his Cruiserweight Championship against SmackDown's Kalisto. The 10-Tag Team Survivor Series match was a spot-filled chaotic brawl that Raw won after Cesaro and Sheamus became the sole survivors of the match.
The 10-Women match was won by Raw as well, with Charlotte and Bayley surviving. Finally, the Men's Survivor Series match proved to be one of the best matches of the year. SmackDown had AJ Styles, Dean Ambrose, Shane McMahon, Randy Orton, and Bray Wyatt. Raw had Kevin Owens, Chris Jericho, Braun Strowman, Roman Reigns, and Seth Rollins. Every person in the match got their moment to shine and no one was treated like a jobber.
Even SmackDown's mascot, James Ellsworth got a big spot as he helped eliminate Braun Strowman. Shane McMahon took a brutal Spear from Roman Reigns which ended his night. Seth Rollins, Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose had a small Shield reunion. In the end, Bray Wyatt and his new Wyatt Family member Randy Orton won the match for SmackDown.
Finally, Brock Lesnar and Goldberg took to the ring to finish the night. The air was filled with a big match feel as the crowd waited in anticipation to see what happens. What followed had to be one of the most shocking moments in WWE history.
Goldberg hit 2 spears and 1 Jackhammer on Lesnar and pinned The Beast in 1 minute and 26 seconds. This sent the pro-wrestling world into a frenzy and their eventual rematch was one of the biggest matches on the WrestleMania card.
3. WrestleMania 31
WrestleMania 31 was supposed to be an absolute disaster. Fans had turned on Roman Reigns who was booked in the main event against Brock Lesnar. Daniel Bryan was the most popular guy on the roster and he was relegated to the IC Title match. With their backs against the wall, WWE took the greatest risk they had taken since WrestleMania X-Seven and gave us the greatest 'Mania finish of all time.
On the undercard, Daniel Bryan won the Intercontinental Title in a 7-man ladder match, Randy Orton defeated Seth Rollins with perhaps the best RKO of all time. AJ Lee and Paige defeated The Bella Twins in a 6-minute match. John Cena ended Rusev's undefeated streak beating him for the U.S Title.
Rusev's entry on an actual Tank was the highlight of the match. The Undertaker, after losing his WrestleMania streak returned for the first time in a year to defeat Bray Wyatt to a huge ovation from the crowd.
Triple H faced Sting in Sting's in-ring debut. This match was an iconic one as all original members of D-Generation X and The New World Order interfered in the match on Triple H and Sting's behalf respectively. In the end, Triple H outlasted Sting and picked up the victory in a thoroughly entertaining match.
We saw Triple H again as he and Stephanie McMahon cut a promo on the WWE Universe prompting The Rock to come out. In the confrontation that followed, Rock brought in Ronda Rousey from the crowd and the two proceeded to beat up Triple H and Stephanie amidst deafening cheers.
Finally, Roman Reigns and Brock Lesnar fought for the WWE Championship. The crowd heavily booed Roman and cheered Lesnar. The match itself proved to be better than it had any right to be. Lesnar dished out a brutal beating on Reigns for the first 12 minutes. After shoving Lesnar headfirst onto the ring post, Reigns mounted a comeback.
However, Lesnar stopped Reigns' momentum with a 3rd F5. Seth Rollins then surprised everyone by cashing in his Money in the Bank contract. He pinned Roman in the ensuing triple threat to win the WWE Championship. The crowd was bewildered by this finish and this will forever be one of the best WrestleManias of all time.
2. Money in the Bank 2011
Let's rewind to one of the earliest PPVs of the decade, Money in the Bank 2011. The event was advertised as CM Punk's last WWE match and he was challenging John Cena for the WWE Championship. Vince McMahon threatened to fire Cena if he loses and allows Punk to leave WWE with the title. The hype paid off as CM Punk and John Cena wrestled in one of the greatest matches in pro-wrestling history.
The event had two Money in the Bank ladder matches. The SmackDown match was won by Daniel Bryan who scratched and clawed his way to victory. The Raw match was won by Alberto Del Rio. The main story was built around Del Rio and Rey Mysterio who were the final two on the ladder before Del Rio tried unmasking Rey forcing him off the ladder and won the match. The Miz and Sin Cara suffered injuries during their respective matches. Both matches were amazing with painful-looking spots and great moments.
Mark Henry and Big Show had a match that continued Henry's Hall of Pain run. Kelly Kelly retained her Divas Title against Brie Bella in a 5-minute match. Finally, Randy Orton lost his World Championship against Christian. A stipulation was put in place that if Orton got disqualified, he would lose the title.
The entire match consisted of Christian trying to anger Orton into getting himself disqualified. This eventually developed into a string of false finishes until Christian spit in Orton's face. This caused the Viper to kick Christian in the groin. As a result, Orton was disqualified and Christian won the World Championship Title. An angered Orton then RKO'd Christian twice through the announce table.
Finally, the main event. CM Punk received one of the loudest reactions ever during his entrance and John Cena received equally loud boos. The match went back and forth with both superstars getting near falls for about 25 minutes. John Laurinaitis and Vince McMahon then came out to ringside to distract Punk as Cena locked in an STF.
Vince signaled for Laurinaitis to ring the bell even though Punk hadn't tapped, referencing the Montreal Screwjob. Not wanting a tainted victory, Cena attacked Laurinaitis outside the ring. But as he re-entered the ring, Punk hit him with a GTS and won the match. Vince then put on an announcer's headset and asked Del Rio to cash in his contract. Punk fended off Del Rio and escaped with the WWE Championship through the crowd as Vince looked on.
This moment of Punk blowing a kiss to Vince as he escapes with the WWE Title will forever remain one of the greatest moments in WWE history. This paved the way for a whole new generation of stars as WWE moved away from their traditional big guy obsession and pushed smaller athletic guys as main event stars. Money in the Bank 2011 will always remain a milestone in the history of WWE.
#1 WrestleMania 30
Finally, WrestleMania 30. This might be the single greatest event in WWE's history. Events that happened that night will never happen in the WWE again. After the entire fiasco surrounding the 2014 Royal Rumble, WWE decided to give in and give the fans everything they wanted. Daniel Bryan was quickly promoted to the main event and WWE doubled down on the bearded man turning him into wrestling's biggest Superstar within a couple of months.
Let's get the other matches out of the way first. Hulk Hogan, The Rock, and Stone Cold Steve Austin opened the night with a fantastic and iconic segment, The Shield defeated the New Age Outlaws and Kane in a quick, impressive squash match. AJ Lee retained her Divas Title in an Invitational match involving all working women on the roster.
Cesaro won the inaugural Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal by eliminating Big Show to a huge pop from the Superdome crowd. Lastly, John Cena defeated Bray Wyatt after Wyatt had tormented Cena for months. Wyatt's entry was the highlight of the match as his theme was performed live by Mark Crozer, the musician who created the song.
There were three matches around which the show was booked. Firstly, The Undertaker vs Brock Lesnar. Everyone expected Lesnar to be the 22nd victim of The Undertaker's streak. Taker suffered a concussion a couple minutes into the match and after some 20 minutes of sluggish action, Lesnar hit a third F5 and the referee counted to 3. Lesnar's theme song was played with a short delay in an attempt to amp up the shock. The crowd was dead silent refusing to believe what they had just witnessed. After a while, The Deadman recovered and walked out to a standing ovation from everyone in the arena.
The opening match of the night was fought between Daniel Bryan and Triple H with the winner being inserted into the Main Event. Daniel Bryan overcame the odds to beat Triple H in one of the best 'Mania openers of all time.
Finally, in the triple-threat main event between Randy Orton, Batista and Daniel Bryan, Orton and Batista teamed up on Bryan. Triple H and Stephanie McMahon came out towards the end of the match with crooked referee Scott Armstrong. Together, the 3 men assaulted Bryan but Bryan kicked Scott Armstrong unconscious and attacked Triple H with a sledgehammer. Orton and Batista then hit a Batista Bomb RKO combination on Bryan through the announce table.
The medical staff then started taking Bryan out on a stretcher as the match continued between Orton and Batista. But halfway up the ramp, Bryan recovered and re-entered the match. He forced Batista to tap-out to the Yes! Lock to become the new WWE World Heavyweight Champion.
The crowd erupted in celebration and the next 10 minutes were of pure joy. Bryan celebrated with the two Titles, with confetti raining down on him. He led the crowd in a massive Yes! chant to end one of the greatest nights in WWE's history.
One of Samoa Joe's colleagues had harsh words for him HERE
