Power ranking every WWE PPV of 2015 so far

One of the best Wrestlemanias of all time2015 has been a year full of ups for the WWE, in most parts at least.The pay-per-views of the year have been great, for the most part. Every one has had at least one memorable match, and the best have had numerous. Feuds have added chapters to themselves over different events, and have brought new elements and twists.There is a lot to be proud of for WWE this year, and a little to look past and move on.To make things clear, Elimination Chamber counts as a pay-per-view, but The Beast In The East and WWE at Madison Square Garden do not count.So, let's power rank every pay-per-view of the year so far, from the Royal Rumble to Night Of Champions, and the top spot probably won’t be something you’re expecting.This is an opinionised article. It is my own view and you can leave a comment if you agree or disagree with the choices.

#10 Fastlane

New Champs in WWE! More RIGHT HERE

The road to WrestleMania this year was littered with controversy. WWE made a huge mistake with the Royal Rumble winner and the main event of the pay-per-view before WrestleMania was made to be a number one contendor’s match between unpopular winner Roman Reigns and fan favourite Daniel Bryan.

That was probably the only good thing from this event.

The opening match was a mess. It was a six-man tag team match between Dolph Ziggler, Erick Rowan and Ryback, and Seth Rollins, Kane and The Big Show. The latter team won, but the match itself was all over the place, and not in a good way. Randy Orton did return but that did nothing to help the match.

Goldust beat Stardust in a match that didn’t even receive a rematch. Nikki Bella beat Paige (again), Rusev made John Cena pass out, Bad News Barrett defeated Dean Ambrose by disqualification, and the only other good take away was Tyson Kidd and Cesaro winning the Tag Team Championships.

Triple H and Sting had an encounter where they confirmed their match for WrestleMania but that’s it.

It was a pretty bland show overall.

#9 Extreme Rules

Extreme Rules last year was one of my favourite shows of the year. This year though, not so much. There was a point where I almost dozed off, in fact.

There were some good elements. The strangely booked Chicago Street Fight was a welcome addition. The main event was decent. Roman Reigns vs The Big Show was alright. But other than that it was just off.

The highlight of Sheamus vs Dolph Ziggler was Ziggler rubbing his face against Sheamus’ rear, and that’s not something you would want to highlight in a match. The women’s match was not anything new, and there wasn’t much on the offering other than that.

The tag team match launched The New Day well, but there was really nothing memorable here. It had little to no impact on the company’s stories overall.

Notice how I didn’t even mention Rusev vs John Cena. That was the match that put me to sleep.

#8 Night Of Champions

Night Of Champions doesn’t have much to boast, except, perhaps, some wildly confusing booking.

I was excited when I heard Seth Rollins was going to wrestle two matches. I was even more excited considering one of them was against Sting and it was for WWE World Heavyweight Championship. The way it played out though... That was strange.

The last time someone had worked twice in a night; Daniel Bryan at WrestleMania XXX, he wrestled the opening match and the main event. For some reason though, Rollins was made to wrestle the last two matches on the show consecutively. The first one was a classic, against John Cena, where he lost his United States Championship. Then things got strange. After their match, Cena delivered an Attitude Adjustment to Rollins onto the floor, and then Sting entered. Rollins was already a broken man, so Sting should have easily won. But that didn’t happen. Seth Rollins defeated Sting clean despite having been so beat up, and sadly Sting got injured in the match and hasn’t been seen since. After this, Sheamus almost cashed in his Money In The Bank briefcase, but Kane returned and stopped him, and we are where we are today.

The women’s match was well done, with a good pay off. The Intercontinental Championship match was good. The six-man tag team match was really well done. But the dismal booking decisions put me off. It didn’t really make sense to me.

#7 Battleground

In comparison to last year’s show, Battleground was really good, and as a show itself, it was great. It just wasn’t as great as the some of the other shows this year.

The highlight of the night would have to be Kevin Owens vs John Cena III. Every time those two men stepped in a ring together, it was pure gold. Other than this though, there was a lot of good on this show.

Bray Wyatt vs Roman Reigns was a great opening chapter to their long and excellent feud, and it turned some new pages in it too. The main event was also great, one-sided as it was, and The Undertaker returned, setting up his rematch against Brock Lesnar at SummerSlam.

#6 Payback

Good show with some questionable elements

Payback was an entertaining show, it really was. The tag team match was incredible, Sheamus vs Dolph Ziggler was a decent match, Bray Wyatt vs Ryback, although quite pointless, worked.

The two standout matches, of course, were the main event and the I Quit match. Seth Rollins retained his WWE World Heavyweight Championship in a Fatal Four Way and the match was heavy with big spots and nostaligic moments, none more prominently so than the Triple Powerbomb to Randy Orton, in true SHIELD fashion.

The I Quit match started off slow, but Rusev and John Cena took it to the next level, redeeming themselves from the sleeping pill (quite literally) that they put on at the last pay-per-view. Neville vs King Barrett ended in a disqualification, and as mentioned earlier, Bryan Wyatt vs Ryback seemed out of place, but everything else clicked.

#5 Elimination Chamber

Ryback came out on top at the end of a disappointing match

It could be apparent that Elimination Chamber from this year was known for only one thing: Kevin Owens beating John Cena. Other than that there really isn’t much at all to be taken away from it. The Intercontinental Championship Elimination Chamber match was a disaster, and the Tag Team Championship one was too heavy on forced spots. However, the shock element in both of the other high profile matches sells this show.

Kevin Owens vs John Cena was a brilliant match, even without the ending. It was the ending that made it a classic match. How many people have squashed John Cena in their first match? Without any kind of heel tactic? It was a spectacle in itself!

The main event was everything it needed to be. It wrote off Seth Rollins as a dirty heel who will do anything to hold on to his gold, and showed that Ambrose is indeed a threat.

#4 Royal Rumble

Controversy is an understatement when it comes to the Royal Rumble this year. The backlash was even worse than it was when Batista won the Rumble.

However, that doesn’t take away the fact that the Royal Rumble was a great show.

All four undercard matches were tag team matches, so I’m going to look past them, because they were entertaining but they really had no big impact on the company.

The WWE World Heavyweight Championship match was my favourite match of the year. That alone is enough for me to rank it so high, but other than that, the Rumble itself was good in its own right. Bray Wyatt was made to look like a monster through the match, and even though the ending may be questionable, it did bring on some great heel heat and got WWE in the news, although maybe not for the right reasons. Nonetheless, it made for some great entertainment, if you liked it or not.

#3 SummerSlam

It’s apparent that every year as of late, SummerSlam delivers, and becomes one of the best shows of the year. This year was no different. The stakes were high and the quality was too.

Despite being a bore at Battleground, this time, Sheamus vs Randy Orton was a great opening match. There were a couple of downsides such as Ryback vs The Miz vs The Big Show and Dolph Ziggler vs Rusev, but other than that, it was exceptional.

The show was made to be four hours long, and all of it was great. The tag team matches were all really fun: The New Day regaining their tag team championships; Team PCB winning; Stephen Amell wrestling well for someone who hasn’t been in the ring before; and Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose getting the win over The Wyatts. The two undercard, high profile singles’ matches also delivered, with Rollins vs Cena being a monumental match, and Cesaro vs Owens being a classic.

The main event, although controversial, was a great match. Despite what anyone thinks, I personally liked the ending to that match, and now we finally get the rematch at Hell In A Cell to settle it all.

#2 WrestleMania 31

WrestleMania 31 was reportedly WWE’s highest grossing event ever

This isn’t a technical error, WrestleMania is second, at least, in my opinion. Don’t get me wrong, this is still my favourite WrestleMania ever, and in terms of memories, it would be my favourite pay-per-view of the year, but my number one show was better in my opinion.

There was no bad match, not a single one, but there was no exceptional match either. Everything was a spectacle in itself but nothing was really a Daniel Bryan vs Triple H from last year.

Speaking of Daniel Bryan, his opening match victory set the tone for the entire night. There was nothing wrong with that match, everything was right, as was the rest of the show. Sting’s debut could have easily been considered overbooked but it was blended in well, even though the result may have been disappointing. The Undertaker redeemed himself from last year, John Cena ended Rusev’s undefeated run. Randy Orton executed one of the best RKO’s ever, and let’s not forget what the victim of that RKO did to end the show.

The main event exceeded all expectations, but the WrestleMania moment created was even bigger. John Powell of Canadian Online Explorer called the best WrestleMania ever, and to be honest, I would agree with him.

But even this was beat out by my favourite show of the year, and that is personal opinion.

#1 Money In The Bank

I’m willing to bet that nobody expected to see this. I will justify myself though. Leaving aside the Intercontinental Championship match, everything was what it needed to be, and in some cases, more than in needed to be.

The reason I ranked this ahead of WrestleMania is that there were some truly amazing matches on this card, and as I mentioned earlier, there wasn’t really anything outstanding on the WrestleMania card.

The night began with the Money In The Bank ladder match, and it seemed like the show had already been stolen. The winner was someone almost nobody expected to win, and the Bray Wyatt vs Roman Reigns saga had begun. The match itself was incredible, as multi-man ladder matches tend to be. The show, though, was not stolen.

Nikki Bella vs Paige seemed reused but the ending, with the inclusion of twin magic, was something fresh, and it was a welcome ending to a pretty long match.

Then came Kevin Owens vs John Cena. The previous match they had was so great that it would take a miracle to top it. And the truth is, it did top it, at least in terms of wrestling quality. Both men had proven to the world what they can do, and even though Owens lost, he stood tall at the end after some fine heel work.

Even though the match was short, the Tag Team Championship match was great, as all of them seem to be. I didn’t expect the Prime Time Players to come away with the win, but they did, and it made me mark out like a little kid.

Then came the main event, and despite what Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose had already done prior, this match was an inevitable trainwreck. But that is exactly what it needed to be. Being over half an hour long, it would take a lot of work to keep the audience gripped for that long, and the sheer quality of the match did just that. It also established Rollins as a strong champion, and did no damage to Dean Ambrose at all.

Edited by Staff Editor