5 Best WWE UK Pay Per Views in history

In 2019, WWE tours the United Kingdom, with its main roster twice per year. They record an episode of Raw and SmackDown as well as several house shows each April and November.This has been the pattern for around 15 years.Prior to that WWE promoted UK exclusive pay per views twice per year from 1997 through to 2003.The first WWE PPV that took place in the UK was the famed SummerSlam 1992 held on August 29, 1992 at the old Wembley Stadium in London, England. However, as the second biggest show of the year, this event was also available to the rest of the world, albeit on tape delay in many cases. Therefore, for the purposes of this list, the card that boasted the classic Bret &quot;The Hitman&quot; Hart versus The British Bulldog match has been omitted from consideration.However, it should be noted that the reason SummerSlam 1992 was held in the UK was that WWE business was down in the States and the company hoped to capitalise on the popularity of the Bulldog in his home country. The experiment paid off and the event attracted a sell out crowd of over 80,000 and was the second highest pay per view buy rate for WWE in 1992 after WrestleMania.Therefore, when business was down once more in 1997, WWE hoped to apply the same trick with the UK exclusive pay per views to once more take advantage of Bulldog's popularity.The first UK exclusive pay per view, One Night Only was once more built around the Bulldog, who defended the European Championship in the main event versus Shawn Michaels.It was Michaels who relieved Bulldog of the IC title following SummerSlam 1992 and the cocky HBK repeated the trick in Birmingham, England when he beat Bulldog for the European title also.Bulldog left WWE two months later and the company were forced to continue the UK shows without him. Happily for them, when the next UK show rolled around on April 4, 1998, WWE were coming off the hugely successful WrestleMania XIV with Stone Cold Steve Austin as the new WWE Champion.That meant WWE were able to promote the UK pay per views to great success until the market declined in 2003, mirroring the drop in domestic business, which led to the company adopting the current model across the pond.This slideshow looks back on the five best UK pay per views from the 1997 to 2003 era.#5 Rebellion 1999 (October 2, 1999)Triple H and The Rock waged war inside a steel cageRebellion 1999 was by far the best UK show since One Night Only two years earlier. Unlike May's No Mercy event, this show had a packed WWE roster. For No Mercy, WWE only flew over half the crew as the company presented a house show on the same night with greater star power in Richmond, Virginia, back in the States.This show marked The British Bulldog's first UK appearance since his One Night Only bout with Shawn Michaels, as he had only recently rejoined the company after an uninspired spell with WCW.Curiously, despite this fact, shortly before the show, WWE turned Bulldog heel. The turn did modernise the Bulldog character, but the mind boggles why WWE couldn't have waited an additional week or two until after this show to capitalise on his popularity at home.Despite his heel turn, the card was built around Davey Boy Smith. In a segment early in the show, an irate Bulldog, hoping to be added to the WWE Championship bout between Triple H and The Rock stormed into the McMahon's dressing room. When Vince did not accede to Bulldog's request, Smith chucked a bin at his daughter, Stephanie McMahon's head. The McMahon's rushed Stephanie to hospital and Bulldog was instead sent to wrestle an entertaining five minute bout with super worker, X-Pac. This was easily the best bout of Bulldog's miserable 1999-2000 WWE run.Elsewhere, Chris Jericho contested by far his best WWE match of 1999 with the Road Dogg. It was a rough start to his WWE career for former WCW Cruiserweight Champion, Y2J, but this performance demonstrated his star potential.Also of note was the Jeff Jarrett versus D'lo Brown match which was a fine six minute contest which featured outside interference from Chyna who was feuding with Jarrett at the time.The main event cage match between defending WWE Champion, &quot;The Game&quot; and The Rock was an Attitude Era special. Rock apparently won when he exited the cage. However, the referee was down and did not see it. Therefore the match continued and following a deluge of outside interference, Triple H snuck away with the gold. Bulldog, who had interfered on The Game's behalf found himself locked inside the cage post-match by a vengeful Vince, who had returned to the arena. Rock pasted the man who cost him the title to send the fans home happy.Rebellion 1999 was not a mat classic but a highly entertaining show nevertheless.

5 Best WWE UK Pay Per Views in history

#2 Rebellion 2001 (November 3, 2001)