WWE: 20 Best PPVs Of All Time

1. WrestleMania 17 (2001)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRP8-oJZtP8 Highlights: Steve Austin vs. The Rock, TLC Match won by Edge & Christian, Kurt Angle vs. Chris Benoit, Shane McMahon vs. Vince McMahon, The Undertaker vs. Triple H When you consider that there have been hundreds of WWE PPVs over the course of the last 30 years, it's difficult to just narrow it down one show as the best ever. Most fans can't agree on things like that, but from writing online for over a decade and reading far too much about wrestling it seems as though a lot of fans think WrestleMania 17 (aka WrestleMania X-Seven) is the best ever. I absolutely agree with that. The main event was a five star brawl between Steve Austin and The Rock, who are two of the most successful wrestlers ever. They were at the peak of their popularity too. You can't just find guys like that. It took years of development by management and hard work by both guys to get to that point. Some may not like that Austin turned heel at the end of the night. The problem was with the booking after the turn. There weren't enough top faces for him to feud with. If you watch the actual match, the turn worked and the reason for him turning (he HAD to beat Rock) made sense too. I think what's most impressive about the match was it never slowed down. Neither guy stopped. It was full of action with memorable moments happening all the time. It was action packed for nearly 30 minutes with a decisive ending. Best WrestleMania main event ever. The TLC match was an amazing spectacle featuring six people (or nine) putting their bodies on the line. When you think about teams like Edge & Christian, the Hardy Boys and the Dudley Boys we're talking about three of the best teams in the history of the business. That rivalry was special. This match lived up to the incredible hype that was present because of how good their SummerSlam 2000 TLC match was. They topped themselves just like Austin and Rock topped their previous matches. Not easy to do. This match, along with Austin vs. Rock, are among the 20 best matches in WWE history. You want technical wrestling? Kurt Angle vs. Chris Benoit was a dream match for a lot of fans at the time because they hadn't faced off before. Angle was still pretty new, but he was good enough to hang with a talent the caliber of Benoit. Angle hooked the tights to win after 14 minutes and it left us wanting more, which is what we got in the months that followed. The Undertaker's match with Triple H was a very good brawl that had one of the longest ref bumps in history. I wasn't a huge fan of the long ref bump that led to them brawling in the crowd, but they did what they had to do. Undertaker got the win with the Last Ride as they had a match that is largely forgotten due to the great matches they had at WrestleMania years later. This one stands on its own as an above average match. You want family drama? Shane McMahon beating his dad Vince McMahon was a satisfying ending to the story of Vince abandoning his family to have an affair with Trish Stratus, who turned on him here along with Linda McMahon. The match had so much heat and the crowd responded to it perfectly. The booking was perfect with Shane annihilating his father before the awesome bump off the top rope onto the Spanish announce table that led to Vince controlling the match. Then Shane came back, ref Mick Foley got some shots in, Linda kicked Vince in the nuts and Shane won it decisively. A perfect ending. For the people that may say WM17 was hurt because some of the matches weren't great I'd argue that it's unlikely that you'd ever get 8 great matches on a 4 hour show. None of the early matches were that bad. They served their purpose. Only one I really hated was Chyna/Ivory, but even that was justified because it was the babyface Chyna getting her revenge against heel Ivory. The other matches like the IC Title, Euro Title and Hardcore Title matches and six man tag were just okay. None of them were given enough time to be much better. The gimmick battle royal? Just a silly comedy match. It followed an amazing TLC match. You have to let the crowd calm down at some point. The Houston crowd was awesome. It was also the peak of the Attitude Era and they helped make it a memorable show. I've seen this show many times. Probably more than any other wrestling show in my life. It will never get old with me. WrestleMania X-Seven, even with the stupid title, is the best wrestling show ever. Here's the final listing one more time. 20. WrestleMania 10 (1994) 19. Backlash 2007 18. SummerSlam 1998 17. No Mercy 2008 16. WrestleMania 20 (2004) 15. ECW One Night Stand 2005 14. SummerSlam 2001 13. Royal Rumble 2001 12. Judgment Day 2000 11. ECW One Night Stand 2006 10. Extreme Rules 2012 9. No Way Out 2001 8. Canadian Stampede 1997 7. WrestleMania 21 (2005) 6. SummerSlam 2013 5. Royal Rumble 2000 4. SummerSlam 2002 3. Money in the Bank 2011 2. WrestleMania 19 (2003) 1. WrestleMania 17 (2001) Thanks for reading this look back at the best WWE Pay-Per-Views of all time.