pay-per-views

The WWE pay-per-views this year have been hits and misses. So, our list may surprise you a little bit. That being said, there were some good moments to choose from. So, without further ado, here is our overview of favorite pay-per-views of the year.

1. Winner Of 2019 WWE Pay-Per-Views: Survivor Series

Now, this might be the biggest surprise for most people, as Survivor Series has been counted among some of the worst pay-per-views of the past decade. However, this year made all the difference with the addition of NXT. It finally meant Survivor Series had consequences.

The developmental brand took the win at Survivor Series, but this isn’t the reason why the pay-per-view was so great. In fact, it was the nature of the matches. There was a big NXT overtone throughout Survivor Series, leading to one of the better events of the decade.

2. Close Second: WrestleMania 35

It is difficult to understand why WrestleMania 35 would come in second, but it has. In fact, the card for WrestleMania 2019 was far from ideal. Having said that, it did deliver a lot of outcomes people wanted to see.

One of the moments that made WrestleMania great was Kofi Kingston beating Daniel Bryan for the Universal Championship. At the time, fans wanted to see nothing less, so it was evident the WWE needed to deliver.

Kofi Kingston is not the only one who made WrestleMania 35 great. In fact, it was the first pay-per-view headlined by female wrestlers. Ronda Rousey, Charlotte Flair, and Becky Lynch made history that night. Of course, they also delivered a solid match that brought WrestleMania 35 to an appropriate close.

3. Surprises At The Royal Rumble

Like Survivor Series, the Royal Rumble has done badly over the past couple of years. Even though this year’s Royal Rumble was not perfect, it certainly was a lot better than the rumbles we had in previous years.

The women’s matches during the rumble were the most memorable. We had Asuka and Becky Lynch setting the tone for the pay-per-view, and a near win for Sasha Banks against Ronda Rousey.

In addition to individual matches, the winners of the rumble were pretty decent, too. In fact, both Becky Lynch and Seth Rollins won their respective rumbles, which paved the way for some interesting television in early 2019.

4. Better Non-Title Matches At Extreme Rules

To understand what made Extreme Rules one of the better pay-per-views of 2019, we need to ignore the title matches. While we shouldn’t have to, the WWE title matches were far from perfect. And, they didn’t capture the crowd. However, there were some matches that were quite memorable, even though management did not expect them to be.

One of the biggest surprises of the night was the match between Aleister Black and Cesaro. Both Black and Cesaro put on a performance that had people on the edge of their seat, even though it had little to do with the Extreme Rules theme.

In addition to Black and Cesaro, we could also count on amazing matches from The Usos, The Revival, AJ Styles, and Ricochet. They all made the pay-per-view better than expected.

5. Redemption For Summerslam

Summerslam was a lovely surprise this year, as it has been a little underwhelming in previous years. That being said, the pay-per-view was far from perfect. Nevertheless, it had some of our favorite moments of the year.

Unfortunately, this is one of the few pay-per-views where the WWE women’s division didn’t deliver.

But, it did include some highlight moments for Goldberg, Dolph Ziggler, Ricochet, AJ Styles, and the debut of The Fiend.

6. Kofi Rises At Elimination Chamber

Elimination Chamber was not set to be a great pay-per-view, even though the card was stacked with experienced wrestlers. However, it did lead to the rise of Kofi Kingston.

The Elimination Chamber match for the WWE Championship saw Kofi Kingston capturing immense fan support. Interestingly, Kofi was not the man who was supposed to enter the match. At the time, he replaced Mustafa Ali.

Even though it was a missed opportunity for Ali, it did show fans just how much they would like to see Kofi as a champion. So, the journey to the championship really began at Elimination Chamber for the fan favorite.

7. Unexpected Additions At Fastlane

Once again, Fastlane is not exactly known to be a wonderful pay-per-view. It is almost like a minimal add-on people want to forget about. That being said, some surprise additions made Fastlane a lot better.

One of the men that increased the rating of Fastlane this year was Mustafa Ali. Even though he still doesn’t get the exposure he deserves, he certainly managed to elevate the WWE Championship match.

8. Solid Fan Response For Clash Of Champions

Another common “forgettable” pay-per-view is Clash of Champions. However, it was a little better this year. While it certainly can’t compete with Survivor Series, some surprises made Clash of Champions watchable.

The match between Sasha Banks and Becky Lynch rules this pay-per-view. There was also a lovely surprise in the form of the match between Roman Reigns and Erick Rowan.

9. Curtain Call At TLC

The last pay-per-view of the year was not the worst performing event of the year, but it was hardly the best. The card was all over the place due to a lack of planning, but one match delivered, Buddy Murphy versus Aleister Black.

10. Money in the Bank

Before the men’s Money in the Bank match, I actually thoroughly enjoyed the pay-per-view. The match between Seth and AJ was phenomenal (excuse the pun) and so was the one between Kofi and KO. The match between the Miz and Shane McMahon was solid as well, no matter how much people want to come down on Shane.

The biggest problem with Money in the Bank was the winner of the men’s Money in the Bank match, Brock Lesnar. Fans were putting the Brock Lesnar title reign in their rear view mirror when he won the briefcase. Evidently, it made the pay-per-view end on a sour note. If not for that, this one would have scored a lot more!

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