Every WWE mainstay PLE ranked from worst to best (2024)

WWE began their journey on PPV in 1985 with the inaugural WrestleMania, establishing a yearly event that continues to be the centre of the WWE Universe to this day. In the years following, the company would begin to add more and more PPV events to the calendar, starting with Survivor Series in 1987, SummerSlam in 1988 and the Royal Rumble in 1989.

Modern-day WWE will now usually have 10-12 PPV/Premium Live Event (as they’re now known) shows per day, averaging out at around a major show every month of the year. Here, we’ll be looking at the mainstay WWE PPV/PLE events that have been part of the yearly calendar for at least the last 5 years or so.

Ranking Factors

• A Show every year for the last five years: We're counting mainstay PPVs/PLE shows as events that have a history beyond the past five years and continue to be on WWE's schedule every year.
• Historical context: Historical context is important when looking at what the best PPV/PLE is, and we've done so here.
• Match quality: We're also including the match quality from the shows across the years as a ranking factor.

8 Crown Jewel

Established in 2018

WWE’s Crown Jewel event was originally established in 2018, with the company producing broadcast content as part of their deal with Saudi Arabia. In terms of actual quality of match from the Crown Jewel shows that have already taken place, it’s been pretty dire.

The first-ever main event of the Saudi Arabia shows was D-Generation X (Shawn Michaels and Triple H) vs Brothers of Destruction (Kane and The Undertaker), and that trainwreck was a precursor to the critically panned trend of shows to come.

Save from a pretty great Edge vs Seth Rollins Hell in a Cell match in 2021, Crown Jewel remains a strange part of the yearly WWE schedule.

7 Elimination Chamber

Match established at Survivor Series 2002, PLE established in 2010

The Elimination Chamber match would be brought to the company in 2002 at the Survivor Series PPV event, with the match seen as a tribute-of-sorts to WCW’s WarGames match. While the actual spectacle of the match itself can be impressive, the PPV format that meant the gimmick match would be a guaranteed yearly spectacle from 2010 would only add to the malaise of gimmick PPV shows that the company would produce during that decade.

Much like Hell in a Cell, the Elimination Chamber match just became another match that happened, rather than built to during a feud.

Arguably the best Chamber match that has taken place at an actual Elimination Chamber PPV was in 2017, when John Cena put his WWE Championship on the line against AJ Styles, Dean Ambrose, Bray Wyatt, Baron Corbin and The Miz.

6 Backlash

Established in 1999

Originally established as a post-WrestleMania PPV event in 1999, Backlash would go on to be one of the most consistent and best shows that WWE would produce every year. Whilst the spectacle of WrestleMania can bring its own almost impossible-to-reach hype, Backlash has the opportunity to go a little more under the radar and cater more to hardcore fans of the product.

A great example of this is Backlash 2000, which came just after one of the worst WrestleMania events of all time. Backlash that year was built around the main event between Triple H and The Rock for the WWF Championship, which is what most fans wanted as the ‘Mania main event in the first place, but with the added promise of Stone Cold Steve Austin appearing on the night.

Backlash in 2004, 2007 and the modern-day iterations that take place outside of the United States have been stellar, with the five-star belter between AJ Styles and Cody Rhodes at Backlash France 2024 being the latest instant classic from the PPV/PLE.

5 Survivor Series

Established in 1987

The Survivor Series would become the second annual PPV event from the WWE back in the late 80s, with the Thanksgiving Tradition becoming a staple of the product rather quickly. Survivor Series matches themselves would usually be 5 v 5 elimination matches, and the early iterations of the PPV would be littered with some bizarre but oftentimes fascinating teams coming together for the night.

Survivor Series would begin to lose some of its lustre in the 2000s, with Vince McMahon at one point deciding to drop the concept entirely (before then changing his mind). Arguably, the greatest Survivor Series show ever was actually based around a singles one-night Deadly Games tournament in 1998, which saw The Rock turn his back on the WWE fans and join the Corporation.

Nowadays, Survivor Series is branded as Survivor Series: WarGames and the show is built around the WarGames match itself. The change of the branding has massively helped the yearly event, and having a match the level of WarGames to build around since 2022 has given more cohesiveness and far better shows in recent years.

4 SummerSlam

Established in 1988

First established in 1988, SummerSlam would go on to become one of the biggest events of WWE’s calendar year, with many regarding it as the second of the Big 5 PPVs. Some of the best events in WWE history have been SummerSlam PPV/PLE cards, with the 2002 iteration and 2013 shows being the pinnacle of the ‘Biggest Party of the Summer.’

Although SummerSlam would not be a ‘gimmick’ style of PPV for the company unlike Survivor Series or later the Royal Rumble, WWE would load up the card that usually took place a few months after WrestleMania to be one of the biggest of the year.

As noted, the 2002 version of the show still holds up as a fantastic show that is easily one of the best of the Ruthless Aggression era, with Triple H vs Shawn Michaels, The Rock vs Brock Lesnar and Kurt Angle vs Rey Mysterio each being showstealers in their own right.

3 Money in the Bank

Match established in 2005, PPV established in 2010

The Money in the Bank ladder match was first created in 2005, with the bout taking part on the WrestleMania 21 card. After a few years of holding the match on the biggest show of the year, WWE would decide to make MITB a PPV event in its own right.

Unlike other gimmick matches-turned-PPV-shows that have been worn out the concept of the original match, Money in the Bank remained a solid staple and a sign of who the company were looking at pushing to the main event next almost every year.

The greatest of the MITB shows took place in 2011, when John Cena defended his WWE Championship against CM Punk in Chicago. Punk was legitimately about to leave the company as his contract would run out around the PPV event, so the company decided to run with it and make it the core storyline going in. After a five star classic between two of the mainstays of the ‘PG Era,’ Punk would emerge victorious and solidify MITB as a Top Five PPV in the WWE pantheon from then on.

2 WrestleMania

Established in 1985

It's fair to say that without the success of the initial WrestleMania, modern-day WWE would not exist, at least not as the behemoth corporate machine that it is. ‘Mania was a last-ditch throw of the dice from Vince McMahon to try and establish the company that he purchased from his father as the biggest sports entertainment entity on the planet, and it worked.

‘Mania has been the biggest show of the year for WWE since then, with the biggest matches and hottest angles usually being reserved for the ‘Showcase of the Immortals.’

WrestleMania was moved to two nights in March 2020 due to the pandemic, and it has retained that format ever since, making it an even bigger event for the company and bringing in even more revenue year on year.

The importance of WrestleMania cannot be understated, and while it is the biggest show of the year for WWE, it comes in second on our list of the best mainstay WWE PPV/PLE shows.

1 Royal Rumble

Established in 1989

The Royal Rumble match was first created by Pat Patterson and then run as a televised special in 1988, but in 1989 it graduated to a full PPV event and ever since has been the best mainstay WWE PPV in company history.

Royal Rumble matches are never the most technical affairs, but the excitement of who could be among the 30 entrants coming out during the Men’s and Women’s matches is a huge draw for the show every year, even if the prior year’s show was a let down.

The Rumble as a concept and then the start of the ‘Road to WrestleMania’ would prove to be one of the greatest that the company would ever run with, and while there have been one or two blips (the Greatest Royal Rumble in Saudi Arabia etc), the match has largely remained iconic having only taken place in either late January or early February at the latest.