To combat the WWE's national expansion in 1983, Jim Crockett Promotions aligned the top promotions of the NWA for a SuperCard known as Starrcade. It was the first major PPV-like event in wrestling history, a success both at the live-gate and on Closed-Circuit television in arenas across the United States.
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Over a year later, WWE would present their own version of Starrcade at Madison Square Garden, WrestleMania. It blew Starrcade out of the water, in terms of revenue and exposure, and soon PPV would become a regular fixture for any major wrestling company. Sometimes these events are worth the money fans pay for them, other times they fall flat. And in rare cases, they're so good they stand the test of time.
10 WCW - Great American Bash '89
WCW had some terrific PPVs during the Monday Night Wars era, but most of them featured great undercards with anticlimactic main events. Great American Bash 1989 starts getting hot early in the card with a quick, ultra-physical Tornado Tag between the Steiner Brothers and the Varsity Club and never lets up.
Four straight classic matches ensued: Sting vs. the Great Muta, Ricky Steamboat vs. Lex Luger, WarGames, and Ric Flair having a fantastic brawl with Terry Funk to close out the show.
9 TNA - No Surrender 2005
In spring 2005, Scott D'Amore was appointed Head Booker of TNA, kick-starting what many fans believe to be the creative peak of the company. D'Amore immediately brought the X-Division into sharper focus, peaking at Unbreakable 2005 with the consensus best match in TNA history, Christopher Daniels vs. AJ Styles vs Samoa Joe in the main event for the X-Divison Title.
That show was part of a string of great PPV events in the company, perhaps the best of which was No Surrender '05. What makes this card stand out is the depth: AJ Styles vs. Sean Waltman, Team Canada vs. Lance Hoyt & The Naturals, Christopher Daniels vs. Petey Williams, and a violent main event of Raven vs. Abyss in a Dog Collar Match. But the match of the night was Chris Sabin taking on company newcomer Samoa Joe.
8 ECW - Heatwave 1998
For as fondly remembered as ECW is, if you go back and watch the shows, they aren't exactly filled with top-notch grappling. The company certainly had the odd mat classic, but ECW cards were more about atmosphere than catch-as-catch-can clinics. Heatwave 1998 was a rare ECW PPV where the action in the ring matched the intensity of the crowd.
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The show kicked off hot with Justin Credible defeating Jerry Lynn followed by former tag partners Lance Storm and Chris Candido doing battle. Things kicked into high gear with perhaps the best match of the Mike Awesome/Masato Tanaka rivalry, before the botch-filled-yet-super fun aerial dream match of RVD & Sabu vs. FMW's Hayabusa & Jinsei Shinzaki.
7 AJW - Dream Slam 1 (1993)
In the early 1990s, All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling was producing arguably the greatest shows on the planet. And perhaps the best of the bunch was Dream Slam 1 from April 1993.
This show features five matches that were rated 4+ stars by Dave Meltzer, two of which were given a full 5 stars: Kyoko Inoue & Takako Inoue vs. Cutie Suzuki & Mayumi Ozaki, and Manami Toyota & Toshiyo Yamada vs. Combat Toyoda & Megumi Koda. To demonstrate how ridiculously loaded this show was, three other matches were awarded at least 3.5 stars by Meltzer as well.
6 ROH - Better Than Our Best (2006)
In the Spring of 2006, Ring of Honor was firing on all cylinders. Led by booker Gabe Sapolsky, ROH was the most critically acclaimed and hottest independent company in North America. Though not technically a PPV, Better Than Our Best was a show that took place when ROH's business model centered around live gates and DVD sales.
And BTOB was as talked-about as they come with an all-action 6-Man Mayhem opener, state-of-the-art Dragon Gate trios action, Samoa Joe vs. AJ Styles vs. Christopher Daniels vs. Jimmy Yang, a killer Tag Title match with Generation Next defending against Dragon Gate's Blood Generation, a dream match between Bryan Danielson and Lance Storm, and a violent Chicago Street Fight pitting Homicide against Chicago-local Colt Cabana.
5 AEW - All Out 2021
AEW had perhaps the greatest three-PPV stretch of all time between All Out 2021, Full Gear 2021, and Revolution 2022. While All Out may not have had the depth of the other two shows, the special circumstances of this landmark PPV, put it a cut above the rest.
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From the molten hot Chicago crowd to CM Punk's long-awaited return match to an all-time classic in a Cage with the Young Bucks and the Lucha Brothers, to the electric debuts of Adam Cole and Bryan Danielson, this show is just plain special.
4 AAA - When Worlds Collide (1994)
When Worlds Collide is a terrific argument for anyone who believes in the "less is more" mantra. With only 5 matches, this WCW-produced AAA PPV is non-stop Lucha action until the main event, an emotional Steel Cage match featuring an aging Perro Aguayo against brash youngster Konnan.
But the show-stealer was a 2 Out Of 3 Falls Mask vs. Hair bout between Octagon & El Hijo Del Santo vs. Art Barr & Eddy Guerrero. History was made, as 13,000 fans packed Los Angeles Memorial Arena to watch Mexican wrestling that night.
3 NXT - TakeOver: New York (2019)
This show took place in the latter peak days of the Black & Gold brand, mere months before NXT started to lose its way by attempting to compete with AEW Dynamite. But boy, what a night this was, a jam-packed 2.5-hours with the worst match of the night being merely excellent.
Two other matches are amazing, one is a near classic, and the main event 2 Out Of 3 Falls NXT Title bout was awarded 5.5 stars by Dave Meltzer. Yes, NXT is technically owned by WWE, but for the purposes of this list, we'll count it as its own company. And this was the greatest show in NXT history.
2 NJPW - Dominion 6.9 (2018)
Even if Dominion 2018 was a one-match show, it would have to be in contention for the best New Japan PPV of all time. Kazuchika Okada/Kenny Omega 4 is arguably the greatest display of pro wrestling ever seen, the only match to be awarded 7-stars by the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
But this show is loaded with other great matches: Will Ospreay vs. Hiromu Takahashi, EVIL & Sanada vs. the Young Bucks, and Tetsuya Naito vs. Chris Jericho are all fantastic bouts, along with a sprinkling of other very good matches on the card.
1 WWE - WrestleMania 17 (2001)
We all knew this was coming. How could we deny the Citizen Kane of wrestling PPVs, its rightful spot as the greatest show in WWE history? Firstly, the card is filled with variety: hot grappling action with Kurt Angle, a better-than-it-had-any-right-being McMahon vs. McMahon Street Fight, the best TLC match in history, Undertaker vs. Triple H's first 'Mania match, a nostalgic hoot of a Gimmick Battle Royal, and the finest chapter of the legendary Austin/Rock series.
Secondly, 'Mania 17 is a fitting final chapter marking the beginning of the end for the Attitude Era, one last extravaganza before the botched Invasion angle would put an end to WWE's hottest period.
