Every WWE PPV Of 2022 Ranked

2022 was a turbulent year in the history of WWE, dominated by Vince McMahon’s resignation as WWE chairman amidst a sexual misconduct and hush money scandal in July. McMahon wouldn’t be gone forever, as his retirement lasted just six months before he forced his way back into the organisation he acquired from his father in 1982, although McMahon would be gone for good in January 2024 after Janel Grant accused him of sex trafficking, sexual assault, and physical and emotional abuse in a continuation from the initial 2022 scandal. 

With Vince gone for the second half of the year, officially anyway, Triple H would step in as head of WWE creative, while Nick Khan and Stephanie McMahon were very much the leaders of WWE away from the televised product. 

That televised product saw WWE present 12 pay-per-views in 2022, including one two-night extravaganza. Some of them took place without a hitch, while others were affected by injuries, illness, suspensions and all kinds of issues in front of the camera and behind the scenes. 

WWE introduced new event concepts, resurrected old gimmick matches from the past, and brought back some of their biggest stars ever. Which shows were must-watch, which ones should you not bother with, and which ones just sort of existed? 

This is Every WWE Pay-Per-View of 2022 Ranked from Worst to Best.

13. Elimination Chamber

WWE’s post-pandemic return to Saudi Arabia with October 2021’s Crown Jewel delivered top-to-bottom one of the best shows of that year. Regrettably, their follow-up five months later was a total 180 and resulted in 2022’s biggest clunker. 

In the good elements of the pay-per-view, it was under three hours, and the best in-ring moment of the night was Becky Lynch’s successful defence of the Raw Women’s Title against Lita in what looked at the time to be the WWE Hall of Famer’s final match. It was also Lita’s first singles match since 2006 and she looked great in a competitive loss to Lynch. 

Drew McIntyre’s win over Madcap Moss was also solid enough, but it was hard to enjoy anything after Moss’ head smashed into the mat on a reverse Alabama slam. 

Underwhelming portions of the show included a rushed Women’s Elimination Chamber match that very much wasted the stipulation, while Ronda Rousey & Naomi vs. Charlotte Flair & Sonya Deville was by-the-numbers and didn’t exactly whet the appetite for the inevitable Rousey vs. Flair WrestleMania showdown. 

The SmackDown Tag Team Title match between the Usos and Viking Raiders, meanwhile, didn’t end up happening due to Jimmy and Jey’s pre-match attack.

In outright bad moments on the show, Roman Reigns defeated Goldberg in a lame duck of a Universal Title match opener, and Brock Lesnar won the WWE Title back in the men’s Elimination Chamber match by obliterating everyone in the match in just a few minutes. The F5 to Theory from the top of the pod was spectacular, but the booking of the match was utterly predictable and made the events of the previous month’s Royal Rumble seem inconsequential. Nowhere near the worst Elimination Chamber match ever, though. 

12. Royal Rumble

The Royal Rumble is usually the first pay-per-view of the year and one of – if not the – most anticipated. 

Both of the 2022 Rumble matches failed to deliver on that potential, though, and the men’s Rumble was one of the worst in the history of the event. Brock Lesnar won the match, surprisingly entering at #30 only a few hours after he dropped the WWE Championship to Bobby Lashley. Brock then ran rampant to win in easy fashion, last eliminating Drew McIntyre, who defeated him for the WWE Title at WrestleMania 36, having earned the title shot by winning the 2020 Men’s Royal Rumble, during which he eliminated Lesnar. 

The aforementioned Lesnar vs. Lashley showdown was a first-time dream match that was decent, but it suggested the two competitors were capable of more, especially when the ending saw Roman Reigns cost Lesnar the title. 

The idea of Lesnar losing his belt, only to return later on and book his place in the WrestleMania main event was a novel one, but the Rumble itself was really a boring parade of no-hopers killing time before the rushed finish. 

The women’s Rumble was slightly better as far as quality and star power go, though also nothing to go back and rewatch. Once news leaked that Ronda Rousey was set to make her WWE return in the match, the winner was in little doubt. Half of the field was either cameos, part-timers or authority figures, too, exposing the lack of depth in the division across the board. 

There was some decent stuff on the show, though. Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins looked like they were on the verge of having a great Universal Title match in the opener, but never quite got there before the lame DQ finish. 

Becky Lynch notched another successful defence of her Raw Women’s Title, pinning Doudrop after a decent enough contest. The Miz and Maryse vs. Edge and Beth Phoenix match was far from a classic but good enough for what it was. 

11. Money In The Bank

The final WWE pay-per-view to take place before Vince McMahon’s retirement, Money in the Bank 2022 featured some noteworthy moments but, on the whole, didn’t linger long in the memory afterwards.

In the opener, Liv Morgan won the women’s Money in the Bank Ladder Match to earn a shot at the women’s championship of her choosing. 

She chose to cash in later in the evening on Ronda Rousey, after Rowdy Ronda had put away Natalya in a routine defence. A nice moment for the popular Liv, but the cash-in-later-in-the-show trope was very tired by this point. 

The men’s Ladder Match and briefcase was won by Vince McMahon favourite Theory, who had dropped the United States Title to Lashley earlier in the show in a decent match with a hot crowd. 

As usual, the people taking the bumps and bruises – Seth Rollins, Sheamus, Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, Madcap Moss, Drew McIntyre and, to a lesser extent, Omos – put the work in and made it an enjoyable watch before the last-minute addition retrieved the case. History quickly showed us that Theory winning it was a giant waste of time and energy. 

As for the rest of the card, Bianca Belair retained her Raw Women’s Title against Carmella in a basic match and the Usos predictably retained their doubles gold against the Street Profits in the best bout of the night by a country mile.

10. WrestleMania 38 Night 2

The decision to permanently make WrestleMania a two-night celebration of sports entertainment was a welcome one. 

It’s a lot better having the action spread out over a pair of shows, rather than cramming it all into one energy-sapping seven-hour extravaganza, though it’s fair to say that the quality of the shows has varied wildly depending on whether it takes place on a Saturday or Sunday.

Night two of WrestleMania 37 was decidedly poorer than night one, though there were definite highlights. 

Chief among them was Sami Zayn’s Anything Goes Match with Jackass star Johnny Knoxville. The pinnacle of a wonderful piece of cross-promotion, it was exactly what it should have been, featuring a standout performance from one of 2022’s MVPs and a celebrity who looked more than up for it and played his part perfectly. 

The triple threat Raw Tag Team Title opener was great and got the show off to a bright start, though Omos vs. Bobby Lashley failed to keep that momentum going. 

The WWE Women’s Tag Team Title four-way was standard stuff and a way to get eight hard-working females on the card, but it was forgotten about as soon as it was over. 

Edge and AJ Styles met in a dream match that didn’t quite hit epic, despite its 25-minute runtime. There was good stuff in there, yes, but as a fan you perhaps hoped for a bit more. 

The Brawling Brutes and New Day had to wait an extra day after being bumped off the Saturday show, just to be allocated a paltry 1 minute 43 seconds. Meanwhile, Pat McAfee and Austin Theory got close to 10 minutes to work with and used them well. It was a great showing for the announcer, who was rewarded with an immediate match against Mr. McMahon, who inexplicably beat him after a frankly pathetic display. The then-WWE chairman made up for it with his horrific/hilarious Stunner sell post-match from “Stone Cold” Steve Austin.

To cap off the festivities, Roman Reigns unified the Universal and WWE titles by finally beating Brock Lesnar in a WrestleMania main event. It was the third time the Tribal Chief and Beast Incarnate had headlined the Showcase of the Immortals and it was fine, not as bad as their WrestleMania 34 match and nowhere close to their WrestleMania 31 clash. 

9. Day 1

A new addition to WWE’s pay-per-view calendar was Day 1 on New Year’s Day 2022, and the show hasn’t been used since. 

On the day of the show, it was announced that Universal Champion Roman Reigns had tested positive for COVID-19, causing his main event match with Brock Lesnar to be scrapped. Attempting to make the best of a bad situation, WWE shifted Lesnar into the WWE Title match instead, turning it into a five-way also featuring champion Big E, Seth Rollins, Kevin Owens, and Bobby Lashley.

The original plan for the match was for Seth Rollins to win the WWE Championship, but that didn’t happen as a fun and explosive eight-minute contest saw Brock Lesnar F5 his way to victory, becoming WWE Champion after he pinned Big E.

The main event could have done with another five minutes – especially given how much time some of the mid-card matches received – but it was a satisfactory main event, even if it was sad to see Big E drop the title and end his main event run. 

The show got off to a great start with a pulsating SmackDown Tag Team Title match between The Usos and New Day. The two teams knew each other very well by this point as they had faced off on many, many occasions, but good is good and this was certainly that. 

Not as good was Drew Mcintyre’s win over Madcap Moss, though at least nobody came close to breaking their neck this time. 

RK-Bro’s Raw Tag Team Title defence against the Street Profits, meanwhile, was fun, as was Becky Lynch’s Raw Women’s Title defence over Liv Morgan. Edge also tapped into his Brood side once again in a win over The Miz, which was a good match but it didn’t need to go 20 minutes. 

8. Extreme Rules

Extreme Rules 2022 wasn’t an all-timer of a show, but it at least did its best to live up to the moniker, with every match having some sort of gimmick or stipulation attached. 

Things got going with a Good Old Fashioned Donnybrook, as the surly trios of the Brawling Brutes and Imperium met in a nice showcase for the six sluggers. 

Unfortunately, the Extreme Rules SmackDown Women’s Title match between Liv Morgan and Ronda Rousey was rough in the wrong kind of way and had an awkward finish. Another iffy finish hampered what had been a perfectly serviceable Strap Match between Drew McIntyre and Karrion Kross. 

The Raw Women’s Title Ladder Match between Bianca Belair and Bayley was great, however, as was Edge’s I Quit Match loss to Judgment Day’s Finn Balor. 

In the main event, Matt Riddle finally got one over on Seth Rollins in a rare Fight Pit match with Daniel Cormier as special guest referee.

In the end, Extreme Rules 2022 will not be remembered for the matches, no matter how good some of them may have been. For most fans this was the night that Bray Wyatt returned to the company after being released 18 months prior. It was a scintillating moment and, on that particular night, Bray had the whole world in his hands once more.

7. Crown Jewel

WWE’s autumn return to Saudi Arabia was a massive improvement over Elimination Chamber. 

Brock Lesnar was out of the title picture, but back to battling with Bobby Lashley in the show’s opener. It was short yet intense and, once again, left you wanting to see these two go at it again, something that ultimately never happened.

Damage CTRL’s Dakota Kai and IYO SKY regained the WWE Women’s Tag Team Titles from Alexa Bliss and Asuka in a fine contest, after which Drew McIntyre put his feud with Karrion Kross to bed by beating him in a gripping Steel Cage Match.

The Judgment Day’s six-man tag win against The OC was a bunch of fun and gave everyone a chance to shine. Meanwhile, Braun Strowman and Omos battled in a true clash of the giants and it wasn’t half bad, even if Strowman couldn’t simply accept that fact and move forward gracefully without getting into an internet war. 

The Usos beat the Brawling Brutes to retain their Undisputed WWE Tag Team Titles and it was good, as you would expect. Bianca Belair and Bayley also had a compelling Last Woman Standing Match as Belair won again. 

In the main event, Logan Paul held his own in an Undisputed WWE Universal Title match with Roman Reigns, even drawing cheers from the fans in Saudi Arabia. Reigns carried the match, but Logan also allowed himself to be carried and hit everything he had to do perfectly before falling victim to the Spear.

6. WrestleMania Backlash

Putting aside how ridiculous it was to add ‘WrestleMania’ in front of Backlash, this was a very entertaining show. 

There are certainly worse ways to start a pay-per-view than with 20 minutes of Cody Rhodes vs. Seth Rollins as their rivalry continued on from WrestleMania 38. Once again they delivered the goods in a match jam-packed full of near falls. 

Following a great opener, it was Omos vs. Bobby Lashley, and just like at WrestleMania, the two competitors lacked chemistry and the match didn’t quite click. 

Edge and AJ Styles continued their own programme in another match that was easy to sit through, but never really threatened greatness. The closing moments of the match were far more important as a masked figure helped Edge defeat Styles and they were unveiled as Rhea Ripley after the contest, a move that would really kickstart Ripley’s rise to superstardom in the company after a so-so first year on the main roster.

Charlotte Flair and Ronda Rousey’s I Quit Match for the SmackDown Women’s Title was a nice throwback to the Attitude Era brawls of the past and a nice change of pace for the two rivals, being much better than their WrestleMania 38 match too, while Madcap Moss vs. Happy Corbin was a match that happened. 

In the main event, The Bloodline continued to reinforce their WWE dominance by going over the triumvirate of Drew McIntyre and RK-Bro after 22 minutes of very good action.

As far as interest and impact go, WrestleMania Backlash was poorly built and soon ignored, but it was an easily-digestible wrestling show with a couple of sleeper matches.

5. Survivor Series: WarGames

Finally, Triple H realised a long-held dream and brought WarGames to the main WWE roster. A lifelong fan of all things classic NWA, The Game flexed his creative muscle by revamping Survivor Series, making it about the double cage match rather than brand supremacy. What followed was a great show that only had one real clunker. 

The women’s WarGames match kicked things off as Team Bayley took on Team Belair in what turned into a gruelling 40-minute endurance test with plenty of jaw-dropping moments. 

AJ Styles and Finn Balor had their work cut out for them following that with just their second singles match ever. If you want two wrestlers to keep pace, though, Balor and Styles were great options and the hard-hitting battle between former Bullet Club leaders peaked at the right time before Styles emerged victorious.

Sadly, Ronda Rousey and Shotzi threatened to derail the show with an awful match for the SmackDown Women’s Title. They simply had zero chemistry and, to make things worse, badly botched a couple of key moves. 

Things picked up with the next match, as the luckless Austin Theory finally caught a break when he beat Seth Rollins and Bobby Lashley in a rip-roaring triple threat match for the US Title. 

In the main event, The Bloodline, bang in the middle of one of the most captivating storylines of the 2020s so far, managed to outlast the team of Drew McIntyre, Kevin Owens and the Brawling Brutes in an action-packed WarGames match.

4. SummerSlam

The SummerSlam main event of Roman Reigns vs. Brock Lesnar generated more groans than cheers when it was announced, with the match having been done to death and the rivalry was stale as a stadium show attraction. The Last Man Standing and Brock Lesnar being unable to face Reigns for the belt again if he lost stipulations did little to generate excitement either.

Then Brock Lesnar showed up driving a tractor and everything changed. The match was genuinely incredible and one of the best things WWE did all year, with it simply being a pure spectacle and an example of two top stars delivering their best, and very much ending their rivalry on a high. 

In regards to the rest of the first premium live event under the new, Vince McMahon-less regime, there was really nothing outright bad on it. Becky Lynch and Bianca Belair got to have a proper SummerSlam meeting, one year after The Man returned and quickly dethroned the Raw Women’s Champion.

The post-match emergence of Bayley, Dakotai Kai and IYO SKY to form Damage CTRL was an interesting hook and instantly freshened up the women’s division. 

Logan Paul then demonstrated that he really was pretty good at pro wrestling as he had an enjoyable clash with The Miz, with the match very much overdelivering. Bobby Lashley then retained his US Title against Theory in a match that was short and to the point. 

The Mysterios vs. Judgment Day was perfectly acceptable wrestling that set up Edge’s fiery return nicely. Pat McAfee’s win over Baron Corbin was far from crisp and clean, but it was fine for what it was.

The Usos also retained their tag titles against the Street Profits in a match that was a shade inferior to their previous efforts, but still pretty good. Elsewhere, Liv Morgan retained her SmackDown Women’s Title against Ronda Rousey in another short match that got its point across outside of the absolutely dud finish. 

3. Hell In A Cell

Hell in a Cell 2022 will forever be remembered as the night Cody Rhodes put on an all-time classic match with Seth Rollins with a torn pectoral muscle. 

Wrestling the match of his life, the American Nightmare toughed it out and took, while also dishing out, plenty of abuse in the show’s superlative main event. Rhodes went on to win, finally ending his programme with Rollins in one of the best Hell in a Cell matches of all time and for very different reasons than other top HIAC contests. 

For the rest of the show, outside of the opener, nothing really grabbed you, but nothing was a disaster, either. 

Bianca Belair eked out a win and retained the Raw Women’s Title in a dynamic triple threat match with Asuka and Becky Lynch. Bobby Lashley also fought against the odds and beat MVP and Omos in a Handicap Match that wasn’t great. 

Also not great was Kevin Owens beating Ezekiel in a humdrum match. The joke had already worn a bit thin by this point. The six-person intergender tag pitting Edge, Damian Priest and Rhea Ripley against AJ Styles, Finn Balor and Liv Morgan was worth watching, though. 

The No Holds Barred match between Madcap Moss and Happy Corbin was the typical, unremarkable plunder-filled brawl, but it also wasn’t rotten. Also, hometown talent Mustafa Ali predictably failed in his pursuit to wrest the United States Title away from Theory. 

It wasn’t a brilliant show, but it was bookended by two standout offerings. 

2. WrestleMania 38 Night 1

The most stupendous WrestleMania in history got off to a hot start with night one’s extravaganza. It took a little while to truly get going but, once it did, it was excellent. 

Tasked with opening were The Usos vs. Shinsuke Nakamura and Rick Boogz, which was moving along nicely until Boogz suffered a serious knee injury and they were forced to go home prematurely. 

Drew McIntyre’s feud with Happy Corbin finally ended with the Scottish Warrior scoring the decisive win and then cutting the ring ropes with a big sword. McIntyre also became the first person to kick out of the End of Days in the process.

Logan Paul and The Miz downed the Mysterios in a lively tag match that hinted at what the social media star was capable of ahead of him signing a contract months later. 

Bianca Belair then finally got the better of Becky Lynch in one of the weekend’s best matches. It wasn’t perfect and there were a couple of dodgy moments, but they worked through them and had the crowd with them the entire way. 

Cody Rhodes then returned to WWE as the special, handpicked opponent of Seth ‘Freakin’ Rollins. Cody’s win following a scorching contest established him as a big deal right from the off. Credit must go to Rollins for doing all he could to facilitate that as well.

Ronda Rousey failed to capture the SmackDown Women’s Title in a disjointed match with Charlotte Flair. Not the worst thing ever, but not their finest hour, either. 

And finally, the KO Show with special guest Steve Austin turned into Stone Cold’s first match in almost 20 years as he and the Prize Fighter lit up Dallas with a joyous No Holds Barred match. Almost flawless in execution, Austin looked great out there, considering how long he had been out of the ring, with his opponent doing everything possible to make the hometown hero and returning legend look like he could still go.

1. Clash At The Castle

WWE returned to the UK with a pay-per-view presentation for the first time in 19 years with Clash at the Castle. It was also the company's first UK stadium show and the first pay-per-view to be non-UK exclusive since the immortal SummerSlam 1992. 

The show, while not having the most amazing-looking card, lived up to expectations. A six-woman tag pitting Damage CTRL against Bianca Belair, Alexa Bliss and Asuka was a solid choice to open and gave Bayley a big win in one of her first matches back from injury.

Gunther and Sheamus then tried to beat each other to death in a pounding Intercontinental Title match that was one of the best WWE matches of the decade so far and one of the stiffest WWE matches ever.

Liv Morgan defended the SmackDown Women’s Title against Shayna Baszler in a unique match which was one of the best of Liv’s reign. Rey Mysterio and the ludicrously over Edge then got a measure of revenge when they beat Finn Balor and Damian Priest in a spirited tag match. They were rewarded with Dominik Mysterio turning heel on them in a genuinely great moment, and for Dirty Dom, the rest is history.

Seth Rollins and Matt Riddle’s personal rivalry resulted in a very intense match that was originally earmarked for SummerSlam. It was worth the extra wait as the two worked hard to put on an excellent bout.

The main event, however, has become somewhat infamous. The hope heading into the show was that Drew McIntyre would defeat Roman Reigns to win the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship on home soil but WWE instead booked Reigns to prevail yet again, this time thanks to an assist from Solo Sikoa in Solo’s main roster debut. 

While the result left a bitter taste in the mouth – not at all helped by McIntyre and Tyson Fury doing bad karaoke together after the contest – the match itself was a masterclass and ended a tremendous show with a real rollercoaster ride of emotions.

With a molten crowd and six very enjoyable matches, Clash at the Castle made a great case for WWE running a stadium show in the United Kingdom every year.