Every WWE PPV Of 2025 Ranked

Another year has passed, and WWE have held another 14 main roster pay-per-views, including a duo of two-night shows in WrestleMania 41 and SummerSlam.

As we postmortem WWE’s year on PPV, it is clear that the company perhaps did not always produce their best work on what should have been their biggest nights, however. 

This is Every WWE Pay-Per-View of 2025 Ranked from Worst to Best. 

14. Survivor Series

WWE saved their worst for last, as the 2025 Survivor Series offered a scant four matches, none of which were particularly great or made you feel like the show had been a worthwhile investment when it was over. 

The main draw was the two WarGames matches, and while fans had wanted to see the classic WCW match in WWE for years before its debut in 2017, in 2025 it was very much just another match to the point some have called for the company to bring back the traditional Survivor Series Elimination matches. 

The first WarGames outing was the all-female opener, as Team Rhea beat Team Asuka. There were some fun moments and spots but, overall, they didn’t really do enough to make the 40-minute runtime compelling. 

Then John Cena defended his Intercontinental Title against former champ Dominik Mysterio in his penultimate match. It was decent enough and featured a fair amount of shenanigans with a fake injury angle, interference by The Judgment Day, and the return of Liv Morgan paving the way for Dirty Dom to regain the gold.

Stephanie Vaquer showed her talent in carrying Nikki Bella in her defence of the Women’s World Title, but it wasn’t a particularly entertaining match, and the crowd were very much saving themselves for the main event.

In the main event, The Vision and Drew McIntyre defeated CM Punk, Cody Rhodes, Roman Reigns, and The Usos inside WarGames. It was the best match of the night, but it wasn’t a classic WarGames match.

The finish, meanwhile, created intrigue as a masked man scaled the cage and laid out CM Punk with a stomp before Bron Breakker followed up with a spear for the win. That intrigue was soon diminished, however, when it was quickly discovered it was Austin Theory under the mask as WWE looked to rekindle another main event push for the former United States Champion. 

13. Night Of Champions

WWE only ventured to Saudi Arabia for one show in 2025 for the completely unremarkable Night of Champions.

The show started enjoyably as Cody Rhodes defeated Randy Orton in a solid King of the Ring final to earn an Undisputed WWE Title match at SummerSlam. 

Rhea Ripley and Raquel Rodriguez then had a better-than-expected Street Fight, which ended when Ripley hit a spectacular avalanche Riptide. The show was then brought down by the next two contests as an over Sami Zayn had a poor match with Karrion Kross, before Solo Sikoa defeated Jacob Fatu to capture the United States Championship following the return of Tonga Loa and the debut of Talla Tonga.

Then, Jade Cargill won the Queen of the Ring tournament by defeating Asuka in another match that was very much there.

In the main event, Undisputed WWE Champion John Cena and CM Punk ran it back more than a decade after their celebrated series. This wasn’t nearly as good as those matches, but it was entertaining enough despite the interference-filled finish.

12. Wrestlepalooza

The first WWE pay-per-view (or PLE) to stream on ESPN Unlimited after the company’s deal with Peacock ran out, Wrestlepalooza was far from the home run both sides were hoping for, with ESPN themselves publicly describing it as "underwhelming."

John Cena – back to being a babyface again after his bungled heel run – continued his retirement tour by battling Brock Lesnar in their last-ever match in the opener. The match went like many of their previous ones, to be honest, as The Beast ate up Big Match John and pinned him following a bunch of F5s. It was a booking decision that baffled many. 

The Vision’s Bron Breakker and Bronson Reed beat The Usos in an ordinary match refereed by LA Knight. Stephanie Vaquer also won the vacant Women’s World Title by beating the ever-dependable IYO SKY in a great match that was by far the best thing on the show. 

AJ Lee wrestled her first WWE match in a decade, teaming with husband CM Punk to defeat Seth Rollins and Becky Lynch. This was fun and had its moments, but at a legitimate half an hour, it was a good seven or eight minutes too long. 

In the main event, Cody Rhodes beat Drew McIntyre in what felt like an arbitrary WWE Title defence. It was good, but not great. 

11. Royal Rumble

The Royal Rumble is hard to screw up, but WWE do keep trying.

The 2025 edition of the pay-per-view only had four matches on the main card, yet somehow felt like it went on for an eternity and featured more than a few baffling booking decisions. 

It began with the Women’s Royal Rumble match, which went 70 minutes and really didn’t make the best use of all that time, with few surprises or standout performances before Charlotte Flair bundled out Roxanne Perez and Nia Jax in the most predictable of finishes. 

#DIY then retained their WWE Tag Team Titles by beating The Motor City Machine Guns in a two-out-of-three-falls match. This was the sort of thing that probably would have been a banger had it taken place on a PWG card about a decade earlier, but in this environment it had very little heat, which hurt it a lot. 

Cody Rhodes then beat Kevin Owens to retain his WWE Title in a Ladder match that featured some gnarly bumps. They worked hard, but the result was never in doubt, even with Sami Zayn coming out to interfere during the latter stages.

Then there was the men's Royal Rumble, which was the longest in history at 80 minutes. While it was far from the best, it was a pretty good effort and had plenty of star power by the end, with the likes of CM Punk, Seth Rollins, Roman Reigns, and John Cena as the favourites. Yet the end was truly shocking as Jey Uso eliminated John Cena to stun the world and punch his ticket to WrestleMania 41. 

10. WrestleMania 41 Night 1

WrestleMania 41 night one kicked off with ‘Main Event’ Jey Uso challenging Gunther for the World Heavyweight Title. The match itself was pretty good. It wasn’t up to the usual level expected of Gunther, but it had a big moment as Uso won the World Heavyweight Championship, making Gunther tap out no less. 

The second match saw The New Day defeat the War Raiders for the World Tag Team Titles in a match that probably shouldn’t have been on the card in favour of the TLC match for the WWE Tag Team Titles, which took place on the post-SmackDown edition of Mania. 

Jade Cargill’s win over former tag partner Naomi was probably better than most people thought it would be, as Naomi held it all together and Jade looked impressive with her power moves. Jacob Fatu’s United States Title victory over LA Knight was another fun match, as both men worked hard and really had the crowd going by the end. 

Rey Fenix subbed in for the injured Rey Mysterio against El Grande Americano. The match had good, high-flying action and a clever finish, but this didn’t feel like a WrestleMania match and more belonged on a Raw or SmackDown. 

Given what happened on the road to WrestleMania with their shoot promo battle, it was a minor miracle that Charlotte Flair and Tiffany Stratton’s WWE Women’s Title match even happened at all and even more of a miracle that it didn’t completely fall apart. It was still pretty poor regardless, as Stratton surprisingly retained too.

The best was saved for last as in the main event, Seth Rollins defeated CM Punk and Roman Reigns in a triple threat topped by Paul Heyman turning on the Tribal Chief and Punk and aligning with Rollins in a fantastic match. 

9. WrestleMania 41 Night 2

Night two of WrestleMania 41 was better than night one, but it was brought down by the catastrophic failure of the main event. 

In it, John Cena broke Ric Flair’s alleged record by beating Cody Rhodes to win his 17th WWE Title, but he did it in the worst way possible, bringing out Travis Scott to get involved in a rotten finish which saw Cody refuse to use the WWE Title to hit Cena, despite putting Kevin Owens through a ladder just a couple of months earlier and Cena performing his own underhanded tactics at WrestleMania. This allowed Cena to connect with a low blow and a title belt shot of his own for the win to end a very slow and shockingly dull match that is up there with the worst WrestleMania main events ever. 

Things were looking a lot better earlier in the night, especially after Rhea Ripley, Bianca Belair and IYO SKY stole the weekend with their outrageously good triple-threat Women’s World Title opener. A tough act to follow, but Drew McIntyre and Damian Priest did so commendably with their hard-hitting Sin City Street Fight.

The four-way Intercontinental Title match was also a lot of fun, with Bron Breakker defending against Dominik Mysterio, Finn Balor and Penta. It was fast-paced and inventive with a well-received finish, as Dirty Dom stole the win. 

Joe Hendry then answered Randy Orton’s open challenge and was quickly beaten with an RKO, but it was more about the moment than the match. 

AJ Styles also continued his streak of not exactly shining bright on the grandest stage, as he did the honours for Logan Paul in a match that had some good stuff in it but dragged on for too long.

Becky Lynch made her return in the semi-main event, replacing Bayley and teaming up with Lyra Valkyria to dethrone Women’s Tag Team Champions Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez.

8. SummerSlam Night 1

The first-ever two-night SummerSlam opened with Roman Reigns and Jey Uso defeating Bron Breakker and Bronson Reed in a fine match that was probably longer than it needed to be. The fans then had a fun moment as Charlotte Flair and Alexa Bliss captured the WWE Women’s Tag Team Titles from Roxanne Perez and Raquel Rodriguez. 

Sami Zayn beat Karrion Kross to end their feud in the third match of the night and, with it, Karrion’s WWE career as his contract expired soon after.

Tiffany Stratton then surprisingly retained her WWE Women’s Title against Jade Cargill in a bad match, before a bizarre feud saw Drew McIntyre and Logan Paul join forces to defeat Randy Orton and Jelly Roll. The match was better than it had any right to be, as WWE used smoke and mirrors to disguise the rapper’s obvious limitations. 

In the main event, CM Punk survived Gunther’s teeth-rattling beating to win a really good and long match to become the new World Heavyweight Champion.

He only held the belt for a couple of minutes until Seth Rollins revealed his injury was fake and showed up to cash in his Money in the Bank briefcase and defeat Punk for the big gold belt to cap off an enjoyable show with a dynamite angle. 

7. Backlash

With the show taking place in St. Louis, Missouri, hometown hero Randy Orton was always going to have a featured role at Backlash 2025. With new WWE Champion John Cena retiring at the end of the year, it only made sense for the career rivals to run it back. 

It was also pretty good. A little long and very familiar, but entertaining as Cena won their final match against each other in a feud that stretched back to 2007. 

In the chaotic opener, Jacob Fatu retained his United States Title in a four-way also featuring LA Knight, Drew McIntyre and Damian Priest when Jeff Cobb made his WWE debut and assisted the confused Samoan Werewolf at Solo Sikoa’s behest. 

Lyra Valkyria then retained the Women’s Intercontinental Title against Becky Lynch in a match that took a while to find its groove but had the place rocking by the end. Dominik Mysterio then retained the IC Title against Penta, which probably should have been better, but it was fine for what it was.

Gunther then beat Pat McAfee in a forgettable match. The crowd were into it and it wasn’t bad, but the Austrian ace really should have destroyed and quickly beaten the announcer, rather than going blow for blow as Gunther eked out a win. 

6. Money In The Bank

With two superior multi-person ladder matches, a standout Women’s IC Title match and nothing outright terrible, Money in the Bank 2025 was a well-balanced supershow. 

In the opener, Naomi emerged as the somewhat surprising winner of the Women’s Money in the Bank ladder match, which also featured Roxanne Perez, Rhea Ripley, Stephanie Vaquer, Giulia and Alexa Bliss. They all worked hard, and it was enjoyable. 

In the one throwaway filler bout of the evening, Dominik Mysterio defended his IC Title against AAA’s Octagon Jr. in a match that was set up during the Worlds Collide event earlier that day. Becky Lynch then beat Lyra Valkyria to bag the Women’s IC Title in another really strong showing from this pair. 

Seth Rollins won the Men’s Money in the Bank Ladder Match, which was whacky fun if not a little long and featuring a little too much interference, and it was also no shock to see Seth win given the rest of the field.

Cody Rhodes and Jey Uso then beat John Cena and Logan Paul in a good main event which saw R-Truth get the biggest pop of the night for making his return after being controversially released.

5. Clash In Paris

Continuing their new tradition of bringing summer pay-per-view to European hotspots, WWE presented this year’s clash from Paris. Like those in Cardiff and Berlin before them, fans in the French capital were well up for the event and their reactions and interactions greatly improved the show. 

It began with a rare Roman Reigns singles match, as Roman picked up the win following a surly match with Bronson Reed, after which Reigns was written out of storylines yet again with a powerful post-match angle. 

The Wyatt Sicks successfully defended their WWE Tag Team Titles against The Street Profits in an ordinary outing, before Becky Lynch defended the Women’s IC belt against Nikki Bella in a patchy match that was just about passable.

Things picked up after that, however, with Rusev beating Sheamus in a wild and woolly Good Old-Fashioned Donnybrook match. 

The Cena retirement tour rolled on too as Big Match John beat Logan Paul in an epic – described as such for the 26-minute duration if nothing else. This was a typical WWE finisher fest, but the crowd were into it and it was one of the better matches of Cena’s last-ever run. 

In the main event, Seth Rollins retained his World Heavyweight Title in a very enjoyable four-way against CM Punk, Jey Uso and LA Knight, with a twist ending that saw Becky Lynch join her husband in The Vision stable. 

4. SummerSlam Night 2

Night two of SummerSlam 2025 was a marked improvement on night one, thanks in large part to John Cena and Cody Rhodes righting the wrong of WrestleMania by having something closer to the match they should have had on the Grandest Stage. 

This was where WWE smartly threw in the towel on the John Cena heel experiment and put the belt back on The American Nightmare, with Cody pinning the champ after a long, finisher-filled match just two days after Cena turned babyface all of a sudden on SmackDown. 

The only sour note was the return of Brock Lesnar post-match to lay out Cena, with Brock returning despite still being named in Janel Grant’s sex trafficking lawsuit against Vince McMahon and WWE. 

The undercard was a real mixed bag, with more good than bad. The show started well, with Naomi retaining the Women’s World Championship in a triple threat against Rhea Ripley and IYO SKY. It wasn’t quite at the level of the WrestleMania three-way, but it was excellent in its own right.

The Wyatt Sicks retained their tag titles in a six-team TLC match that was as insane as you would expect, given who was involved. 

Becky Lynch then retained the IC Title against Lyra Valkyria in a No DQ match that some felt was a fitting end to their trilogy and others felt was an overproduced mess.

Another gimmick match followed, as Solo Sikoa retained the US Title by beating Jacob Fatu inside a steel cage in a poor effort.  

Dominik Mysterio then beat AJ Styles to retain his Intercontinental Title in a match that paid tribute to the infamous Custody of Dominik Ladder match between Rey Mysterio and Eddie Guerrero at SummerSlam 20 years prior.

3. Evolution

It took seven years, but WWE finally booked a sequel to 2018’s all-female pay-per-view, and it was one of the best pay-per-views of the year. 

Becky Lynch retained the IC Title against Lyra Valkyria and Bayley in a fantastic opening match, before Jacy Jayne retained her NXT Women’s Title against Jordynne Grace in a decent effort.

The four-team Women’s Tag Team Title match was also pretty good and saw The Judgment Day retain.

Trish Stratus continued to show just how ageless she is in her latest comeback match, looking good in a loss to WWE Women’s Champion Tiffany Stratton.

Jade Cargill beat Naomi in a good No Holds Barred match which had Bianca Belair as the guest referee, before the ever-popular Stephanie Vaquer won a 20-woman battle royal to earn a title shot at Clash in Paris.

Then, Rhea Ripley and IYO SKY threw down over the Women’s World Title in a hellacious main event that stands as one of the best WWE matches of 2025. The finish was great, too, as Naomi interfered and cashed in her Money in the Bank briefcase, turning the match into a triple threat before pinning SKY to win the title.

2. Crown Jewel

WWE continued their globetrotting ways by visiting Australia for Crown Jewel, and it was a great show. 

Bronson Reed picked up a big win by beating Roman Reigns in the Street Fight opener, which was a really good brawl before yet more Bloodline drama at the finish. Stephanie Vaquer then beat Tiffany Stratton to win the Crown Jewel Women’s Title in a fine match. 

John Cena then battled AJ Styles in one of the best matches not only of Cena’s retirement run but of the year, as they paid tribute to the past and present of pro wrestling and had another banger that was just as good as the matches from their 2016 and 2017 programme. The in-ring introduction written by Cena for Styles was also a very nice touch. 

IYO SKY, Rhea Ripley and the Kabuki Warriors were always going to have a hard time following that, but they did so admirably with a 20-minute tag match where the Aussie fans were well into everything Ripley did. 

Seth Rollins beat Cody Rhodes in the main event to win the Crown Jewel Men’s Title. The match was another very good outing from the two rivals, though it will sadly be remembered as the match where Seth went down with a shoulder injury that sidelined him for several months. 

1. Elimination Chamber

Elimination Chamber 2025 may have only had four matches on the card, but nobody would have felt short-changed when the night was over. 

Three of the four matches were outstanding and the show ended with one of the most shocking angles in WWE history.

The night began with the first of two Elimination Chamber matches, as Bianca Belair somewhat surprisingly emerged victorious in the women’s version, which was really, really good, especially when they got down to the final three. 

The tag match of Trish Stratus & Tiffany Stratton vs. Nia Jax & Candice LaRae couldn’t hope to follow it, but it was a fun homecoming for Trish and wasn’t necessarily bad as a match, if not forgettable, especially in the context of this show.

Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn’s Unsanctioned Match, on the other hand, was anything but forgettable. In fact, it was one of the best matches of the year as the real-life best friends beat the holy hell out of each other for 30 minutes, with KO surviving just long enough to rally and get the win. 

Randy Orton returned to attack Owens after the match, though their planned WrestleMania bout wouldn’t actually end up happening as Owens required neck surgery. 

In the main event, John Cena bagged his WrestleMania title shot by outlasting CM Punk, Seth Rollins, Logan Paul, Drew McIntyre and Damian Priest in a top-tier Elimination Chamber match, after which Cena turned heel by brutally assaulting Cody Rhodes in a heavy-duty angle also involving The Rock and rapper Travis Scott (for some reason).

The heel run didn’t quite pan out as fans or Cena had wanted, but at Elimination Chamber 2025 it really looked like they had something special on their hands.