Ranking the 7 Greatest 1st Editions of WWE Pay-Per-Views

Survivor Series is one of the few WWE pay-per-views that shined in its first showing. Will Fast Lane, the newest addition to the calendar, do the same?

WrestleMania eventually became an entertainment giant, but it began with a show rife with forgettable matches. Short bouts and an overload of filler made the first edition of the event one that fans look back on today out of curiosity, not in search of greatness.

Survivor Series, Vengeance and Money in the Bank, on the other hand, thrived in their premieres. The initial editions of those three pay-per-views are all worth rewatching, boasting classics on their cards.

Fast Lane now enters the WWE timeline.

John Cena vs. Rusev is its first official bout. That's certainly a good start. With WWE likely saving most of its best stuff for WrestleMania, though, the new show isn't likely to stack up to what Survivor Series did in 1987 or Vengeance would accomplish 14 years later.

The following is a look at the pay-per-views that most nailed their inaugural shows.

How much the main event thrilled and how consistently entertaining the undercard was decide the order. The better the classics-to-duds ratio, the higher the ranking.  

Honorable Mentions

Rebellion (1999)

The United Kingdom-exclusive Rebellion lasted just four years. It began with a solid effort highlighted by a cage match in the main event.

Chris Jericho and Road Dogg put on a decent grudge match on an undercard with few standouts. Jeff Jarrett and D-Lo Brown battled in a fast-paced opener.

The heart of this show was Triple H vs. The Rock's collision inside a steel cage. It was a chaotic affair with a host of other folks worming their way into the action.

Jericho and Jarrett's efforts weren't enough to make up for a mostly pedestrian undercard. And while The Rock vs. Triple H was good, it isn't the type of classic we have seen from the best first editions of other pay-per-views.

Over the Limit (2010)

Over the Limit 2010 featured a trio of good matches: John Cena vs. Batista, CM Punk vs. Rey Mysterio and a tag title bout between The Hart Dynasty and Chris Jericho and The Miz.

None of those were stellar efforts, but they made for an enjoyable show overall. A lack of a true classic and duds elsewhere on the card (Edge vs. Randy Orton was surprisingly bad) keep this from making the list proper.

7. Hell in a Cell (2009)

Main Event: Legacy vs. D-Generation X (Hell in a Cell)

Standout Undercard Matches: Chris Jericho and Big Show vs. Batista and Rey Mysterio

Aside from a Drew McIntyre vs. R-Truth clash better suited for TV, the first-ever Hell in a Cell featured a card that ranged from solid to excellent.

The event showcased the Hell in a Cell gimmick three times. CM Punk took on Undertaker, John Cena battled Randy Orton and WWE opened the cage once more for the main event. You will not find a single masterpiece here, but it had enjoyable action throughout.

The show earns its place on the list by avoiding the kind of cringe-worthy flops that hurt the first SummerSlam and WrestleMania events.

Just about everything belonged on this new stage and entertained. Other inaugural editions of WWE's pay-per-views, though, offered greatness rather than goodness.  

6. Backlash (1999)

Main Event: The Rock vs. Steve Austin

Standout Undercard Matches: Big Show vs. Mankind (Boiler Room Brawl)

A stunner of a showdown between The Rock and Steve Austin is the heart of this show. The two legends slugged it out in a chaotic contest that capped off the night well.

Add a standard-but-strong tag match between The New Age Outlaws and Jeff Jarrett and Owen Hart. Mix in a hardcore title bout with bursts of fun and an underrated brawl between Mankind and Big Show. The result is a show that kicked off the Backlash franchise well.

Other first-ever editions outdid this one, however.

Extreme Rules 2009's main event was better than Backlash 1999's. And other pay-per-views offered classics on the undercard, not just above-average stuff.  

5. Extreme Rules (2009)

Main Event: Jeff Hardy vs. Edge (Ladder) 

Standout Undercard Matches: Chris Jericho vs. Rey Mysterio (No Holds Barred)

Jericho vs. Mysterio is well worth watching again.

They have had great chemistry dating back to their WCW days together. This was one of the best matches against each other. It includes Y2J going head first into a TV and Mysterio desperate to keep his mask on as his foe clawed at it.

It wasn't until the final match that the first Extreme Rules picked up again. Straps, cages and ECW nostalgia couldn't save the rest of the underwhelming undercard. 

Then Hardy and Edge delivered a main event. Masters of the Ladder match collided in a creative, violent affair brimming with big spots.

As a bonus, the show ended with CM Punk cashing in his Money in the Bank contract on a vulnerable Hardy. That heartbreaking moment improved the event, one that suffered from a dip between its two stellar matches.

Backlash 1999 can't lay claim to having two matches as good as Extreme Rules 2009's best, but the first edition of Vengeance can. 

4. Vengeance (2001)

Main Event: Chris Jericho vs. Steve Austin

Standout Undercard Matches: Chris Jericho vs. The Rock,  Kurt Angle vs. Steve Austin

Vengeance's genesis featured a huge moment in WWE history—the unification of two world titles. Jericho was at the center of that merger by way of famously knocking off both The Rock and Austin in the same night.

The surprise of that triumph alone made this a memorable show, but there is plenty to love about the action itself.

Edge vs. William Regal and Undertaker vs. Rob Van Dam both fit in the "solid undercard bout" category. Austin and Angle outdid those efforts, even though their match failed to be the true classic it could have been. 

Jericho defeating Austin was the bigger story, but his win over The Rock resulted in the better match. The two men stealing each other's signature moves was fun, the action was paced well and the high stakes made it mighty suspenseful.

Vengeance's first outing was excellent. Tag team chaos, a plethora of Ladder matches and an overlap between ECW and WWE keep it out of the top three, though. The very best inaugural editions of pay-per-views had an even better concentration of quality.  

3. Survivor Series (1987)

Main Event: Andre the Giant's team vs. Hulk Hogan's team (Elimination)

Standout Undercard Matches: Tag Team Survivor Series Elimination Match

Survivor Series entered the scene in 1987 when WrestleMania was the only other pay-per-view on the calendar. It offered WWE a way to extend the feud between Andre and Hogan. Infusing a novel concept helped make that a success.

The show only featured four matches—every one of them a Survivor Series Elimination match.

That meant that fans didn't have to suffer through the usual filler, two-minute bouts with no purpose. It was a much tauter and well-rounded show as a result.

The 20-man celebration of tag teams remains one of the best matches in the event's history. It made full use of the division being in a golden era. The Killer Bees, The Hart Foundation, Demolition and The British Bulldogs were among the many talented duos involved.

The main event was a winner as well, harnessing the power of the match's format. That was still novel at the time.

The 1987 Survivor Series only fails to land a higher spot here thanks to Money in the Bank taking a similar "build a pay-per-view around a gimmick match" approach and ending up with more tremendous in-ring results. 

2. Money in the Bank (2010)

Main Event: Sheamus vs. John Cena (Steel Cage)

Standout Undercard Matches: World Heavyweight Championship Ladder Match, WWE Championship Ladder Match, Rey Mysterio vs. Jack Swagger

The first time WWE made the Money in the Bank Ladder match the centerpiece of its own pay-per-view, it hit a trio of home runs.

The event does suffer from some poor matches on the undercard, including two disappointing Divas matches. But the other offerings more than make up for that. The night opened with Kane winning the Money in the Bank contract. The bout thrilled with a mix of high-flying and brute force, benefiting from a mix of young and established stars.

Swagger and Mysterio told a compelling story, one that ended with a limping luchador left vulnerable for Kane the predator.

The Money in the Bank cash-in added to the show. It was the first time someone had ever won the contract and cashed it in on the same night. 

The other Money in the Bank bout was every bit as good as the opener. As fun as that match (and the show overall) was, it's no wonder that WWE kept this pay-per-view in its lineup.  

The main event was nothing special but not bad enough to keep this event out of the No. 2 spot on the list. However, the first Money in the Bank can't compete with a show electrified by nostalgia and chock full of great contests.

1. One Night Stand (2005)

Main Event: The Dudley Boyz vs. Tommy Dreamer and The Sandman

Standout Undercard Matches: Eddie Guerrero vs. Chris Benoit, Mike Awesome vs. Masato Tanaka

The energy of the ECW crowd married with the production value of a WWE show, the indie film and the blockbuster merging for a night.

Paul Heyman's hold-nothing-back promo was among the many highlights of the first One Night Stand. He brought the same supercharged defiance he showed in the promotion he captained to a WWE stage.

The bouts were just as entertaining as Heyman's rant. Guerrero and Benoit always delivered against each other, their styles a perfect match. Their match this night was another standout one, part of an undercard that did not offer a single dud.

This was not the kind of event that offered letdowns in between highs. Everything from Rey Mysterio vs. Psicosis to Awesome and Tanaka continuing their long feud was a success.

The main event is no classic, not nearly as good as Jeff Hardy vs. Edge at Extreme Rules or The Rock vs. Steve Austin at Backlash. It didn't need to be.

Appreciation flowed through the Hammerstein Ballroom that night. Stars from WWE who once worked for ECW as well as ECW originals all worked to grab hold of the audience from the first bell on.

As a whole, no other inaugural edition of a WWE can touch it.

That's the benchmark Fast Lane has to reach for, one it's not likely to reach. After all, it won't have the benefit of ECW's resurrection or that magical crowd.