Power Ranking the Top 7 WWE PPVs of 2015

A look back at World Wrestling Entertainment in 2015 paints the picture of a company in creative turmoil. At different points over the last 12 months, there were countless occasions in which WWE Creative lacked any real forward thinking, sometimes jumping from story to story without any rhyme or reason.

When there was long-term planning involved, injuries necessitated change, dictating new directions for the company to head into prior to major pay-per-views.

The Royal Rumble kicked off the year, a one-match show more memorable for the hatred spewed at Roman Reigns than its Match of the Year candidate. Survivor Series was a mangled mess of poor booking and lack of star power, and the typically great Extreme Rules show fell into the black hole of mediocrity. 

With those three shows missing the cut, the question of which events made the cut on the "Best of 2015" list became a bit tougher to answer.

In retrospect, though, there are a handful of shows that featured quality and even superb wrestling.

A year that was not the strongest from a creative aspect certainly tried to make up for it with stellar in-ring work from some of the best and brightest young stars in the industry, as well as some of the most notable and recognizable wrestlers in the history of the business. 

For the purposes of this article, only shows traditionally considered pay-per-views are included. No live specials, such as The Beast in the East, are featured in the countdown.

Shows are ranked in order according to match quality, the presence of any significant angles and overall importance to WWE in 2015.

Without further ado, these are the best PPV events of the year.

7. Hell in a Cell

Credit: WWE.com

Event Results

• Alberto Del Rio defeated United States champion John Cena to win the title.
• Roman Reigns defeated Bray Wyatt in a Hell in a Cell match.
• WWE tag team champions The New Day defeated The Dudley Boyz.
• Divas champion Charlotte defeated Nikki Bella.
• WWE world heavyweight champion Seth Rollins defeated Kane.
• WWE intercontinental champion Kevin Owens defeated Ryback.
• Brock Lesnar defeated The Undertaker in a Hell in a Cell match.

For the 2015 Hell in a Cell pay-per-view to be considered a winner, it needed two matches to deliver, and they did just that.

Brock Lesnar and The Undertaker wrote the latest chapter of their epic rivalry inside the confines of the Devil's Playground, pummeling each other in what may have been the least PG match in quite some time. The contest was brutal and barbaric and featured two veterans of the business working a contest that lived up to the expectations set forth by their rivalry to that point.

Unlike many recent cell matches, it felt more like the conclusion of a feud than the latest chapter.

Lesnar won the match, adding to his impressive win-loss streak over the last few years, and Undertaker again proved all doubters wrong by delivering a performance that suggests he is far from done.

Earlier in the show, Roman Reigns and Bray Wyatt brought their rivalry to a close inside the confines of steel, sacrificing their bodies in the name of big bumps and stealing the show.

It is up to the viewer to decide whether they appreciated the Reigns-Wyatt showdown or Undertaker-Lesnar more, but there is no denying that, when called upon to deliver one of the most important matches of the night, Reigns and Wyatt wowed the fans in Los Angeles with another display of sheer brutality and violence.

The surprise return of Alberto Del Rio, and his subsequent clean victory over John Cena, as well as Charlotte and Nikki Bella's second consecutive Divas title bout, helped bolster an undercard that otherwise served as an appetizer to the two main events. 

6. SummerSlam

Credit: WWE.com

Event Results

• Sheamus defeated Randy Orton.
• The New Day defeated Lucha Dragons, Los Matadores and WWE tag team champions The Prime Time Players to win the titles.
• Dolph Ziggler vs. Rusev ended in a double countout.
• Stephen Amell and Neville defeated Stardust and King Barrett.
• Intercontinental champion Ryback defeated The Miz and Big Show.
• Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose defeated Bray Wyatt and Luke Harper.
• WWE world heavyweight champion Seth Rollins defeated United States champion John Cena in a Winner Takes All match.
• Team PCB defeated Team B.A.D. and Team Bella in an elimination tag team match.
• Kevin Owens defeated Cesaro.
• The Undertaker defeated Brock Lesnar.

For the first time ever, SummerSlam went four hours, live from Brooklyn's Barclays Center. The show, featuring a main event pitting Undertaker against Brock Lesnar for the first time since The Beast Incarnate ended The Phenom's legendary Streak at WrestleMania XXX a year earlier, was a chore to get through at times, but it delivered the feeling of spectacle typically reserved for the biggest event of the year.

The legendary performers delivered a main event that far exceeded expectations and left many amazed by the level of work put in by The Undertaker, whose health had been a major question earlier in the year.

John Cena and Seth Rollins continued their tremendous years from an in-ring standpoint, waging war in the show-stealing bout. The quality was jeopardized by the finish, which included The Daily Show star Jon Stewart, but still wound up the best match on the card.

Strong work from the likes of Sheamus, The New Day, Kevin Owens and Cesaro, not to mention a better-than-expected showing from Arrow star Stephen Amell, helped round out a card that made up for truly lackluster writing leading into the bout.

5. Night of Champions

Credit: WWE.com

Event Results

• Kevin Owens defeated intercontinental champion Ryback to win the title.
• Dolph Ziggler defeated Rusev.
• The Dudley Boyz defeated WWE tag team champions The New Day by disqualification.
• Charlotte defeated WWE Divas champion Nikki Bella to win the title.
• The Wyatt Family defeated Chris Jericho, Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose.
• John Cena defeated United States champion Seth Rollins to win the title.
• WWE world heavyweight champion Seth Rollins defeated Sting.

Night of Champions is a show traditionally stuck in the doldrums of the fall, a wasteland for anything even remotely associated with creativity. This year, however, the show put the great Seth Rollins in position to carry it with two huge championship defenses against two very different workers. 

His United States Championship defense against John Cena was another in a line of excellent bouts between the two. The main event, a WWE World Heavyweight Championship match against Sting, proved just how great a wrestler The Architect is, as he worked a match that better suited the style of the older competitor, even if his turnbuckle powerbomb led to a scary moment in the match.

Rollins left the show with a record of 1-1 but further cemented his candidacy for Superstar of the Year honors.

Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose recruited Chris Jericho to help out in the war with The Wyatt Family, though they lost courtesy of Y2J's hubris and the destructive nature of Braun Strowman. Kevin Owens captured his first main roster title, defeating Ryback for the intercontinental title, and fellow NXT standout Charlotte did the same, beating Nikki Bella for the Divas Championship.

While no one match stood out as a phenomenal display of sports entertainment, the card was solid throughout and provided fans with one of the most complete nights of action that they had seen all year long, earning it a place on this countdown.

4. Fastlane

Credit: WWE.com

Event Results

• Seth Rollins, Kane and Big Show defeated Dolph Ziggler, Erick Rowan and Ryback.
• Goldust defeated Stardust.
• WWE tag team champions Tyson Kidd and Cesaro defeated The Usos.
• Divas champion Nikki Bella defeated Paige.
• Intercontinental champion Bad News Barrett defeated Dean Ambrose by disqualification.
• United States champion Rusev defeated John Cena via submission.
• Roman Reigns defeated Daniel Bryan.

WWE Fastlane was a show absolutely integral to the success of the company's build to WrestleMania. After a stumble out of the gates at Royal Rumble, it desperately needed to book Roman Reigns in a manner that would earn him some support with the audience.

While some may think placing him in a program with Daniel Bryan was the best way to do the exact opposite, the idea was surely to earn him respect by proving he could hang with the most celebrated in-ring performer in the world.

The result was a fantastic wrestling match that prepared Reigns for the year that would come. It was a quality main event that proved Reigns could deliver in that spot, against someone as talented as Bryan, and not get lost or overwhelmed. He passed with flying colors and moved onward and upward toward WrestleMania.

The undercard featured its fair share of strong wrestling, including Rusev's biggest win to date in a United States Championship defense against John Cena. It was a coming-of-age match for the Bulgarian Brute, who, like Reigns, proved he could hang in a big spot, against the franchise star of the company. It also set him up for a huge WrestleMania payday against the same opponent.

One of the few pay-per-view events not to feature Seth Rollins in a marquee bout, Fastlane was a nice change of pace from the rest of the events on this list.

3. TLC

Credit: WWE.com

Event Results

• WWE tag team champions The New Day defeated The Usos and The Lucha Dragons in a ladder match.
• Rusev defeated Ryback.
• United States champion Alberto Del Rio defeated Jack Swagger in a chairs match.
• The Wyatt Family defeated The Dudley Boyz, Rhyno and Tommy Dreamer in an elimination tables match.
• Dean Ambrose defeated intercontinental champion Kevin Owens to win the title.
• Divas champion Charlotte defeated Paige.
• WWE world heavyweight champion Sheamus defeated Roman Reigns in a Tables, Ladders & Chairs match.

It has been nearly 20 years since WWE faced the scrutiny it had entering TLC on December 13. With ratings in the toilet, awful creative decisions running wild and a complete lack of excitement circling the product, years' worth of inconsistencies and the inability to mold new stars was coming back to bite Vince McMahon and company in the billion-dollar ass.

Then it happened.

The Superstars of WWE, almost as if they had heard all of the criticisms and were hellbent on denying critics of an all-time worst pay-per-view spectacular, busted their bodies to deliver a show that was fun, breathtaking and violent from star to finish.

From New Day, Lucha Dragons and The Usos throwing themselves off ladders in the night's opener to Roman Reigns and Sheamus demolishing chairs and tables for the entertainment of fans who could not have cared less about them entering the event, the show was rife with performances that inspired reactions by night's end.

And then there was Reigns, the babyface nobody could support due to the awful booking that had accompanied him. After months of earning scorn for poor promo work and even worse storytelling on the part of WWE Creative, Reigns broke out. Decisions were carefully made to book him in a manner that played to his strengths and incited the raucous cheers that the company had so desperately wanted for him.

The brutal beatdown of Triple H by Reigns that closed out the show created such momentum for the second-generation star that, by the following night on Raw, management was comfortable enough to put the title on him and let him run as the top babyface in the promotion.

2. Money in the Bank

Credit: WWE.com

Event Results

• Sheamus defeated Dolph Ziggler, Roman Reigns, Randy Orton, Kofi Kingston, Neville and Kane in a Money in the Bank match.
• Divas champion Nikki Bella defeated Paige.
• Big Show defeated intercontinental champion Ryback by disqualification.
• United States champion John Cena defeated Kevin Owens.
• WWE tag team champions The Prime Time Players defeated The New Day.
• WWE world heavyweight champion Seth Rollins defeated Dean Ambrose in a ladder match.

Since its inception in 2010, the annual Money in the Bank pay-per-view has been one of the most popular events on the WWE schedule, and for good reason. It has traditionally featured some of the best matches of the year, including the demolition derby that is the titular match.

In 2015, the company again delivered a strong showing at the event, courtesy of a brutal ladder match that saw Sheamus outlast Roman Reigns, Randy Orton and a host of others to win a briefcase that would become a major tool in WWE Creative later in the year.

Paige and Nikki Bella wrestled another very solid match that showcased the chemistry they have together, even if it was the umpteenth time they competed on pay-per-view for the Divas Championship.

The main event between Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins was the latest chapter in the rivalry between former Shield members. The Lunatic Fringe nearly captured the WWE World Heavyweight Championship but literally fell just short of obtaining the top prize in the industry.

Add in another stellar match between John Cena and Kevin Owens, the second of three, and you have the makings for one of the top three shows of 2015.

1. WrestleMania 31

Credit: WWE.com

Event Results

• Daniel Bryan defeated R-Truth, intercontinental champion Bad News Barrett, Dolph Ziggler, Stardust, Luke Harper and Dean Ambrose in a ladder match to win the title.
• Randy Orton defeated Seth Rollins.
• Triple H defeated Sting.
• AJ Lee and Paige defeated The Bella Twins.
• John Cena defeated United States champion Rusev to win the title.
• The Undertaker defeated Bray Wyatt.
• Seth Rollins defeated WWE world heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar and Roman Reigns in a Triple Threat match to win the title.

The biggest event of the year, WrestleMania emanated from Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California, with a card stacked from top to bottom with matches that fans may never have thought they would witness. In many ways, it set up like a night of torch passing from one generation of stars to the next.

Instead, it is a show that is memorable for a Match of the Year main event, a shocking finale and a booking decision that threatened to do irreparable damage to the career of one of wrestling's greatest icons.

Brock Lesnar and Roman Reigns beat the unholy hell out of each other in the main event, the WWE World Heavyweight Championship on the line. Reigns endured suplex after suplex, bleeding from the mouth but cracking a smile as he suffered for the sake of capturing championship gold.

A winner would not be determined, though, as Seth Rollins hit the ring, cashed in his Money in the Bank briefcase and celebrated his championship victory in one of the most memorable moments in event history.

The match between Sting and Triple H should have been the crowning moment for The Stinger in WWE. Having never competed in a Vince McMahon-owned ring, he should have had his WrestleMania moment. Instead, it was a yet another excuse for McMahon to remind fans that WWE was superior to WCW.

It was the lone black eye on an otherwise fantastic show full of strong wrestling and the glitz and glamour that one expects from the Showcase of the Immortals.