WWE: Ranking 2011's Pay-Per-Views Thus Far

Last night, we had Hell in a Cell.

Two weeks ago, we had Night of Champions.

Three weeks from now, we have Vengeance.

I don't know about you, but with all these different pay-per-views going on so rapidly, it's hard to keep track of what happened at the last one before the very next one is thrown in our faces.

I've taken it upon myself to try to sort out the good from the bad when it comes to this year's out-of-pocket wrestling programming in the WWE.

10. Over the Limit

The only pay-per-view I have refused to watch this year.  Man, am I glad I made that choice.

Other than Christian and Randy Orton, there was nothing special about this one at all.

We saw SuperCena being, well, super, in yet another I Quit match.  Miz never stood a chance against the man that never gives up.

What else were fans forced to sit through:

Jerry Lawler and Michael Cole's idiotic feud finally coming to an end in a Kiss My Foot match.  To this day, I still think that match didn't even warrant Dark Match appeal.

R-Truth solidifying his role as a monster heel by defeating Rey Mysterio.  I'll give them that. That was needed to get him over.

Brie Bella, Kelly Kelly and Sin Cara all attempting to "wrestle." Yawn.

This could go down in history as the best pay-per-view to put people to sleep before nine o'clock at night.

9. Capitol Punishment

Probably one of the more nauseating ideas in PPV history. Since the PPV scheduled this time was in Washington, D.C. and it was clear they needed to get rid of the Fatal Four Way idea, they decided to call it Capitol Punishment. Seriously?

Once again, this was extremely uneventful. There were two great matches in Christian vs. Randy Orton (again) and CM Punk vs. Rey Mysterio (again). They might as well have called this one "Go To Feud" because essentially that's all it was.

What else was there:

Dolph Ziggler vs. Kofi Kingston for the United States Title (for the 13,000th time).

Alex Riley defeated the Miz.  This one I was OK with because Riley needed some kind of jumping-off point for his singles career.

Evan Bourne vs. Jack Swagger.  Why put this on pay-per-view?

Keith Stone, the Keystone Light Promoter.  Yeah, that's nice, promote alcohol to a viewing audience that consists of about 40 percent children under 15 in our nation's capitol.  Nice.

Oh, Barack Obama showed up.  Ha, please, even Obama wouldn't show up to a show like this.

Also, SuperCena strikes again, defeating R-Truth and taking away any and all credibility he had after just two months.

If I had the chance to put this one as 10.2 as my rating I would. 

8. Elimination Chamber

Elimination Chamber comes in here simply because of one reason and one reason only.

Predictability.  If there was ever a more predictable PPV ever, I'd like to see it because this one was pretty cut and dry.

Edge defended the World Heavyweight title in the EC, but everybody knew he was going to win because he and Alberto Del Rio had already gotten into it a few times for and were "Destined" to face each other at WrestleMania.

The Miz defended the WWE title against Jerry Lawler.  I really have no explanation as to why they would waste time on that.  It just saddens me.

The second EC match was for the No.1 contender for the WWE title at WM and let's face it, when The Rock came out the week before on Raw and called out Cena, it was basically over before it even started. 

Other than that, it was pretty much cut-and-dry dull.  With the exception of Christian returning to beat the snot out of Del Rio, this one was also a snoozer.

7. Wrestle Mania 27

Easily one of the most upsetting and frustrating WrestleManias of all time.

The reason for this year's downfall was because of all the attention put around The Rock.  I get it, he's a legend, he's a star, he's the great one. So what? The show was even extended an extra hour so they could try to fit all of the extra crap around the Rock and have enough time for all the scheduled matches.

Guess what: it didn't work.

The WWE title match got a grand total of 15 minutes to work with, we got to see an eight-second, eight-man tag team match and Hornswaggle rapping.

At least we got to see Snooki in spandex doing cartwheels and cow dives, right?

Puke. 

The lone bright spots were that of Cody Rhodes getting a massive push by defeating Rey Mysterio, Randy Orton vs. CM Punk was a classic and Edge's final match of his career.  Without those moments, this would have made it to No. 10 in a heartbeat.

6. Extreme Rules

There is one reason and one reason alone that made this PPV jump ahead of WM.

Christian finally climbed to the top of the mountain and gained his first World Title in the WWE, with a little assist from life-long friend and recent retiree, Edge.  The celebration with those two made for one of those rare, genuine heartfelt moments that you will never forget.

After that, it was a copy and pasted version of WM, just with weapons and stipulations.

We saw Orton vs. Punk in a great Last Man Standing match, we saw Mysterio take on Rhodes in a Falls Count Anywhere match and the icing on the cake?

We got to see Michael Cole dress up in bubble wrap as he teamed with Jack Swagger to take on Jerry Lawler and Jim Ross in a Country Whipping Match.  Yes, that was an actual match for those of you who may have forgotten.  Or if you're like me, you chose to forget about it.

SuperCena once again became WWE champion in a Triple-Threat Steel Cage match against Miz and John Morrison.  Not a bad match, just not really necessary to add Morrison in there randomly for high spots with no real chance of winning.

5. Hell in a Cell

The one most freshest in our minds because it happened less than 24 hours ago, Hell in a Cell was better than some people would like to give it credit for.

In my opinion, both cell matches were great.  Could there have been more use of weapons or even some climbing on top of the cage? Sure, we all love that, but when you have an over 400-pound Mark Henry in a match, there's no way he could make it up that cell.

Sheamus and Christian put on a solid showing to open up, the Miz and R-Truth angle was taken to a whole other level by having them arrested and Del Rio locking Cena out of the cell and throwing away the key (how cliche right?) made for some very solid entertainment throughout the night. 

I could have done without the forced tag team title match, but it was a nice time filler and a pretty good match to boot.

Overall, it was one of the better PPVs this year.

4. Night of Champions

Night of Champions was filled with controversy and that caused a lot of people to hate it.  For me, I felt like it was the proper amount to keep fans on the edge of their seats.

Punk and COO Triple H put on a grueling performance that included Punk using a flying elbow to Hunter on top of the announce table to add to the spectacle.

SuperCena won the WWE title again, but would only hold onto it for two weeks, so that's a plus, Mark Henry won his first World title in 15 years with the company by defeating Orton cleanly, something very few people are able to do, and Kelly Kelly was able to hold off the wrath of Beth Phoenix yet again to retain her Diva's title. 

The card may not say so, but this is one of the better PPVs of the year so far.  Just look at the rest of them and you'll agree with me.

3. SummerSlam

What's holding this one back from being further up the charts?

Booking.  Improper booking with six of the WWE's finest talents prior to the event made for a very sloppily put-together program.  So much time was focused on Cena vs. Punk in the WWE title unification match that Morrison, Miz, Truth, Kingston, Mysterio and Del Rio were all forced to sit on their hands and wait for a match to come for them.

Lucky for them, creative cared about them enough to put them in a six-man tag match to open the show.  They really do care.

We got to see Orton vs. Christian for what, the eighth time this summer? Surprise, surprise, surprise.

We also got to see any and all momentum Daniel Bryan had gained as the new SmackDown Money in the Bank winner go out the window after a clean loss to Wade Barrett, so he's got that going for him.

The match of the night was clearly Punk vs. Cena and why not? They have tremendous chemistry in the ring and know each other inside and out and put on one hell of a show. Adding Triple H as the special guest referee didn't hurt anything, but it certainly didn't help.

Punk won the match via a huge mistake my Hunter missing Cena's feet being on the rope, but that's OK, too.  A Kevin Nash assault and Del Rio cash-in later, Punk was no longer champion by the end of the night.  Seriously, who saw Nash coming?  Del Rio cashing in was only a matter of time, but Nash being the one to help him made it all the more interesting.

With better booking before this show and this could easily be No. 2 on the list.

2. Royal Rumble

Royal Rumble is No. 2 for reasons both professionally and personally.

Professionally speaking, it was amazing. 

Edge and Ziggler put on one of the best matches of the year for the World title.  Both men showed their natural ability and proved why they were the ones fighting for the title.

Miz and Orton turned out to be one of the crazier finishes because it was so out of nowhere.  Nobody could have seen Punk and Nexus going after Orton to help Miz retain the title.

The concept of the 40-man royal rumble match was excellent because it gave even more guys the chance to get on a PPV that otherwise would be looked past completely.  It also opened the door for fan favorite returns like Booker T and Diesel (before Kevin Nash came back as Kevin Nash, of course).

Personally speaking, it is because when Del Rio won, so did I.

Me and my friend had a bet to see who would win the Rumble, being able to pick three superstars each. The loser would pay the winner $10 and be their personal slave for the week.

His first choice: John Cena (big surprise).

My first choice: Destiny's child, Alberto Del Rio.

All personal bias aside, this was one of the best set-up PPVs of the year, and it helps that it comes along with the moniker of being one of the company's big four. 

1. Money in the Bank

Was there ever any doubt? Not for me.

Money in the Bank was the best PPV of the year bar none.  The rankings weren't even close.  If I could, I would have put Money in the Bank 1-10 and the rest all piled into one Honorable Mention category.

Both Smackdown and Raw's Money in the Bank matches were excellent but SD's stole the show.  From Sheamus putting Sin Cara through a ladder to Daniel Bryan having tears of joy in his eyes as he stood tall on top of the ladder holding the briefcase, this ladder match had all the twists and turns that you wouldn't find in Inception.

Orton vs. Chrstian (again! ugh) was a solid match as always, but the highlight was easily Christian hoking a big loogie on Orton's face, forcing Orton to snap, kick him in the family jewels, get disqualified and lose the World Title in the process.

Match of the night and leading candidate for match of the year: CM Punk trying to walk away from the company with the WWE Championship currently on, you guessed it, SuperCena.

Now, I'm not going to go into detail about what made the hype of this match so spectacular because that's beating a dead horse, but what else made the match truly special was its unpredictability.

For the first time in a long, long time, John Cena was holding the WWE title going against another opponent trying to take it from him, and nobody had a clear-cut favorite as to who would be victorious.  Fans wanted to see Punk win to see where they would take the storyline, while most believed Cena would win because there was no chance in hell they would let Punk leave with the title. 

We were all right and yet we were all wrong at the same time.  Punk winning the title brought pure joy to almost everyone.  It didn't matter if you loved Cena or if you loved Punk, you wanted to see Punk win because he made you believe he deserved to win it. 

Once Punk left the arena with the title, you knew we were in for something special.  In actuality, it has yet to truly begin.