10 Retired WWE PPVs (& Their Final Main Event)
WWE has so far announced 21 separate PPVs/Network events in 2020. While SummerSlam, Survivor Series, Royal Rumble, and WrestleMania remain the four major PPVs, events like Hell in a Cell and TLC have continued to run for over a decade.
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Some of the PPV concepts have been widely criticized over the years, like the Fatal Four Way PPV and the Bragging Rights series. At the same time, there are a number of classic PPVs that have been moved to the retired section of the WWE Network. In honor of past PPVs like Bad Blood and One Night Stand, this list looks back at the 1o most prominent retired PPVs and their final main events.
10 Taboo Tuesday: John Cena vs Kurt Angle vs Shawn Michaels (2005)
WWE literally listened to the voice of their fans when they rolled out the Taboo Tuesday pay-per-view in October 2004 by asking fans to vote on the stipulations for matches. The very first match at the PPV set the tone when the Intercontinental ChampionChris Jericho lost his title to the fan poll winner Shelton Benjamin.
The PPV retained its name for just one more edition before it was replaced with the Cyber Sunday moniker. Shawn Michaels was the MVP of the event, winning the fan vote in both years to challenge for the World Heavyweight Title and WWE Title respectively. The main event of the 2005 edition saw a young John Cena beat Kurt Angle and HBK in a triple threat match to retain his WWE Championship.
9 Rebellion: Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman vs Edge (2002)
WWE held a number of UK specific PPVs during the turn of the millennium, most famous being the Rebellion and Insurrextion events that happened four times each. The final installment of the Rebellion PPV in 2002 saw a rare WWE Championship match between Brock Lesnar and Edge in the main event.
The match was technically a 2-on-1 handicap match with Paul Heyman tagging with Lesnar, but it was one of the first instances of Edge receiving a PPV main event. Lesnar retained his title with an F-5, but Edge got the last laugh by delivering a chair shot and his Edgecution finisher to Heyman to end the show on a high.
8 Insurrextion: Triple H vs Kevin Nash (2003)
Triple H has the distinction of headlining all four editions of the UK-based Insurrextion PPV and it was only fitting that he closed out the final edition by defeating his real-life friend Kevin Nash in a World Heavyweight Title match.
UK fan favorites were promoted heavily on the PPV, with the likes of William Regal and The British Bulldog getting spots on the card over the years. The PPV also saw some unique combinations with Brock Lesnar teaming up with Shawn Stasiak in a losing effort against The Hardy Boyz in 2002 and The Kat and Terri Runnels facing each other in an arm-wrestling match in 2000.
7 No Way Out: John Cena vs The Big Show (2012)
No Way Out used to be the final WWE PPV before WrestleMania and the 2004 edition at the Cow Palace is particularly memorable for being the site of Eddie Guerrero's WWE Championship coronation. Additionally, we got Rock vs Hogan II in 2003 and the WWF debut of the nWo in 2002.
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The 12th and final edition of the event took place in 2012 and the main event had John Cena defeat The Big Show in a steel cage match to end John Laurinaitis' WWE on-screen career. The match was laden with interferences and came at a time when the audience had started to get tired of both Cena and Show, resulting in an underwhelming end to a memorable PPV series. It's unfortunate that the main event spotlight didn't go to CM Punk defending his WWE Title against Daniel Bryan and Kane in a triple threat match.
6 Unforgiven - World Heavyweight Title Scramble match (2008)
The 11th and final Unforgiven PPV happened in 2008 with the forgotten Championship Scramble gimmick. The ECW, WWE and World Heavyweight titles would be decided in 20-minute five-way matches where the participants could become temporary champions via pinfall or submission, with the competitor holding the title at the end of 20 minutes being declared the winner.
The event saw The Brian Kendrick became a temporary WWE Champion before Triple H retained his crown. However, the event belonged to Chris Jericho who competed in a brutal unsanctioned match against Shawn Michaels early in the night before replacing an injured CM Punk in the World Heavyweight Championship scramble main event. Jericho would steal the pin from Batista to receive his first reign with the World Heavyweight Championship in the most unexpected of circumstances.
5 Vengeance: Alberto Del Rio vs John Cena (2011)
Vengeance PPV has to hold a special place in Chris Jericho's heart as he became the very first Undisputed Champion in WWE history at the inaugural edition in 2001. At the same time, Jericho would lose all his future matches at the PPV including an upset at the hands of a still-green John Cena the very next year.
The final edition of the PPV happened in 2011 where despite enormous fan reaction to his pipe bomb earlier in the year, CM Punkwas stuck in the middle of the card whereas John Cena challenged Alberto Del Rio for the WWE Championship in a losing effort in the main event.
4 Armageddon: Edge vs Jeff Hardy vs Triple H (2008)
The very first Armageddon PPV in 1999 would see Jeff Hardy compete in the opening match. Things came full circle when the final edition of the PPV saw the culmination of Hardy's rise to the WWE Title picture. After scoring victories over the likes of Shawn Michaels and The Undertaker earlier in the year, Hardy challenged WWE Champion Edge in a triple threat main event match also involving Triple H.
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Hardy would deliver a Swaton Bomb to Edge to win the title clean as the crowd erupted in approval, giving the Armageddon PPV a great sent off in its final edition.
3 Judgement Day: Edge vs Jeff Hardy (2009)
Judgement Day is a PPV that is predominantly related to The Undertaker, with the Deadman appearing in the main event of the first four editions in one capacity or the other. The 2000 edition saw the debut of his American Badass persona whereas he won the Undisputed Title in a dream match with Hulk Hogan in the 2002 edition.
The later years of the event saw less emphasis being placed on Taker, with JBL main eventing the show from 2004-06 as it became a SmackDown exclusive PPV. The final edition of the event took place in 2009 when Edge retained his World Heavyweight Title against Jeff Hardy in the main event.
2 King Of The Ring: The Undertaker vs Triple H (2002)
Despite the eponymous tournament being the signature event of the King of the Ring PPV, only the first out of its 10 editions saw the tournament final headline the show. The most memorable moment from the PPV's history has to be Shane McMahon getting hurled through multiple plate glass windows by Kurt Angle in a 2001 street fight.
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Once considered one of the 'Big Five' PPV events in WWE, the last edition of the PPV happened in 2002 when Brock Lesnar beat Rob Van Dam to become King of the Ring. But the event was headlined by the Undertaker successfully defending his Undisputed Title against Triple H.
King of the Ring was briefly renewed in 2015 as a WWE network event where Bad News Barrett beat Neville to become the King.
1 No Mercy: Brock Lesnar vs Braun Strowman (2017)
With 13 editions, No Mercy is the most tenured among the retired traditional PPVs in the WWE. It started in May 1999 as a UK exclusive PPV but became a regular part of the WWE US calendar in October 1999.
This was the event where Kurt Angle won his first WWE Championship in 2000 and where Eddie Guerrero wrestled his final PPV match in 2005. The PPV was retired in 2008 before being revived in 2016. However, this revival only lasted for two events. The final No Mercy PPV happened in 2017 and saw Brock Lesnar successfully defend his Universal Title against Braun Strowman. The match lasted just under nine minutes and Lesnar inevitably won with an F-5.
