Ranking and grading every WWE PPV in 2020 (WrestleMania onwards)
There have been 13 WWE pay-per-views in 2020. However, 10 of them took place without any live fans in attendance and despite that, most of them were pretty good.
This has been a challenging year for WWE, mainly due to the COVID-19 pandemic. After two fairly smooth months to kick off the year, almost every plan the company had was flipped on its head. A stacked and exciting WrestleMania at Raymond James Stadium had to be compromised and fans haven't returned to WWE events yet.
This list will only look at the 10 events that happened under those circumstances. That would give all of them as level a playing field as possible, although there is a difference between the Performance Center and the WWE ThunderDome.
WWE pay-per-views in 2020 before WrestleMania
Of the three that went ahead as planned, Royal Rumble was the best one. It might be the best WWE show of 2020 as a whole. Matches like The Fiend vs. Daniel Bryan and Becky Lynch vs. Asuka, along with moments like Edge's surprise return and Drew McIntyre eliminating Brock Lesnar, made this a stellar show.
Super ShowDown was possibly the worst pay-per-view of the year. Goldberg's victory over The Fiend left a very sour taste in everyone's mouths, while there were some baffling moments involving Brock Lesnar and The Undertaker. Elimination Chamber was average, with Drew Gulak stealing the show with Daniel Bryan and Shayna Baszler dominating her way to victory in the main event.
Now, onto the 10 pay-per-views that happened at the WWE Performance Center or the ThunderDome. Most of them did well, making for a very tight list. Here is every WWE pay-per-view in 2020 during the 'Pandemic Era' graded and ranked, from worst to best.
#10 WWE Extreme Rules
The weakest WWE pay-per-view during the 'Pandemic Era', Extreme Rules had a myriad of weird matches and questionable booking decisions. While the wrestling was good, this show was not at all satisfying. The main event saw Braun Strowman take on 'The Eater of Worlds' Bray Wyatt in a Swamp Fight - a confusing cinematic affair that dragged on.
An appearance from Alexa Bliss was not enough to make it as good as some of WWE's best cinematic matches of 2020. This, along with the Eye-for-an-Eye Match between Seth Rollins and Rey Mysterio turned this into the Horror Show at Extreme Rules. While well wrestled, the match was ridiculously booked.
Mysterio had his 'eye' popped out in a moment that nobody could buy into. Meanwhile, Drew McIntyre defended his WWE Championship against Dolph Ziggler, in a match where only the challenger could use weapons. It was pretty good if a bit predictable.
Another big match at Extreme Rules was Asuka against Sasha Banks for the RAW Women's Championship, which ended in a non-finish after Bayley invaded the match and counted the pinfall for Banks. Most matches on the card served to build to bigger matches on RAW and SmackDown, which is why Extreme Rules is at the bottom of this list.
Grade: C-