WWE's 2023 Premium Live Events Ranked: An Unforgettable Year

[Music] 2023 has been a blockbuster year  for the WWE some might even say a bit of a Renaissance under the new Triple H regime  and we've had 11 premium Live Events to show for it all the way from the Royal Rumble back  in January to Survivor Series which wrapped up at the end of November now I really don't think  that there's been a terrible show this year all have been solid to really good to even fantastic  and with all 11 shows in the books we can finally rank them from best to worst I'm Luc

as and this  is my WWE premium live event worst to best we're also going to look at my favorite and least  favorite match from each event so go ahead and drop your favorite event of the year what you  liked what you didn't like if you want to drop your whole rankings go for it like subscribe  let's get right into the list with number 11 so for me the weakest show of the year was  WWE's Crown Jewel event one of the two Saudi shows this year uh definitely the weakest crowd of the  year it was kind

of a smaller venue it looked like all the matches this night were pretty solid but  not great there was no standout match I think fun La night match the women's five way was what it  was the right person won but nothing really stood out the Drew Seth match was all right but for me  the weakest match of the night was uh the EOS Sky Bianca belir match for the Women's Championship  uh the crowd wasn't in it at all it was cool to see The Return of Kyrie say but uh there was no  pop for her so just

kind of felt like they could have saved that and it wasn't anywhere near as  good as their match at backlash however the best match of the night I think was Logan Paul versus  Rey Mysterio for the United States Championship which Logan Paul won using the brass knuckles  this led to the Santos heel turn which I liked um a solid match some good spots there Ray's great  Logan's getting better and better each time he's in the ring so that was definitely my match of  the night but yeah Crown Jewel I

think was the weakest show of the year next we've got WWE fast  lane kind of one of the more filler shows of the Year definitely a b show but I think it's still  delivered too many tag matches for sure but I thought it was kind of a feel-good night most of  the face teams won you got to see Cena and La KN in an okayish match um I don't think there was a  terrible match across the board I would say the weakest was probably the lwo versus the street  profits match cool to see Caro come back but he

was only in there for a few seconds and they  haven't really done much with him since other than feeding into the Santos heel turn the best  match of the night for me I've got to go with the tag match between Judgment Day and Cody and  Jay maybe it's only because the press conference was so funny afterwards but I wasn't expecting  them to put the tag titles on Cody and Jay uh granted it was only for a couple weeks but it was  cool to see them get that little pat on the back pad their stats a li

ttle bit um so I enjoyed that  but overall fast Lan did feel like a filler show um but it did its job of still being entertaining  and not really having any terrible [Music] matches this next one might be a surprise to some but I'm  going to go with SummerSlam I thought this show was overall kind of a let down especially for a  big four pay-per-view definitely one of the worst matches we saw all year in a premium live event  Shaya Basler versus Ronda Rousey and that weird pseudo MMA style fight

just a terrible match start  to finish I thought it was boring um people didn't seem to care kind of a terrible match for Ronda  to go out on but I guess she's doing Indie stuff now so good for her but yeah definitely the worst  match of the year on a premium live event my best match of the night is probably a tie between Cody  rhods and Brock Lesnar I like how they wrapped up that Feud it was cool seeing Brock raised Cody's  arm uh they did a good job at wrapping all that up the other match I r

eally liked was Ricochet  versus Logan Paul really high flying open the nights set a good Tempo but I felt like the rest  of the night was really kind of a let down the main event Jay versus Roman was too long and  it was a predictable outcome so yeah SummerSlam bit of a let down I even debated putting a fast  lane above it uh but ultimately it did have some good moments you got the EOS Sky cash in which I  liked but yeah SummerSlam not my favorite but not [Music] terrible up next I've got payba

ck which I  thought was kind of the Darkhorse show of the Year kind of considered a B premium alive event by some  but I thought they really delivered in not making it feel like oh this is just a filler show a lot  of solid matches throughout the night my favorite was the Steel City street fight between Judgment  Day and Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn for the Tag Team titles a lot of cool spots Kevin even got cut  open um as well as subverting my expectations by putting the belts on Jud and day got t

o give an  honorable mention to the steel cage match between Trish Stratus and Becky Lynch I I think this was  Trisha's best match ever uh they did a great job a lot better than their match at Night of Champions  and it concluded the feud really well so I enjoyed that match overall I would say the weakest match  of the night was probably Austin Theory versus Rey Mysterio for the US title I just didn't feel like  there was a lot of stakes it was a solid match from an in ring perspective but I did

n't feel like  they were going to put the belt back on Theory and Ray was kind of a just a placeholder champion  in my opinion but wasn't a ter terrible match just the weakest of the night overall really  enjoyed payback especially for a so-called B show kept me entertained the whole [Music] night  next we have KN of Champions the other Saudi show from the year and I thought this Saudi show was a  whole lot better than Crown Jewel the crowd was a lot more into it a lot more energy it seemed like

  it was a bigger venue so maybe they should stick to the bigger venue cuz you just get a lot more  Crown noise a lot of good matches the opening for the new world heavyweight title between AJ St  Styles and Seth Rollins was solid uh you had Cody versus Brock Cody still look strong even though  he lost and passed out and whatnot my favorite match of the night was actually the main event the  tag match between Sammy and Kevin versus Roman and solo really solid you had the Usos finally turn  on Ro

man which led into the bloodline Civil War so a lot of story development there and the crowd  was so behind Sammy the whole night it was really cool to see him get his flowers over there uh  so loved that weakest match of the night for me was unfortunately Ria Ripley versus Natalia uh  Natty just got squashed so not much they could do it was just a it was just a short squash  match so yeah weakest of the night but overall KN of Champions a whole lot better than Crown  Jewel and I thought they hi

t on almost all the matches up next we've got money in the bank  that's right I thought it was a really good show but these next probably three or four  I think he could swap around depending on preference I thought money in the bank was  really good favorite match of the night was probably either the bloodline Civil War or the  men's Money in the Bank match the women's Money in the Bank match was pretty solid too I don't  think there was one oh look he doesn't want to cash in um looks like he d

ipped out with the  Money in the Bank briefcase but again I don't really think that there was one standout match  for money in the bank all were solid I think the weakest match of the night was the women's  Tag Team Championships you had Ronda and Shaina versus Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez I don't  know they flip the titles back again I don't really think they know what the hell they're  doing with the women's Tag Division so this kind of felt like a definite filler match just  to have anothe

r title on the card but overall the crowd was great as London crowds usually  are so give London more shows if you want to compete with AWS all in crowds are always  going to be awesome like we saw in UK crowds in general last year with Clash of the cast so  money in the bank is going to take our sixth spot now we are into our top five pay-per-views  of Premium live events of the year and I'm going to go with the Royal Rumble I've always loved the  Royal Rumble it's one of my favorite events of

the year ever since I was a little kid I'd always  get the most excited for the Royal Rumble and this year wasn't my favorite Royal Rumble by any  stretch but it was still really solid I thought both Rumble winners were very predictable but  my favorite match of the night though was the women's Royal Rumble I really lik seeing Ria  go from 1 to 30 it really catapulted her into her WrestleMania match where she would end up  winning the title uh it showed how dominant she was and was able to outla

st all the other  women the men's Rumble Match was good too but I didn't like Cody coming in at 30 and winning uh  I don't really like it when the 30th spot wins unless it's like a surprise comeback I guess it  kind of was cuz he was returning from injury but everybody knew he was going to win the rumble  I think the weakest match match of the night was probably Bianca belir versus Alexa Bliss  I don't know I just didn't really buy into the whole Feud and the predictable person that  ended up wi

nning we also got the epic face turn of Sami Zayn after the main event Roman  Reigns versus Kevin Owens finally it was just a great moment to see he had had enough Sammy  had had enough and finally snapped and it was just really cool to see defending his friend  so I loved that great storytelling overall I thought it was a good Rumble not a great Rumble  but a good r Umble and I really enjoyed the night coming in at number four we have the  elimination chamber and this was an awesome elimination

chamber I actually thought the two  highlights of the night for me weren't the two Chamber matches they were solid I like seeing  Asuka win that was cool get hermania match the US title one was whatever it kind of just  set up Logan Paul versus Seth Rollins at WrestleMania but my favorite match of the  night was the Main Event Sami Zayn finally getting his crack at Roman it was awesome yes I  knew Roman was going to win they weren't going to have Sammy going to WrestleMania as the champ  but it

was cool seeing him get his flowers right there in his home country his wife ringside it  was emotional you could feel the crowd really great storytelling throughout the match I also  really enjoyed the grit couple versus Finn and Ria it was cool seeing of Ria faceof against Beth  Phoenix enjoyed the match right people won that one as well so solid worst match of the night  though was Bobby Lashley versus Brock Lesnar I don't know why they decided to do a finish  like that it was just kind of b

oring definitely the weakest match of the night but overall  elimination chamber was a solid solid really good show number three is the perfect example of when  a crowd makes wrestling even more awesome and that was the case at backlash 2023 this was an  awesome show in San Juan Puerto Rico the crowd was electric the whole night match the night is  obviously Bad Bunny versus Damien priest and the sand Juan street fight if you haven't seen bad  Bunny's a walk out entrance at the beginning it's cr

azy I don't know if there's ever been a  pop like that before just wild the whole crowd singing along and the guy can wrestle awesome  match between the two you had the addition of all the other Latin wrestlers getting involved  and helping Bad Bunny defeat Damen priest really cool that Damien and Bad Bunny got to perform  like that in front of the fellow Puerto Ricans awesome the crowd made the night uh Selena Vega  got her moment against Ria Ripley no she didn't come out on top but you could s

ee on her face  just the emotion being there was and it was just a great moment for her even though she lost  weakest match though I've got to give it to Seth Rollins versus Omas we haven't seen Omas and  months now I don't know why they wasted Seth on this match um but yeah felt very filler it  was before he had the world heavyweight title thankfully they have him doing other things now  than trying to work with Omas but it is what it is but overall absolutely loved backlash I think  Puerto Ric

o should get at least one show a year that was awesome maybe every other year that could  be a lot but Heck if we're giving Saudi Arabia two shows a year and their crowd f out like a crown  jewel Puerto Rico should be getting a show a year here we go our final two PL to rank and  I went back and forth and back and forth on which one I was going to put it one and which  one I was going to put it to and I decided to go against my recency bias and I'm going to put  Survivor series War Games 2023 in

the second spot I just reviewed this the other day so I'll be  brief but I loved this show start to finish my match of the night was the men's War Games  match you had Randy Orton returning coming back helping out Cody's team a lot of awesome  spots and then finally the biggest pop of the Year probably other than that bad bunny entrance  but probably the biggest pop of the year and the biggest surprise in probably the last 10 years  CM Punk returns to the WWE in Chicago absolutely electric just

a great night overall I felt like  every single match though could have used maybe five to 10 more minutes to really get going  especially the midcard matches such as Santos Escobar and dragon Lee they were really just  starting to cook I thought the weakest match of the night was probably Ria Ripley versus Zoe  Stark again neither of their faults it's just how the women are being booked right now and nobody  seems to be a legitimate Contender to Ria um but still a solid match but the weakest o

f the night  the women's War Games match was awesome as well eios Sky jumping off in the trash can still a  little a little iffy on if the right team won but if they do the right thing and they make  it interesting at the Royal Rumble and going into mania with the damage control collapse  I think it could be a really good payoff to what happened at war games but Survivor  Series 2023 is going to take my number two spot and our number one WWE PL of the Year  got to go with the granddaddy of them

all WrestleMania Mania 39 goes Hollywood um just  a great WrestleMania one of the better ones I think we've seen in The Last 5 Years really  solid start to finish I think night one was a whole lot better than night two night two just  felt like oh can we get a break and eventually kind of left us with the sour taste in our mouth  as Cody ended up losing to Roman for Roman to continue this seemingly NeverEnding title run  but night one was awesome my favorite match of WrestleMania this is a reall

y tough one because  almost all of the matches delivered in rank but I think I'm going to go with I don't even know  I'm debating between gother in the triple threat for the Intercontinental title against Drew  McIntyre and Sheamus as well as the tag team championship match the main event of night  one between the Usos and Sammy and Kevin both matches were awesome tore the house down I think  if you gun to my head I think I like the style of the Intercontinental match a little more um but  they'

re neck and neck for me also really enjoyed uh Ria defeating Charlotte cleanly loved seeing  that uh great match there great way to start off her title run overall just a great great show  not all the matches were perfect Cena versus Austin theory was a bit of a I don't know just  didn't feel right especially to open the show but it was solid from an in ring standpoint Omas  versus Brock Lesnar was exactly what I thought it would be but it served its purpose the men's  tag team showcase was awes

ome but I cannot say that about the women's tag team showcase I think  it was probably the weakest match of both nights definitely the worst Match of WrestleMania this  year unfortunately yeah they got to beef up the women's tag team Division and it was even more  clear back at WrestleMania when you compared it to the men's tag team showcase so that's going to  be my first match of the night but yeah that is that WrestleMania number one PL of the Year very  very close with Survivor Series but ov

erall what do you think was the best pay-per-view of the Year  excuse me premium live event of the year were you a Survivor Series fan maybe you likeed backlash  heck maybe you thought Crown Jewel was the be knes and that was your favorite but go ahead leave  your rankings of the best PL of the year whether or not you thought my matches were correct what  was your favorite match of each P like comment share subscribe whatever you want to do uh have  a great day and I'll see you all soon [Music]

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