After almost 18 months of holding shows with no live audience, WWE is finally returning to the road – bringing to end the “Pandemic Era” of piped-in crowd noises, questionable creative writing, and a ton of “can they co-exist?” feuds.
Although most of WWE’s product from the Pandemic Era ranges from forgettable to downright bad, there have been some exceptional moments and matches that we believe deserve to be highlighted now that the industry is (hopefully) returning to normality and these events become nothing more than a distant memory.
WrestleMania 36 (3/25/20 – 3/26/20)
It might be a controversial choice and it may be even more controversial to consider both nights of WrestleMania 36 as one entry but, to be honest, bearing in mind that this was the very first pay-per-view to be presented with no audience – and for it to happen just weeks after entering lockdown – it proved that the WWE will always do everything they can to adapt and put on a show through the toughest of circumstances.
The card for both nights suffered as most matches did not have the proper build to them – again, thanks to the pandemic – but the actual in ring quality of the matches was nothing short of outstanding throughout both shows.
Some of the matches that made this ‘Mania one to remember include the show-stealing ladder match between John Morrison, Kofi Kingston, and Jimmy Uso; the overly-long-yet-still-entertaining “Last Man Standing” match between Edge and Randy Orton and the No-DQ match between Kevin Owens and Seth Rollins, which gave us that year’s WrestleMania moment – when Owens made the now-iconic jump from the ‘Mania sign.
Match of the Night, or in this case “Match of the Nights”, has to go to Undertaker vs. AJ Stlyes in the first ever Boneyard match. The first, and maybe best, cinematic match of the pandemic era in WWE, this match capped off night one of WrestleMania perfectly with Undertaker burying Styles (literally, rather than figuratively) to expand his ‘Mania record to 25 and 2.
Clash of Champions (9/27/20)
While far from being a perfect show, even under the pandemic-caused circumstances, the 2020 edition of Clash of Champions earns a spot on this list by outweighing its under-average midcard with two excellent world title main event matches and a Match of the Year contender to open the show.
The opening match, which went close to 30 minutes, featured Sami Zayn winning the Intercontinental Championship in a car crash of a ladder match – which also included Jeff Hardy and AJ Styles. Filled with memorable spots and brutal-looking bumps, this match alone would assist any event in making a case for the oft-coveted title of “show of the year” and undoubtedly was one of WWE’s best matches last year.
While that match was definitely Match of the Night, we also had Drew McIntyre retain the WWE Championship against Randy Orton in an ambulance match and Roman Reigns retain the Universal Championship against Jey Uso, to add to the great matches of the night.
What nails this PPV home as one of the best of the last year is the diversity in the booking of these two main events. Drew vs. Orton went from a straight up fight into an interference fest with Christian, Big Show and Shawn Michaels helping Drew win, and avenging Orton’s past attacks, while Roman vs. Jey was a brutal, emotional story inside of the ring – which kick-started Roman’s momentum as Head of the Table. Excellent pair of matches.
Hell in a Cell (10/25/20)
In a common trend in this list, Hell in a Cell earns a spot as one of the best PPVs of the year thanks to its title matches and, once again, the terrific performances of both Drew McIntyre and Roman Reigns.
Similarly to the other events on this list, we also have a pretty weak midcard here, as Elias beat Jeff Hardy, The Miz defeated Otis and Lashley defeated SLAPJACK – but these three matches are out-performed by the three Hell in a Cell matches of the show; Drew vs. Orton, Roman vs. Jey and, mainly, Sasha vs. Bayley.
As you may be able to guess by now, both male world title matches were stupendous with Roman and Jey once again putting on a dramatic storytelling classic and improving on their last match together. McIntyre and Orton also put on their last great match together which, surprisingly, ended with Orton winning the title for the 14th time in his career.
We’ve been praising both Drew and Roman for the entirety of this list – and deservedly so – but there are a couple of women who also deserve a ton of credit for the amount of work they put in this year and it all paid off at this event. Sasha Banks and Bayley.
Banks and Bayley were on a year long journey that saw the duo team up, win respective singles titles, win the tag team titles and break up just in time to put an end to their highly personal feud in an even more personal match inside Hell in a Cell. These two women went out there and put on the best match of the card which, to many, was “Match of the Year” for WWE and, to many, was just as good – if not better than – their match at NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn 6 years ago.
WrestleMania Backlash (5/17/21)
Finally, with what will likely be a controversial entry, WrestleMania Backlash managed to recover from one of the most universally hated angles in recent memory – that of having zombies as lumberjacks – by presenting a wrestling show with actual good wrestling and some actual good writing.
If we pretend there were no zombies on this show, and if we don’t watch The Miz vs. Damien Priest for the 100th time this year, we actually have a show with no bad matches.
From the women’s triple threat of Charlotte, Asuka, and Rhea Ripley that opened the show, to the match between Bayley and Bianca Belair, this made for arguably one of the best PPVs for women’s wrestling – especially since both matches had some great action and storytelling, in addition to both having a clean finish.
Just like the case of Clash of Champions, the true beam of light for this show is both of its main events, again featuring Drew McIntyre and Roman Reigns.
This time, Drew faced Bobby Lashley and Braun Strowman in an all-out, fast-paced triple threat that ended with Lashley retaining. Roman Reigns faced fan-favorite Cesaro, defeating him in almost 30 minutes in a brilliant match that served as Cesaro’s long-overdue, first one-on-one world title match in the WWE.
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