Welcome to the latest Roundtable discussion here at iFight365.com where this week, we’re asking the question: What is the greatest WWE PPV of all time?

Michael Campbell: I’m going to approach this question completely subjectively. No wait, I won’t, I’ll give you two answers instead.

There are many, many much lauded PPV’s in the annals Vince McMahon’s vast back catalogue. Several really stick in the mind as notable contenders for best ever. WrestleMania 17, Royal Rumble 92, WrestleMania 24, In Your House: Canadian Stampede, Summerslam 2002, Survivor Series 98, Backlash 2000, etc, etc. And there’s good reason for all of them to be mentioned.

The ones I’ve mentioned in particular are all notable for being superbly paced, well-rounded cards, topped off by superior main events and they’re all filled with special moments.

If I were to completely objectively choose a “best PPV” of all time, I’d probably elect for WrestleMania 17, a Supercard that truly had it all and is a popular choice in these discussions. A classic Main Event between Steve Austin and The Rock, a stunning sleeper of a semi (Triple H versus the Undertaker), a masterful and innovative spot-fest (the second Tables, Ladder and Chairs match), a WWE soap opera storyline climax in Vince vs. Shane McMahon, a mat-wrestling master class between Kurt Angle and Chris Benoit, some comedy (the Hardcore title match that saw Kane hop on a Golf Cart), a solid opening bout that saw Chris Jericho take on William Regal and more besides.

However, my other choice is a more personal, individual one – and it’s not even one of the “Big Four”.

Fully Loaded 2000 took place amidst an absolutely stacked year that saw critically acclaimed PPV’s churned out month after month. Seriously, this stuff was awesome. And it was also the year in which, following a substantial exodus from wrestling, I began to tune in once more.

At this point, I was really just getting back into the swing of things (having been blown away by the debut of the Radicals, the multi-person Intercontinental title feud at the time, the realism of Triple H’s matches and err, Rikishi’s dancing).

There was no reason for July’s “B-show” to stand out amongst the mucho greatness of everything around it. But once more, the moons aligned yadda yadda…and a show emerged that blew me away. Main evented by The Rock defending the WWE title against Chris Benoit (in his first WWE top-liner), the show developed magnificently to this stunning climax. Factoring in a shocking title switch that was instantly rendered null by Commissioner Mick Foley, this was a fantastic showing for both guys, as Rock held us own against the grappling clinic known as Benoit, while the Canadian himself proved that he could translate his character to the entertainment-fed WWE fans.

But even better than this was the gob-smacking Last Man Standing match between Chris Jericho and Triple H. A tough gimmick stipulation to work (HHH himself has moaned that it’s a poor gimmick – I tend to think it’s a great gimmick, often really poorly booked), they managed to elevate Jericho without actually having him take the win, while Hunter continued his rampage of genuinely thrilling main events.

Kurt Angle’s bout with The Undertaker was a minor disappointment though, but it was more than redeemed by the best match of Val Venis’ career, a stunning Cage match against Rikishi (also in a career highlight), that featured a rare, appropriate run-in, from Tazz and one breathtaking stunt. Yes, the “Thong-wearing Fatty” leapt from the top of the cage and completely and utterly squished Val.

And the rest of the show was largely mid-card fare, but it was solid and enjoyable throughout. Not as many great matches as Backlash a few months earlier? Sure. But still maybe my absolute favourite show – the one that when I watched, not a moment made me think about many turning the channel.

James Mustoe: I figured for this roundtable everyone would probably pick a WrestleMania (my personal favourite is WrestleMania XVII), as these PPV’s are designed, by nature to blow away the rest of the year’s line-up.

With this being said I would like to look at the best of WWF(E)’s non- ‘big-one’ pay per views – the In Your House offerings and their more recent relatives.

Looking back through my time as a wrestling fan, only one of these pay per views has seriously blown away that year’s WrestleMania in atmosphere and match quality, and that was In Your House 16 – Canadian Stampede. Seriously, this show, put in the traditional placeholder spot between King of the Ring and Summerslam, came from nowhere and totally blew the wrestling world (at least in the US) away with its tight format, incredible matches, and unmatched atmosphere.

Capitalising on the summer long story line of the new Hart Foundation against Americans, Canadian Stampede had a unique setting in that it took place in the Canadian’s spiritual hometown of Calgary, thus turning the traditional face/heel dichotomy on it head for the main event, where a full strength Hart Foundation of Bret and Owen Hart, Jim Neidhart, our own British Bulldog, and Brian Pillman, clashed with the team of Steve Austin, Ken Shamrock, Goldust, and the Legion of Doom.

The crowd here is incredibly partisan, to the degree that it is picked up by the commentary team repeatedly, and the presence of other Hart family members in the front row, including Stu and Helen Hart, ratchets the heat up to an even higher level. The in-ring action itself is also incredible, with all involved clearly having the time of their lives, in particular featuring the last standout performance of Pillman, who would be dead just months later. The celebration after Owen Hart pins Steve Austin brings goosebumps, nut also sadness, as most of the Canadian team have passed away only 11 years later…

As for the undercard, all the matches are superior efforts, with HHH and Mankind engaging in a powerful and protracted brawl, TAKA Michinoku and Great Sasuke being given a rare chance to have a standout, true Cruiserweight style match, and Undertaker and Vader having a spirited super heavyweight slugfest where both men worked hard, adding another powerful showing to ‘Taker’s Championship reign.

All in all, Canadian Stampede easily deserves a place in a top ten list of anything that the WWE has ever done, including WrestleManias. As a two hour throwaway show, this is especially unprecedented, making the show one that you should definitely try to go out of your way to see.

Steve McLaren: I’ve got to go with Survivor Series 2002. Interesting choice maybe, but from top to bottom, I loved this show. Now I know WrestleMania 17 is supposed to be the best show EVER~! But I actually found it rather overrated.

But back to my choice of Survivor Series 2002. It had a fun opener in the Dudleys & Jeff Hardy vs. 3 minute warning, and then probably THE best women’s match in WWE history between Trish and Victoria. Kidman vs. Noble was a great little cruiserweight match too.

Big Show vs. Brock Lesnar was short enough to be enjoyable, and to me – at the time – the Heyman swerve on Lesnar was shocking, yet excellent.

The tag team triple threat just so happened to take place when Smackdown had one of the best tag divisions ever. Eddie, Chavo, Benoit, Angle, Edge and Mysterio had an amazing match, which to me, was perfect pro wrestling.

The main event was the first ever Elimination Chamber, and it was excellent. The outcome had me marking out for Shawn Michaels, and it capped a truly excellent show.

I’d also like to give props to Summerslam 1998, Backlash 2000, WrestleMania 20 and WrestleMania 24. I loved those shows too.

Martin Smith: Now this is a question. Christ, I thought hard and long and to be fair, I didn’t want to put some crap out there like “Well, I LOVE THEM ALL”. Instead, I’m going to go for ECW One Night Stand 2005, which was hosted by the WWE three years ago.

Ideally, if I was talking about straight-up matches and storylines, then WrestleMania 17 wins hands down. For me however, ECW One Night Stand was just brilliant and was one of the last times I looked at wrestling from an entertainment angle and thought “wow”.

I’ll admit, it is very rare that I will sit down and watch a WWE PPV. Infact, over the last three years since this PPV I have watched none. None on repeat, none live and basically, NONE AT ALL. So, this is extra special as in my honest opinion it represents the last PPV of the old attitude wrestling era.

The card itself was filled with matches, that didn’t need a build-up, a storyline or any sort of structure. They went out and they wrestled.

In terms of watchability, I loved it. The wrestlers were probably some of the most average ever (let’s face it The Sandman teaming with Tommy Dreamer in the main event isn’t exactly The Rock/Austin). However, that was the point. ECW was the average wrestlers home.

Throw in a few shoot interviews, an absolutely fantastic match between Masato Tanaka and Mike Awesome, commentary by the legendary Joey Styles and the likes of the b.W.o, Big Guido, Axl Rotten and more on a WWE show. It really makes you wonder what Vince was like backstage. I’d love to have been a fly on the wall while this group tore the house down infront of a rabid Hammerstein Ballroom crowd.

It was really really special. Man, I miss those days of ECW.

Phil Lowe: There’s a few that immediately make my shortlist. WrestleMania 6 was the show that after several years of casually watching wrestling got me hooked. WrestleMania 17 is the show that likely the majority reading this would vote for. ‘Mania 18 wasn’t great but had that fantastic crowd reaction to The Rock and Hulk Hogan, while 19 and 20 were also great shows. Summerslam ‘92 also stands out as it was the first big wrestling show I’d been to live.

But for me, I’d give my vote to the awesome In Your House: Canadian Stampede PPV from back in 1997. This was just fantastic. If you’ve never seen it, you really should pick up a copy from somewhere. It has the best crowd you’ll ever see at a WWE event which helps to make the entire show – but especially the main event – seem like a “big four” type show.

There’s a solid undercard with a standout ten minute match between The Great Sasuke and TAKA Michinoku which is of seriously high quality while matches between Triple H and Mankind, and The Undertaker and Vader are also well worth a watch. This shades it for me over a couple of the WrestleMania shows.

Dan Short: This was an interesting question for me to figure. Mostly because when I think of the best WWE pay-per-views, I always come back to WrestleMania. Quite frankly, no other PPV, WWE or otherwise, can top the aura and specticale of what it the undisputed wrestling event of the year. The allure to WrestleMania is so majestic it’s really hard to dislike any one of them no matter how hard you try and regardless how sometimes the match quality should otherwise dampen the appeal. There is simply nothing quite like WrestleMania when it comes to wrestling pay-per-views.

Of all the WrestleManias in existance, I always seem to keep coming back to WrestleMania VIII as being what I feel was the best WWE pay-per-view of all-time. Strange, I know, given that in terms of match quality there were only two matches of great importance. But by looking at everything that happened in WrestleMania, from the advancement of storylines to the showcasing of rising talent, I cannot think of a better pay-per-view that accomplished so much without having to do too much. If you catch my drift. To me, it’s everything I could hope for in a wrestling pay-per-view.

WrestleMania VIII took place before 62,167 in attendance at the Hoosier Dome in Indianapolis, Indiana. Think about the first three matches of the show and their results. Shawn Michaels defeated Tito Santana. The Undertaker defeated Jake “The Snake” Roberts. Bret Hart defeated Rowdy Roddy Piper to be Intercontinental Champion for a second time. Think about those three matches, the men involved, and more importantly who won over who. The three of the top stars of the 80’s literally passing the torch over to three of the biggest stars of the 90’s. They put them over clean, though Bret was quite the bloody mess by the end of his match. This would mark the beginning of the change in the direction of the presentation of wrestling for the WWE.

I mentioned before that, in terms of match quality, there were only two that really stood out. The aformentioned Bret Hart vs. Roddy Piper match was a very good example of a wrestling clinic. Bret had certainly wrestled some quality matches in the past at that point while Piper had always been knocked for never really being much of a wrestler. This match changed a good number of minds about the latter statement as Piper held his own against a technical wizard like Bret. Not to mention it further showed that Bret was able to craft together great matches against any opponent regardless of style their style.

The second was the WWF Championship match between champion Ric Flair and challenger Randy Savage. Previously, the plan was for the main event to be the long dreamed Hulk Hogan vs. Ric Flair match-up. Circumstances both in and out of kayfabe, however, put a halt to those plans. Savage was, instead, given the chance to be WWF Champion for a second time. The storyline going into the match was nothing short of brilliant. Flair claiming he had an affair with Randy’s wife Elizabeth, even going so far as to doctor photos in an attempt to really get underneath Savage’s skin. What’s more, Flair promised to show the world a very reveal photo of Elizabeth once he defeated Savage in their match. This had really set off the Macho Man.

It wouldn’t be for another three years before a WWF Championship match in a WrestleMania would equal the quality set by Flair vs. Savage. By this point, this was the best WrestleMania match since Savage vs. Steamboat and there wouldn’t be a better WrestleMania match for two years. Great storytelling both in and out of the ring. Savage playing the hot-headed challenger, fighting in an attempt to beat the living crap out of the man stating saying he had an affair with his wife and in doing so also have an opportunity to wear a belt he once had before. Flair playing the cool, calculating champion who patiently waited and then strikes when the opening was seen. Throw in the drama of Elizabeth, caught in the middle of all this, and the incredibly hot crowd reaction throughout, there’s little doubt this was an awesome match. Not even Hogan could manage to generate a pop as big as when Elizabeth slapped Flair for daring to kiss her. It was wonderful.

WrestleMania VIII also featured some fond faces in wrestling that included Hogan, Ted DiBiase, Big Boss Man, Sgt. Slaughter, Jim Duggan, The Nasty Boys, Rick Martel, and Owen Hart, just to name a few. Throw in return appearances from the Ultimate Warrior and the Legion of Doom as well as some really fun commentary from Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby “The Brain” Heenan, and there’s very little not to like about WrestleMania VIII. I doubt the others are in agreement with me, but when I think about the single best WWE pay-per-view of all-time, I always comeback to WrestleMania VIII.