2012 was an up and down year for WWE’s PPVs, and while there were some poor PPVs and some bad booking decisions, other shows were solid at worst, with them often containing enough star power to make up for underwhelming matches.
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Much of the year was dominated by John Cena’s constant main events, despite CM Punk being the WWE Champion during his record-breaking reign. Part-timers appeared here and there, with a hugely notable return shortly after WrestleMania for Brock Lesnar, though for the most part, full-time superstars were the focus.
12 No Way Out
This was a completely pointless show with nothing screaming “PPV-quality”. The only positives were a fine WWE Title triple threat between CM Punk, Daniel Bryan, and Kane, and a fun World Heavyweight Title opener between Sheamus & Dolph Ziggler.
A Tuxedo Match between Santino Marella and Ricardo Rodriguez, a number one contenders match for the Tag Titles, a Ryback squash match, and Sin Cara vs Hunico all made this a laughably bad show. The Steel Cage Match between John Cena and Big Show was uninspired too, with fans not caring for seeing these two wrestle again, even with John Laurinaitis’ job on the line.
11 Hell In A Cell
Aside from a great Big Show vs Sheamus match, this was a glorified episode of Raw with matches such as Cesaro vs Justin Gabriel, Rey Mysterio & Sin Cara vs Prime Time Players, and Eve Torres vs Kaitlyn vs Layla.
The main event was poor, with CM Punk and Ryback wrestling in one of the most basic Hell in a Cell matches of all time, which completely derailed Ryback’s momentum.
10 Elimination Chamber
The WWE Title Chamber match had some decent moments, but it was predictable, with an awkward elimination for Chris Jericho hurting the heat of the match. The World Title match saw a great ending sequence between Daniel Bryan and Santino Marella, but a lack of star power hurt the rest of it.
Beth Phoenix vs Tamina and Jack Swagger vs Justin Gabriel added little, and the main event Ambulance Match between John Cena and Kane was painful to sit through.
9 Survivor Series
The two elimination matches felt very thrown together, with the opener seeing the likes of Brodus Clay, Justin Gabriel, Primo, Epico, and Tensai getting a spot on the show despite the fans not caring for them. The other elimination match was more entertaining as it had more stars, with Dolph Ziggler standing tall over Randy Orton to end things.
The main event between CM Punk, Ryback, and John Cena was notable for it hosting the debut of The Shield, a trio who would become huge stars, but the match itself wasn’t anything special. Everything else on the show was just filler.
8 Over The Limit
CM Punk and Daniel Bryan stole the show with a tremendous WWE Championship match, there was a fun World Title four-way between Sheamus, Chris Jericho, Randy Orton, and Alberto Del Rio, and Kofi Kingston & R-Truth defeated Dolph Ziggler & Jack Swagger in a fun tag team opener.
However, the main event between John Cena and John Laurinaitis is one of worst PPV main events in WWE history, and it dragged the show down a lot, even if some of the action was very good throughout the night. This was a disastrous way to close the event.
7 Royal Rumble
Daniel Bryan vs Big Show vs Mark Henry was a fine Steel Cage match, and CM Punk vs Dolph Ziggler was a very fun WWE Championship bout. However, the other undercard matches were incredibly underwhelming, for example, with Brodus Clay squashing Drew McIntyre, and Kane vs John Cena ending in a double countout.
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The Royal Rumble Match lacked star power, but with it being a Rumble, it was still fun, and it had the crowd invested, with Sheamus & Chris Jericho having a great back and forth display to close the match.
6 SummerSlam
There wasn’t much inherently wrong with this edition of SummerSlam, but nothing really stood out aside from a strong opener between Chris Jericho and Dolph Ziggler. Matches such as Daniel Bryan vs Kane, The Miz vs Rey Mysterio, and CM Punk vs John Cena vs Big Show all did their jobs but were nothing more than average.
Triple H vs Brock Lesnar had some fine moments, but it ran long in some places, with it not doing much to make Lesnar look like an unstoppable beast. A post-match tease of retirement from HHH went down terribly too.
5 TLC
The major talking point from this show came with the debut of The Shield, who stole the show in a TLC Match against Team Hell No and Ryback, which was a legitimate MOTY candidate. The main event was also enjoyable too, with it feeling like a star-making victory for Dolph Ziggler, as he defeated John Cena in a Ladder Match.
Matches such as Cesaro vs R-Truth, Kofi Kingston vs The Miz, and Big Show vs Sheamus were nothing special, and the match which saw Alberto Del Rio, The Miz, and Brooklyn Brawler taking on 3MB, was a random addition to the card.
4 Money In The Bank
Both MITB Ladder Matches were fun, as usual, although the opener was clearly the stronger match on the night, which was won by Dolph Ziggler. The second MITB match featured solely former World Champions, which negated the original point of the briefcase.
Elsewhere, Sheamus vs Alberto Del Rio was fine, and CM Punk vs Daniel Bryan was very enjoyable, but everything else was filler and pointless, with matches such as Primo & Epico vs Prime Time Players, and a six-woman tag team match which were barely Raw quality.
3 Night Of Champions
This was an enjoyable show overall, kicking off with a fun fatal-four-way Intercontinental Title match, and then Team Hell No winning the Tag Team Titles. Randy Orton vs Dolph Ziggler was a very fun match, and Sheamus vs Alberto Del Rio had a decent bout.
The show was main evented by yet another classic CM Punk vs John Cena match, which may be one of their more underrated battles due to it having an awkward double pinfall finish.
2 WrestleMania 28
The “Once In A Lifetime” battle between John Cena and The Rock had a huge big-fight feel, and capped the show off in a great way. In addition, the “End of an Era” Hell in a Cell match was a phenomenal piece of professional wrestling, with The Undertaker, Triple H, and Shawn Michaels stealing the show. CM Punk and Chris Jericho also had a technically sound WWE Title match.
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There were some poor moments, such as Sheamus squashing Daniel Bryan, Maria Menounos’ poor in-ring showing, and an underwhelming match between Kane and Randy Orton, but with it being WrestleMania, the atmosphere of the show helped make up for the bad content.
1 Extreme Rules
There were three MOTY candidates on this show, and that alone made it one of WWE’s best overall shows of the PG Era. Sheamus vs Daniel Bryan, CM Punk vs Chris Jericho, and Brock Lesnar vs John Cena were all tremendous.
The other stuff on the show wasn’t great, but the fact that the event hosted three classics more than made up for the filler.
