WWE: 10 Best Opening PPV Matches Ever

The best way to start off a Pay-Per-View is with a classic match. What's the best one ever?The opening match of a WWE PPV is crucial because if an event starts off on the right foot then it puts the crowd in a good mood for the rest of the three or four hour broadcast. When you have fans spending their hard-earned money watching a PPV you want them to be glad they did it. If the opener stinks that’s going to send the wrong message.
The history of WWE PPVs goes back 30 years to WrestleMania 1 in 1985. It took a while for WWE to start having great openers (the earliest one on this list is from 1991) and there were a lot of misses along the way, but they really figured it out in the last five years. If this was a top 20 list then half the matches would be from the last five years.
To qualify for this list, a match has to be the first one to take place on the PPV portion of the broadcast, and thus the pre-show, Free For All or Kickoff Show matches do not count: only the matches that led off a broadcast come into consideration. In some cases there might be an instance where there’s a promo before the match, but as long as it’s the first match that would qualify. Think of the WrestleMania 30 opener and that’s why it qualifies. Also note that it is WWE PPVs only. It’s in the title. No WCW or ECW here.
It’s interesting to note that three of the ten matches were from this year. That’s not because I have a short memory or anything like that. It’s simply due to the fact that in recent years WWE has done a much better job of putting a great match in the opening slot and setting the tone for the rest of the show.
Here’s a look at the ten best Pay-Per-View opening matches in WWE history.