FanPost

Ranking every 2022 WWE main roster PLE match (Holiday Double-Issue): #60-41

WWE.com

We’re back! With this double-edition we pass the statistical midpoint. Starting at entry 45, every ensuing entry is technically closer to the top than closer to the bottom. Which means the reaaaaally good sh*t is just around the corner. The plan is to follow up these rankings with an *analytics* type post where we break down where WWE’s best performers fell in 2022 to determine the best PLE performer of 2022, which championship was contested for in the most entertaining manner, which PLE was the best, and even which performer got the most points per appearance. So stay tuned!

For those just joining us:

#90-81
#80-71
#70-61

#60: Damage CTRL def. Asuka © and Alexa Bliss © to win the Women's Tag Team Championship; Crown Jewel

Look, it's a really good thing that the new WWE regime is trying to put a spotlight on the women's tag division again, the problem is it just doesn't feel like they're doing a very good job. The belt hot potato act hasn't helped, as there have been three title changes in a little more than two months. This match felt like a microcosm of that. An "E" for effort, but not much else going on.

#59: Bianca Belair © def. Carmella to retain the Raw Women's Championship; Money in the Bank

It's really hard to take Carmella seriously as a title contender in her current gimmick. She's been jobbed out to champ after champ since the pandemic, so there's no taking her seriously when she gets a shot like this. There may have been extenuating circumstances that explain why Carmella got this shot as opposed to someone else, but it doesn't change the fact that it was just not a great match.

#58: Ronda Rousey def. Liv Morgan © to win the Smackdown Women's Championship; Extreme Rules

A fun match, and a match that Liv got built up properly for. After looking like a weak champ for much of her reign, Liv Morgan survived a submission specialist in Shayna Baszler in preparation for her and Ronda's rubber match. And to be honest, it felt like Liv should have been made here. If she wins this match, she becomes an upper echelon female superstar. By losing, even in an admirable effort, it felt like the reign accomplished a whole lot of nothing. As far as the match itself goes, the extreme rules stipulation hid a lot of the chemistry issues that Ronda has had with the women's roster, and Liv got to show a fun mean streak. That's about it.

#57: Roman Reigns © def. Brock Lesnar © to win the WWE Championship and retain the Universal Championship; WrestleMania, Night 1

After the spectacle of a weekend that WrestleMania 38 was, maybe it was always impossible to top it with the main event. The build always felt like it was trying too hard, with words like "stupendous" being thrown around to try and sell people on a match everyone had already seen like a dozen times. Drew McIntyre beating Brock Lesnar in a quick match behind closed doors in the middle of a pandemic is one thing. Roman Reigns doing it in a packed arena to close out an incredible two days of wrestling is another. At the end of the day, the match felt anticlimactic. Not terrible, but anticlimactic. Luckily, these two would have a chance to run it back one more time and end this rivalry the right way.

#56: Becky Lynch © def. Liv Morgan to retain the Raw Women's Championship; Day 1

This was, in many ways, the beginning of Liv's main event push. She helped solidify Big Time Becks as the top heel that she was for half of 2022. Liv was so over as the people's babyface that they couldn't help but boo Becky. It's safe to say that, in many ways, Liv walked so that Bianca Belair could run. She had people believing that she could end Becky's reign, which is all you ask of a babyface challenger in a spot like this.

#55: Roman Reigns & The Usos def. Drew McIntyre & RK-Bro; Backlash

Was this a glorified Smackdown main event? Sure. Did it effectively help set up what should have been a summer of feuds for the Tribal Chief? Also yes. The babyface trio did not get the win here, but after Backlash, it was clear what the WWE had in plan for Roman Reigns over the summer months. Extra points for Riddle taking the pin but coming out of the match looking stronger than ever.

#54: Madcap Moss def. Happy Corbin; Backlash

Please let this be the last Madcap Moss match on this list.

#53: Liv Morgan © def. Shayna Baszler to retain the Smackdown Women's Championship; Clash at the Castle

Kinda said all that needed to be said about this match in the "Liv v. Ronda III" writeup. Much like how Rousey needed to be injured by someone with a grappling background in order to believably be wobbly at Money in the Bank, Morgan needed to take down someone with a grappling background in order to be seen as a viable opponent for Ronda Rousey here. This match could have been on Smackdown, sure, but it served its purpose nonetheless.

#52: Edge def. AJ Styles; Backlash

With Damian Priest banned from ringside, it seems like most people were expecting a Rhea Ripley heel turn here, which is exactly what happened. Edge's faction grew, Rhea turned, and AJ Styles was protected in defeat. Not flashy, but it accomplished what it needed to accomplish.

#51: Charlotte Flair © def. Ronda Rousey to retain the Smackdown Women's Championship; WrestleMania, Night 1

Despite no one really caring about either character, both managed to deliver a pretty decent match here. It was unfortunately probably the weakest on WrestleMania Night 1, but WrestleMania Night 1 was also probably the best PLE of the year. More on that later. Charlotte Flair and Ronda Rousey do have decent in-ring chemistry, even if their out of ring chemistry is akin to vinegar and baking soda. Letting Charlotte retain and saving Ronda's title win for a smaller venue felt like the right move here too, because big crowds are unpredictable especially with questionable babyfaces involved. At least Charlotte is supposed to be booed.

#50: Damage CTRL def. Bayley, Alexa Bliss & Asuka; Clash at the Castle

The match itself was whatever, but the finish was the exact right call. Having Bianca Belair get pinned clean in the middle of the ring, and by her nemesis Bayley no less, was the best thing to do to make Bianca look vulnerable. Usually a champ being pinned during their reign is a bad thing, but Belair has been booked incredibly strong over the last few years, perhaps second only to Roman Reigns. A clean pin here was the best way to bring her back down to earth a bit.

#49: Edge vs. The Miz; Day 1

Look, it's not the best use of Edge's time, but The Rated R Superstar needs people to feud with when he is not mingling with the top of the card. These types of opponents need to be high profile but able to shake off a loss. The Miz fits the bill on both counts, which made this a good enough matchup. Like with The Miz's Rey Mysterio feud, this match will probably be forgotten in favor of the special guest tag match it helped set up, but sometimes you need small PLEs to help set up big PLEs. Still not used to saying PLE. PLE PLE PLE.

#48: Bianca Belair wins the Women's Elimination Chamber Match to earn a shot at the Raw Women's Championship; Elimination Chamber

Given the actual stakes here and the fact that there was more than one plausible winner, this match had a lot over the men's counterpart. Sure, most thought Belair would win, but Liv Morgan and Rhea Ripley's inclusion sewed just enough seeds of doubt to make the whole affair a bit more interesting.

#47: Brock Lesnar def. Big E ©, Seth Rollins, Kevin Owens, and Bobby Lashley for the WWE Championship; Day 1

A lot to unpack here. What was actually a decent enough match fell flat because, well, everything else outside of the match itself. Big E became a passenger in his own title reign almost immediately after the draft, then what could have been three solid feuds in a row (Rollins, Owens, Lashley) were all lumped into one and shoved into one match. Lastly, Brock Lesnar was shoehorned in at the end just because of a legitimate positive Roman Reigns COVID test. The real kicker, of course, was that Lesnar would drop the belt like three weeks later, while Big E would go on to break his neck while not defending the WWE Championship. He deserved better.

#46: The Usos © def. The Brawling Brutes to retain the Unified WWE Tag Team Championships; Crown Jewel

"__________ wasn't on my (year) bingo card" is, in my opinion, an incredibly overused phrase, but we'll make an exception here. Brawling Brutes being the most over babyface faction in all of WWE was not on ANYONE'S 2022 Bingo card. More on the Sheamus part of the group later, but the journey that Ridge Holland and Butch have made from pariahs most known for accidentally injuring Big E to a lovable duo of blue collar brawlers is astonishing. So astonishing, in fact, that winning the big one here would not have been out of the question. The Usos, for their part, have perhaps been the most consistent performers of 2022 and the clash of brawling with high flying made for a great mix of styles here.

#45: Edge def. AJ Styles; WrestleMania, Night 2

Night 2 had some missteps over Night 1 this year, but this was a step that Vince & co. got right. While the build was lukewarm, Edge and AJ delivered the goods in the only way they know how... by going all out. This match was also instrumental in kickstarting what would become known as The Judgement Day, when Damian Priest would turn heel to ensure Edge's win while, like Rhea Ripley, protecting Styles in defeat.

#44: Pat McAfee def. Happy Corbin; SummerSlam

Pat McAfee's third of his three official 2022 WWE matches had all the good things that his first match (vs. Austin Theory) had, but was still a bit of a letdown. Maybe there was less novelty this time around, maybe it was the lack of Seven Nation Army, heck maybe Theory is just more hateable than Corbin. An underrated positive from this match: wrestlers vs. celebs is always tough because this is the wrestler's profession. They do this for a living. Losing to someone who's just dabbling in it can be a kiss of death to a career, so how things play out is very important. Having McAfee, an ex-NFL punter, literally punt Corbin's balls in order to secure the W was such a sneaky good move. He won dirty, sure, but he's a part-timer. Who cares how he wins? AND Corbin had done the same thing to him a week earlier, so Corbin deserved it. AAAAND you'd imagine a punter can kick balls real hard, so the finish was credible. The small things make all the difference sometimes.

#43: Kevin Owens def. Ezekiel; Backlash

The build to this match was so freaking hysterical that the quality of the match itself never really mattered. The right guy won, helping Owens continue his white hot 2022 and avoiding the letdown effect just a month after headlining WrestleMania Night 1. Vince McMahon deserves a lot of blame for the lack of effort he seemed to exert in mapping out TV plotlines, but this whole post-WrestleMania month was just a delight and a half, so props for that.

#42: Bianca Belair © def. Bayley to retain the Raw Women's Championship; Crown Jewel

Good in-ring action, but the Bianca-Bayley fatigue had definitely more than set in by this point.

#41: Liv Morgan def. Ronda Rousey © to win the Smackdown Women's Championship in her Money in the Bank cash-in match; Money in the Bank

Ranking cash-ins are hard, so you really have to go off of crowd reaction and how "earned" they feel. Big E on Raw? Good cash in. Nikki A.S.H.? Meh cash in. Austin Theory on Raw? Bad cash in. Liv Morgan's felt pretty good, all things considered. She got a huge pop, there was a moment of doubt to add tension when Ronda Rousey got her in the leg lock, but she rallied to get the W and a huge pop. The less said about the ensuing title reign, the better.

The FanPosts are solely the subjective opinions of Cageside Seats readers and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cageside Seats editors or staff.