A comprehensive list of every 1-on-1 main event match in WWE pay-per-view history

A little over three years ago it looked like Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose had a chance to main event Hell in a Cell 2014 instead of the latest rendition of John Cena versus Randy Orton.

Neither Rollins nor Ambrose had ever headlined a WWE pay-per-view event in a singles match prior to that night, so I did some research to find out how often WWE main evented a card with a 1-on-1 match featuring two main event rookies. It was a rare occurrence in WWE history.

I have always been particularly fascinated with who WWE chooses for 1-on-1 main event matches. Plenty of mid and upper card guys can sneak into multi-man main events like Elimination Chamber matches, but it’s usually much harder to earn that 1-on-1 spot in Vince’s eyes. Maybe the rules have changed a bit over these last few years with PPV buyrates taking a backseat to WWE Network subscriptions, but it’s a detail that I think is still interesting and worth paying attention to.

Therefore, I want to update a lot of the numbers and concepts that I discussed three years ago when wondering about whether Rollins and Ambrose would headline Hell in a Cell 2014.

By my count, WWE has aired 337 total PPV events starting with WrestleMania in 1985, excluding UK-exclusive shows. Each event has exactly one main event match, which I am defining as the final match of the night, excluding Money in the Bank cash-ins or whatever that crap was Hulk Hogan pulled at WrestleMania 9.

This means that Bray Wyatt versus Randy Orton is the listed main event for No Mercy 2016 rather than Cena versus Styles versus Ambrose. This also means that Chris Jericho versus Triple H is the main event of WrestleMania 18 rather than Hulk Hogan versus The Rock. I am not interested in falling down the slippery slope of subjectively assessing which match had the heaviest promotion by the company, so I’m keeping this simple and just using the final match of the night as the main event, including any tournament finals that closed out the night.

My definition of a “main event rookie” is a wrestler who has never headlined a WWE PPV in a one-on-one match. Similarly, a “main event veteran” is a wrestler who has headlined at least one WWE PPV in a one-on-one match.

Main Event Match Types

With that in mind, here is a breakdown of the match types that comprise those 337 main event matches. Brock Lesnar versus Roman Reigns from WrestleMania 31 counts as a 1-on-1 match on this list rather than the triple threat it eventually turned into once Rollins cashed in.

• 220: 1-on-1 matches
• 24: 3-way singles
• 24: Royal Rumble matches
• 14: 2 vs. 2
• 11: Elimination Chamber matches
• 11: 4-way singles
• 8: 5 vs. 5
• 4: 4 vs. 4
• 4: 3 vs. 3
• 4: MITB ladder matches (including one for the WWE WHC)
• 3: 6-way singles
• 2: 1 vs. 2
• 2: 3 vs. 5
• 2: 5-way singles
• 1: 7 vs. 7
• 1: 2 vs. 5
• 1: 2 vs. 3
• 1: Scramble match

For the rest of this article I am only going to focus on the 220 one-on-one main event matches that have occurred. The full list of 220 matches is included at the bottom of this article.

The List of Main Event Veterans

These 220 main event matches have featured just 77 different competitors across nearly 35 years. Now here is the full list of the current 77 main event veterans, sorted by how many of the 220 main event matches they each competed in:

• 39 matches: John Cena, Undertaker
• 30 matches: Triple H
• 22 matches: Randy Orton
• 21 matches: Shawn Michaels
• 20 matches: Steve Austin, Brock Lesnar
• 17 matches: The Rock
• 14 matches: Bret Hart
• 11 matches: Hulk Hogan, Batista, Roman Reigns
• 10 matches: CM Punk
• 9 matches: Edge
• 8 matches: Diesel, Rollins
• 7 matches: Sid, Angle, Ambrose
• 6 matches: Foley, Jericho, JBL, Bryan
• 5 matches: Bulldog, Kane, Goldberg, Styles
• 4 matches: Yokozuna, Big Show, Jeff Hardy, Owens
• 3 matches: Savage, Benoit, Booker T, Guerrero, Barrett, Mahal
• 2 matches: Warrior, Bigelow, Vince, Henry, Mysterio, Khali, Miz, Ryback, Sheamus, Wyatt, Strowman
• 1 match: JYD, Bundy, Andre, DiBiase, Rude, Slaughter, Luger, Piper, Lawler, Fake Undertaker, Lawrence Taylor, Mabel, Goldust, Vader, Faarooq, Shamrock, Flair, RVD, Umaga, Lashley, Truth, Del Rio, Laurinaitis, Ziggler, Sting, Sasha, Charlotte, Joe, Shane

Main Event Debuts

Here is the complete list of each superstar’s initial one-on-one main event match on PPV, in chronological order.

The number in parentheses next to the wrestler’s name is the PPV’s rank in chronological order out of all 337 events. So for example the final entry on the list, Shane McMahon, has a 334 next to his name because Hell in a Cell 2017 was the 334th PPV that WWE hosted out of the total 337 PPV events in this study.

1. Randy Savage (2): November 1985, versus Junkyard Dog
2. Junkyard Dog (2): November 1985, versus Randy Savage
3. Hulk Hogan (3): April 1986, versus King Kong Bundy
4. King Kong Bundy (3): April 1986, versus Hulk Hogan
5. Andre the Giant (4): March 1987, versus Hulk Hogan
6. Ted DiBiase (6): March 1988, versus Randy Savage
7. Ultimate Warrior (15): April 1990, versus Hulk Hogan
8. Ravishing Rick Rude (16): August 1990, versus Ultimate Warrior
9. Sgt. Slaughter (19): March 1991, versus Hulk Hogan
10. The Undertaker (22): December 1991, versus Hulk Hogan
11. Sid Justice (24): April 1992, versus Hulk Hogan
12. Bret Hart (25): August 1992, versus British Bulldog
13. British Bulldog (25): August 1992, versus Bret Hart
14. Shawn Michaels (26): November 1992, versus Bret Hart
15. Yokozuna (28): April 1993, versus Bret Hart
16. Bam Bam Bigelow (29): June 1993, versus Bret Hart
17. Lex Luger (30): August 1993, versus Yokozuna
18. Roddy Piper (34): June 1994, versus Jerry Lawler
19. Jerry Lawler (34): June 1994, versus Roddy Piper
20. Fake Undertaker (35): August 1994, versus Undertaker
21. Lawrence Taylor (38): April 1995, versus Bam Bam Bigelow
22. Diesel (39): May 1995, versus Sycho Sid
23. Mabel (42): August 1995, versus Diesel
24. Goldust (52): May 1996, versus Undertaker
25. Vader (55): August 1996, versus Shawn Michaels
26. Mankind (56): September 1996, versus Shawn Michaels
27. Steve Austin (63): April 1997, versus Bret Hart
28. Faarooq (65): June 1997, versus Undertaker
29. Ken Shamrock (71): December 1997, versus Shawn Michaels
30. Kane (77): June 1998, versus Steve Austin
31. The Rock (82): November 1998, versus Mankind
32. Mr. McMahon (85): February 1999, versus Steve Austin
33. Triple H (93): October 1999, versus Steve Austin
34. Chris Benoit (102): July 2000, versus The Rock
35. Kurt Angle (105): October 2000, versus The Rock
36. Booker T (115): August 2001, versus The Rock
37. Chris Jericho (119): December 2001, versus Steve Austin
38. Brock Lesnar (127): August 2002, versus The Rock
39. Goldberg (135): April 2003, versus The Rock
40. Big Show (136): May 2003, versus Brock Lesnar
41. Eddie Guerrero (145): February 2004, versus Brock Lesnar
42. John Bradshaw Layfield (148): May 2004, versus Eddie Guerrero
43. Randy Orton (152): August 2004, versus Chris Benoit
44. Ric Flair (155): October 2004, versus Randy Orton
45. Batista (161): April 2005, versus Triple H
46. John Cena (163): May 2005, versus John Bradshaw Layfield
47. Mark Henry (174): January 2006, versus Kurt Angle
48. Rey Mysterio (178): May 2006, versus John Bradshaw Layfield
49. Rob Van Dam (179): June 2006, versus John Cena
50. Edge (182): August 2006, versus John Cena
51. Umaga (189): January 2007, versus John Cena
52. The Great Khali (194): May 2007, versus John Cena
53. Bobby Lashley (197): July 2007, versus John Cena
54. Jeff Hardy (222): May 2009, versus Edge
55. CM Punk (225): July 2009, versus Jeff Hardy
56. Sheamus (238): July 2010, versus John Cena
57. Wade Barrett (242): October 2010, versus Randy Orton
58. The Miz (247): April 2011, versus John Cena
59. R-Truth (250): June 2011, versus John Cena
60. Alberto Del Rio (255): October 2011, versus John Cena
61. John Laurinaitis (262): May 2012, versus John Cena
62. Ryback (267): October 2012, versus CM Punk
63. Dolph Ziggler (269): December 2012: versus John Cena
64. Daniel Bryan (276): August 2013, versus John Cena
65. Seth Rollins (291): October 2014, versus Dean Ambrose
66. Dean Ambrose (291): October 2014, versus Seth Rollins
67. Bray Wyatt (293): December 2014, versus Dean Ambrose
68. Roman Reigns (295): February 2015, versus Daniel Bryan
69. Sting (303): September 2015, versus Seth Rollins
70. AJ Styles (310): May 2016, versus Roman Reigns
71. Kevin Owens (316): September 2016, versus Seth Rollins
72. Sasha Banks (318): October 2016, versus Charlotte Flair
73. Charlotte Flair (318): October 2016, versus Sasha Banks
74. Braun Strowman (326): April 2017, versus Roman Reigns
75. Jinder Mahal (327): May 2017, versus Randy Orton
76. Samoa Joe (330): July 2017, versus Brock Lesnar
77. Shane McMahon (334): October 2017, versus Kevin Owens

Breaking In The Rookies

These 77 superstars made their PPV main event debuts across 71 different matches. There have been 6 matches that featured two main event rookies going against one another, so removing them leaves 65 remaining matches where a main event veteran was used as the foil for the man making his main event debut.

So here is the list of how many main event rookies each established veteran broke in to the main event scene. The parentheses include the names of the all main event rookies that they broke in. It might seem ridiculous to characterize WCW main eventers like Goldberg and Flair as main event rookies, but I humbly request that you just sit there and Deal With It!

• 12 - John Cena (RVD, Edge, Umaga, Khali, Lashley, Sheamus, Miz, Truth, ADR, Laurinaitis, Ziggler, Bryan)
• 5 - Hulk Hogan (Andre, Warrior, Slaughter, Undertaker, Sid Justice)
• 5 - The Rock (Benoit, Angle, Booker T, Lesnar, Goldberg)
• 4 - Bret Hart (HBK, Yokozuna, Bigelow, Austin)
• 4 - Steve Austin (Kane, Mr. McMahon, Triple H, Jericho)
• 3 - Undertaker (Fake Undertaker, Goldust, Faarooq)
• 3 - Shawn Michaels (Vader, Mankind, Shamrock)
• 3 - Brock Lesnar (Big Show, Guerrero, Samoa Joe)
• 3 - Randy Orton (Flair, Barrett, Mahal)
• 2 - John Bradshaw Layfield (Cena, Mysterio)
• 2 - Seth Rollins (Sting, Owens)
• 2 - Roman Reigns (Styles, Strowman)
• 1 - Randy Savage (DiBiase)
• 1 - Ultimate Warrior (Rude)
• 1 - Yokozuna (Luger)
• 1 - Bam Bam Bigelow (Lawrence Taylor)
• 1 - Sycho Sid (Diesel)
• 1 - Diesel (Mabel)
• 1 - Mankind (The Rock)
• 1 - Eddie Guerrero (JBL)
• 1 - Chris Benoit (Orton)
• 1 - Triple H (Batista)
• 1 - Kurt Angle (Henry)
• 1 - Edge (Hardy)
• 1 - Jeff Hardy (Punk)
• 1 - CM Punk (Ryback)
• 1 - Dean Ambrose (Wyatt)
• 1 - Daniel Bryan (Reigns)
• 1 - Kevin Owens (Shane)

Main Event Rematches

Of course with 220 main event matches featuring only 77 wrestlers, that means there have been plenty of rematches. Here is the full list of the these main event matches that have occurred at least twice:

• 6 matches: Austin vs Undertaker
• 5 matches: Triple H vs Orton, Lesnar vs Undertaker
• 4 matches: Undertaker vs HBK
• 3 matches: Edge vs Undertaker, Bret vs HBK, Austin vs Rock, Triple H vs Batista, Lesnar vs Cena, Orton vs Cena, Orton vs Bryan, Cena vs Edge, Cena vs Punk, Rollins vs. Ambrose
• 2 matches: Hogan vs Undertaker, Bret vs Undertaker, Kane vs Undertaker, Batista vs Undertaker, Sid vs Diesel, Sid vs HBK, Bret vs Bulldog, Bret vs Yokozuna, Bret vs Diesel, HBK vs Bulldog, HBK vs Triple H, Austin vs Dude Love, Austin vs Triple H, Austin vs Jericho, Rock vs Triple H, Rock vs Angle, Rock vs Cena, Rock vs Punk, Triple H vs Goldberg, Triple H vs Cena, Triple H vs Lesnar, Orton vs Barrett, Batista vs Cena, Cena vs Khali, Cena vs Miz, Edge vs Hardy, Punk vs Hardy, Reigns vs. Styles, Styles vs. Ambrose, Orton vs. Mahal

Miscellaneous Thoughts

When I first researched this concept over three years ago, Undertaker had 36 one-on-one main event matches and Cena had 39. As you can see, John Cena has not increased his number at all since then. His last such match was at Night of Champions 2014 against Brock Lesnar. Meanwhile the Undertaker main evented two PPVs against Brock Lesnar in 2015 and another one with Roman Reigns in 2017, and actually closed the gap on Cena in this metric.

These two men are now tied with the most one-on-one main event matches in WWE history. They have combined to headline a whopping 78 of these 220 matches (35.5%), yet have somehow never once wrestled against each other in any of these matches. This is a remarkable occurrence and makes it seem only fitting that they should meet up against each other at WrestleMania 34 in their 40th headlining match.

Triple H has wrestled in 30 of these main event matches, and 3 of his matches also included Cena or Undertaker. So when you add on his other 27 main events onto the 78 from Cena and Undertaker, that means these 3 men have combined to headline 105 out of these 220 matches (47.7%).

Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose did indeed go on to headline Hell in a Cell 2014, and in doing so became just the 5th match on this list to feature two main event rookies. Sasha Banks versus Charlotte Flair at Hell in a Cell 2016 then became the 6th such match, and that’s where things currently stand on that front.

The Miz appeared in 2 of these 220 matches (against John Cena) in April and May 2011, but the A-Lister has yet to make it back since then. That main event drought could reach 7 years if he doesn’t headline a PPV in a 1-on-1 match by May 2018. Jinder Mahal has already surpassed him with 3 total matches on the list.

For some reason I did not realize Shane McMahon never headlined a PPV in a 1-on-1 match prior to Hell in a Cell 2017 against Kevin Owens. Something tells me it won’t be Shane’s only appearance on this list when I check back in next time.

None of the Shield members were on this list of main event matches when I first wrote about it back in October 2014. There have been 34 new main event matches added to the list since then, and at least one Shield member wrestled in 21 of those matches. However the most recent 6 matches added to the list do not include any Shield members. Reigns versus Strowman at Payback 2017 is the last time a Shield member headlined a PPV in a one-on-one match. Reigns will surpass Hulk Hogan with his next such match.

When I last wrote about this topic in October 2014, Brock Lesnar wrestled in 12 such main event matches. Since then his total has increased all the way up to 20 total matches, vaulting past Bret Hart and The Rock.

Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins are the only wrestlers since October 2014 who have broken in more than one main event rookie.

The only years where a main event debut did not take place were 1989 and 2008.

Full Match Listing

Finally, I’m going to include a table with the full listing of all 220 matches. But first, here is an explanation of all the column headers in the table:

• Event Number: This is where the match ranks in chronological order out of all 337 PPV events. There are plenty of gaps here because this list only includes the 220 one-on-one main events, rather than all 337 main event matches.
• Event Name: All PPV cards have a name like Extreme Rules or Survivor Series. For In Your House events, I only used a basic numbering system rather than the whole name like St. Valentine’s Day Massacre.
• Month: This is the month that the event took place in, such as August for SummerSlam.
• Year: This is the year the event took place in, such as 2004 for WrestleMania 20.
• Wrestler 1: Each match includes two wrestlers. “Wrestler 1” is the one who had more one-on-one main event matches under their belt coming into the match. In the event of a tie, the wrestler with the most career main events was listed as Wrestler 1. If the tie persisted, a coin was flipped.
• Wrestler 2: Each match includes two wrestlers. “Wrestler 2” is the one who had fewer one-on-one main event matches under their belt coming into the match, or otherwise failed to qualify as Wrestler 1, as described above.
• Main Events 1: This is which main event number the listed match is for Wrestler 1. So, Undertaker has “39” listed here for WrestleMania 33, because that was his 39th one-on-one main event match on the list.
• Main Events 2: This is which main event number the listed match is for Wrestler 2. So, Roman Reigns has “10” listed here for WrestleMania 33, because that was his 10th one-on-one main event match on the list.
• Combined: This is the sum of “Main Events 1” and “Main Events 2.” You can sort by this column to see which matches included two wrestlers with the most or least combined main events on their record right after the match ended. The “Combined” value for Undertaker versus Shawn Michaels at WrestleMania 26 is “56” because that match was Undertaker’s 35th main event and Shawn Michaels’ 21st main event. The sum of those two values is 56.

With that out of the way, here is the full listing of all 220 main event matches:

So there you have it, Cagesiders. Do you think John Cena and Undertaker will each earn their 40th entry on this list at WrestleMania 34?