Seth Rollins has been involved in more must-see matches on WWE PPV this year than anyone else. Credit: WWE.com

Ranking the 7 Best Performances at a 2018 PPV Ahead of WWE TLC

Graham GSM Matthews

WWE has the chance to close 2018 out strong with a tremendous Tables, Ladders & Chairs pay-per-view coming up on December 16, but based off the build the event has received in recent weeks, it's unlikely it's going to be anything remotely memorable.

That has been the case with almost all of WWE's special shows this year, though the one bright spot on each of these events has been the amazing effort put forth by the talent inside the squared circle.

Even when the rest of the pay-per-view underwhelms (mostly because of questionable booking decisions), certain Superstars have come close to salvaging the show with phenomenal performances. Their abilities between the ropes speak for themselves and have at times made up for an otherwise abysmal event.

TLC might prove to be no exception, as even if Braun Strowman vs. Baron Corbin gets canceled, fans will still have the women's Triple Threat TLC match to look forward to, and Seth Rollins vs. Dean Ambrose for the Intercontinental Championship. Their outings should not go unnoticed.

From Royal Rumble to Survivor Series, every event this year featured at least one Superstar shining bright and stealing the show with their display of in-ring excellence. This list will spotlight the strongest showings at a WWE pay-per-view in 2018 and give rightful credit to the competitors who helped make this year one of the best from a pure wrestling standpoint.

Honorable Mentions

Shinsuke Nakamura (Royal Rumble): A handful of Superstars lasted a while in this year's men's Royal Rumble match, but only one emerged victorious: Shinsuke Nakamura.

After entering at No. 14, he stood toe-to-toe with elite athletes such as John Cena, Roman Reigns and Randy Orton, eliminating them all and punching his ticket to WrestleMania 34.

    

AJ Styles (Fastlane): Styles had the deck stacked against him on the last stop before WrestleMania in the form of a Six-Pack Challenge for his WWE Championship.

It was an exciting affair filled with close calls and suspenseful nearfalls, but per usual, Styles stood tall over his elite competition by stealing the show and the win to retain his title.

      

Bobby Lashley (Extreme Rules): Lashley returned to WWE with plenty of fanfare one night removed from WrestleMania, but he quickly got lost in the shuffle.

His first true test came at Extreme Rules when he went one-on-one with Roman Reigns in what was billed as a dream match, and he passed with flying colors.

Although expectations were low, Lashley impressed the masses with his phenomenal performance before scoring the clean win over the former three-time WWE champion.

     

Samoa Joe (SummerSlam): In the weeks leading up to SummerSlam, Joe played sinister mind games with Styles in an attempt to cause him to lose his focus before their scheduled WWE Championship clash.

In addition to laying a brutal beatdown on Styles, he continued to cut promos on Styles' family during their encounter at SummerSlam and take everyone in the audience by surprise with what he was saying about them. It didn't earn him the title that night, but it was quite the display of sheer savagery.

     

Daniel Bryan (Survivor Series): The complexion of the Survivor Series 2018 card changed completely when Bryan beat Styles for the WWE Championship days ahead of the event. That meant Bryan would take Styles' place in his bout against Brock Lesnar.

Needless to say, it was a massive mismatch on paper, but Bryan brought the fight to The Beast Incarnate in spectacular fashion before falling short of victory.

7. Shawn Michaels (Crown Jewel)

If you had said at the start of 2018 that Shawn Michaels would wrestle again and share the same ring as The Undertaker, Triple H and Kane, you would have been told that you were out of your mind.

Sure enough, that fantasy scenario became a reality at WWE Crown Jewel when Michaels reunited with Triple H to take on The Brothers of Destruction in a first-time-ever encounter.

This came after The Heartbreak Kid aided his longtime friend to victory against The Undertaker one month earlier at Super Show-Down and decided the time was right to lace up the boots again so he could settle his score with 'Taker once and for all.

Before stepping back inside the squared circle at Crown Jewel, Michaels had not wrestled since WrestleMania 26 in March 2010. Although he is arguably one of the best ever between the ropes, there was no telling how much ring rust he'd have on him at Crown Jewel and if he'd simply be a shell of his former self.

Between Brock Lesnar regaining the Universal Championship in a two-minute squash and the complete disaster that was the WWE World Cup, Crown Jewel was underwhelming prior to the main event.

It was up to the four Attitude Era icons to salvage it, and although everyone else looked their age once the bell rang, Michaels didn't seem to miss a beat whatsoever.

The former multi-time WWE champion was the saving grace of that match, impressing people with how much he could still do and wowing the crowd with his showmanship. He was far from the Shawn Michaels of old, but his breathtaking performance was enough to spark speculation that more matches might be in his future.

6. Braun Strowman (Elimination Chamber)

Despite his lackluster win-loss record on pay-per-views this year, Braun Strowman had more memorable performances than most when the lights were at their brightest, specifically at Elimination Chamber in February.

The main event saw seven of Raw's most elite athletes battle inside the Elimination Chamber for the opportunity to vie for the Universal Championship at WrestleMania 34. The combatants included Strowman, Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, Finn Balor, The Miz, Elias and John Cena, and every one of them had a fighting chance to walk away with the win.

As soon as Strowman entered the fray, he immediately laid waste to the rest of the field and was an unstoppable force. One by one, he eliminated every Superstar who stepped up to challenge him, making him the most dominant competitor ever in a single Elimination Chamber match.

No matter how much punishment he endured, he always found a way to persevere and dish out twice as much of it. It eventually came down to him and Roman Reigns, rekindling a ruthless rivalry from one year earlier.

The Las Vegas crowd was fully behind Strowman and wanted him to win more than anyone else involved in the bout. Strowman came close on a few occasions to beating his longtime foe, but ultimately, it was Reigns' resiliency that earned him the victory and the Universal Championship shot at WrestleMania.

5. Buddy Murphy (Super Show-Down)

When 2018 kicked off, Buddy Murphy was nothing more than an afterthought on the NXT roster. He competed solely at live events and was mainly utilized as an enhancement talent, so the chances of a main roster call-up for him were slim to none.

Nevertheless, WWE took a chance on Murphy by having him enter the WWE Cruiserweight Championship Tournament earlier on this year, and he more than made the most of the opportunity.

After proving his worth against the likes Ariya Daivari and Mustafa Ali, he was officially given a spot on the 205 Live roster and quickly came into his own as one of the best all-around athletes in the entire company.

After unsuccessfully challenging Cedric Alexander for the championship on an episode of 205 Live in May, Murphy earned himself another shot at the strap in his hometown of Melbourne, Australia at Super Show-Down.

He technically walked into the event as the heel, but the raucous reaction he received from the fans in attendance was too much to ignore.

Alexander and Murphy showed the first time around that their chemistry was off the charts, and on such a grand stage, they once again stole the show with their tremendous outing. Murphy in particular fed off the crowd's unparalleled energy and used it to his advantage.

It took Murphy everything he had to beat Alexander, and once he did, it was an emotional moment for not only the former NXT Tag Team champion but the fans as well.

The age of Alexander may have ended, but Murphy's reign was just getting started.

4. Dolph Ziggler and Drew McIntyre (Hell in a Cell)

Tag team wrestling has been in an extended of state of flux in 2018, to say the least. Rarely are tandems given the time to go all out and are often instead relegated to wrestling in meaningless matches that last no more than a few minutes.

That changed (if only for one night) at Hell in a Cell when Dolph Ziggler and Drew McIntyre put their newly won Raw Tag Team Championship on the line against Dean Ambrose and Dean Ambrose.

Their tag team feud had been brewing for weeks, but the twin titles themselves were only added into the mix once Ziggler and McIntyre took them from The B-Team shortly beforehand.

Rollins and Ambrose had already reigned as Raw Tag Team champions together and were willing to do whatever it took to get the gold back in their grasp.

As desperate as they were to win the belts, however, Ziggler and McIntyre were the ones with the most to prove, especially since they didn't have nearly as much experience working alongside each other.

When Ziggler doesn't care and has no motivation, he makes it apparent with his performances, but that was far from the case at Hell in a Cell. Within a matter of months, he went from being just another member of the Raw roster to the guy involved in the best bout of the night almost every week, including at this event.

As for McIntyre, his intensity and ruthless aggression were on full display in this instant classic, never once allowing his opponents to rest or recuperate. That relentlessness led Ziggler and McIntyre to victory, resulting in the greatest tag team title match of the year by a country mile.

3. Seth Rollins (Backlash)

Seth Rollins' remarkable 2018 can be traced back to his unprecedented performance in the grueling Gauntlet match that took place on Raw back in February. Although he didn't come out on top that night, he lasted longer than anyone at over an hour and had one of the best performances in WWE history.

That was a recurring theme for Rollins from that point forward, where he never produced anything less than a great matchup. Regardless of whether it was on Raw or at a pay-per-view, Rollins was putting forth an exceptional effort every night in an attempt to cement his status as WWE's ultimate workhorse.

The build to Backlash was nearly nonexistent due to WWE putting all of its eggs in one basket with Greatest Royal Rumble the week prior. However, that wasn't going to stop Rollins from giving it his all as he defended the Intercontinental Championship against The Miz in the night's opening contest.

Rollins and Miz had worked well together in the past, but this outing was on another level. Everything from the pace to the drama to the electric atmosphere that the crowd provided made this a must-see championship clash, even if the outcome was never once in doubt.

To his credit, Miz was on the verge of regaining the gold on a few different occasions, but the roll Rollins was on at the time was too much for him to handle and was what cost him the victory in the end.

Rollins brought more prestige to that prize than anyone else in years, and spectacular showings such as this one had a lot to do with that.

2. Becky Lynch (Evolution)

If there was ever any dispute over whether Becky Lynch was truly "The Man" or not, that debate ended at Evolution when she collided with Charlotte Flair in a Last Woman Standing match for the SmackDown Women's Championship.

To go back a bit, Lynch's surprise heel turn at SummerSlam concerned fans. After all, she was a natural babyface, and if anyone should have turned heel, Charlotte would have been the better bet.

Despite fans rallying behind Becky even while she was a heel, WWE refused to reverse the roles and were adamant about making Charlotte out to be the babyface fans wanted to see dethrone Lynch as champion.

The crowd reactions didn't reflect that in the slightest, but either way, the top-notch quality of their matches in the fall spoke for itself.

Only one other time had a Last Woman Standing match been held under the WWE banner, and that was down in NXT. Thus, the former friends were breaking new ground at Evolution, but The Irish Lasskicker wasn't content with just making history; she wished to back up her claims as the best Superstar in all of WWE with her performance at Evolution.

Over the course of the contest, Lynch pushed Flair to her absolute limit, battering her with weapons and pulling everything out of her arsenal. It wasn't until she connected with a powerbomb to Flair from the top rope and through a table that Lynch was able to keep her down for the 10-count and solidify her superiority in the process.

No one has dared to question The Man's authority since.

1. Ronda Rousey (WrestleMania 34)

Ronda Rousey's WWE debut at the Royal Rumble, while shocking, left fans with more questions than answers.

What were her intentions behind coming to the company? Was she going to transition as well to wrestling as others before her? Would she fail to live up to the hype?

Although those questions went unanswered at first, officials were smart to position her in a program with Triple H and Stephanie McMahon straight from the get-go. It was going to be easy for her to generate sympathy from fans when she faced them at WrestleMania 34, and she'd also have Kurt Angle helping her along the way if need be.

Their mixed tag team match at WrestleMania was more or less the Ronda Rousey Show with the former UFC champion owning the spotlight and shocking everyone with her awe-inspiring performance. Granted, she wasn't wrestling a five-star mat classic in there, but her ability to capture the crowd's attention and come across as crisp as she did was certainly unexpected and impressive.

From start to finish, Rousey looked like she belonged between those ropes and proved that this was going to come a lot easier to her than most might have thought. Her snapping Stephanie's arm for the victory was merely the icing on the cake, kicking off what has been a meteoric rise for The Rowdy One in WWE.

   

Graham Mirmina, aka Graham "GSM" Matthews, is an Endicott College alumnus and aspiring journalist. Visit his website, Next Era Wrestling, and "like" his official Facebook page to continue the conversation on all things wrestling.

   

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