Welcome to a very topical edition of Top Ten Things, here at Enuffa.com! Or should I say Top(ical) Ten Things? No....?
I say topical because we were just treated to one of the greatest main events-- nay, MATCHES, in AEW history and thus I figured I'd take a look back at the best headlining bouts in AEW PPV lore. This list is likely going to have to be altered frequently, as this company just keeps churning out classic PPVs and classic main event matches. Hell, it'll probably grow to a top 20 before too long.
Say what you want about All Elite Wrestling's overall product, I've heard it all before. Some of the criticisms are valid, a lot of it is not. People have gripes with the booking, the follow-through after big storyline peaks (my biggest complaint), the clarity of the storytelling - I've had my issues with all of those things from time to time - but unless you're a diehard anti-AEW weirdo you can't argue in good faith that the in-ring product doesn't deliver huge when it counts. The top talent in this company just knows how to put on a thrilling spectacle of a wrestling match and further this ever-evolving art form we all love.
Over the last seven-plus years of AEW PPVs we've seen all manner of marquee matches at the top of the card. Some technical, some brutal, some downright amusing. And that's part of what I love about AEW; there's something for everyone, and all styles of pro wrestling are represented. If you can't get behind that, I dunno what to tell you.
Anyway let's look at what are in my estimation the ten greatest AEW PPV main events of all time....
10. Stadium Stampede - Double or Nothing 2020
In the midst of the once-in-a-century pandemic known as COVID, AEW turned a deeply unfortunate situation into one of the most original and entertaining spectacles in recent memory, the Stadium Stampede match. Chris Jericho led his Inner Circle faction of Jake Hager, Sammy Guevara and Proud & Powerful against Kenny Omega, Hangman Adam Page, Matt Hardy and The Young Bucks, in a hybrid of violence and comedy that ranged all over Jacksonville's Everbank Stadium. This match had everything - crazy high spots (Kenny finished Sammy with a One-Winged Angel off an entranceway through a false stage), wild brawling (Hangman and Hager had an old-fashioned bar fight in one of the skyboxes), hilarious moments of levity (Chris Jericho challenged an Aubrey Edwards' two-count and demanded to see the instant replay), and some fun camera tricks (Matt Hardy changed wrestling personas while being held underwater). What was originally schedule to be a Blood and Guts match (AEW's version of WarGames) instead became a wholly AEW-branded concept that is still used today, both in its original form and in the Anarchy in the Arena variant. The inaugural Stadium Stampede is still one of my favorite AEW PPV main events.