To every wrestler entering the business, pay-per-view matches are the ultimate goal. Years of hard work and training and matches in the independent scene all building up to getting a spot in the bright lights. However, to some wrestlers, it's just another day in the office with some wrestlers having more matches on pay-per-view cards than most wrestlers can dream of. Then there is an elite level of wrestlers that have countless pay-per-view matches with these wrestlers being Hall of Famers or future Hall of Famers. Whether it's main events, squash matches, Midcard matches or just filler matches these 10 wrestlers are on a new level when it comes to longevity, dedication and ability so let's not waste any more time and look at the top 10 wrestlers with the most pay-per-view appearances.
Please note that this list only includes WWE pay-per-views that wrestlers have had matches in so any other pay-per-views in wrestling promotions such as NWA, WCW or AEW will not count towards the total. Also, note that this list was made after the 2022 edition of the Royal Rumble so numbers may be a little outdated.
10. Kofi Kingston (119 matches)
It is easy to forget just how long Kofi Kingston has been inside WWE due to Kofi's agility and athleticism. Every time Kofi enters a match he always manages to surprise fans by pulling out amazing moves at the age of 40. Kofi made his in-ring debut in 2008 in WWE's ECW. While WWE's ECW was a disaster, Kofi impressed management so much he managed to make his first pay-per-view appearance in the same year beating Chris Jericho for the Intercontinental Championship at Night Of Champions.
Since then Kofi has played various roles on the card, being a singles star early in his career, defending the Intercontinental Championship with Kofi stealing the show at his first WrestleMania when he participated in the Money in the Bank match. Kofi later had countless pay-per-view appearances teaming up with Big E and Xavier Woods in The New Day with the trio being one of the biggest teams in WWE history.
Kofi's latest pay-per-view match was the 2022 Royal Rumble where he shocked the audience by performing a rare botch when his feet touched the floor while he tried to save himself from being eliminated. While it was disappointing to see Kofi botch, it was still a great achievement with Kofi participating in his 119th pay-per-view match.
9. The Miz (123 matches)
Love him or hate him, The Miz has been one of WWE's most consistent performers in recent history. He is arguably one of the best workers with a microphone and while his in-ring performance isn't quite up to the level of some wrestlers on this list he can still be relied upon to put on a solid and safe match with the right talent. The Miz's first pay-per-view matches are a blemish on his career with The Miz's first match on a pay-per-view being in 2004 where he fought Daniel Puder in a Dixie Dog Fight in the Tough Enough competition at the Armageddon pay-per-view.
Fortunately for The Miz, his role in pay-per-views would go up in time with The Miz holding various championships. The Miz would keep climbing the ladder and would eventually main event WrestleMania 27 against John Cena, defending the WWE Championship. Later in his career The Miz's experience would keep his spot on the card with The Miz having several pay-per-view matches when he held the Intercontinental Championship several times between 2016 and 2017 performing arguably his greatest career work.
The Miz's most recent pay-per-view match was at the 2022 Royal Rumble where he teamed up with his wife, Maryse to take on the Hall of Fame couple of Edge and Beth Phoenix in a solid match with The Miz reaching a total of 123 pay-per-view matches with The Miz still having plenty left in the tank.
8. Edge (137 matches)
No words can do justice for Edge's legendary career. Despite being known as a tag team wrestler early in his legendary career Edge turned into one of the greatest wrestlers in history and the biggest heel of the Ruthless Aggression era. Edge had his first pay-per-view match in 1998 at SummerSlam where he teamed up with Sable to take on Jacqueline and Marc Mero in a forgettable match. Luckily for Edge, he would be a part of some of the most legendary tag team matches in history just a few years later with the Hardy Boys and the Dudley Boyzs.
Edge's career would continue to grow throughout the years with Edge becoming the biggest heel during the Ruthless Aggression era main eventing pay-per-views with legends such as John Cena, Big Show, Batista, Undertaker and more putting on amazing matches every time he stepped in the ring as well capturing countless championships.
Edge looked like he had his last pay-per-view match at WrestleMania 27 where he beat Alberto Del Rio to retain the World Heavyweight Championship, ending his career on top. However, Edge cheated his fate and returned to WWE at the 2020 Royal Rumble in one of the greatest moments in WWE history. Since then Edge has shown he hasn't lost a step putting on amazing matches with the likes of Randy Orton, Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins with Edge managing to make it to 137 pay-per-view matches after his recent performance at the Royal Rumble.
7. Big Show (142 matches)
Despite big men not being known for having long careers, Big Show has wrestled for over 20 years establishing a legendary career in the process and while most of his matches have been squash matches there is no denying that Big Show is dedicated to the business. Big Show made his first WWE appearance during the St Valentine's Day Massacre pay-per-view in 1999 where he attacked Steve Austin. Just a few months later Big show had his first match on a pay-per-view card at WrestleMania 15 where he battled Mankind in a DQ finish.
Big Show would later be sent down to OVW due to his weight and in-ring ability. Big Show was able to push through and would later make a return at the Royal Rumble in 2001. Since then Big Show has been a part of countless pay-per-views battling names such as Brock Lesnar, Undertaker, Edge and more in a Hall of Fame career.
Despite having several matches over the years Big Show's most recent pay-per-view match was all the way back at WrestleMania 33 where he participated in the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal, with Big Show reaching 142 matches, however, it should be noted that Big Show had pay-per-view matches in WCW as well as a recent pay-per-view match at AEW All Out.
6. Chris Jericho (144 matches)
Even at the old age of 51, Chris Jericho still remains one of the biggest stars in wrestling today. While fans may argue over if Jericho's best work is behind him there is no denying he has managed to stay relevant through ability, hard work and reinvention. After being a workhorse in WCW, Jericho would have one of the biggest debuts in history when he confronted The Rock, receiving a huge pop in the process. Jericho would later have his first pay-per-view match against X-Pac at Unforgiven in 1998, unfortunately for Jericho, the match would end in a disappointing fashion after Jericho's manager, Curtis Hughes attacked X-Pac for a DQ finish.
Jericho's career would then grow as he turned into one of the biggest wrestlers of the Attitude era where he would have the biggest night of his career after he beat Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock on the same night. Jericho managed to stay one of the biggest stars in wrestling throughout his career with Jericho never keeping the same gimmick for too long and constantly reinventing himself.
While Jericho has had many pay-per-view matches in AEW his last WWE pay-per-view was in 2018 where he was a part of the Greatest Royal Rumble in Saudi Arabia with Jericho encountering fellow Candian, Kevin Owens with Jericho later being eliminated in the match in his 144th pay-per-view match.
5. John Cena (163 matches)
John Cena is known as the franchise player in WWE for a reason. While there have been a few bumps during Cena's career he is without a doubt one of the biggest names in wrestling history. After a big debut on Kurt Angle in 2002 on SmackDown, Cena would have his first pay-per-view match a few weeks later, getting a huge upset win over Chris Jericho.
Cena would then turn into the biggest face of the Ruthless Aggression era, having one of the longest world title reigns in history. Later in his career, Cena would balance his wrestling career and movie career by making several returns and being a constant part of every WrestleMania.
SummerSlam 2021 would mark Cena 163rd pay-per-view match with Cena taking on Roman Reigns for the Universal Championship in a thrilling match proving Cena hasn't lost a step and still has plenty of quality pay-per-view matches remaining in his career.
4. Triple H (173 matches)
Triple H's legendary career started off rocky to say the least, while he started his career off being undefeated in WWE, no one at the time would predict Triple H having the career he did. Triple H would make his pay-per-view debut in 1995 at SummerSlam where he defeated Bob Holly. Even though his performance was nowhere near the standard he would later reach, it was still a solid showing for the future King of Kings and a good sign of things to come in the future.
Triple H would climb the ladder in his career where he would become one of the biggest stars of the Attitude era as well as the Ruthless Aggression era facing numerous Hall of Famers including Steve Austin, Shawn Michaels, Kane, Hulk Hogan and Mick Foley to name a few. Triple H's career would reach its peak between 2002 and 2005 when he had his infamous title reign of terror where he constantly held the World Heavyweight Championship with his reign being debated by fans to this day.
In 2019 Triple H had his 173rd pay-per-view match when he faced Randy Orton in a solid match at Super Showdown with Orton getting the win over his former Evolution mentor. Unfortunately, it seems like Triple H may not have another match in him due to his declining health and a recent cardiac episode. While it is sad that Triple H's last match isn't on his terms 173 pay-per-view matches is still an incredible achievement.
3. The Undertaker (174 matches)
"From Death Valley, I give you The Undertaker." those infamous words said by the legendary Million Dollar Man, Ted DiBiase would mark one of the longest and most legendary careers in all of wrestling. The Undertaker has faced wrestlers from several different generations, ranging from classic names like Jake The Snake Roberts to current stars like Roman Reigns in an incredible career lasting over 25 years. After a few pay-per-views in various promotions, Undertaker had his first WWE pay-per-view match in 1990 at Survivor Series where he teamed up with Ted DiBiase, Greg Valentine and Honky Tonk Man to beat the face team of Bret Hart, Dusty Rhodes, Jim Neidhart and Koko B Ware.
During Undertaker's 25+ year career, the Phenom captured several championships and had several gimmicks including The American Badass gimmick which kept Undertaker relevant in a changing business. During Undertaker's career, he became synonymous with the WrestleMania pay-per-view where he defended his undefeated streak until Brock Lesnar ended the streak at WrestleMania 30.
After losing the streak, Undertaker's appearance in WWE grew less with Undertaker's age finally catching up to him. It looked like Undertaker had retired at WrestleMania 33 after he lost to Roman Reigns at the end of the show with Undertaker leaving his hat in the ring. However, Undertaker returned a year later as he tried to hunt down the perfect last match with the dream for the last match looking disastrous after a poor showing against Triple H and his disaster of a match with Goldberg. However Undertaker managed to end his career on a high having his last match against AJ Styles at WrestleMania 36 in the Boneyard Match.
2. Kane (176 matches)
From Undertaker to his brother, Kane, just like Big Show Kane has defied the stereotype of big men not being around for long having one of the longest careers in wrestling and having the former record for most pay-per-view matches. Kane's first pay-per-view match was when The Big Red Machine was given the Issac Yankem character with Issac Yankem debuting in 1995 at SummerSlam against Bret Hart with the match ending in a DQ finish. It wasn't until 2 years later that Glenn Jacobs would have a pay-per-view match as The Big Red Machine where he faced Mankind at Survivor Series with Kane dominating Mankind in a strong showing, putting over Kane at the time.
Kane went on to have a long career spending several years. During this time he made a name for himself at the Royal Rumble pay-per-view with Kane appearing in 20 Royal Rumble matches. Despite not winning a single Royal Rumble match he still holds the record for most total eliminations in the match with Kane eliminating 46 wrestlers with Kane having his best performance at the 2001 Royal Rumble eliminating 6 other wrestlers. Kane is also in the top 10 for longest cumulative time in the Royal Rumble match with Kane spending over 3 hours in the Royal Rumble match.
Kane's most recent pay-per-view was fittingly the Royal Rumble in 2021 where he entered at number 18, with Kane hitting a chokeslam on anyone who walked in his path with Kane later eliminating Ricochet and Dolph Ziggler before being eliminated by Damian Priest. Due to his age and role as a mayor in Knox County, it is unclear if we will ever see The Big Red Machine in another match, especially as he is now in the Hall of Fame. What is clear though is Kane has a career that will be near impossible to match.
1. Randy Orton (179 matches)
Over his long career, Randy Orton's slow style and pace during his matches have caused mass criticism for many fans, with many calling Randy slow and boring. However, Randy's slow and safe style with an emphasis on storytelling over flashy and risky moves has allowed him to stay injury-free for most parts of his career with Orton having few injuries in his career, allowing Orton to remain in WWE programming on a consistent basis for many years. After spending time developing in OVW, Orton would later debut in WWE as a generic babyface. After an injury, Orton's career would begin to skyrocket after he joined Triple H, Batista and Ric Flair in the Evolution stable. Orton made his pay-per-view debut at SummerSlam in 2003 inside the Elimination Chamber where he faced Shawn Michaels, Goldberg, Chris Jericho, Kevin Nash and fellow Evolution member, Triple H. Randy Orton had a decent showing in the match lasting over 10 minutes with legends he would later face in his career.
Orton would grow to be WWE's biggest and more consistent performers over the years and while names such as Shawn Michaels, Undertaker, Batista and John Cena either retired or had fewer matches over the years, Orton has stayed in WWE and has been a weekly performer with the RKO never getting old with Orton becoming a Grand Slam Champion in the process as well being a 14-time World Champion. At the 2021 edition of Survivor Series, Randy Orton would break the old pay-per-view record held by Kane with Orton celebrating the moment with his tag partner Riddle have they beat The Usos in a Champion vs Champion match with Orton winning the match with yet another RKO out of nowhere. Orton would later break another record with Orton having the most matches in the history of Monday Night Raw.
Orton's most recent match was at the 2022 Royal Rumble where he entered at number 29 receiving a huge hometown pop from the Knoxville crowd in attendance. After several RKOs and eliminating Otis and Big E, Orton would be eliminated by Brock Lesnar, with Lesnar later winning the Royal Rumble. It should also be noted this was Orton's 14th time in the Rumble match with only Dolph Ziggler and Kane appearing in more Royal Rumble matches than Orton. Orton has stated in multiple interviews he has no intentions of hanging up the boots anytime soon with Orton saying he could of 10 more years in him and with Orton's minimum injury history it is more than likely his words will hold up with the sky being the limit for Orton.
These are the legendary group of wrestlers that have exceeded their hopes and dreams and have reached an elite class. While some of these wrestlers may not have any more matches left in the tank there are still several wrestlers on this list with plenty of years and matches in them. How many pay-per-view matches do you think names like Randy Orton have and was there anyone on this list that surprised you. Let us know in the comment section down below.
0 comments: