10 Opening Wrestling PPV Matches Better Than The Main Event

Main Event: Kurt Angle vs. Big Show vs. Brock Lesnar

The margin of difference in match quality here is razor thin, but there were just enough lulls in the main event to drag it below the superb opening match between two real-life friends who probably should've had more matches together later in their careers. This wasn't quite as good as their encounter at Armageddon 2002, but it's a helluva way to kick off a PPV.

Eddie always played to the crowd with some extra vigor when he was in the ring with his friends, and it was always a treat to watch him ham it up outside of the ring.

If the main event had eliminated Big Show from the affair altogether, the intense back-and-forths between Angle and Lesnar probably would've bumped it up a bit in the ratings. Sure, the big guy took some good bumps, but his role was more of a distraction than anything else. Angle and Lesnar were two of the most impassioned mat wrestlers in the company at the time, and it'd be easy to watch them slam each other around on any given night.

Still, up until the opening match's finish -- which included interference and three ref bumps -- Eddie and Benoit put on a wrestling classic that stole the show.