The Wrestling Classic

In 1996, Shawn Michaels won the Royal Rumble for the second year in a row. It set the stage for the year that would see Shawn Michaels evolve into "The Showstopper, The Main Event." When he won the Iron Man Match vs. Bret Hart as WrestleMania XII, his boyhood dream of being WWE Champion was realized. Holding onto the dream took guts & determination. Featuring matches from 1996:, WrestleMania XII vs. Bret Hart, In Your House vs. Diesel, In Your House vs. British Bulldog, In Your House vs. Sycho Sid, Summer Slam vs. Vader, In Your House vs. Mankind, Survivor Series vs. Sycho Sid, Royal Rumble 1997 vs. Sycho Sid

WWE Superstars Collection: Shawn Michaels He is one of the most revered Superstars in the history of sports entertainment. Spanning a quarter century, Shawn Michaels's career was punctuated by countless accolades including multiple reigns with every major championship, and timeless matches that revolutionized the industry. The Main Event, The Icon, The Showstopper, Mr. WrestleMania and most recently Mr. Hall of Fame has truly influenced a generation of fans. Now in this special collection, relive these show-stealing classics from his final run in WWE, including his one last stand with Triple H in DX and his emotional final match at WrestleMania XXVI.

Taboo Tuesday (2004) was a PPV presented by AT&T which took place on October 19, 2004 at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It was the first annual Taboo Tuesday event, marking the first time in which the fans were given the chance to vote on stipulations for the matches. The voting for the event started on October 18, 2004 and ended during the event. The event starred wrestlers from the Raw brand. The main event was a Steel cage match, which is fought in a cage with four sheets of mesh metal around, in, or against the edges of the wrestling ring, in which Randy Orton competed against Ric Flair. Two bouts were featured on the undercard. In respective singles matches, World Heavyweight Champion Triple H defended against challenger Shawn Michaels and Gene Snitsky fought Kane in a Weapon of Choice match.

Armageddon (2004) was the fifth annual Armageddon PPV. It was presented by PlayStation, and took place on December 12, 2004 at the Gwinnett Center in the Atlanta suburb of Duluth, Georgia. The event featured wrestlers and other talent from WWE's SmackDown! brand. The main event was a Fatal-Four Way match for the WWE Championship involving champion John "Bradshaw" Layfield (JBL), Booker T, Eddie Guerrero and The Undertaker. One of the predominant matches on the undercard was The Big Show versus Kurt Angle, Mark Jindrak and Luther Reigns in a Handicap match. Another primary match on the card was John Cena versus Jesús in a Street Fight for the WWE United States Championship.

Backlash (2005) was the seventh annual Backlash PPV. It took place on May 1, 2005 at the Verizon Wireless Arena in Manchester, New Hampshire and was presented by Namco's Tekken 5. The event starred talent from the Raw brand. In the main event, Batista defended the World Title in a singles match against Triple H. From the five scheduled bouts on the undercard, two received more promotion than the others. The first was a tag team match, in which Shawn Michaels and Hulk Hogan challenged Muhammad Hassan and Daivari. The other was a Last Man Standing match between Chris Benoit and Edge.

Judgment Day (2005) was the seventh annual PPV of the same name and took place on May 22, 2005 at the Target Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It was presented by Clearasil. The event featured wrestlers and other talent that performed on the SmackDown! program. The main event was an "I Quit" match featuring two wrestlers fighting until one stated "I Quit." WWE Champion John Cena defended the title against John "Bradshaw" Layfield (JBL). Two featured bouts were scheduled on the undercard. In respective standard wrestling matches, Rey Mysterio fought Eddie Guerrero and Kurt Angle fought Booker T.

Vengeance (2005) was a professional wrestling PPV event presented by THQ's Juiced, which took place on June 26, 2005 at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. It was the fifth annual Vengeance event. The event starred wrestlers from the Raw brand. The main event was a Hell in a Cell match for the World Heavyweight Championship between Batista and Triple H. One of the predominant matches on the card was John Cena versus Chris Jericho versus Christian in a Triple Threat match for the WWE Championship. Another primary match on the undercard was Kurt Angle versus Shawn Michaels in a rematch of their bout at WrestleMania 21.

The Great American Bash (2005) was a professional wrestling PPV that took place on July 24, 2005, at the HSBC Arena in Buffalo, New York. The event featured wrestlers and other talent that performed on the SmackDown! program. The main event was Batista defending the World Heavyweight Championship against John "Bradshaw" Layfield (JBL). One of the featured matches on the undercard was Rey Mysterio versus Eddie Guerrero while the other was Orlando Jordan versus Chris Benoit for the WWE United States Championship. The event grossed over $375,000 in ticket sales from an attendance of 8,000, and received about 233,000 pay-per-view buys, the same amount as the following year's event. The event was also available free of charge for Armed Forces members and their families.

SummerSlam (2005) was the eighteenth annual SummerSlam professional wrestling PPV event. It was presented by THQ's WWE Day of Reckoning 2 and took place on August 21, 2005 at the MCI Center in Washington, D.C. featured talent from the Raw and SmackDown! brands. The main match on the Raw brand was Hulk Hogan versus Shawn Michaels. The predominant match on the SmackDown brand was a No Holds Barred match for the World Heavyweight Championship between Batista and John "Bradshaw" Layfield (JBL). Another primary match on the Raw brand was for the WWE Championship between John Cena and Chris Jericho. The main match on the undercard featured a Ladder match for the custody of Dominick between Rey Mysterio and Eddie Guerrero.

Unforgiven (2005) was the seventh annual Unforgiven PPV and took place on September 18, 2005 at the Ford Center in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The event featured wrestlers and other talent that performed on the Raw program. To date, it is the only WWE pay-per-view event ever to be held in the state of Oklahoma. The main event was a standard wrestling match, in which Kurt Angle challenged WWE Champion John Cena. Two featured bouts on the undercard was another standard match, in which Shawn Michaels fought Chris Masters and a steel cage match, where the ring is enclosed by a steel cage, in which Matt Hardy fought Edge. Unforgiven grossed over $485,000 in ticket sales from an attendance of approximately 8,000, and received about 243,000 pay-per-view buys.

No Mercy (2005) was the eighth annual No Mercy professional wrestling PPV and was presented by Sony's PlayStation 2. It took place on October 9, 2005 at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas and featured wrestlers and other talent from WWE's SmackDown! brand. The main event was a standard wrestling match, in which World Heavyweight Champion Batista defended against challenger Eddie Guerrero. One of the featured preliminary matches was a Casket match between The Ortons (Randy and "Cowboy" Bob) and The Undertaker. Another primary preliminary match was a standard match between John "Bradshaw" Layfield (JBL) and Rey Mysterio.

Taboo Tuesday (2005) was a professional wrestling PPV event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), which took place on November 1, 2005 at the iPayOne Center in San Diego, California. It was the second annual Taboo Tuesday event in which the fans were given the chance to vote on stipulations for the matches. The voting for the event started on October 24, 2005 and ended during the event. The event starred wrestlers from the Raw brand. The main event was a Triple Threat match for the WWE Championship featuring Kurt Angle, John Cena and Shawn Michaels. Two bouts were featured on the undercard. The first was a Steel Cage match for the WWE Intercontinental Championship where Ric Flair fought Triple H. The other featured an Interpromotional tag team match where Rey Mysterio and Matt Hardy (SmackDown!) defeated Chris Masters and Snitsky (Raw).

Armageddon (2005) was the sixth Armageddon PPV. It was presented by Microsoft's XBox 360, and took place on December 18, 2005 at the Dunkin' Donuts Center in Providence, Rhode Island and was a SmackDown! brand-exclusive event. The main event was a Hell in a Cell match between Randy Orton and The Undertaker. One of the predominant matches on the card was an Interpromotional tag team match between WWE Tag Team Champions Batista and Rey Mysterio and World Tag Team Champions Big Show and Kane. Another primary match on the undercard was Booker T versus Chris Benoit in the fourth match of their "Best of 7" series for the vacant WWE United States Championship.

New Year's Revolution (2006) was the second annual New Year's Revolution PPV. It was presented by Specialty Board Games' WWE DVD Board Game and took place on January 8, 2006 at the Pepsi Arena in Albany, New York and starred talent from the Raw brand. The main event was an Elimination Chamber match for the WWE Championship involving champion John Cena, Kurt Angle, Shawn Michaels, Kane, Carlito, and Chris Masters. One of the predominant matches on the card was Triple H versus The Big Show. Another primary match on the undercard was Ric Flair versus Edge for the WWE Intercontinental Championship.

Backlash (2006) was a PPV which took place on April 30, 2006 at the Rupp Arena in Lexington, Kentucky. It was presented by Topps. It was the eighth event under the Backlash name and featured wrestlers and other talent that performed on the Raw brand. The first main event was a Triple Threat match for the WWE Championship, which saw John Cena defend against challengers Triple H and Edge. The second main event was Shawn Michaels and "God" versus Vince and Shane McMahon in a No Holds Barred match. The third main event was a "Title versus Briefcase match" between Rob Van Dam (the Money in the Bank holder) and Shelton Benjamin (the Intercontinental Champion).

Judgment Day (2006) was the eighth annual Judgment Day PPV. It was presented by Vyotech Nutritionals and took place on May 21, 2006 at the US Airways Center in Phoenix, Arizona and featured talent from the SmackDown! brand. The main event was Rey Mysterio versus John "Bradshaw" Layfield for the World Heavyweight Championship. One of the predominant matches on the card was Booker T versus Bobby Lashley in the finals of the 2006 King of the Ring tournament. Another primary match on the undercard was Kurt Angle versus Mark Henry.

SummerSlam (2006) was the nineteenth annual SummerSlam PPV. It took place on August 20, 2006 at the TD Banknorth Garden in Boston, Massachusetts, and featured performers from the Raw, SmackDown!, and ECW brands. This marked the first inter-brand pay-per-view to feature the ECW brand. The main match on the Raw brand was Edge versus John Cena for the WWE Championship. The featured match on the SmackDown! brand was King Booker versus Batista for the World Heavyweight Championship. The primary match on the ECW brand was The Big Show versus Sabu in an Extreme rules match for the ECW World Championship. The featured matches on the undercard included D-Generation X (Triple H and Shawn Michaels) versus Vince and Shane McMahon) and Hulk Hogan versus Randy Orton.

No Mercy (2006) was the ninth annual No Mercy PPV. It took place on October 8, 2006 from the RBC Center in Raleigh, North Carolina and was a SmackDown! brand-exclusive event. The main event was a Fatal Four-Way match for the World Heavyweight Championship between defending champion King Booker, Bobby Lashley, Batista, and Finlay. One of the predominant matches on the card was Mr. Kennedy versus The Undertaker. Another primary match on the undercard was Rey Mysterio versus Chavo Guerrero in a Falls Count Anywhere match.

Cyber Sunday (2006) was the first annual Cyber Sunday PPV. It took place on November 5, 2006 at the U.S. Bank Arena in Cincinnati, Ohio replacing Taboo Tuesday. This event had the unique feature of being interactive. Fans could vote for selective characteristics in the scheduled matches, including opponents, stipulations, match types, etc. The voting for the event started on October 16, 2006, and ended during the event. The main event was the "Champion of Champions" match, between WWE's three top champions. The three champions in the match were WWE Champion John Cena, World Heavyweight Champion King Booker, and ECW World Champion The Big Show. The fans could vote for who would defend their championship in this match. The predominant match on the card was D-Generation X versus Rated-RKO. The featured matches on the undercard were Jeff Hardy versus Carlito for the WWE Intercontinental Championship and Lita versus Mickie James in a Diva Lumberjack match for the WWE Women's Championship.

December to Dismember (2006) was a PPV event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), which took place on December 3, 2006 at the James Brown Arena in Augusta, Georgia. The event starred wrestlers from the ECW brand . The main attraction on the event card was an Extreme Elimination Chamber match for the ECW World Championship. The six participants were defending champion Big Show, Bobby Lashley, Rob Van Dam, Hardcore Holly, CM Punk and Test. The featured bout on the undercard was a tag team bout between The Hardys and MNM (Joey Mercury and Johnny Nitro). The event had an attendance of 4,800 and received about 90,000 pay-per-view buys, the lowest buyrate in WWE history.