Since WrestleMania XI in 1995, WWE has had at least one PPV per month. In the last ten years or so, there have been up to as many as 16, if not more. Some will say that wrestling fans today don't have the attention span to watch a buildup for a match without getting bored. That may be the case for some, but I believe that's because wrestling fans have almost been conditioned not to have an attention span. I really believe in the "less is more" approach and that there is such a thing as overkill. I understand that things change but there was a time when a steel cage match was special. Heck, now Hell In a Cell has become a run of the mill thing! In my opinion, there are way too many PPV's these days. Even one a month is too much! As soon as one show ends, they immediately are forced into building to the next one in four weeks or less. Either that, or there's little to no buildup by the time the next show arrives.
I have created my ideal scenario and for the record, I tried to compromise and did not scale it all the way back to four. I'm smart enough to know that's not ideal and this company needs to make a profit on the gate, merchandise, and Network subscriptions. However, I still feel that 12 is too many for a year. Some shows such as WrestleMania especially, need a much longer buildup. I think it's no longer ideal to have shows in between the Royal Rumble and WrestleMania. I wouldn't be opposed to something like a Saturday Night's Main Event or even a small 2 hour Network special in between but I would get rid of those PPV's in between. And yes, I am referring to the Elimination Chamber! Even that match has lost its luster! In fact, I would remove Extreme Rules, Hell In a Cell and TLC as yearly PPV's. They're not special anymore when they seem mandatory just because it's that time of the year. Those are specialty matches that should only occur when deemed necessary because of an angle's heat.
For those of you that might throw the Royal Rumble in my face, that's a completely different animal. The Royal Rumble is a tradition and it sets the course for what we call the "Road To WrestleMania." Survivor Series had lost its true meaning a long time ago but WWE has at least tried to mend that in the last year or so by having a few elimination style matches. Since it seems Money In the Bank isn't going anywhere, I would keep this around as well. This year, with WWE deciding to have co-branded shows, there will be both a men's and women's Money In the Bank ladder match, with half the superstars from Raw and half from Smackdown competing. That could be the traditional multi-person ladder match but any other time in the year that some form of a ladder match occurs, it would need to be the result of ending a feud.
My ideal PPV schedule is as follows. There will be seven PPV's per year. There will obviously be the big four in the Royal Rumble, WrestleMania, SummerSlam, and Survivor Series. The other three will be Backlash, Money In the Bank, and what was just seen at November's NXT Takeover, War Games. The largest time frame for buildup will be between the Rumble and WrestleMania, with a full 10 weeks. Leading up to the other three of the big four, there will be 8 weeks of buildup. Leading up to the 3 other PPV's will be six weeks of buildup. I wanted to share my reasoning for the other PPV's I decided on. I chose Backlash to be the next PPV after WrestleMania. It's the perfect name, as it's the backlash of what happened at WrestleMania, used for rematches, things that did not end just yet at WrestleMania, or things that came from WrestleMania. After that, since there are over four months between WrestleMania and SummerSlam, will be six weeks later with Money In the Bank. It has become such a tradition that it eventually became its own PPV.
That leads to one PPV between SummerSlam and November's tradition, Survivor Series. I decided to go with War Games. It was a popular attraction in the NWA and WCW before and I think Takeover did it justice, even with the changes they made. I'm not sure if they will be bringing that match back again this year but it's something I'd like to see. There's never a shortage of factions or teams that make sense. It would be a great way to end long-term feuds. Also, I feel it would be the perfect lead-in for Survivor Series. With 8 weeks in between, it wouldn't be overkill to do this. Not to mention, the elimination matches at Survivor Series have completely different rules than War Games.
I would also keep the Takeover Specials on the nights before the big four. In between the seven PPV's for the year would be super shows of sorts. Years ago, WWE used to do a Saturday Night's Main Event a month before WrestleMania. This would take place in February with last minute things being added, still with five weeks to build towards WrestleMania. The next ideal time for one of these would be in the middle of the 8 week lead-up towards SummerSlam. There are two more shows I have in mind but they will not be Saturday Night's Main Event. What has now become a PPV to replace Night of Champions, I would do two Clash of the Champions events on television, possibly on the Network, with both having themes. The first would be in October a month before Survivor Series and the theme will take from another WCW idea, Halloween Havoc. The second would take place in December between the Survivor Series and the Royal Rumble and I would refer to it as Starrcade. This past November, WWE did a major house show with that name, including some old school superstars that competed at the original Starrcade like the Rock n' Roll Express.
Saturday Night's Main Event and Clash of the Champions can be shows that sometimes end feuds that aren't important enough or long enough to end at the major PPV's. That way, there's at least something bigger than a regular Raw or Smackdown that brief feuds could end at. It would also be a great way to create angles towards the other PPV's. If I had to, I could make this into 8 PPV's, which might be a little more realistic. In that case, I might have to add a PPV between the Rumble and WrestleMania, which I'd rather not do, or maybe between War Games and Survivor Series. I doubt WWE will ever go for this but I hope at the very least they stick to only 12 PPV's a year. I still think that's a lot but anymore than that is simply ridiculous. It's hard to find time to invest in one when another is around the corner in just a few weeks time.
If you have any further thoughts on this topic, let me know in comments. Heck, let us all know on The WAR Report podcast, every Tuesday at 7PM EST on YouTube, brought to you by tagmeadate.com, the first and only dating site for wrestling fans. Go to askthewarreport@gmail.com or #askthewarreport. For TagMeADate members, our Android and Apple apps are vastly approaching so stay tuned!
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