For quite a few years now, among other PPV's, Hell In a Cell has become a yearly event. Sometimes, more than one Hell In a Cell match happens and it can be overkill. For instance, I disliked TNA's PPV Lockdown, which featured every match on the card in a Steel Cage. To me, it caused the Steel Cage match to be seen as not as special. That's my problem with Hell In a Cell and gimmick PPV's in general. Before I explain further, I wanted to address something, which sparked my idea for writing this blog.
Hell In a Cell is usually in October but has been moved to September due to the placement of Evolution. After SummerSlam, plans went forward towards Hell In a Cell. On Raw this week, Braun Strowman said he will cash in his "Money In the Bank" contract against Universal Champion Roman Reigns at the show in a Hell In a Cell match. By Raw's end, everything got confusing. Braun was doing the honorable thing by letting his opponent know ahead of time when he could be cashing in. Also, Braun mentioned it would be a good way to make sure the rest of The Shield wouldn't be able to interfere. Later on, Braun turned on Roman during their tag team match against Dolph Ziggler and Drew McIntyre, joining together with them to turn heel again, which in my opinion, is a mistake due to Braun's popularity. I can somewhat understand why the Roman/Braun match will be in the Cell but I don't think it's personal enough of a feud to warrant the stipulation.
Along with this match set up for the PPV, we were told Ronda Rousey would defend her Raw Women's Title against former Champion Alexa Bliss. As we roll into Smackdown, we already know Hell In a Cell will feature Daniel Bryan and Brie Bella vs. The Miz & Maryse, as well as AJ Styles vs. Samoa Joe and Jeff Hardy vs. Randy Orton. Jeff Hardy said his match with Orton at the PPV will be inside Hell In a Cell. Meanwhile, AJ and Joe's match will not. I don't understand this one bit. You're going to tell me that Hardy/Orton with nothing on the line deserves the Cell but an extremely personal blood feud between AJ and Joe for the WWF Title does not! How does that make sense? I'm coming to terms with Roman/Braun in the Cell and the fact that it will main event the show. However, I can't get behind the need for Orton/Hardy to be inside the Cell, yet not AJ/Joe. This brings me to why I'm writing this blog.
I feel that WWE should stop with some of the gimmick PPV's. These shows and matches seem less special when they are shown often, even once a year. I don't like the idea that some of the matches are going to be Hell In a Cell just because it's that time of year. It's lazy booking in my opinion. The same goes for Extreme Rules, TLC, and I may get hate for this, even Elimination Chamber. Now, don't get it twisted and call me a hypocrite because I don't feel the same way on the Royal Rumble and Survivor Series. Those are 30 plus year traditions that add to the stories, especially the Rumble. Now, Money In the Bank has risen to become an important and necessary PPV. However, when it comes to the ones I mentioned, I believe in a little thing called "less is more." These gimmick matches should be earned due to the severity of the feuds going on, not based on what time of year it is. When a feud calls for Hell In a Cell, Extreme Rules, Ladder, Table, Elimination Chamber, or whatever else, the match will be seen as special because something in the story must have caused a stipulation like those to be needed.
Remember when a Steel Cage match was something special? For longer than I care to remember, the match has lost all meaning. Even Hell In a Cell and Elimination Chamber matches have become somewhat run of the mill. In regards to Extreme Rules, WWE is barely able to put on shows that are seen as extreme enough. Something like a Ladder Match or TLC should be a feud ender! There was a time when the Cage match was that. I just don't understand it! WWE thinks that more content is better but I disagree. The problem with wrestling today is over saturation. It's one of the reasons I don't like Raw being three plus hours. For the last 20 plus years, big time matches happen on free television way too much. By the time the match happens at the PPV, which is supposed to be a big event, fans don't care as much because they already saw it. For instance, they blew a huge match like John Cena vs. Shinsuke Nakamura on a random Smackdown when it should have happened at SummerSlam 2017. Didn't they learn anything from the Hogan/Goldberg WCW Title match on Nitro in 1998? While I feel like they did the Daniel Bryan/Miz match too early, there are ways to extend this to WrestleMania without it being seen as boring or old news.
There is simply no need for some of these gimmick PPV's. I understand wanting to keep your audience interested in the product but in the long run, these matches and shows are losing what make them special. I mentioned the Elimination Chamber as something to be dropped as a yearly thing. Generally, at least with two brands, the Chamber creates a number one contender for the other Championship that the Royal Rumble winner is not challenging for at WrestleMania. In my opinion, it lessens the importance of the Rumble slightly. Without a brand split, it becomes even more unnecessary. The first two times the Elimination Chamber happened, it was out of feuds and creativity. Who could forget the first one when Shawn Michaels made his monster comeback to win his first World Title in over four years? The second one was to extend the Triple H/Goldberg feud and give Randy Orton a bigger platform. The third one occurred at New Year's Revolution, which then became a yearly thing, and we started seeing the Chamber once a year for no reason other than it being February. It would be great to use it tie in some intertwined feuds as something that shows up every once in a while.
This is unrelated to this specific topic but has to do with the less is more approach. There is simply too much content, both on TV and PPV. For instance, Raw at three hours is simply too long. We don't really see that much extra in that time. We see clips of something that happened at the beginning of Raw several times in the show and that cuts precious time that could have been used for a match involving someone who could use the time to showcase his or her skills. Also, as much as WWE claims that both brands are equal, Raw being three hours shows they put it first over Smackdown. Cutting back to two hours would be great! Ideally, WWE would like us to watch Raw and Smackdown, as well as WWE Network shows like 205 Live and NXT, among other things. Soon, we will be given the NXT UK brand as well. A friend of mine brought up a good point about SummerSlam recently. The show was given a two-hour kick-off and went to four full hours. There were a lot of matches and with so much time, many things still seemed fairly rushed.
I can get behind the "Big Four" having the extra hour but we don't need a two-hour kick-off show. They can barely fit in one or two matches within that time frame somehow. If it were up to me, the "Big Four" would have a one-hour kick-off. The other PPV's should go back to three hours and have a half-hour kick-off. That's more than enough. Even NXT's Takeover shows only need 30 minutes for their kick-offs. The two-hour kick-offs we saw at WrestleMania and SummerSlam were full of mostly nonsense and even the matches barely got much time.
In my opinion, 205 Live is an unnecessary show. Just because it is on the WWE Network, that doesn't mean the same fans that watch it also watch NXT. There are probably many people that don't watch anything beyond Raw and Smackdown and I think that's fair. I myself, watch Raw, Smackdown, and NXT. I feel like 205 Live is almost a death sentence when it comes to careers. Once the Cruiserweight division left Raw, I think many fans are not aware of what is happening. For me, 205 Live doesn't hold my interest and I think it is holding back some talents, such as Cedric Alexander. In general, I think the Cruiserweight division itself type casts a lot of these wrestlers. I think a big problem with 205 Live is its placement. It's live but right after Smackdown, when many people are leaving the arena and the crowd is noticeably smaller on the show. If anything, I'd put it on another day of the week if it is to be kept. I'd even use it as a possible lead-in for NXT. However, I do think another day of the week might help their viewership. They need to spread things out a little. There's almost too much content and that's just WWE. Some people watch content from other companies like New Japan, Ring of Honor, Impact, and Lucha Underground, for instance. It's hard to keep up! Plus, the WWE Network has new content often and a plethora of content in general. I promise that is the last tangent I will go on. My basic premise is that WWE should eliminate unnecessary gimmick Pay-Per-Views.
There is simply no need for some of these gimmick PPV's. I understand wanting to keep your audience interested in the product but in the long run, these matches and shows are losing what make them special. I mentioned the Elimination Chamber as something to be dropped as a yearly thing. Generally, at least with two brands, the Chamber creates a number one contender for the other Championship that the Royal Rumble winner is not challenging for at WrestleMania. In my opinion, it lessens the importance of the Rumble slightly. Without a brand split, it becomes even more unnecessary. The first two times the Elimination Chamber happened, it was out of feuds and creativity. Who could forget the first one when Shawn Michaels made his monster comeback to win his first World Title in over four years? The second one was to extend the Triple H/Goldberg feud and give Randy Orton a bigger platform. The third one occurred at New Year's Revolution, which then became a yearly thing, and we started seeing the Chamber once a year for no reason other than it being February. It would be great to use it tie in some intertwined feuds as something that shows up every once in a while.
This is unrelated to this specific topic but has to do with the less is more approach. There is simply too much content, both on TV and PPV. For instance, Raw at three hours is simply too long. We don't really see that much extra in that time. We see clips of something that happened at the beginning of Raw several times in the show and that cuts precious time that could have been used for a match involving someone who could use the time to showcase his or her skills. Also, as much as WWE claims that both brands are equal, Raw being three hours shows they put it first over Smackdown. Cutting back to two hours would be great! Ideally, WWE would like us to watch Raw and Smackdown, as well as WWE Network shows like 205 Live and NXT, among other things. Soon, we will be given the NXT UK brand as well. A friend of mine brought up a good point about SummerSlam recently. The show was given a two-hour kick-off and went to four full hours. There were a lot of matches and with so much time, many things still seemed fairly rushed.
I can get behind the "Big Four" having the extra hour but we don't need a two-hour kick-off show. They can barely fit in one or two matches within that time frame somehow. If it were up to me, the "Big Four" would have a one-hour kick-off. The other PPV's should go back to three hours and have a half-hour kick-off. That's more than enough. Even NXT's Takeover shows only need 30 minutes for their kick-offs. The two-hour kick-offs we saw at WrestleMania and SummerSlam were full of mostly nonsense and even the matches barely got much time.
In my opinion, 205 Live is an unnecessary show. Just because it is on the WWE Network, that doesn't mean the same fans that watch it also watch NXT. There are probably many people that don't watch anything beyond Raw and Smackdown and I think that's fair. I myself, watch Raw, Smackdown, and NXT. I feel like 205 Live is almost a death sentence when it comes to careers. Once the Cruiserweight division left Raw, I think many fans are not aware of what is happening. For me, 205 Live doesn't hold my interest and I think it is holding back some talents, such as Cedric Alexander. In general, I think the Cruiserweight division itself type casts a lot of these wrestlers. I think a big problem with 205 Live is its placement. It's live but right after Smackdown, when many people are leaving the arena and the crowd is noticeably smaller on the show. If anything, I'd put it on another day of the week if it is to be kept. I'd even use it as a possible lead-in for NXT. However, I do think another day of the week might help their viewership. They need to spread things out a little. There's almost too much content and that's just WWE. Some people watch content from other companies like New Japan, Ring of Honor, Impact, and Lucha Underground, for instance. It's hard to keep up! Plus, the WWE Network has new content often and a plethora of content in general. I promise that is the last tangent I will go on. My basic premise is that WWE should eliminate unnecessary gimmick Pay-Per-Views.
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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