I may be a traditionalist, or you could say old fashioned, but I always preferred WWE having 4 or 5 major PPV events a year, Royal Rumble, WrestleMania, King Of The Ring, SummerSlam, Survivor Series. I just think they meant more. 

 

Now I understand why WWE needed to go to monthly shows, and I think from a business point of view they possibly left it too long, WCW were destroying them in the ratings at the time, but when they started with In Your House events, they just felt like glorified TV specials to me, filler as we waited for the next major show. They of course grew, and WWE dropped the In Your House name and began to individually name the monthly events in 1999.

 

These events of course have had their highlights, their major talking points, their great matches and their major title changes, but none of the events have been able to establish themselves as the traditional big 5 did, in the hearts or minds of wrestling fans (Certainly not this one). A couple of these new names, Unforgiven and Judgment Day for example, stayed around for quite a while, but they have always felt like a stepping stone in between the next major show for me, I don't believe any have become an event people look forward to at the start of a year, as you would for the Rumble or Mania.

 

The events calendar now is better, I like that they theme events around a certain format to make them unique, Elimination Chamber, Extreme Rules, Night Of Champions, Hell In A Cell, TLC and of course the new BattleGround coming in October, which it is rumoured will see the return of WarGames.

 

These events have had a positive effect on WWE, the money they have raised has allowed WWE to increase their production values to an incredible level, probably unmatchable by any other promotion. WrestleMania gets bigger every year, but for me these monthly specials are detracting from the traditional big 5 and that is worrying.

 

For older fans who were around in the 80's and 90's the major shows will always have a special feel, but for younger fans they may just be the next event. The Royal Rumble will always be special due to the unique main event, and WrestleMania is in a league of its own, with the arena settings, the incredible production values and the return of great names each year. I worry about the rest. We already lost King Of The Ring back in 2002, after the brand split. WWE needed to divide the PPV calendar between the two brands, but wanted to keep the traditional shows as well, that worked out at 4 smaller shows each, which meant they only had room for four of the big 5, and KOTR, which was the youngest of them, got the chop. That was a mistake for me, they could have given the two brands 3 events each and host a special at Christmas each year, for example bring in stars from another country to work against WWE stars, or each other, to showcase their promotion or nation's top guys. After the death of WCW and ECW in 2001 WWE had the monopoly on the market, they could have used their dominance to lift wrestling as a whole to a new level of popularity, and would allow WWE fans to see wrestlers, and styles of wrestling you wouldn't get to see on PPV otherwise. For example a Japanese event, what WWE fan wouldn't like to see Great Muta and the like showcasing themselves at the pinnacle of wrestling. Maybe one of those stars in the special event could be rewarded with a guest spot in the Royal Rumble the following month, WWE could allow its fans to vote on the star they liked best via their website. It would also give young and upcoming stars national and international exposure which could help in their development. SummerSlam always gets great numbers, and as long as that continues it will be fine, but it does not have a defined USP like the Rumble does, so it has to work harder to get those viewers. Survivor Series however is in real trouble, this event has had a USP, the elimination tag team matches were great back in the early days, but WWE decided to change the format gradually, and the traditional matches full of people being forced to team with others they wouldn't normally work with, against a team of stars doing the same, with each member or tag team being eliminated one at a time, allowing the competitors time to tell a great story as the match unfolded is no more, we now only get one traditional match (If we’re lucky), and the thing that made Survivor Series stand out being all but removed has had a devastating impact on its viewing figures, and more importantly for WWE its buy rate. Survivor Series has been in trouble of being axed since 2009. WWE actually announced in early 2010 that the decision had been made to drop the event, however a backlash from fans made WWE change their stance and re-add it to their schedule a few months later. Its viewing figures have not improved however, and WWE were very disappointed that even the ring return of The Rock in 2011 couldn't save it from a low viewing score.

 

This is a prime example of why I would like WWE to return to their traditional format. 5 major events a year. They don't need the individual brand shows any more, the brand split is over, they don't need to compete with anyone else, their rivals have gone (Even the most hardcore TNA fan couldn't say TNA are on a level par with WWE, and they do not do monthly PPV anyway). It will also improve the product creatively, as things stand the creative team are forced to write bite size stories and must start, build, and get the payoff from a feud in a matter of weeks, and with such a small roster we are seeing the same people feuding with each other time and again. Reverting to the old format would allow them the freedom to write and build a fully rounded feud, the stars wouldn't need to wrestle each other 2 or 3 times a week to build a rivalry as quickly as possible, as they do now, they could build it up gradually through promos, and the payoff, when it finally comes, and the two stars are face to face on a supercard PPV, would be so much more impactful.

 

Fewer PPV would equal more time, and would greatly improve the product, stars would have time to deliver promos again, not just two or three great talkers doing so for an hour. Also with more time, the stars involved in a feud wouldn't need to be in the ring against each other constantly, they could be having their own match, with a promo playing in the corner of the screen to keep the feud alive, as they did in the 80's. It was the feuds you remembered from back then, not just a great match, DiBiase vs Jake, Savage vs Hogan, Hogan vs Warrior, Boss Man vs Heenan. These were great because they were given the time to become great, bring back those days!!!.

 

I would reinstate King Of The Ring to the calendar. This event was unique, and was a great addition to the PPV calendar in 1993. The one night elimination tournament had been held as a special since the mid 80's, with the title of King of WWE awarded to the winner. Usually that would last for a year, but one year had two tournaments. In 1987 Harley Race debuted for WWF, and the company policy of not recognising other promotions meant they had to establish his legacy, skills, achievements and importance to the WWF audience, so they held another KOTR tournament, which he won to become King Harley Race. This led to a new era for the role, where the sitting King could be challenged for the cape, sceptre, and the name King. After Race was injured Haku was given the role, he dropped it to Hacksaw Jim Duggan, who then lost it to Macho Man (Then becoming King) Randy Savage, he held it until he was retired following losing his WrestleMania 7 match vs Ultimate Warrior in 1991. There was a one night event after Savage dropped the name King in '91, won by Bret Hart as part of his solo push, and it is Bret that was the reason for KOTR being promoted onto the PPV schedule two years later in 1993. A planned feud between Bret Hart and Hulk Hogan following WrestleMania 9, which was to culminate at SummerSlam, was pulled when Hogan refused to wrestle Hart, meaning WWE held the new show to allow Hogan to drop the belt back to Yokozuna, and for Bret to be given the honour of winning the first PPV KOTR tournament to make up for not getting the WWF title back, he had to wait until the following years Mania 10 to finally re-capture the gold.

 

The PPV Calendar should look like this...

 

 

• January - Royal Rumble.

• April – WrestleMania.

• June - King Of The Ring.

• August – SummerSlam.

• November - Survivor Series.

 

The question is would WWE cut 7 major revenue streams a year for the good of their product???. Probably not, unfortunately.