6 Best WWE Pay-Per-View Segments
Who needs matches, anyway?
Take out the two Elimination Chambers and the main attraction at Raw's upcoming February pay-per-view of the same name becomes Ronda Rousey sitting in an office chair that has absolutely no business being in a wrestling ring and signing her WWE contract (or at least pretending to).
Predictably, this news has been greeted with all of the usual objections from wrestling purists (along with people who have an irrational phobia of pens). While filling the opening 20 minutes of Raw or SmackDown with mere talking is seen as a necessary evil, it's much harder to sell fans on the idea that precious pay-per-view time should be dedicated to something other than an official match.
You can see both sides of the argument here. Having secured the signature of one of the biggest MMA stars of all-time, WWE is understandably keen to give her the biggest entrance possible. On the other hand, nobody is spending $9.99 a month to watch a woman capable of knocking an opponent out in 16 seconds practice her handwriting.
There's hope, though. WWE history is littered with pay-per-views which have featured talky preamble segments in addition to matches - and not all of them have completely sucked.
6. Piper's Pit (WrestleMania 21)
Piper's Pit, hosted by the late, great Roddy Piper, is the wrestling talk show to which all subsequent wrestling talk shows will forever owe a debt of gratitude. Without it, there probably would have been no Highlight Reel, nevermind Miz TV or the short-lived Cafe de René.
With this in mind, it was pretty easy for fans in attendance at WrestleMania 21 to accept that part of their evening was going to be spent watching two part-timers trade verbal barbs, particularly since the man standing opposite Piper was none other than Stone Cold Steve Austin.
As expected, just as it looked like they might come to blows, their confrontation was interrupted by a young Carlito, who duly took a well-deserved ass-kicking for disrespecting his elders before Austin (of course) finished up by delivering a Stone Cold Stunner to Piper and necking a can of beer.
It was a segment that could have easily taken place on a Raw supershow, to be fair, but few of those in the Los Angeles crowd complained about seeing it on the Grandest Stage of Them All. When it's two of the biggest characters in WWE history, you can't really blame them for making you pay.