10 Better Ways WWE Could Utilise The British Fanbase

5. Hold A Major Pay-Per-View Show In The UK

Not a UK only PPV, a 'proper' one. The WWE previously held "UK only pay-per-views" here during the Attitude era boom. However, they quickly lost their shine once fans realised that what happened on the UK shows actually meant nothing in the grand scheme of things in the WWE's storylines. Title switches were reversed by the time they got back to American shores and the lineups became weaker as time went on. The WWE has only ever had one major PPV eminate from the UK and that was the famous SummerSlam 1992 show from Wembley Stadium. It was a huge success, with 80,000 fans packing Wembley, Bret Hart and Davey Boy Smith tearing down the house in the 1992 Match of the Year and the WWE grossing $3.6 million in revenue, with merchandise sales through the roof. Despite rumours of other big shows coming to our shores, including rumours of WrestleMania, nothing has ever materialised. The time difference is often cited as the reason why. SummerSlam 92 was recorded on August 29th 1992 but wasn't aired on PPV in the United States until two days later. Obviously nowadays, with instant worldwide communication being available online, spoilers would be available in the blink of an eye, but it would be down to the fans to choose whether to seek them out or not. However, the landscape is changing. The launch of the WWE Network in the US means that PPV buy rates are no longer the be all and end all of the WWE's major show market. It's now all about the Network subscription rates. This means that the barriers that prevented a UK PPV previously around time differences and how that would harm buy rates are no longer quite so significant. The time has therefore never been better for a PPV hosted from the UK. People will travel from across the UK to witness Survivor Series in November or Extreme Rules in May. It could very well be that, once the Network is finally launched in the UK, that a big show (not Big Show) will follow.