10 Bold Predictions For Wrestling In 2021
2. WWE Drops A Major Event From Its Calendar
In 2009, WWE experimented with gimmick pay-per-views. They didn't necessarily prove successful.
After a strong start - the inaugural Hell In A Cell drew 300,000 domestic buys on the strength of its novelty and three titular matches - the concept doomed itself to relative failure very, very quickly. The 2010 edition drew 210,000, shaving off the prior year's number by almost a full third. TLC fared similarly, though the drop wasn't quite as severe. Nor was the launch as successful.
The data indicates that these pay-per-views should have remained an experiment, but then, WWE had little need to experiment further. To the detriment of so much long-term storytelling and special attraction saturation, these PPVs simply presented enough matches people would watch.
Your writer opined that WWE is at this point resistant to such fundamental operational change, but something surely has to give. To put into perspective how long WWE has persisted with a consensus damaging model, under which nothing can ever escalate to an amazing, organic peak, 11 years represents the difference between Hulk Hogan slamming André the Giant at WrestleMania III and Steve Austin winning his first WWF Title.
For no reason beyond "It f*cking has to end at some point, Jesus Christ," in 2021, WWE will drop one such event from its calendar.