With pay-per-view taking a decided backseat to the WWE Network, the idea has been put forth to reduce the number of WWE pay-per-views from its annual dozen. This is actually a reasonable idea. Since nothing of note really happens at secondary events like Payback and Fastlane and Night of Champions, there's really no point in spending three weeks building matches for something that's largely going to be ignored. Keep the big five pay-per-views (Royal Rumble, WrestleMania, Money in the Bank, SummerSlam, Survivor Series), and run seven live specials on the Network on Saturdays in the vein of October's Madison Square Garden show, or the upcoming Toronto event. Hey, bring back Saturday Night's Main Event as a Network exclusive - you don't have to waste the whole roster on insta-feuds that way. If the pay-per-view output is indeed going to diminish, I can't say I'll miss some of the poorer concepts all that much. Once WWE had the idea of expanding their calendar to monthly pay-specials, a period of over-saturation began in earnest. With the pressure to adhere to the calendar, some truly lame ideas for pay-per-views were verbalized at boardroom meetings in Stamford, and you wondered who would plunk down upwards of 55 dollars American to see these shows, based on their selling points.
Justin has been a wrestling fan since 1989, and has been writing about it since 2009. Since 2014, Justin has been a features writer and interviewer for Fighting Spirit Magazine. Justin also writes for History of Wrestling, and is a contributing author to James Dixon's Titan series.
