10 Things WWE Can Learn From New Japan Pro Wrestling

2. Making The PPV Shows Feel Special And Not Repetitive

In today€™s WWE, there are only two annual PPVs that really feel special and worth watching. One is the Royal Rumble, due to the eponymous match that only takes place at this event, which is (usually) full of excitement and surprises. The other is WrestleMania, which normally features the best matches, best entrances, and the culmination of the biggest rivalries. But what about everything else? Well, most of the other monthly PPVs don€™t really have anything special anymore. Even Survivor Series, which has long been heralded for its traditional elimination matches, no longer feels like a major event. Part of this problem is due to repetitive matches (many of which don€™t feel like PPV quality anyway), and an overabundance of PPVs anyway, both of which lead to too much of the WWE, which is something that Vince McMahon doesn€™t believe exists. New Japan, on the other hand, makes their shows feel special by separating them. There are special events and tournaments for the top stars (G1 Climax & New Japan Cup, which are similar to the King of the Ring), the Tag Team Division (World Tag League/G1 Tag League), and cruiserweights (Best of Super Juniors). These tournaments allow New Japan to focus on specific divisions in their roster, giving everyone an opportunity to shine. In doing so, the biggest stars don€™t get overexposed, granting them increased longevity in the company, and less-experienced talent more opportunities to perform. This system could, in theory, work well in WWE. If there were PPVs focused on the tag team division or the mid-card belts, it would give stars in those divisions more screen time, while at the same time making the titles involved feel more important. However, it would require some of the bigger names to stay off shows, which at first would be very risky for WWE. But if they really want to make the most out of the talent they have, they need to re-structure their PPVs in order to make every single one of them feel unique, instead of having so many that are so similar that fans feel like they€™re watching TV-quality shows.