10 Ways WWE SummerSlam 2015 Could've Been Saved

One of WWE’s most bizarre marketing ploys applied in recent years appears to be a ‘give them more’ philosophy. This mentality, which might stem from Vince’s idea that every fan lives WWE 24/7, has led to a ‘numbers-based’ approach to making shows bigger. 

RAW is now 3 hours long, the 2011 Royal Rumble match had 40 participants, and SummerSlam reached WrestleMania length of a four-hour event, excluding the pre-show.

There’s a reason that only WrestleMania lasts that long: the show’s grandeur and significance makes it worth sitting/standing for hours, whereas SummerSlam is still perceived by many people as a secondary PPV. Unless every match is as stellar and well-hyped as WrestleMania’s, fans will get tired, bored and uncomfortable much more easily, leading to a less-interested crowd.

SummerSlam could’ve been saved by being only three hours long, and having some of the matches shorter but more action-heavy. Both the Orton-Sheamus match and the Intercontinental Title match could’ve been much more exciting if they were each less than ten minutes long, and the ‘special guest’ match shouldn’t’ have gone more than five minutes maximum (it was, after all, a glorified squash match).

Keeping matches shorter keeps the action fresh and prevents the repetition of rest-holds. Though some matches do benefit from being longer, that wasn’t the case at SummerSlam.