10 Wrestling Pay Per View Concepts That Didn't Catch On

3. WWE December To Dismember

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WWE.com

For many ECW loyalists, December To Dismember was the night on which the final remains of Paul Heyman’s iconic promotion were laid to rest.

With December To Dismember, Vince McMahon took the last vestiges of ECW’s legacy and threw them straight into the trash. The show featured a seemingly endless stream of low blows against the company, its fans, and Heyman himself.

The ECW revival was always a bad idea, of course. WWE completely sterilised everything that made the original company special, and while One Night Stand 2005 was an excellent idea (and an even better show), December to Dismember was the polar opposite. It was safe, clean, sanitised: everything that ECW wasn’t, and it soon put an end to WWE’s idea of producing more ECW-specific pay-per-views.

The concept of promoting ECW PPVs with a different feel to the product found on Raw and SmackDown was a solid idea - but WWE did nothing to differentiate it from their mainline shows. The ECW brand became “Raw Lite” shortly after debuting, and December to Dismember was the final nail in the coffin. The brand endured, but the ECW PPV concept died almost immediately.

WWE did away with brand-specific pay-per-views entirely a few months later.

Channel Manager
Channel Manager

Andy has been with WhatCulture for eight years and is currently WhatCulture's Wrestling Channel Manager. A writer, presenter, and editor with 10+ years of experience in online media, he has been a sponge for all wrestling knowledge since playing an old Royal Rumble 1992 VHS to ruin in his childhood. Having previously worked for Bleacher Report, Andy specialises in short and long-form writing, video presenting, voiceover acting, and editing, all characterised by expert wrestling knowledge and commentary. Andy is as much a fan of 1985 Jim Crockett Promotions as he is present-day AEW and WWE - just don't make him choose between the two.