7 PPV Quality Main Events WWE Gave Away For Free
Sharing The Wealth.
Barring flood, fire or force of Khali, Shinsuke Nakamura and John Cena will do battle on SmackDown Live! to determine a number one contender for Jinder Mahal's WWE Title at SummerSlam.
Booked by Daniel Bryan after 'The Champ' abruptly deigned himself top challenger prematurely, the match represents one of the organisation's current dream matches. Even in the post-WWE Network era where content is super-served through fortnightly specials, it's still flabbergasting to consider that a match with WrestleMania headline potential will have its first airing on the 'B-Show' strictly as a setup contest for a far bigger main event on August 20th.
Coincidentally, it comes just 24 hours after 75% of Monday Night Raw's SummerSlam topliner was presented as a curtain-raiser for the pay-per-view clash. When Roman Reigns pinned Samoa Joe, it offered a potential finish to one of the biggest main events of the year following a action-packed match that effectively ruled out repeat variants of the spots in the four weeks time.
A renewed quest for television ratings in recent weeks has raised suspicions that WWE are not as confident about their current status with USA Network as they perhaps would have liked, but the generous offering of televised content is not a new phenomenon. Whilst most feuds have followed the traditional model, there have been several cases where the extra special inaugural meetings are dished out gratis. Moreover, the shock of their televised placement altogether routinely contributes to the magic of the moment.
7. Charlotte Vs Bayley (Monday Night Raw, February 13th 2017)
A bout that sadly foreshadowed a year of woeful booking for 'The Hugger' and the Raw Women's Division in general, the Title match between Charlotte and Bayley just over a month before WrestleMania 33 traded months of logical storyline payoffs for one feel-good moment.
It should be noted that the moment felt very, very good. Bayley realising her dream on the main roster after what felt like an eternity on NXT was destined to be one of the greatest moments of 2017 whenever it eventually arrived. It just arrived way, way too soon.
Having lost clean as a sheet to 'The Queen' at the Royal Rumble weeks earlier, her wait for a second shot should have at least lasted until March's Fastlane, or ideally April's WrestleMania with the added prestige of Charlotte's impressive pay-per-view winning streak also up for grabs. One month on, the company presented Payback from Bayley's hometown San Jose, California. A last chance rematch for the former titleholder against the returning hero was the simplest of conclusions to what would presumably have been a very rewarding rivalry.
All that sadly took place in an alternate timeline. After beating Charlotte on Raw, Bayley then took her pay-per-view strak at Fastlane, won an unremarkable fatal four way at WrestleMania, and laid down for Alexa Bliss for her big homecoming celebration. It remains one of the company's biggest blunders this year.