Something has been bugging about recent WWE PPV’s. A pay per view is supposed to be approximately three hours. Assume that about 30 minutes of that PPV will be advertisements, promos, or highlights, that leaves you with 150 minutes of wrestling. That leaves seven 20+ minute matches or eight 18 minute matches. 15-20 minutes for a match is probably average. Some go longer, but many (especially diva’s matches) go shorter. There is plenty of room for eight matches on a PPV card, yet two weeks before any pay per view the average card only has two to three. Three matches on a card that should hold eight. The question then becomes…why?
Why are there so few advertised matches? I feel it comes down to laziness on creative’s part. Writing feuds early you then have to come up with reasons for the feud to extend two to three weeks. It takes work to keep it fresh. Writing feuds the Raw or Smackdown before a PPV, you can create it and end it in one fell swoop. Setting them up weeks ahead of time you have to be sure of your storylines. You don’t have much room to change the angles. You have to have confidence the storyline will work and build it up.
Do people enjoy seeing matches created the Saturday before a PPV and only announced on wwe.com? I don’t know. I don’t have any statistics on buy rates. Personally I don’t like it. If a match didn’t have any relevance the entire month preceding the PPV, why should anyone shell out money to buy the match? How often do people considering buying PPV’s check wwe.com compared to watching a weekly show? I’d wager the shows reach more potential buyers.
Sometimes the late added matches steal the shows. Take for example the Daniel Bryan vs. Ted Dibiase match at Survivor Series. It was hinted at the Raw before the PPV but not added until a few hours before the show. It was arguably the best match. Bryan has consistently been putting on quality matches and WWE should have known this. Almost anyone could have started a feud with him. A feud for the title would have been a major selling point.
Granted, Bryan isn’t the best on the microphone. But with a contender for the title set early, a few good matches on a Raw, and proper build up this match could have easily been a top selling point for the PPV. We would want to see the match for the wrestling. We would be interested in who wins the title. We would want some finality to the feud. Instead the WWE universe hears about it online the day of the PPV and the feud expired before the next Raw. That isn’t worth $50 to most people.
Even looking at wwe.com now, there is little on the site for TLC. The PPV is two weeks away, and until today there were no advertised matches. There are now two matches set, Edge vs. Kane and Rey vs. Del Rio. Even understanding Randy Orton is likely considered the #1 contender for the WWE title and he might be injured, there is no reason other matches couldn’t be added. I made a full card weeks ago. The biggest things to change are Miz winning the title, Sheamus winning KOTR, and MVP leaving the company. None of these change a great card extremely. The WWE title match could be changed to Miz vs. Sheamus and a replacement could be found for the TLC elimination match. There are always options and replacements. Even if Orton vs. Sheamus were set for TLC at Survivor Series, it could have easily been swapped to Miz vs. Sheamus.
One vital thing now is the economy. A set card gives people something to expect and look forward to. It lets them budget PPV funds for the week. They might be short funded for the weekend, but expecting a good PPV they can save $50 dollars for Sunday that they might spend at a bar on Saturday. They could also plan a party with their friends a week in advance. If a PPV has no hype, people will just go out for the weekend and be unable to buy a show on Sunday.
To conclude, matches for the following PPV should be set the Raw or Smackdown following a PPV, two shows away at most. Fans will purchase more PPV’s knowing they can look forward to an entertaining card on Sunday. With no hype, there is nothing to buy. Nothing to buy means no bottom line for WWE.
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