Tpay per views

[Guest Austin3164life]

I have been thinking about this kind of topic for a long time, and now that the "Brand Extension" is into full force and there is a split, do you think that the WWF should take away needless pay per views such as May, July, and October ppv's?  If they could get rid of at least three of them, I think that the writers and bookers would have a lot more time in planning good feuds and booking great matches for the ppv's that matter (i.e. King of the Ring, Summerslam, Survivor Series).  What do you guys think about eliminating some pay per views??

[Guest FakeRazor]

Without a doubt.  First on the cutting block for me would be No Way Out.  Having a PPV between the Rumble and Mania kind of fucks up the road to Wrestlemania if you ask me.  The feuds and angles don't have enough time to heat up... especially the main event.  February should be the bulk of the feud between the Rumble winner and the World champ, but with No Way Out in the way, someone else interjects in their feud.

 

If I had my way, the WWF would only have the big 5 PPVs, but that would never happen.  Vince actually wants to extend to 18 a year...

[Guest goodhelmet]

I can agree with that to some degree. Another ppv could be eliminated between Summerslam and Survivor Series. Have Summerslam at the end of August, then have the next ppv in early October. And Survivor Series could be thrown in at the end of November. Basically, they should have 6 weeks in between shows instead of 4.

[Guest]

They should change:

 

No Way Out

Backlash

Fully Loaded

Unforgiven

No Mercy

Vengence

 

To In Your Houses. That way, say, if Austin/Taker are feuding and RVD/Eddy are feuding, they should just have RVD/Austin vs Taker/Eddy, and save the one on one matches for one of the big 5. This way, WWF would continue with longer feuds and not lose out on much money.

[Guest razazteca]

They should change:

 

No Way Out

Backlash

Fully Loaded

Unforgiven

No Mercy

Vengence

 

I think they should cancel these PPV for one or two big PPV Clash of Champions interpromotion PPV that would feature some of the indy talent "Next Big Things" from OVA or HWA in a tourny to win a shot at the big time, instead of the Tough Enough instant tv time bull.

[Guest Austin3164life]

Actually, it'd be awesome if the WWF just had Royal Rumble, Wrestlemania, King of the Ring, Summerslam, and Survivor Series.  The Road to Wrestlemania would be great because they could really focus on feuds (especially the ME feud).  From Wrestlemania to King of the Ring, the midcard can really heat up as to who is good enough to be the year's King.  Summerslam should have the big blowoff match from a Championship feud starting after Wrestlemania.  Then to Survivor Series, you can use the entire roster into a "Who Will Survive" type storyline.  And from there you'd go to Royal Rumble building storylines around favorites for the rumble.......

 

That's just my take on the ppv situation......

[Guest RepoMan]

I was thinking that maybe they should alternate the secondary PPV's between the brands so they could develop more feuds, and have the Big Five have both brands on the card to make theme seem really important. Or if you wanted to be more radical, you could every PPV only have on brand, with the King of the Ring Tournement and Royal Rumble being inter-brand events.

[Guest Karnage]

They should get rid of all the non Big 5 pay per views and have TV specials like WCW did with Clash of Champions.

With 5 PPVs a year, there is a lot more time to develop storyline and it isn't so hard on people's wallets.

[Guest Hogan Made Wrestling]

You guys would be horrible businessmen...

[Guest]

 Vince actually wants to extend to 18 a year...

He actually believes there are people who would spend $34 on *18* ppvs a year!? Man, he is losing it. Of course if the WCW invasion had gone better, they would have been running 24 a year, so I guess he's not that crazy....

[Guest razazteca]

You guys would be horrible businessmen

 

why do say that?  How am I suppose to get excited about a PPV if they start hyping it up 2 weeks before it?  I could care less about Austin vs Taker.

[Guest Brian]

If they just rotated through pay per views we wouldn't be having this conversation.

[Guest Hogan Made Wrestling]

"He actually believes there are people who would spend $30 on *18* ppvs a year!? Man, he is losing it."

 

Actually there are plenty of people who will do that. WWF and WCW each ran 12 PPVs a month and for a long time both did pretty good buyrates (1998 for instance). WCW's Russo buyrates sucked for sure, but there was a time the market supported over 24 PPVs a year (and you could also include ECW's, I guess).

 

"why do say that?  How am I suppose to get excited about a PPV if they start hyping it up 2 weeks before it?  I could care less about Austin vs Taker."

 

How is that at all relevant to the business side of it? The fact is that the WWF makes a huge amount of money on PPVs, a lot more than they make on TV advertising. While Eric Bischoff has trained the marks on the net to grovel over TV ratings, Vince McMahon knows the bread and butter of his business (in terms of net profits) is on PPV.

[Guest Brian]

How is that at all relevant to the business side of it? The fact is that the WWF makes a huge amount of money on PPVs, a lot more than they make on TV advertising. While Eric Bischoff has trained the marks on the net to grovel over TV ratings, Vince McMahon knows the bread and butter of his business (in terms of net profits) is on PPV.

Very well put. Attendance and buyrates are where the money is at for promoters.

[Guest Risk]

I think they should only use the Royal Rumble, Wrestlemania, King of the Ring, Summerslam, and Survivor Series.

[Guest razazteca]

How is that at all relevant to the business side of it?

 

Well If do not believe the hype then I shall not buy the PPV or the various merchandise being sold by the company, and eventually watch Monday Night Football instead of Sports Entertainment, or CBS.

[Guest]

I think they should only use the Royal Rumble, Wrestlemania, King of the Ring, Summerslam, and Survivor Series.

That's what I was about to say.

[Guest papacita]

I've always thought that the WWF had too many PPVs. Before the IYH's, you used to be able to get genuinely excited about a PPV. Now it's like I'm watching another Raw or SD.

 

I really don't think they should get rid of all of the former IYH PPV's tho. No Way Out can be a good transitional PPV IF THEY BOOK THE RIGHT MATCHES. Backlash is usually good, but I think it's too close to WM so they need to get rid of it. Judgment Day should be moved to early-mid May to give enough time for the KOTR to develop. Fully Loaded/Invasion isn't needed at all. I'm conflicted on Unforgiven, cuz we've had 2 September PPV's here in Philly, but really there's no need for them. Now unless they wanna have Unforgiven in Philly every year, I say get rid of it. No Mercy is traditionally more significant than Unforgiven (IMO), so I say they just ax Unforgiven and place No Mercy either late September/early October that would be good...and Vengeance is the WORST PPV name I've ever heard...well...next to Sin...and Massacre on 34th Street. I loved ECW but that name sucked. Anyway, the PPV's traditionally worthless so they should just get rid of it and start the Rumble hype immediately following Survivor Series.