Mr. Nerfect
11-04-2004, 07:01 AM
OK, there seems to be a lot of controversy with the way the WWE seems to be handling their PPV scene now-a-days, with two brand exclusive PPVs, classic PPVs getting erased, and PPV events which change brand every year (No Mercy is RAW brand event next year, and Unforgiven is SmackDown!, I believe).
Alrighty, I think I'll just bring up some points I'd like to discuss, and I'd like very much to here other people's opinions.
Should the WWE trademark PPVs to certain brands?
With events Unforgiven & No Mercy swapping brands every year, wouldn't it be better if RAW just got the "rights" to Unforgiven, and SmackDown! got the "rights" to No Mercy? Then you could have New Year's Revoluton (December/January), Backlash (April), Bad Blood (June), Vengeance (July), Unforgiven (September) & Halloween Havoc (October) for RAW every year. No Way Out (February), Judgment Day (May), The Great American Bash (July), Fully Loaded (September), No Mercy (October), Armageddon (December) could be reserved for the SmackDown! brand.
This would make it a lot easier to get into a more traditional sense with PPVs like Armageddon and Vengeance.
Should each brand get a 4-hour long PPV?
This might take away from WrestleMania, but I think a four hour long brand exclusive PPV would create more of a split feeling to the brands.
Should the WWE revive events like Starrcade, World War III, etc.?
I'm all for an event like Starrcade returning, but then you have to ask yourself when, and whether or not it would be brand exclusive. Maybe you could have 6 months occupied with dual-brand events, and the other six having two split brand events.
January: Royal Rumble
February: Taboo/Vengeance, No Way Out
March: WrestleMania
April: Backlash, In Your House
May: Fully Loaded (under Lethal Lottery rules), Judgment Day
June: Bad Blood (King of the Ring type event)
July: Bash at the Beach, The Great American Bash
August: Summerslam
September: Unforgiven, September to Remember/Armageddon
October: Halloween Havoc, No Mercy
November: Survivor Series
December: Starrcade
If this happened, you could see the WWE sell DVDs like the Royal Rumble and Bad Blood seperately, but have brand exclusive DVDs sold at a lower price, or sold together for about the same amount. Maybe the WWE could even sell their PPVs months at a time. So ordering WWE in October would gain you both Halloween Havoc & No Mercy. I doubt it would happen, but with th new guy dealing with service providers, you never know.
Would it be a good idea for a GM to "invite" the other brand to participate on one of their PPVs?
Take a PPV like Bad Blood stuck in the middle of nowhere. Would it be a good idea for Eric Bischoff to ask Theodore R. Long to participate in the event, maybe by having match ups that compare to each other. Maybe a IC Title defense, followed by a US Title defense? An idea that would probably do more damage than good, but could prove interesting in the long run is to have two rings set up, and have parallel matches run. It could be interesting ot see Shelton Benjamin vs. Christian in one ring, and Charlie Haas vs. Carlito Caribbean Cool in the other. '
It would be a real test to have either four commentators going at one time, or having Jim Ross & Tazz calling all the action in the ring. Todd Grisham is fairly good with words, so if he gets a good knowledge of the business leading up into it, we could see him & Tazz or him and Ivory have a successful run at the announce booth for an event like this. And if you have four guys working two seperate matches at one time, although it may sound stupid, you could have them tie into each other's matches, and one team could be working in a sleeper hold rest spot, while the other is having an energetic run with high flying crossbodies, etc. Or you can have total carnage. Another idea is to have Todd & Ivory call all the action at once, while having Michael Cole & Tazz calling the SmackDown! action, and Jim Ross & Jerry Lawler calling the RAW action. Then on the DVD you can either have focus one one match, the other, or both at once. The ideal main event for somehting like this would be opposing heavyweight title matches, a World War III match or a War Games with RAW vs. SmackDown!. The biggest pro of an event like this would be a potential 16 matches.
Should all PPVs be brand exclusive?
Maybe except for WrestleMania, we could see all PPVs become brand exclusive.
January: Royal Rumble (RAW)
February: World War III/No Way Out (SmackDown!)
March: WrestleMania (Both)
April: Backlash (RAW)
May: Judgment Day (SmackDown!)
June: Bad Blood (RAW)
July: The Great American Bash (SmackDown!)
August: Starrcade (RAW)
August: Summerslam (SmackDown!)
September: Unforgiven (RAW)
October: Halloween Havoc (SmackDown!)
November: Survivor Series (RAW)
December: War Games (SmackDown!)
Would this be a good idea?
Should a few PPVs be held overseas?
I've thought about this for a while, and I personally think it would be an interesting idea to have one or two regular PPVs held overseas. It's just recently that the WWE has decided to expand RAW & SmackDown! overseas. I think it would be a good boost for international expansion if an event as big as Summerslam was held overseas. I know for a fact I would fly down to Sydney to go to a credible WWE PPV live. The WWE could have a RAW in Brisbane, a SmackDown! in Melbourne, and a Summerslam in Sydney. We could even see Summerslam or WrestleMania become the Olympic-type event of the WWE, and go all around the world.
Should the WWE have free-to-air PPV quality shows?
It would be interesting to see a 3-hour RAW or SmackDown!, going under a different name (like Fully Loaded, or something). Maybe we could even see a RAW vs. SmackDown! 3-hour edition of RAW, then a continuation of it on a live 3-hour edition of SmackDown!? If the WWE did something like this, it could increase ratings for a fair while. This would only be done once in a blue moon, though.
So that's my little brainstorming session about the WWE PPV scene. Agree? Disagree? Feel free to add your opinions, or start more PPV discussions.
Alrighty, I think I'll just bring up some points I'd like to discuss, and I'd like very much to here other people's opinions.
Should the WWE trademark PPVs to certain brands?
With events Unforgiven & No Mercy swapping brands every year, wouldn't it be better if RAW just got the "rights" to Unforgiven, and SmackDown! got the "rights" to No Mercy? Then you could have New Year's Revoluton (December/January), Backlash (April), Bad Blood (June), Vengeance (July), Unforgiven (September) & Halloween Havoc (October) for RAW every year. No Way Out (February), Judgment Day (May), The Great American Bash (July), Fully Loaded (September), No Mercy (October), Armageddon (December) could be reserved for the SmackDown! brand.
This would make it a lot easier to get into a more traditional sense with PPVs like Armageddon and Vengeance.
Should each brand get a 4-hour long PPV?
This might take away from WrestleMania, but I think a four hour long brand exclusive PPV would create more of a split feeling to the brands.
Should the WWE revive events like Starrcade, World War III, etc.?
I'm all for an event like Starrcade returning, but then you have to ask yourself when, and whether or not it would be brand exclusive. Maybe you could have 6 months occupied with dual-brand events, and the other six having two split brand events.
January: Royal Rumble
February: Taboo/Vengeance, No Way Out
March: WrestleMania
April: Backlash, In Your House
May: Fully Loaded (under Lethal Lottery rules), Judgment Day
June: Bad Blood (King of the Ring type event)
July: Bash at the Beach, The Great American Bash
August: Summerslam
September: Unforgiven, September to Remember/Armageddon
October: Halloween Havoc, No Mercy
November: Survivor Series
December: Starrcade
If this happened, you could see the WWE sell DVDs like the Royal Rumble and Bad Blood seperately, but have brand exclusive DVDs sold at a lower price, or sold together for about the same amount. Maybe the WWE could even sell their PPVs months at a time. So ordering WWE in October would gain you both Halloween Havoc & No Mercy. I doubt it would happen, but with th new guy dealing with service providers, you never know.
Would it be a good idea for a GM to "invite" the other brand to participate on one of their PPVs?
Take a PPV like Bad Blood stuck in the middle of nowhere. Would it be a good idea for Eric Bischoff to ask Theodore R. Long to participate in the event, maybe by having match ups that compare to each other. Maybe a IC Title defense, followed by a US Title defense? An idea that would probably do more damage than good, but could prove interesting in the long run is to have two rings set up, and have parallel matches run. It could be interesting ot see Shelton Benjamin vs. Christian in one ring, and Charlie Haas vs. Carlito Caribbean Cool in the other. '
It would be a real test to have either four commentators going at one time, or having Jim Ross & Tazz calling all the action in the ring. Todd Grisham is fairly good with words, so if he gets a good knowledge of the business leading up into it, we could see him & Tazz or him and Ivory have a successful run at the announce booth for an event like this. And if you have four guys working two seperate matches at one time, although it may sound stupid, you could have them tie into each other's matches, and one team could be working in a sleeper hold rest spot, while the other is having an energetic run with high flying crossbodies, etc. Or you can have total carnage. Another idea is to have Todd & Ivory call all the action at once, while having Michael Cole & Tazz calling the SmackDown! action, and Jim Ross & Jerry Lawler calling the RAW action. Then on the DVD you can either have focus one one match, the other, or both at once. The ideal main event for somehting like this would be opposing heavyweight title matches, a World War III match or a War Games with RAW vs. SmackDown!. The biggest pro of an event like this would be a potential 16 matches.
Should all PPVs be brand exclusive?
Maybe except for WrestleMania, we could see all PPVs become brand exclusive.
January: Royal Rumble (RAW)
February: World War III/No Way Out (SmackDown!)
March: WrestleMania (Both)
April: Backlash (RAW)
May: Judgment Day (SmackDown!)
June: Bad Blood (RAW)
July: The Great American Bash (SmackDown!)
August: Starrcade (RAW)
August: Summerslam (SmackDown!)
September: Unforgiven (RAW)
October: Halloween Havoc (SmackDown!)
November: Survivor Series (RAW)
December: War Games (SmackDown!)
Would this be a good idea?
Should a few PPVs be held overseas?
I've thought about this for a while, and I personally think it would be an interesting idea to have one or two regular PPVs held overseas. It's just recently that the WWE has decided to expand RAW & SmackDown! overseas. I think it would be a good boost for international expansion if an event as big as Summerslam was held overseas. I know for a fact I would fly down to Sydney to go to a credible WWE PPV live. The WWE could have a RAW in Brisbane, a SmackDown! in Melbourne, and a Summerslam in Sydney. We could even see Summerslam or WrestleMania become the Olympic-type event of the WWE, and go all around the world.
Should the WWE have free-to-air PPV quality shows?
It would be interesting to see a 3-hour RAW or SmackDown!, going under a different name (like Fully Loaded, or something). Maybe we could even see a RAW vs. SmackDown! 3-hour edition of RAW, then a continuation of it on a live 3-hour edition of SmackDown!? If the WWE did something like this, it could increase ratings for a fair while. This would only be done once in a blue moon, though.
So that's my little brainstorming session about the WWE PPV scene. Agree? Disagree? Feel free to add your opinions, or start more PPV discussions.