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This has been a good year for WWE as it has delivered the goods with all its PPV shows this year. Even Night of Champions, which wasn’t considered a great show, did have great wrestling matches allowing WWE to consider the streak unbroken.
However, this streak looks in jeopardy as WWE has the burden of two PPVs in a single month. At a time when even a month seems less to build storylines for a PPV match, WWE will have its work cut out trying to justify its move of having two PPVs in October.
Battleground and Hell in a Cell will be the two pay-per-view shows in October. Hell in a Cell in particular has been receiving a lot of negative views solely because WWE has so far failed to capitalize on the gimmick of the PPV. Gimmick based PPVs have been a difficult task for WWE to maintain solely because they have not been able to do justice to the gimmick. Hell in a Cell, for example, hasn’t gone too well with the PG guidelines and hence, it has become difficult for WWE to make the cell look as brutal as it really is.
Now, WWE has added Battleground two weeks ahead of Hell in a Cell, which means that WWE will have only two weeks and hardly a month for Survivor Series. Speaking of Battleground, initially it looked as though WWE was planning a team event of sorts with a little twist that separates it from the likes of Survivor Series and Bragging Rights. However, with so little time, WWE has been forced to make the PPV a replay of Night of Champions, with most of the matches being rematches.
The question that needs to be asked now is why WWE needs two PPVs in a month? Survivor Series, which is considered the big four PPVs of the year has already lost a lot of sheen over the years and crowding it with two more PPVs will force a drop in ratings. Unlike the other three PPVs, which get a solid five weeks for the buildup, Survivor Series will find it difficult to remain relevant especially because people will be subjected to two PPVs in the previous month.
PPVs generally haven’t been associated with big numbers, it is always the weekly shows that bring profit to the company. However, PPVs play an integral part in showing the overall quality of the company and the fact that WWE is giving us an overdose of the same will refrain people from buying out the PPVs. When people are subjected to three PPVs in a span of a month and a half with a price tag of $45, then there is every possibility that WWE will be shelling out money without expecting returns.
Survivor Series will face a huge deterrent in these two PPVs as it will not be as good as its former self. Let’s hope WWE realizes that at this rate it faces the problem of devaluing the brand of Survivor Series which has been an interesting PPV for the past 26 years.
