Ideal WWE PPV schedule for 2018

[Psykohurricane55]

I fell that since the brand split, they product as been diluted even more then it was before. With a ppv every months for both brand, the b-shows fell less and less special.

Personally, I would love to see the schedule go back to one ppv a months, this way you et more time to build interesting feud for brand only ppv and they would fell more special and less rush

After saying that, here how I would do the ppv schedule for 2018

January: royal rumble (both brand)
February: fast lane ( raw)
March : elimination chamber (smackdown)
April : wrestlemania (both brand)
May : extreme rules (raw)
June : money in the bank (smackdown)
July: king of the ring (raw)
August: summerslam (both brand)
September: backlash (smackdown)
October: hell in a cell (raw)
November: survivor series (both brand)
December: payback (smackdown)

I know this schedule would never happen but this would help wwe have a better product in the end. I eliminate tlc, clash of champions and battleground from the schedule simply because I don't see the point of these shows as this points. Also I put king of the ring back on the schedule mostly because you need a equivalent to money in the bank for the raw brand and I think having the winner of the tournament get a title shot at summerslam or something like that makes for a good equivalent to money in the bank.

So do you agree with me that you should have a reduce ppv schedule or do you like having a ppv every 2 weeks?

 

[Jack-Hammer]

I think it's pretty close to what I think would be ideal while still being pretty realistic. I've love for each brand to alternate months in which only one of them has a ppv each month, aside from the Big Four of course, as it gives more time to build between ppvs. Each brand gets four exclusive shows a year and they share the four biggest shows of the year.

Of course, it's unlikely to happen as Vince feels that the best way of keeping network subscriber counts high and generating new subscribers is to oversaturate the network with 20 ppvs throughout the year. Maybe, and quite probably, he knows something that we don't and it's easy for us to fantasy book and cherry pick a ppv schedule since potentially millions of dollars in revenue don't depend on our decisions.

 

[The Perfect Max]

Because there's the WWE Network, I only anticipate the amount of events increasing. But we've seen how diluted things can get from one generic event to a next, and it's not good for the product anymore. I used to not mind a special event every few weeks, but I'd much rather prefer a stronger product. If they were to reduce the number of events, I'd prefer for them to do away with themed events like Hell in a Cell or Elimination Chamber. I get why they have them, but I've always believed that these events are killing the power of booking these types of matches. Nobody cares about a Hell in a Cell match much anymore because the feud is booked around the cell, not the cell included into the booking how it used to be. So I'd much prefer that. Now Money in the Bank and Royal Rumble I can deal with. They should be set like they are.

The way the current schedule is lined up revolves around the money it brings, I imagine. But if that is the case, I wish they would announce these events well in advance. To me, it feels like half of the events just pop up out of nowhere. It's inconsistent and there's no structure. We had two Roadblock and Backlash events within 12 months of each other. It looks like WWE just makes it up as they go along. If there was a structure, perhaps it wouldn't feel as overwhelming. Arguably it would make no difference, and in the end, the booking is suffering no matter what.

 

[shooter_mcgavin]

I would prefer the following actually

Have a big 5
Royal Rumble
Wrestlemania
King of the Ring (bring it back)
Survivor Series

So now we have

January
Royal Rumble (RAW/SD)

March/April
Wrestlemania (RAW/SD)

June
King of the Ring (RAW/SD/NXT)

August
Summer Slam (RAW/SD)

November
Survivor Series (RAW/SD)

But now we need the brand specific PPVs but of course having 2 3 hour PPV's a month for each band is too much so I suggest a rotation between a 3 hour PPV and a 2 hour Network special for each brand so we have something like (let's also assume NXT Takeover goes as normal).

January
Royal Rumble (RAW/SD)

February/March
No Way Out (SD - PPV)
Roadblock (RAW - Network Special)

March/April
Wrestlemania (RAW/SD)

April
Backlash (RAW - PPV)
In Your House (SD - Network Special)

May
Judgment Day (SD - PPV)
Spring Stampede (RAW - Network Special)

June
King of the Ring (RAW/SD/NXT)

July
Vengeance (RAW - PPV)
The Great American Bash (SD - Network Special)

August
Summer Slam (RAW/SD)

September
Unforgiven (SD - PPV)
Clash of the Champions (RAW - Network Special)

October
No Mercy (RAW - PPV)
Halloween Havoc (SD - Network Special)

November
Survivor Series (RAW/SD)

December
Armageddon (SD - PPV)
December to Dismember (RAW - Network Special)

 

[Khalifa]

I like that there seems to be a PPV every two weeks. Firstly because generally you get the best from a PPV rather than just a normal Raw or SD, so every two weeks your seeing the best or getting what should be a higher standard. Secondly could you imagine Smackdown with the 8 week build to a PPV at the moment? Mahal has done the same thing for 3 weeks to Nakamura and his build up with Orton was just getting RKO'd every week. Even Raw would suck on an 8 week build once Stephanie comes back to dominate the main event. I'd rather watch PPvs than a Raw or SD so that's why I'm not all that fussed.

There is obviously benefits with going to the 8 weeks build. Feuds could be a lot more interesting and you don't get sudden one week feuds leading to the PPV, which kayfabe wise has never made sense to me. You got a PPV coming up but you've only announced 3 matches? Whats the point of having it all boil at a PPV when you can't even fill out the time until the day of the show. Maybe if they could find a way to have like 3 weeks between each PPV so it's only a 6 week build but I haven't checked if that could work.

 

[Dagger Dias]

The ideal setup would be to go back to monthly PPV events then making half of them brand exclusive and the other half dual-branded, giving us a "Big 6". Money In The Bank is popular enough to dual-brand it and Night Of Champions needs to be revived with its original vision behind the event of "all titles get defended" as the 6th major dual-branded show.


January - Royal Rumble (dual-branded)
No point in changing this. It's a tradition and still a popular event.

February - Smackdown Exclusive Event 1
This could be Elimination Chamber if we're following traditional routes, or something along the lines of a blue equivalent to Fastlane if Raw has Elimination Chamber that year.

March - Raw Exclusive Event 1
Same as February only Raw gets this month. I like the idea of alternating the "gimmick" shows so if Smackdown had Elimination Chamber one year in the spring then Raw could get it the next and the other has Fastlane, something like that.

April - Wrestlemania (dual-branded)
There is literally no reason to change this. The biggest show of the year stays as it is.

May - Smackdown Exclusive Event 2
This could be just about anything. Insert random lesser PPV brand name here. The point is to give another blue brand show in May.

June - Raw Exclusive Event 2
Same as May, only for the red brand this time.

July - Money In The Bank (dual-branded)
This show joins the Big 4. It needs to be dual-branded. It would feature 2 ladder matches for briefcases. One briefcase for either the Universal or World Heavyweight for the male main eventers. The second briefcase would be for the women for either the Raw or Smackdown Women's Championship.

August - Summerslam (dual-branded)
Not fixing what isn't broken. The second biggest show of the year stays. Even following another of my Big 6 it would still be exciting.

September - Smackdown Exclusive Event 3
This could be Hell In A Cell, TLC, or anything along those lines. Similar to what I did with Elimination Chamber, when Smackdown gets it one year then Raw can have it another year.

October - Raw Exclusive Event 3
The last brand exclusive event of the calendar. This could be Raw's TLC or Hell In A Cell depending on what Smackdown had the month before.

November - Survivor Series (dual-brand)
Another tradition. Why not. There's lots of history here and the brand VS brand style from Bragging Rights would absolutely be used here. The elimination matches would be Smackdown VS Raw and we could see champion VS champion matches perhaps as well.

December - Night Of Champions (dual-branded)
And here is why I had the last brand exclusive show in October. At the final PPV of the year EVERY title from both brands gets defended. No matter what. This means no non-title matches of any kind are allowed on this card. Money In The Bank briefcases get defended if they have not been cashed in yet, though.

I would add NXT Takeovers to at the very least the weekends of the original Big 4, maybe even every other month. I considered doing it for the Big 6 but two Takeovers in July and August back to back might be a bit much for the yellow brand. Every 2 months makes more sense. Maybe having Takeovers in these months.... January, March/April, June, August, October, November/December.

 

[shooter_mcgavin]

There is obviously benefits with going to the 8 weeks build. Feuds could be a lot more interesting and you don't get sudden one week feuds leading to the PPV, which kayfabe wise has never made sense to me. You got a PPV coming up but you've only announced 3 matches? Whats the point of having it all boil at a PPV when you can't even fill out the time until the day of the show. Maybe if they could find a way to have like 3 weeks between each PPV so it's only a 6 week build but I haven't checked if that could work.

I believe the format WWE did during 2003 was that the brand exclusive PPV's will be 8 weeks apart but in the 4th week (around the time of the other Brand's exclusive PPV) the show RAW/SD will be PPV quality.

This is what we had Lesnar vs. Angle in an Iron Man Match, Goldberg vs. Shawn Michaels on Free TV, Benoit vs. Lesnar etc.

Though I think this format was dropped pretty quickly.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

January - Royal Rumble
April - Wrestlemania
August - SummerSlam
November - Survivor Series

Less is more. Do specials if they have headline feuds that deserve it. One hour maximum.

 

[George Steele's Barber]

I'm not sure why fans of a product want less of the best aspect of their product. It's not like Raw and SD are going to get better if there are less PPVs. Are we really sure WWE is going to put out a better product with a "longer build"?

But ultimately less PPVs hurt WWE's and more importantly to fans, the wrestler's bottom line. PPV's do better gates than house shows. Take that away and the wrestlers make less money.

Plus you don't have to watch every PPV. Take a break every now and again and just watch the stuff you think is going to be good (e.g. tag title matches) or that you here was good.

 

[Spencesc11]

Here would be my lineup

6 - dual branded
6 - one branded PPV's

January - Royal Rumble (Both)
February - Extreme Rules
March - Elimination Chamber
April - Wrestlemania (Both)
May - Vengeance
June - Clash of Champions
July - Money in the Bank (Both)
August - Summerslam (Both)
September - Hell in a Cell
October - Halloween Havoc
November - Survivor Series (Both)
December - Starrcade (Both)

Every other year alternate the brands
One gets - Extreme Rules, Vengeance, & Hell in a Cell
The other gets - Elimination Chamber, Clash of Champions, & Halloween Havoc

Which ever brand has the Rumble Winner you have the other brand have Elimination Chamber that year to determine their #1 contender. Starrcade to end the calendar year and a prelude to the Rumble would be great. As far as King of the Ring I would do it as an NXT Event. Maybe a PPV with the Final 4 with semi-finals and finals. And maybe even a Queen of the Ring to???

 

[Kyphael]

January: ROYAL RUMBLE
February: NO WAY OUT (SmackDown Live)
April: WRESTLEMANIA
May: BACKLASH (RAW) JUDGMENT DAY (SmackDown Live)
June: KING OF THE RING (RAW)
July: THE GREAT AMERICAN BASH (SmackDown Live)
August: SUMMERSLAM
September: CLASH OF CHAMPIONS (RAW vs. SmackDown Live)
October: HALLOWEEN HAVOC (RAW)
November: SURVIVOR SERIES
December: STARRCADE

 

[sikkbones]

Not everyone has access to raw/smackdown. I appriacate the fact there are more ppv and network specials so I can follow the wwe.

I like it even better that we get at least two ppv calibur specials on the network each month, more if u include nxt

 

[shooter_mcgavin]

I'm not sure why fans of a product want less of the best aspect of their product. It's not like Raw and SD are going to get better if there are less PPVs.

It depends I would say a 2 hour RAW is better than a 3 hour RAW. Writers often get stretch too thin it seems so they come with miscalculated segments that end up hurting the talent more than they help.

As for the number of PPV's it's probably best not to over saturate the market. I think having 12 PPV's and maybe 8 Network Specials is a good balance but anymore might be a bit too much.

Are we really sure WWE is going to put out a better product with a "longer build"?

Ideally it should but it doesn't have to be at the expense of PPV's. HBK vs. Jericho has a great build and didn't even wrestle at Summer Slam but their segment was probably the biggest thing that night.

 

[Cub McCallister]

I've been waiting for a thread like this for time, I feel that having two pay per views a month is way too much overkill for the company which is like 16 in total. I would take away the gimmick themed pay per views as I feel they have been done to death i.e Elimination Chamber, Hell in a Cell, TLC & MITB. Other ppv names don't appeal to me either, WCW had themed named ppv's which fitted in well i.e. Spring Stampede for Spring time, Halloween Havoc for Halloween time as well as Great American Bash and Bash at the beach for the summer time.

My ideal ppv schedule is:

January – Royal Rumble (Smackdown/Raw).
This is a dual brand ppv as always which is a nice way to kick of the year.

February – No Way Out (Smackdown).
I liked No Way Out instead of Elimination Chamber, you could perhaps bring back the EC concept as a number one contenders match if Raw get the Royal Rumble Winner.

March – Fastlane (Raw).
Same as Smackdown above the concept could be Fastlane to Wrestlemania.

April – Wrestlemania (Smackdown/Raw).
This stays the same except have it take place in early to mid April.

May – Spring Stampede (Smackdown) & Anarchy Rules (Raw).
I've added both a Raw & Smackdown ppv to this month even it out, instead of Extreme Rules I like the idea of Anarchy Rules.

June – King of the Ring (Smackdown/Raw).
This needs to come back, I feel they could do wonders with this as a dual branded ppv or possibly a one brand ppv instead of a one night only thing for the network.

July – Great American Bash (Raw).
This fits in well with the summer, they could go the full 4th of July deal here.

August – Summerslam (Smackdown/Raw).
Both brands compete here.

September – No Mercy (Smackdown).
I've added this in because it's a good ppv as there have been some decent matches from this event over the year.

October – Halloween Havoc (Raw).
This concept fits in well for this time of year, you could make gimmick matches for this event and give it a Halloween type of vibe to the event. I.E. Hell in a Cell, TLC, Elimination Chamber, Strap Match, Cage or any other gimmick type match bring it back for this event. You could have spin the wheel where each match is determined through that.

November – Survivor Series (Smackdown/Raw).
Both Raw & Smackdown compete against each other to see who is the better brand.

December – Starrcade (Smackdown).
Nice way to finish with an old but classic event.

That is my ideal ppv, obviously that will never happen as WWE don't really want ppv's that they haven't created. For the month that one brand is holding a ppv the other brand can have a special night of champions event on their tv show. I feel this could work so much better rather than have 2 ppv's a month but that's just my idea.

I've done away with the MITB ppv and added it to Wrestlemania where you have either 6 - 8 guys compete for the briefcase, 3 or 4 from Smackdown and like wise with Raw.

 

[BestSportsEntertainer]

Here's my schedule for 2018.

Jan - Royal Rumble

Feb - No Way Out

Mar - WrestleMania

Apr - Extreme Rules

May - Payback

June - Money in the Bank

July - Great American Bash

Aug - SummerSlam

Sept - Night of Champions

Oct - Halloween Havoc

Nov - Survivor Series

Dec - Starrcade

All are dual branded. I wouldn't really do any Network specials, as I feel that would be overkill. Less is more.

 

[LODemolition]

There are far too many ppvs now with the brand split, so in an unrealistic, perfect world, my lineup would look like this. And all of them would be interpromotional.

Royal Rumble (February)
WrestleMania (April)
Money in the Bank (June)
SummerSlam (August)
Halloween Havoc (the Hell in a Cell match would take place here) (October)
Survivor Series (December)

I especially hate Fastlane, Roadblock, or any other ppv they decide to throw in between the Rumble and Mania. I'm also against ppvs like Hell in a Cell and TLC where stipulation matches are obligatory and don't necessarily pertain to the feuds going on at the time. You can drop a ladder match, table match, chair match, or TLC match anywhere throughout the year. They don't need to all be on the same night. I'd possibly throw the elimination chamber match on the Survivor Series card as it does blend in well with theme of survival. I think MITB being a Smackdown only ppv really hurt the event this year. I would definitely take 4 wrestlers from each brand and pit them against each other for the briefcase. Same with the women. I'd like to see King of the Ring make a permanent comeback, but it doesn't have to be a ppv. The tournament could take place over the course of Raw and Smackdown for 4-6 weeks with the finalists from each brand facing off at Halloween Havoc. I'd possibly like a Clash of the Champions event once a year, but I'm not sure if that's a good idea or not as you obviously don't want either the WWE or Universal Champion to look weak by losing to the other.

 

[King Patrick Star]

Every time I reply to one of these WWE PPV threads, my response always changes. The ideal amount of pay per views should be 12 a year. I think this gives enough time for build.

However, if it makes WWE money to produce more, then so be it. What do you think about having 52 pay per views a year?? They should just air all of the Live Events live on the Network. That would really give the “anything can happen in the WWE” effect.

As for how I would setup the WWE PPVs, I would stop the brand exclusive PPVs. Every PPV is “Night Of Champions”. No non-Title matches on Sundays, with the exception of specialty matches, like the Royal Rumble match or the traditional Survivor Series Elimination Tag Team match.

January - Royal Rumble

February - Elimination Chamber

March - WrestleMania

April - Extreme Rules

May - Money In The Bank

June - King Of The Ring (8 Champions, 3 rounds, 1 King of the Ring!! Featuring the Champions of the WWE)

July - Invasion (Featuring matches between the Champions of the WWE vs. the Champions of GFW, ROH, NJPW, and more!!)

August - SummerSlam

September - Hell In A Cell

October - Cyber Sunday (Fans vote on everything...for a month!!)

November - Survivor Series (Bragging Rights format, where the Champions of the WWE are the Captains.)

December - TLC

 

[George Steele's Barber]

It depends I would say a 2 hour RAW is better than a 3 hour RAW. Writers often get stretch too thin it seems so they come with miscalculated segments that end up hurting the talent more than they help.

I absolutely agree about Raw being too long. It is just not as enjoyable. There are too many stories to feed. But cutting out an hour of Raw means less of the low card, women, cruiserweights etc. Eight less PPVs means that New Day/Usos in the cell match never happens.

As for the number of PPV's it's probably best not to over saturate the market. I think having 12 PPV's and maybe 8 Network Specials is a good balance but anymore might be a bit too much.

The market is the network buyers and live fans in attendance. Internet viewers pay $9.99 a month and get all PPVs. More PPVs doesn't saturate anything. As far as the live gate goes, WWE is doing shows on Sunday regardless, it makes sense to make them seem special to those in attendance.

Ideally it should but it doesn't have to be at the expense of PPV's. HBK vs. Jericho has a great build and didn't even wrestle at Summer Slam but their segment was probably the biggest thing that night.

That can still exist under this schedule.

Again, as a fan, look at all the schedules people have come up with. How many have Hell in a Cell listed? New Day and the Usos are not getting a spot in a Cell without this schedule. Do you really want to give up that match for "saturation"?

 

[Deoxyribonucleic A.C.I.D.]

So you want to cut the PPVs in half, meaning that you also cut ticket sales in half and reasons to watch the Network in half.

The only change I would make would be to make MITB a dual branded show and maybe have a Night of Champions PPV with only Championship matches happening as a special event feautring the entire WWE landscape, with all the titles being defended (9 titles in total in the main roster + 3 titles in NXT + UK title = 13 titles).

 

[PeterSellersSTL]

Ideal setup for 2018 :

Saturdays NXT-5 : Takeover

Sundays Big-5 : Rumble, Mania, MITB, Summer Slam, Survivor Series

Mondays RAW-5 : No Way Out, In Your House, GAB, IYH, Night Of Champions

Thursdays SD-5 : Fastlane, In Your House, Slamboree, No Mercy, IYH

Jan 27th April 7th June 16th August 25th November 17th NXT 5

Jan 28th April 8th June 17th August 26th November 18th Big 5

Feb 26th May 7th July 16th October 1st December 17th RAW 5

March 1st May 10th July 17th October 4th December 20th SD 5

September is when tournaments take place. CWC, MYC, DC rotating year-after-year. Maybe even KOTR in a similar vein.