The Big Four

[AJ1981]

Forgive me if this topic has been brought up before. Growing up as a wrestling fan in the late 1980's the WWF had a much smaller PPV schedule than it does today, the Big Four PPV's obviously were Wrestlemania, Royal Rumble, Summerslam & Survivor Series. Today Wrestlemania is still the biggest show of the year, with Rumble second, Summerslam third but the question I would like to ask is "Has Money In The Bank replaced Survivor Series as the fourth biggest show of the year?"
In recent years the profile of Survivor Series and the number of PPV buys it attracts have fallen, it was even rumoured a couple of years ago that WWE were planning on abandoning the show altogther. Apart from The Rock's return to the ring at the 2011 event the last few years shows have been largely uneventful.
Since 2010 Money In The Bank has provided a show with big event aura, delivering quality matches and major results with the 2011 event arguably being the best one so far. What do you think has Money In The Bank outgrown Survivor Series or is Survivor Series still the last of the Big Four?

 

[Jack-Hammer]

It'd still be Survivor Series. Not only because it's one of the original Big Four WWE ppvs, but because it also draws significantly more buys than MITB. In 2011, Survivor Series drew 281,000 ppv buys, which was up from 244,000 in 2010 and up from 212,000 in 2009. I expect the 2012 show to have drawn somewhere around the 230,000 to 240,000 mark. In 2012, MITB pulled in just 188,000 buys and 2011 pulled in 195,000 buys, 2012 was still up significantly from the 169,000 buys the first MITB show pulled in back in '10.

Until/unless MITB ppvs, depending on however long WWE continues to do them, outdraws Survivor Series, it won't take its spot in the Big Four.

 

[Da Solo]

I honestly thought the same thing recently. Survivor Series had its moments, no doubt, but MiTB has consistently been within the top 5 PPV's of the year in every year of its existence. Survivor Series hasn't been the same as of late, and its flagship match, the traditional 5-on-5, has been a clusterfuck for the past couple of years. The last good one they had was in 2009 with Team Kofi vs. Team Orton.

 

[Dagger Dias]

Survivor Series is very much still in the Big 4. The last few editions may not have been as good, but there is far too much history within that PPV brand to take it out of the Big 4 right now. Money In the Bank has the potential to one day take that spot away from Survivor Series, however I do not see that happening anytime soon. Do keep it in mind that each of the Big 4 PPV brands are more than 20 years old at this point. None of the newer PPV brands have even lasted 5 years yet. That's a big difference and there is plenty of history within all of those years. That is a big part of why the Big 4 have their prestige.

Money In the Bank has only been around as a PPV brand for a couple of years. Survivor Series has been around for over two decades. Is the potential there for it to happen one day? Certainly. It will take a while though. Even still.... By the time Money In the Bank has been a PPV brand long enough to gain significant prestige, each of the shows in the Big 4 will have even more history of their own. What we may see instead is a Big 5 someday with Money In the Bank being the 5th biggest show of the year. We seem to be headed in that direction.

 

[Pedigree1]

Still its Survivor series is in the big four! True the last couple of events have been lackluster but i really expect them to do the old route that worked for them. Think about it Survivor Series has been around for what 20 plus years now? MITB maybe 5 years or so. I really dont think MITB can replace Survivor Series anytime soon. Not even in the near future SS is solid in 4th place.

Could it be replaced I guess so but not anytime soon

 

[thebarber]

Survivor Series history itself leads it to alays being in the BIG 4. Examples:

Montreal Screwjob 1997
Rock's debut 1996
Angles debut 1999
Rock's first WWE Title win and subsequent heel turn 1998
WWE VS WCW/ECW alliance match for control of WWE 2001
Bob Backlund regaining the WWE title 11 years after losing it 1994

Plenty of historic moments occurred at Survivor Series. The elimination matches should return, this is what made it special, Wresylemania storylines often commenced at Survivor Series

 

[The Butcher]

Personally, I don't feel that the Big Four are the Big Four, anymore. Yes, that's the nomenclature we use for the original four WWE pay-per-view events. I'll likely always refer to the collective of the Rumble, 'Mania, SummerSlam, and Survivor Series as such, but, if I'm being honest, for years now it's only felt like the Big Two.

Neither SummerSlam nor Survivor Series have felt especially special for years now. Survivor Series more so than SummerSlam, but both have lost a lot in terms of clout and luster in comparison to their winter and spring counterparts. This is just my feeling on the matter, though. Lots of different ways to look at it.

As far as Money in the Bank or any other PPV taking a spot amongst the foursome, that also depends on how you look at it. The original four are, to me and most others it seems, the Big Four. If one sets up some other criteria, then any four could be the Big Four, I suppose.

 

[slothmister]

Survivor Series was the 4th PPV as such it will always be one of the big 4 imo.

What they need to do to get it back up there is make 90% of the matches elimination matches. The ONLY time they should have singles matches are after a long fued (preferably one started just after Wrestlemania which did not finish properly at SumerSlam) and in which there is a "survivor" aspect towards the match, Last Man Standing, Burried Alive etc.

Minor fueds or fueds that are not at an explosive conclusion can be continued via an elimination match. Build up the story line more, like how they used to.

 

[MCMG]

I certainly think we have seen it become a Big Three. The Survivor Series events have not been anything special in recent years. As for MITB, every single one has been really good. The WWE give us two different ladder matches where we know a future world champ will be found. Than they give us solid matches for the WWE/World title. Cena/Punk Cena/Sheamus in a cage match. There have really gone all out to make the MITB really good meaning I place it third behind the Rumble and Mania.

Survivor Series can still be big; however, they need to increase the importance of the elimination matches. They are now becoming 3 jobbers and a tag-team vs 2 jobbers, a tag team and that one person who is good. We need to see 10 big stars face off and than it will become worthy of a top-four place.

 

[lowandmighty]

I disagree with that order of the big 4 ppv's I don't have the numbers to back it up I'm just going on which ones I like best. but to answer the question not yet but maybe in the future. The reason I think survivor series might be overtaken by money in the bank is that the survivor series elimination matches don't necessarily achieve anything for the winners. We all know what the winner of money in the bank gets so money in the bank could create more story lines I guess. I like Survivor Series better though, I like the elimination tag matches, maybe more than anything else in wwe even though they don't mean anything.

 

[King Patrick Star]

Any PPV that features a winner getting a WWE / World Title shot should be viewed as important. I agree that the Money In The Bank PPV has surpassed all the other “In Your House” / Small 8 PPVs as far as importance goes. If anything, I would consider MITB on the same level as King Of The Ring once was. I would say it’s the 5th biggest PPV of the year, but I wouldn’t say it’s bigger than the Big 4. On top of all that, with the possibility that the MITB match will be returning to WrestleMania, the MITB PPV might be scrapped altogether. If that were to be the case, I would say Night Of Champions is the 5th biggest PPV of the year, but that just because I’m a Belt fan.

 

[bestintheworld.j.h33]

To me Survivor Series will always be part of the "big 4" until they decide to do away with the ppv all together. The problem with it now is that it isn't like it used to be. Everyone keeps saying the "traditional 5 on 5" elimination match. Well that statement is wrong traditionally it was 4 on 4. And there was not one singles match on the card. Unless they get back to tradition, Survivor Series will continue to lose it's prestige and Money In The Bank will overtake it and WWE will eventually scrap it then. Just my opinion

 

[HBsam31]

I agree with King Patrick. MITB, I feel is on the same level as KOTR was, and I think in time it could be a more successful ppv than Survivor Series. The thing is like others have said, the big four have been around for decades. There is so much history in Survivor series and the other three that it would be hard to replace it with any of the newer ppvs. I do wish Survivor Series would go back to the traditional ways, but I doubt that will happen. MITB is big, but it doesn't have the prestige and tradition of the big four yet.