The WWE Elite 8

[King Patrick Star]

The WWE Elite 8

After looking at the “TNA’s Top 10 rankings”, I started wondering how I would use this as a “booker”. Now it looks as if TNA’s is indeed fixed to fit storylines, rather than actual fan voting. You can’t be too sure about fan voting, but that’s another topic altogether. My idea would be for the WWE to sort of use this system, with a few changes, of course. Here’s what I would do.

The very first thing Vince would have to do is push every PPV date to the last Sunday of every month, and cut the yearly PPV count down to exactly 12. For the month of May, “Extreme Rules” is more than enough and “Over The Limit” should be nixed, especially if the WWE is focusing on themed PPVs. What exactly is the theme / gimmick match of “Over The Limit”?? For the month of October, “Bragging Rights” should be nixed and the Raw vs. Smackdown matches (Woman’s Champ vs. Divas Champ, IC Champ vs. US Champ, Team Raw vs. Team Smackdown) should instead be held at the Survivor Series. Now we know that Vince is having two PPVs in October to “disrupt” TNA’s version of March / April with the Flagship Supercard “Bound For Glory” in the same month, but is it really necessary??

Now for the actual idea. Create 2 polls on WWE.com, one for Raw and one for Smackdown. Make every single WWE Star a selection in their respective polls. Voting will be open from the start of a PPV to the following Monday at 9. On the first week after the Pay Per View, the rankings are revealed. The top 8 for each respective brand are seeded as such and placed in a 4 week tournament to determine the number one contender.

Week 1 tournament quarter-finals
# 2 vs. # 7
# 3 vs. # 6

Week 2 tournament quarter-finals
# 4 vs. # 5
# 1 vs. # 8

Week 3 tournament semi-finals
Week 1 winners’ match
Week 2 winners’ match

Week 4 tournament final
Week 3 winners’ match

Then comes the PPV. Champion vs. the # 1 contender in the match type pre-determined by the PPV. The WWE could benefit from this in so many ways. They can still determine the outcomes of the matches, but the fans will have somewhat of a say in who they see week in and week out. This makes every single Raw and Smackdown just as “important” as the PPVs. The build up from the weeks / tournament is enough for the Superstar to walk into the PPV as a convincing challenge (the # 1 contender would have just won 3 matches to get there).

I know what you’re thinking, “what about the rematch clause”?? Just like the “10 / 20 second count out rule” and the “time limit draw” they can just drop the idea. We live in a world where we don’t want to see the same matches over and over again in a span of 3 PPVs in a row. At least this way, we as the fans, can somewhat prevent that. Exceptions to this rule would be the Fatal Four Way PPV. In this case, the tournament can stop at Week 3 and just insert the former Champ to fill in the 4th spot. There’s your precious rematch clause.

As for the rest of the roster, I think the Stars who ranked 9 through 16 should follow the same format but for the respective mid-card Titles (Intercontinental and United States Championships) and placing them in their own tournament. This gives the secondary Titles as much importance as the World Titles, as far as TV time goes.

Those who placed at # 17 through the end on both polls can be combined and placed in some kind of Tag Team Tournament for the Tag Straps.

Each week, those eliminated from their respective tournaments are then placed in the random matches they would have been placed in anyway. These can be used to catch the eye of the fan for the next month’s set of voting.

As for the Champ, well, I think the Champion should have somewhat of an “advantage” and take the “Hulk Hogan” route of only having matches at PPVs. They can come on the weekly shows and cut promos, sit ringside during matches, do a vignette of them training, or even have a warm up match against someone not in contention, maybe even have them on NXT once in a while.

So what do you think??
Any other tweeks needed??
Would it work in the WWE all year round??
Is this the focus we, as fans, want on the WWE, World, Intercontinental, United States and Unified Tag Team Titles??
Should we use this formula / process for the Women’s and Divas Titles as well??

 

[Judah's Lion]

at first appearance, this looks like a pretty decent idea.

i like the concept and the feuds and matches that this could create would be different and could be built up over time, as opposed to the "throw it against the wall and see what sticks" philosophy.

i also like the idea of dropping down to 12 PPV shows and allowing a full 4 weeks for each build up.

this also works because, in the event that the wrestling fan did want to see a rematch of sorts, just have the challenger win the tournament again. so he works for his rematch, but we do get to see it again. then that can just add to the feud.

i also like the idea of not seeing the champion in the main event of every Raw or Smackdown, but maybe there just to cut a promor, do a vignette, work commentary, train, maybe a quick squash or tune-up match, etc. that makes the PPV something that you really wanna see then because you actually get to see the champ wrestle.

there may be some tweaking needed, but that could be done on a case by case basis and after time tells what really is working and what isn't.

i also liked the idea of having the Bragging Rights concepts moved to Survivor Series. it makes sense there anyway.

the only possible hiccup i can see right now is the tag division area. i'm not the hugest fan of just pairing up random people. but then again, it has worked because i really enjoyed Morrison and Miz and they were just randomly paired up. so this can be hit and miss, but at least it'd give us more than the three tag teams we see now and could maybe even help create new teams that would stick around longer term.

 

[jackhammer_27]

I like the idea of actually having a ranking system for the major titles in the WWE, but having this monthly tournament, while producing some great matches, would all but eliminate the building of true angles around the titles or between superstars. You could fit them into the tourneys, but I think in the end it would be too mish-mashed for really great TV. I think the concept would be great for a new PPV concept though. It could really work well in that aspect in my opinion. I really would hate to see Bragging Rights go away as well. I think it should be a stand alone show, with Survivor Series going back to a strictly old style SS format with the elimination matches with maybe one or two singles matches thrown in. Just my two cents.

 

[YEDemon]

I like the idea, and I think it could work, even if it would take some getting used to, since it is a completely different idea than what the WWE uses now.

However, while it would be more fitting for the singles teams, I would much rather see it used in tag teams.

It would necessitate creating more tag teams. Now, granted some of these guys will be thrown together, but this recurring tournament could automatically be inter-brand, since the Unified Tag Team Titles were originally inter-brand, despite the fact that the Hart Dynasty doesn't ever travel to Smackdown.

However, we already have the teams of the Harts, Usos, Dudebusters, Santino/Koslov, and Archer/Hawkins (the Gatecrashers, I think they are called?). Rejoin Cryme Tyme, because they are useless apart. That gives you six teams.

For the other two spots, you could have the impromptu teams to see what works. The tag team ranks have long been a place for new guys to get noticed and gain a following before jumping into the singles pool. You could use these spots to renew interest in guys who have been in a rut.

For example, Primo and Yoshi have essentially been exiled to Superstars. Have them come back to Raw, cut a promo saying they are tired of not being given a chance in singles, and that they want a shot in the tournament. Over the next few weeks, they take out the team of Santino and Koslov by pinning Santino. The next week, they lose to the Usos, but they've now become at least a bit more established. Santino isn't hurt by the loss, because he's a jobber anyway, and the crowd loves him. At the same time, they aren't completely taking away the credibility of the established tag teams by beating them all when they are a new tag team. The next month, they prove to be a little better, after having more experience with each other. In time, you could build up a decent tag team division, where not every team gets to compete in the Elite 8, but instead actually have to qualify for it.

My second reason for liking this is that it will prevent the problem that we've seen in the past where Miz and Morrison face Cryme Tyme or the Colons for the millionth time just because there isn't any other competition. Use the tournament to establish the credibility of the titles and thus renew interest in the tag division and create more teams, even if you do initially need to throw a few together. It's not always a win, but I'm not sure Rated RKO or Miz and Morrison really had any reason to team up before they did either.

One change I would like to see if they implemented this is having tornado matches. Maybe it's just because I like them in the SvR games, but they seem more entertaining to me, and you no longer have the traditional tag team match formula. It wouldn't have to be every match, but maybe you could have the semi-finals be tornado matches. Perhaps you have a team that works well in the tag format, but they end up having problems for some reason when they face another team tornado-style. You could use it as a booking device.

Overall, I think it could definitely work in the singles division, but I would rather use it to boost the tag divisions and the credibility of those titles.

 

[King Patrick Star]

I didn’t want to get into detail about the Tag Team portion of this idea, being that they are at the bottom of the barrel, but after discussing it with my friend outside of the Zone, he made me explain myself. So here goes.

There are 32 Raw Stars and 25 Smackdown Stars.
You take away the Champs (World, Mid-Card / Secondary and Tag Team Champs) and that cuts the totals down to 28 Red and 23 Blue.
Then you take away the top 16 from each show and that makes 12 Red and 7 blue.
That’s 19 Stars that can make up 8 teams. The teams don’t have to be portrayed as “random”. Teams could be made up out of the remaining Stars. Also, Teams don't have to stay together long if they are not the Tag Champs. I don’t know. I think that works. It’s easy and complicated, but what isn’t in the WWE??

The one bad part I see in this is that 3 WWE Superstars will have nothing to do till the next round of voting. Ladies and Gentlemen, there’s your 3 “featured” NXT Pros for the month. (I don’t think each rookie needs a pro, but that’s for another topic).

Other areas that the skeptics might mention are the Royal Rumble and Elimination Chamber PPVs and the respective stipulations.

What I would do about the Royal Rumble is to continue with the ranking system, determining a #1 contender for Title matches at RR and then have the remaining Top 15 from each brand enter the Rumble. The winner will get to pick which WrestleMania Triple Threat Elimination match he wants to enter. I know, why the Triple Threat Elimination matches?? I’ll get to that.

What I would do about the Elimination Chamber is to continue with the ranking system, determining a #1 contender for Title matches at EC and then have the remaining Top 6 enter the Chamber. The winners will then be placed into their brands respective Triple Threat Elimination match.

Now, with Raw and Smackdown having a Champion, a March Tournament winner, and at this point, an Elimination Chamber winner, the Royal Rumber winner will have to pick which one he wants to go for. I think it would be best for the Main Events to be an Elimination style match, so we can “really” determine the best of the best and still have those face to face WM moments. I never really liked Triple Threats and Fatal Four Way with the Champ not having to lose the match in order to lose the belt, and this way, it eliminates the whole, “but I never lost” $#!+.

Anyway, if there are any other bugs to work out, please let me know.

 

[KitInaka]

At first glance the system works well. But a MAJOR problem that i see from the Get go is that WWE does NOT trust the fans.

Not to say that the WWE hates it's fans it just doesn't want the Universe deciding major events within the company. We, of course, have seen this multiple times with "fan voting" and other stuff.

The other major problem I see with this format is that there really isn't a build up to the PPV main event like there is right now. The thing that makes the way they do things right now so good is that it can get "personal" between two superstars in a fued. I fweel that you will lose that with this format.

However, as a "King of the Ring" type format building up toward 2 or 3 PPV's through out the year I really like this format. But for something like Wrestlemaina, SummerSlam, Survivor Series. I don't like the format at all.

 

[YEDemon]

I like the idea, but I would prefer to see the Elite 8 idea be put aside during the Road to Wrestlemania, because honestly, the first part of the year seems like a completely different beast than the rest.

Sorry about the extended tag team post. I actually missed the part where you said everyone 17 and below can be put into a tag team tournament.

 

[Miss Flawless]

This is idea is good. But like someone above said, WWE doesn't trust the fans. Hell, sometimes I don't. Remember when we had fan voting on RAW? Out of all the teams to be chosen to face the Hart Dynasty for the tag titles, the fans chose Hornswaggle and The Great Khali. Seriously? There were better choices.

Another thing, this idea takes away time for bigger angles between people. (Or 4, depending on tag teams or not.) I guess WWE could sorta make it like the Royal Rumble format. Where WWE superstars that want to be in this tournament can enter, and the rest can continue their feuds and stuff.

I think this will take a lot of getting used to, since it's brand new and no one has ever really done this kind of thing.

But very good idea.

 

[BillAlfonso]

I like this idea because it further extends the simulation of an actual athletic contest which is why the WWE would never use it. The only thing I'd leave out is putting the guys at the bottom together as a tag team b/c there are already decent tag teams in the WWE if they'd just pay them attention. Another rule I'd make is that the loser has to start at the bottom and work their way back up which makes it that much more dramatic if/when they actually make it back to the top.

 

[King Patrick Star]

Thank you all for the compliments.

I like the idea of taking my idea out during the “Road To WrestleMania”, but if this plan was implemented by the WWE, do you think the fans will upset that they can’t vote during the WWE’s “Hottest” season??

As for the WWE not trusting the fans, he doesn’t necessarily have to trust us. We’re merely voting for who we want in the tournament. We, the fans, are not determining who the number one contenders are. We are just telling Vince, “Hey, give this guy a shot!! Hey, give that guy a shot!!” Vince can still decide who’s main eventing the following PPV. We’re just pretty much writing Raw and Smackdown for him, at least the important parts of it.

Imagine if an 8th seed “upsets” a 1st seed. Then on the following week, the 1st seed costs the 8th seed his semi-final match. There’s your non-title feud match for the PPV. Let’s face it, if Vince wants Randy to be the number one contender, no matter where we vote him at, he will have three wins between the last PPV and the next. Why not make it look “real”??

Guys, this would be out chance to push Cena down to contending for the Mid-Card Title. HA#@HA#@!! Another example would be the Nexus. Let’s say the WWE took this idea and ran with it. The Nexus could have easily interfered in every tournament match here, taking out 7 of the Top 8, leaving Orton as the winner (or something along those lines). There’s your Team “Against Us” vs. Team Nexus. Anything is possible in the WWE, so why not make that statement as close to the truth as possible??

 

[LegendKiller716]

It's a pretty good idea in theory, but if all four weeks leading up to the ppv are used to determine the #1 Contender, that leaves only one part of one show to actually promote the main event match for the ppv. This would leave no room for story lines in the title picture.

 

[King Patrick Star]

I guess it all depends on what you want to see on TV.

Do you want to see matches that mean something every single week?? Do you want to see a deserving number one contender who went through fan voting (trying to place in the Top 8 in our eyes) and 3 matches face the Champion at the PPV??

Do you want to see Vince come out and tell you who the number one contender is, and for the next 4 to 5 weeks, we get to see the Challenger and Champion p!$$ each other off, placed in random Singles / Tag matches, saying the same $#!+ over and over again, and if we’re lucky, we get to see it for another month because the loser has a rematch clause at the end of the contract??

To promote the Main Events at the PPV, all you need to do is show the graphic of the PPV, put the Champ and his Belt to the left, and a silhouette with a question mark on his face to the right. The buildup can come while the tournament is going on. Let’s say Vince does indeed want Orton to be the Challenger. They can start building him up at the very first match of the tournament and continue throughout all the way to the Final. The fans are going to buy the PPV if they were going to buy it anyway. Let’s say we have Sheamus vs. Orton or Sheamus vs. Santino. If you planned on buying it, would you change your mind if Santino was the Challenger?? Would you be p!$$ed if Vince decided to “shake things up” a bit and have Santino shock the world??

Either way, I think it’s a good way to get the fans involved and a good way to keep Katie Vick out of storylines. If someone is looking for the non-Title matches on a PPV, those can be put together as the eliminations occur each week.

 

[red ass skull muhfukkah]

The idea is good in theory, but it's far too complicated for most fans to understand. I could see them doing this for a little while but not permanently.

Ring of Honor does something similar with the Pick 6. Top 6 guys are ranked. Only #1 can challenge for the title but anyone can challenge anyone else to move up in the rankings. And if someone outside the Pick 6 beats say the #3 ranked wrestler, he then takes the #3 spot and the wrestler who is defeated goes down to #6 and the #6 competitor drops out.

This could work for the mid-card titles or the Divas, but not the World or WWE. And this doesn't leave enough room for actual story lines which is what drives the WWE to be more entertaining, there is meaning behind the matches not two guys facing off in a tournament week after week.

 

[YEDemon]

I had forgotten about the Pick 6. I was reading about RoH one day on wikipedia and saw idea of the Pick 6. I like the idea and think it could still allow for storylines.

In a sense, each of the 6 spots is a titles, so when you get booted, you want that spot (or a more prestigious one) back, so you then challenge for that. If you wanted to have someone really make a statement or promote a monster, have them challenge each of the six, one by one, decimating each of them in turn. Now you have a monster who has dominated six of your seven top wrestlers and is ready to challenge for the title.

I think rankings definitely help. We only occasionally see a fight for the number one contendership, which should be something that is more heavily fought over, in my opinion. The WWE does have a Power 25 or some sort of top 10 on WWE.com, but it's pointless in the sense that it is never mentioned on TV or used from a storyline perspective. If the Pick 6 or some other sort or tournament or ranking was used, I think it would definitely be a plus.

 

[VintageWWE]

I think it's a bad idea to feature tournaments leading to a PPV. This idea would totally eliminate any world title feuds. I too get tired of seein the same two people main event but that's what a feud is. It depends on if you want to see feuds or if you want to see random matches. After all pro wrestling is scripted television, pro wrestling is suppose to tell a story. With these tournaments there is no main event feud, there is no main event story. Pro wrestling is a mix of in ring action and storytelling. Having one and not the other means it's just not pro wrestling.

 

[EffinSaySo]

I like the idea but i am not sure if it would fit within the WWE structure.

This is an excellent idea for a rival company to use against the WWE especially if that new top-secret promotion in Florida (not talking about TNA) ever decides to declassify. The Elite Eight could be the name of the televised program. From there, you can start new feuds; continue them, or end them in whatever bookings desired.

 

[YEDemon]

The new promotion in Florida, (I believe it's being started by the Wilpons? eh, whoever it is that owns the Mets) is supposed to be starting in October, or at the very latest November. Or at least, that's when the contracts start, so you would assume that they would start things fairly quickly so as to not be wasting resources while they get ready to start.

I just hope that they do good. The WWE needs someone to challenge them, I think.