WWE Announces Its PPV Schedule For 2018

[Jack-Hammer]

As the title of the thread says, WWE announced what next year's schedule will look like and there are a few significant changes. There'll be a total of 14 ppv events next year: 5 for Raw, 4 for SmackDown and 5 co-branded shows in total. PWInsider.com is reporting that Money in the Bank will be the 5th co-branded show, which obviously indicates MITB ladder matches for both the WWE and Universal Championships. The schedule is listed as follows:

1. January 28, Philadelphia, PA: Royal Rumble (Co-Branded)
2. February 25, Las Vegas, NV: Elimination Chamber (Raw)
3. March 11, Columbus, OH: Fastlane (SmackDown)
4. April 8, New Orleans, LA: WrestleMania (Co-Branded)
5. May 6, Newark, NJ: Backlash (Raw)
6. May 27, Baltimore, MD: Payback (SmackDown)
7. June 17, Chicago, IL: Money in the Bank (Co-Branded)
8. July 15, Pittsburgh, PA: Battleground (Raw)
9. August 19, Brooklyn, NY: SummerSlam (Co-Branded)
10. September 16, San Antonio, TX: Extreme Rules (Raw)
11. September 30, Nashville, TN: Hell in a Cell (SmackDown)
12. October 21, Boston, MA: TLC (Raw)
13. November 18, Los Angeles: Survivor Series (Co-Branded)
14. December 16, San Jose, CA: Clash of Champions (SmackDown)

Still a bit crowded, as you might expect, but it's far better than it has been.

 

[hbk4eva]

I definitely like this schedule, and I am happy that Money in the Bank is now a Co-Branded show given the title implications that it holds. I always love seeing a good briefcase cash-in, and this means there will be more of those now. My only concern is that you know they are going to have ladder matches for the WWE Title, the Universal Title, and both Women's titles, and while I am happy that women are getting a chance to show off in these kinds of matches, that is a lot of ladder matches on the card. Of course, they could just go with the men's titles, but how likely is that since they had a women's briefcase this year?

 

[Khalifa]

Yeah the co branded Money in the Bank PPV was the first to catch my attention. If they have superstars from each brand compete in one match then that'll be cool, but if they have both a Raw and SD briefcase that is going to suck. I think they'll go with the one between two though. I stil like the more PPVs idea but 14 is cool. SD getting hell in the cell (the only PPV that stayed on the same brand hey) makes me think Shane is jumping off again. Oh wait on second look the last 4 look to be the same. Yeah can't complain really about the schedule, still getting 14 PPVs a year.

 

[Psykohurricane55]

I kinda like this schedule. The only thing that scared me about money in the bank being co branded this year is that they might drop the women's money in the bank match and just do a raw and smackdown money in the bank match like they did before.

The one thing that I would love to see is that you just have both raw and smackdown talents being part of both the men's and women's match but I doubt that would happened.

 

[Dagger Dias]

That's a great schedule for the most part. My only real issue with it is that Night Of Champions should return as the 6th dual-branded show in its intended format of every title being on the line. Still a good lineup of shows. Money In The Bank taking its rightful place as the #5 show (some would argue it's even bigger than Survivor Series by now) is the best part. It should have been dual-branded this year. It's good to see that WWE figured out that mistake. I'm not a fan of Fastlane and Battleground still being on the schedule. Useless brands like that are not necessary. Remove those two, replace Clash Of Champions with the true Night Of Champions event, and you're back at monthly PPV's for the schedule. That's what I'd do. Overall I like this. Should be a good year for PPV's provided we have a full-time Universal Champion. That's a topic for another thread though.

 

[Wolf Pac]

Looks like a bit of an improvement but not by much. Their PPV schedule is still random, confusing and a clusterfuck.

I really wish they would bring back King Of The Ring as a PPV in June and give that to either Raw or Smackdown while the other brand gets Money In The Bank in July. The two brands could trade the two PPV's every year, Raw gets KOTR and SD gets MITB one year, vice versa the next year and it goes on like that. That way both brand's superstars get opportunities at the two major events.

 

[Fire Marshall Bill]

MITB was always the most susceptible to a cobrand PPV with the briefcase stipulation alone. I like it for the sheer fact that it's been consistently the most interesting PPV compared to the big 4. Argue your opinions of quality all you want. The stipulation by itself adds suspense. Let's add the fact that it's certainly had its memorable moments.

Yes, having 2 briefcases might bother some, but it accentuates the fact that there are 2 brands, which they're pushing right now. I would stress "right now" though as we know how quickly things change.

Let's hope they don't lose faith soon.

 

[#hamler]

The first exclusion I noticed was the absence of the grossly named Balls of Fire pay-per-view. Whoever thought that was a decent ppv name should be shot close range.

Money In The Bank taking its rightful place as the #5 show (some would argue it's even bigger than Survivor Series by now) is the best part. It should have been dual-branded this year.

I love this idea of the ppv getting as much attention as any of the big four ppvs. Having it co-branded certainly shows me they will utilize it as the number five show and like Dagger said, could even become bigger than Suvivor Series. The Money in the Bank ladder match is a great concept - maybe a little played out but it usually delivers pretty memorable moments. Maybe keep the ppv a two ladder match show instead of doing one for both men and women on BOTH Raw and Smackdown. This will keep the concept from being overdone in a year's time.

As for the rest, it looks good. Did anyone notice Smackdown goes from May to September without their own pay-per-view? I thought that was a bit weird. Eh, I usually try to attend the the yearly Nashville ppv and this year it's Hell in a Cell. That might be pretty cool to see.

 

[Deoxyribonucleic A.C.I.D.]

That's actually one great schedule. Money In The Bank as co-branded is the big plus on this one.

I also noticed the following stuff:
- RAW has one extra event (5) compared to Smackdown (4)
- We get Extreme Rules for RAW in September and then TLC again for RAW in October. That's odd, given that these are two similar gimmicks, being back-to-back.
- There's no SD PPV between HIAC (September) and Survivor Series (November), like there's no RAW PPV between SSeries and The Royal Rumble for RAW.
- There's also no in-between PPV for SD from MITB to Summerslam. SD gets 2 months to build towards Summerslam! Like they get two months to build until SSeries, like RAW gets two months to build until the Royal Rumble.

 

[Deoxyribonucleic A.C.I.D.]

I kinda like this schedule. The only thing that scared me about money in the bank being co branded this year is that they might drop the women's money in the bank match and just do a raw and smackdown money in the bank match like they did before.

The one thing that I would love to see is that you just have both raw and smackdown talents being part of both the men's and women's match but I doubt that would happened.

I really hope they don't do two men's MITB ladder matches, but instead do it the old-fashioned way. One winner, capable of cashing in on any champion, either be it on RAW or SD.

I hope the same for the women.

 

[Dagger Dias]

I really hope they don't do two men's MITB ladder matches, but instead do it the old-fashioned way. One winner, capable of cashing in on any champion, either be it on RAW or SD.

I hope the same for the women.

It will probably be two ladder matches. One match for the men where the winner can cash in on either the Universal or World Heavyweight Championship, and a second one for the women (No Ellsworths allowed) where the winner can cash in on the Raw Womens or Smackdown Womens champion. Having one for each brand, let alone also having four due to the women also having both brands represented, would be overkill. Four briefcases. I can think of a few people around our forum who would go crazy from that since it's way too much chaos.

 

[LODemolition]

Glad to see MITB will be a dual-branded ppv. I said this year I thought the men's and women's ladder matches should be 4 from each brand and there should be a briefcase on each show. Only allowing SD to have all the fun was a real head scratcher for me tbh.

 

[ShinChan]

It's such a better schedule than 2017's. Money In The Bank is co-branded and that's a big plus. No lame PPVs like Great Balls Of Fire, another plus.

Also, the number is less and actually makes sense. I like this schedule a lot. You don't have to rush storylines now.