October Overkill: Wrestling Pay-Per-Views

So the theme for October must be the topic of overkill. Well, at least for me it is. Earlier this week I posted content about overuse of the throwback jerseys in the NFL. Keep in mind I never said I hated the idea of it. I just didn't see the need to do it every week. They have the patches in commemoration of the 50^th anniversary of the AFL. That's fine. Set a side a week or two, where the entire AFC (or the entire NFL if the NFC wants to show their appreciation too) wears the throwback jerseys. I wasn't disrespecting the anniversary of it, but apparently that's how some people took it in a number of emails I received.

Moving onto this week's overkill theory, I'm attacking my own world of professional wrestling. A business I've been proudly associated with for nearly 10 years, and a devoted fan for almost 29 years. But here's what bothers me...we have too many pay-per-views.

Let's rewind the clock back to, say...1994. There were two promotions in the game. The WWF (now known as WWE) and WCW. The World Wrestling Federation had five PPV's a year, now known as the Classic Five.

WWE's Classic Five lineup included The Royal Rumble, WrestleMania, King of the Ring, SummerSlam, and Survivor Series. The only one of those not still in existence is the King of the Ring.

WCW's annual lineup was SuperBrawl, Spring Stampede, Slamboree, The Great American Bash, Bash at the Beach, Fall Brawl: Wargames, Halloween Havoc, and Starrcade.

You would essentially get one pay per view per month, and it would generally alternate between the WWF and WCW.

Then in 1995, WCW fired the first shots of the now infamous Monday Night Wars. The WWF added the "In Your House" pay-per-views. WCW added "Uncensored" and the "World War 3" event, which was designed to be an expanded version of the "Royal Rumble" event.

The beauty of the original PPV schedule was nearly every match meant something, and fans actually looked forward to the big shows.

From there, superstars were switching companies left and right and PPVs got added on both sides. It became a big one-up contest between both sides to gain supremacy.

Now if you fast forward to present day, you have the WWE and TNA (Total Nonstop Action) Wrestling. TNA has basically replaced WCW. Superstars are still switching sides, only now there are more PPV events.

If you look at a standard 4-week calendar month, the WWE generally has two Sundays locked up, and TNA has their monthly PPV. A normal, hard-working fan is not going to be able to afford $150 in PPV events every month, if you figure most events are ranging between $40-$50 per event. And I'm not even getting into ticket prices for each event, because that's a whole other argument in itself.

In WWE's case, having two PPVs a month is overkill. Matches are thrown together, and they don't mean anything to the viewer. And here lately, if I want to see something that's featured on a PPV all I need to do is watch Monday Night Raw or Friday Night SmackDown!, because I'm basically seeing the same thing. Vince McMahon is asking me to pay $100 a month for something I see every week anyway.
As both a performer and a fan, I would love to see the old schedule. It just meant more back then. You didn't walk around every week going, "Wow...another PPV this weekend?" This month of October, there's been a PPV three consecutive weekends. I'm just saying back of a little. Give the fans a break, and give us a reason to actually WANT to order your events.