WWE Hell in a Cell 2012: Why the Long Gap Between Shows Should Boost Business

The gap between WWE pay-per-views is usually a very small one, with only three or four weeks separating one show from the next.

But we’re currently experiencing something that almost never happens: A six-week gap between PPVs.

Night of Champions occurred on Sept. 16, and Hell in a Cell doesn’t take place until Oct. 28, which means that we’re still more then a month away from the WWE’s next PPV. 

You know what else it means? A long gap between PPVs should boost business. 

One of the WWE’s biggest problems with its current PPV model is that we’re often bombarded with multiple pay-per-views in a really short span. This was evidenced earlier this year when WrestleMania 28, Extreme Rules and Over the Limit all took place within seven weeks of one another. 

Although this isn’t always the case, what typically results from such a jam-packed PPV schedule is a lackluster WWE product. 

Matches have no build, feuds are rushed, and rematches are forced down our throats. Everything happens too fast, but at the same time, nothing new really happens between PPVs when they’re just three weeks apart. 

But when the gap between PPVs expands from three or four weeks to, let’s say, five or six, the WWE instantly gets more time to tell stories that have some actual depth and layers to them. 

Take, for example, the Over the Limit match for the WWE Championship between CM Punk and Daniel Bryan back in May. 

Was it a phenomenal match? Absolutely. 

Did it have any real build whatsoever? Not really. 

And a big reason why that was the case was because Extreme Rules happened on April 29 and Over the Limit took place on May 20, just 21 days later. 

While I’m sure that Vince McMahon and other company officials may be of the mindset that “more pay-per-views equal more money,” there’s the flip side to that argument: Less is more. 

If the WWE has fewer PPVs that are of higher quality, then couldn’t that be better for the company long term than having a boatload of PPVs that aren’t really that good? I think so. 

It’s hard in general for the average wrestling fan to shell out $50 bucks for a WWE PPV, but it’s significantly more difficult for a fan to do that when he knows he’s going to have to do it again in four weeks and then once again in another three weeks. 

That’s why the six-week gap between Night of Champions and the upcoming Hell in a Cell pay-per-view could prove to be such a huge plus for the WWE in the long run. 

Though it seems like such a simple move on paper, it’s one that has a domino effect that influences both the WWE’s TV storylines and the company from a business sense. 

An extended gap between pay-per-views is something I—like many other wrestling fans—have wanted to see for years now, and now that it’s actually happening for a change, I think it could pay big dividends. 

Now that it’s not pigeonholed into booking a feud in just three or four weeks, the creative team can take its time, gradually build up its rivalries that have already started and then create new ones without having to rush them. 

I mean, think about it: Would you write a better term paper if you had six weeks to do it, or if you had three? 

Exactly.

Drake Oz is a WWE Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter!