WWE Opinion: WrestleMania, and the Case for 5 WWE Pay-Per-Views Per Year

WWE's pay-per-view business is in shambles.  Since the dawn of the brand split era diluted championships, the WWE has saturated the market with way more pay-per-views than they need. 

WWE is giving their fanbase very little time to recover and digest storylines, as by the time one pay-per-view is over, another is on deck within a matter of weeks.

Fans have responded accordingly as WWE's pay-per-view numbers continue to erode on a yearly basis.  The promotion has basically become a two-trick pony on pay-per-view, as Royal Rumble and WrestleMania remain the only two pay-per-views capable of drawing over 400,000 buys. 

With television ratings continuing to erode as well, a new approach to the WWE's pay-per-view schedule could kill multiple birds with one stone as more time could be spent building towards a pay-per-view while star power is fortified on television to create meaningful broadcasts leading up to what would once again become novel pay-per-view offerings. 

Fans simply don't get excited about the non-big four pay-per-views that the WWE puts out, and the numbers prove it.

This is because the WWE typically attaches a gimmick to these events with a hope that they will serve as a hook point for paying customers.  The problem with this methodology?  WWE paints themselves into a corner, forcing themselves to book TLC matches when a feud does not call for it.  With no emotional investment attached to said gimmick, buy rates are guaranteed to suffer.  

So here's what I'm proposing.  Five pay-per-views per year, with TV time dedicated to not only building up to these events to make them more meaningful, but at the same time showcasing midcard talents and putting the emphasis on the secondary titles and tag-team division. 

The TV ratings would suffer initially; however, once midcard talents like Dolph Ziggler, Jack Swagger and Kofi Kingston are appropriately booked and portrayed as bona fide stars, the WWE could be in a position to build a strong TV product from the ground up. 

Here's a projected schedule of what the WWE's new pay-per-view lineup could look like:

January - Royal Rumble

April - WrestleMania

June - Money in the Bank

August - SummerSlam

November - Survivor Series

The longest layoff would be the three months from August to November, which could afford Survivor Series the formidable buildup it needs as it is the weakest of the big four pay-per-views. 

Money in the Bank has earned the right to become a pay-per-view in and of itself based on how the WWE has protected that distinction, as no Money in the Bank winner has failed to become a world champion since the idea was conceived in 2005. 

If done correctly, the WWE can make all their titles meaningful on television with midcard feuds culminating in TV matchups for secondary titles, while featuring the occasional world title match on special episodes of RAW and SmackDown. 

Once all these titles are featured and defended on pay-per-views after so much TV time has been invested in making them seem important, fans will once again have that emotional connection towards seeing the culmination of various feuds and title defenses.

A concern here would be whether or not the WWE would be disciplined enough to not give away pay-per-view main events on free TV.  As mentioned before, in order for this system to work, the WWE would surely have to take a hit on ratings initially. 

But once they are able to build a product where fans can become emotionally attached to storylines through competent booking, the undercard could easily carry shows like RAW and SmackDown with top-level stars competing in the main event without having to go one-on-one with a potential pay-per-view opponent. 

The WWE could fortify its business through the theory of addition by subtraction.  Fans have become numb to pay-per-view, and these sentiments have slowly begun to bleed into the WWE's once reliable money makers like Survivor Series, SummerSlam and even the Royal Rumble.  Truth be told, WrestleMania can no longer be successful without a considerable boost from the Rock—who will look to appear at three straight WrestleManias come next year. 

With less pay-per-views comes more meaning, and more opportunities for the WWE to do what it has desperately needed to do for years, which is slow down and invest in its next generation. 

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