Crafting the Perfect Main Event Feud for a High-Profile Pay-Per-View Event

The blueprint for creating a perfect pay-per-view main event feud is not an easy one to follow.

If it were, every WWE and TNA show would produce feud-of-the-year candidates. The ideal rivalry, complete with near-perfect storytelling, comes along rarely, and when it does, fans glom onto it and relish it forever.

What comprises this kind of feud?

Should one pick past examples apart, it appears that the perfect main event feud requires hugely popular stars, high stakes and escalating aggression to begin with.

Two foes with great chemistry elevates the rivalry as does putting together a fresh pairing of opponents. There has to be a balance of familiarity and novelty. Too much of the same two guys going at it gets old and two guys with no prior history is a hard sell as well.

As for the stakes, having something on the line other than victory and championships is a bonus.

Perhaps forced retirement awaits the loser, the break-up of an alliance is up for grabs or something else that goes beyond the normal spoils of a match.

Below are three examples of excellent feuds leading to a classic pay-per-view main event.

They are, of course, not meant to be an exhaustive list, but three specimens to examine. Shawn Michaels versus Undertaker, Sting versus Flair and Chris Jericho versus Shawn Michaels are among the many other great examples not mentioned here, but ones that certainly fit the criteria.

Andre the Giant vs. Hulk Hogan

The feud that helped catapult WrestleMania into the phenomenon that it is today nails all the points listed above.

In 1987, Andre the Giant and Hulk Hogan were the two clear biggest stars in WWE. Those two remain among the top all-time legends in the business.

Andre had built his reputation in the '70s as a must-see attraction. Hogan had become the face of WWE and, in many ways, the face of wrestling.

Turning Andre into a villain to turn on his former friend provided the ideal matchup for WrestleMania III.

In terms of stakes, the WWE Championship was on the line, but there was more to this battle than that. Both Hogan and Andre seemed unbeatable at this point. Their clash became a test of dominance and power.

WWE also told fans that Andre had yet to be bodyslammed up to this point, even though that wasn't true.

What about the escalating aggression component? The journey from friends to having tension to bitter rivals was a well-told story. After Hogan earned a trophy for being the WWE champ for three years, Andre looked to be congratulating him.

Instead, he took this moment to turn on Hogan.

He ripped Hogan's shirt and cross pendant in one of the most memorable moments in WWE history.

Andre not only ended their friendship, but aligned himself with the unscrupulous Bobby Heenan. This was akin to a Jedi joining the dark side.

Their feud built slowly, with little physical altercations before the showdown. The two enemies sat down for an extremely tense contract signing that did well to show Hogan's fear and Andre's monstrous size.

Andre and Hogan had faced off before seven years prior at Shea Stadium. So, the two rivals had worked together, but this was still a fresh pairing that got fans excited.

Steve Austin vs. The Rock

Before their WrestleMania XVII championship match, The Rock and Steve Austin composed a brilliant feud.

Like with Andre and Hogan, these were the two biggest stars in the company. Austin against anyone else or The Rock against anyone else just wouldn't have had the big-fight feel that this had.

The WWE Championship was at stake and beyond that The Rock was out to avenge his last WrestleMania loss to Austin, a defeat that occurred two years prior. Would the champion fend off his challenger this time or would Austin repeat history?

That was the story going into their battle, but it became more personal and more intense as they moved toward their showdown.

Vince McMahon forced Austin's wife to manage The Rock which caused some expected tension. The Rock hit a Stunner on Austin and Austin slapped a beer out of The Rock's hands.

That's the kind of escalating aggression that makes for a top-notch feud.

WWE also knew that these two had chemistry. They'd battled before, including an excellent bout at WrestleMania XV. Spacing out their two WrestleMania battles made fans anticipate this even more.

Instead of having the sequel come out right after the original, the audience had to wait until their feud caught fire once again.

John Cena vs. CM Punk

The fight for the WWE title at Money in the Bank 2011 follows the perfect main event blueprint to a tee.

Insert the two biggest stars of that time period, John Cena and CM Punk, who was riding a tidal wave of momentum after his infamous promo on WWE Raw.

Next up, WWE raised the stakes.

A WWE title match is exciting, but this one had unique circumstances. Should Cena lose, McMahon promised to fire him. Should Punk win, he was going to leave the WWE as his contract expired and take the championship with him. Those are exactly the type of high stakes that make winning and losing this type of match so important.

Over several weeks, WWE built this story, increasing the intensity as it went along. Cena was set up as representing the establishment and Punk served as the rebel. The rivalry was just as much Punk against McMahon as it was about Punk and Cena.

A contract signing where Punk berated McMahon and wars of words between Cena and Punk were among the highlights of the buildup.

Punk and Cena executed the main event formula excellently. It's this formula that WWE seems to be following for Daniel Bryan and Cena for SummerSlam.

Bryan has established himself as one of the company's top stars, fulfilling that part of the blueprint. There could be higher stakes, but Bryan's attempt to prove that he belongs among the elite is a good start. As for aggression intensifying, the two rivals have gone from talking very respectfully to each other to slowly becoming more belligerent.

If WWE can cram some drama in between now and SummerSlam, Cena and Bryan will look a lot more like the above examples. If not, fans will have to wait until the company manages to piece together another unforgettable feud sometime down the road.