WWE Rumors: Reduction Of Pay Per Views In 2018?

The WWE has been accused of over-saturating its calendar with too many pay per views, and it sounds like they could cut down on the number of PPVs in 2018.

By the end of 2017, the WWE will have fed its fans 14 pay per views. Out of these 14 pay per views, four of them are the so-called “Big Four” PPVs, and the other 10 are a mix of Raw and SmackDown-branded PPVs such as Money in the Bank and TLC.

The WWE has always been criticized by fans for over-exposing its product. Most of these criticisms focus on the fact that Raw is three hours long, since the WWE Universe already tunes in to SmackDown Live for two hours. These fans may also watch 205 Live and NXT for an additional hour apiece.

According to Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer News, the WWE will put out fewer pay per views in 2018 (via IWNerd.com). Although Meltzer isn’t sure if this will be the case for the entirety of 2018, he stated on Wrestling Observer Radio that the WWE will not have any months with two pay per views until WrestleMania 34. This was actually the case last year, since there was one pay per view per month until April had both WrestleMania 34 and the Raw-branded Payback.

Since April, the WWE has had three other months with multiple pay per views (June, July, and October). Usually, the WWE will have just one pay per view in a month that features a “Big Four” pay per view, as SummerSlam, the Royal Rumble, and Survivor Series occurred in a month without any other PPVs.

So the most interesting part of this report is the fact that Meltzer stated there will be fewer PPVs in 2018. While that may seem like network subscribers will receive less bang for their buck, most fans have actually complained about having too many PPVs that do not feel meaningful.

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Having fewer PPVs increase the value of each individual show, but, of course, the most important thing will be the quality of these shows. If fewer shows means better quality ones, such as PPVs on par with what NXT TakeOver events produce, then the fans will come away happy with this new approach from the WWE.