When WWE made each pay per view co-branded starting with Backlash this past May, it solved the problem of fans losing interest in multiple major events every month. But it also created a new problem: at least one championship in the company always disappears completely every cycle. This needs to change.
I’ve been reviewing WWE pay per views for Daily DDT for a year now, and for the sake of my sanity the switch to a single, co-branded event each month was a great decision. No more would I have to sit through two separate weekends of the same old same old — one day is a lot more bearable, and frees up more time for other activities.
But a side effect to this change may have been something no one expected. Despite the monthly special events being “supersized” at four hours apiece (plus a Kickoff Show), there’s not enough room on the card for all the storylines happening in a given cycle. Worse, sometimes it’s one of the company’s championships that gets ignored in favor of some other story.
Now, I’m not going to sit here and argue that every single championship in WWE should be defended at every single pay per view. That’s insane! If we count the Cruiserweight Championship, there are nine active titles right now: two world titles, two women’s titles, two tag titles, the Intercontinental and United States Championships, and the Cruiserweight Championship.
More from Daily DDT
- It’s time for Adam Cole and MJF to drop the ROH tag team titles
- Tom Lawlor talks MLW return, AEW opportunity, CM Punk’s WWE return and more
- Eddie Kingston stands to gain the most from the AEW Continental Classic
- Trish Stratus on WWE NXT would help elevate that women’s division
- Randy Orton signs with SmackDown to go after The Bloodline
Do we really want to build a pay per view card with every title on it, and leave no room for any major non-title feuds? Think about that: At Hell in a Cell, the tradeoff for Shinsuke Nakamura getting a match deprives us of Daniel Bryan and Brie Bella punching The Miz and Maryse in the face. Jeff Hardy wouldn’t be getting his Hell in a Cell debut, but we’d see Cedric Alexander against, I don’t know, Tony Nese instead.
Instead of cramming every title onto each pay per view, what should happen is more title matches on Raw and SmackDown every month. So, rather than keep Nakamura off TV nearly the entire month between SummerSlam and HIAC, he could have a few random title defenses on SmackDown.
Honestly, which sounds better: Nakamura cuts a few cell phone promos over a month, or he puts the title up against Aiden English one week?
This serves a dual purpose, too. Not only does it keep the titles relevant if they don’t merit a monthly PPV spot, but it makes the regular television shows more unmissable. If you never know when a title may change hands, you have to watch every episode. And with a pair of new television rights deals set to bring in billions of dollars to WWE, they’ll definitely want to keep people watching the shows.
The most crucial thing is to avoid titles becoming meaningless, which unfortunately has happened in the past. Remember when the Intercontinental Championship was the albatross of WWE television? Now, it’s one of the more prestigious titles of all — even if it hasn’t been on TV regularly since The Shield reunited.
Open challenges are a good start to keep the championships in the WWE Universe’s eyes. But having a pre-announced championship encounter booked a week or two in advance would be even better. Again, the goal is to get people watching the shows: Telling people Seth Rollins will defend the Intercontinental Championship against someone like Finn Bálor in two weeks should be enough to get people to tune into the show.
It’s a shame that any championship has to disappear off the face of the earth for a cycle here or there. But the steps to fix that are there, and it’ll just take some initiative to jump in and fix what needs to be fixed.