Three Premium Live Events the WWE Should Remove

We can all agree that WWE has too many Premium Live Events, so now its time to trim the fat.

What a year it has been for the biggest wrestling company in the world. With Vince McMahon retiring, the collective group of Stephanie McMahon, Triple H, and Nick Khan has exceeded expectations in every way imaginable. Between ticket sales, TV ratings, creative storylines, and match presentation, the WWE is trending in a sky-high direction with new management at the helm.

Returns of major superstars have also sparked an interest in the company as well.  Ronda Rousey at the Royal Rumble in St. Louis, Cody Rhodes at Wrestlemania 38 in Dallas, Karrion Kross and Scarlett on Smackdown in Greenville,  Johnny Gargano on Raw in Toronto, Bray Wyatt at Extreme Rules in Philadelphia and Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows on Raw in Brooklyn. Other returning stars such as Dexter Lumis, Candice LeRae, Bayley, Io Sky, Dakota Kai, Braun Strowman, and LA Knight have all started leaving major impacts on all WWE programming. World Wrestling Entertainment is on quite the hot streak in 2022. But if you ask me what’s the one thing I would change in the WWE at this moment in time, it would be the Premium Live Event schedule.

The WWE relies heavily on its Premium Live Event schedule to move ticket sales and progress storylines. Don’t get me wrong, that’s a good formula for their success. However, if they do trim the amount of PLEs, there’s a chance to have bigger matches on TV, and have more talent featured on a regular basis and it would save bigger payoffs for the big shows. However, by doing that, quite a few PLEs need the axe. Here are three PLEs that WWE should do away with at the start of 2023.

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3) Wrestlemania Backlash

To be quite frank here, I hate this name. Why did we need to add Wrestlemania in front of a great name for a PLE like Backlash? Name aside, this is one of those PLEs that I always find to be a little underrated. There have been some classic matches in the past at this event like Triple H VS The Rock for the WWF Championship in 2000, the WWE Championship fatal four-way match between John Cena, Shawn Michaels, Edge, and Randy Orton in 2007, and even this year’s six-man tag team match with The Bloodline VS Team RKBro and Drew McIntyre. Those are just a few examples of some of the great Backlash matches in history.

That being said, this event has always been the hangover after Wrestlemania. Not every match needed to have a rematch from Wrestlemania. That’s where the last few Backlash events ran into trouble. Sometimes too much of the same drive the fans away from wanting to see it again.

2) Elimination Chamber

I know what you’re saying, why this one? There’s been some great Elimination Chamber PLEs over the years. And that is true, even one of my favorite WWE moments happened at this event, that being Bray Wyatt winning his first WWE Championship in 2017. However, in no shape or form that a match type should be the name of a pay-per-view. What happened to having a surprise Elimination Chamber match like the one at Summerslam in 2003 or New Year’s Revolution in 2006 or the inaugural Elimination Chamber match at Survivor Series 2002?

I just feel like with an Elimination Chamber live event lurking around the corner, there are no surprises as to when it is coming. I feel it should be treated as a special occasion when you’re pushing six competitors all at once in one six-person feud for the world title. Seeing six competitors going to war inside a massive chamber is an incredible concept, but when you can guess when it’s happening and who the competitors are and who is going to win, it’s not as fun. Therefore, Elimination Chamber can get the boot.

1) Hell in a Cell

This is the one I can’t stand the most. When you have a feud that tempers flare, things get personal and emotions boil over, that’s when it calls for the Hell in a Cell match. Even this year’s Hell in a Cell match between Cody Rhodes and Seth Rollins made a lot of sense.  However, I’m going back to the well with this one where a gimmick match should NOT be a name of a PLE.

It’s not fun when you can circle on your calendar when Hell in a Cell is going to be and pick the feud that needs it the most. Most Hell in Cell events did not need the cell at all. A prime example is CM Punk VS The Undertaker for the World Heavyweight Championship in 2009. Yes, the strap was on the line, but there was no ”real” animosity going into that feud. Another example was Seth Rollins VS “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt at Hell in a Cell in 2019. There was no real build to it at all, and the match just got completely thrown together on a whim.

The match should be on special occasions when the feud calls for it, plain and simple. This is my number one pay-per-view I can’t wait to throw it in the trash if they ever decide to do away with the event. I was extremely close to putting Money in The Bank on this list, but I feel that deserves its own big premium live event. What are your thoughts on my list? I would love to hear your list of PLEs that you would love to get rid of permanently. I’d like to hear your thoughts in the comments below!