I’ve been doing a lot of thinking recently.
It took a while, but I finally got used to the smell of the burning cardboard.
Once I was able to get beyond that, I was able to focus on WWE “pay-per-view” events. I’m not going to refer to them as the bullshit that the company wants them to be called now. I’ve been thinking about the event calendar and the placement of shows.
I don’t like it.
Before I can go any further, let’s take a look at the shows WWE presented in 2021. This will be strictly the main roster shows, and not anything NXT did.
- Royal Rumble (January 31st)
- Elimination Chamber (February 21st)
- Fastlane (March 21st)
- WrestleMania 37 (April 10th & 11th)
- WrestleMania Backlash (May 16th)
- Hell In A Cell (June 20th)
- Money In The Bank (July 18th)
- SummerSlam (August 21st)
- Extreme Rules (September 26th)
- Crown Jewel (October 21st)
- Survivor Series (November 21st)
Now, let’s look at what we’ve seen in 2022, and what has already been announced for the rest of the year.
- Day 1 (January 1st)
- Royal Rumble (January 29th)
- Elimination Chamber (February 19th)
- WrestleMania 38 (April 2nd & 3rd)
- Unknown Show (May 8th)
- Unknown Show (June 5th)
- Money In The Bank (July 2nd)
- SummerSlam (July 30th)
- Unknown Show (September 3rd or 4th)
- Survivor Series (November 26th)
What is the first thing that you notice there? The 2022 schedule is far from complete. We used to be able to see the entire list for a calendar year way ahead of time, but things have changed. Ever since COVID made life its bitch, WWE has been very careful to schedule things the way they do. We currently have dates for the two shows after WrestleMania, as well as the show after SummerSlam, but we don’t know what they’re going to be yet. There also isn’t anything officially on WWE.com about anything happening in October, but it’s probably a safe bet that we aren’t going 84 days between shows.
The more I look at the schedule for 2022, as well as what we’ve been getting in recent years, the more I dislike it.
Let’s start with the most timely thing… I hate that Elimination Chamber falls where it does during the year. We’re about to head into the 12th Chamber event, and all of them except one (2015) saw it fall between the Royal Rumble and WrestleMania on the calendar. It has always been weird to me that we get the Royal Rumble, where 30 competitors face off for a main event spot at WrestleMania, only for people to have to jump through hoops again a few weeks later. For one, when the Rumble winners are crowned, you can generally tell what the Mania title matches are going to be, as WWE is generally poor when it comes to surprises of that nature. Honestly, if you’re hellbent on having Elimination Chamber as a themed event and not just a match that happens at some point during the year (more on that in a bit), I think it would be better served happening in the middle of the year. Put it in July and have the Chamber match(es) determine who gets to compete for titles at SummerSlam the next month. You have the WWE Title, Universal Title, Raw Women’s Title, and Smackdown Women’s Title to use, so you could always keep things fresh and not just have the same titles involved every year.
I think we need to circle back to the whole “themed” show nonsense, though. Right now, WWE regularly uses three of them… Elimination Chamber, Hell In A Cell, and Money In The Bank. One of my biggest wrestling pet peeves over the last decade or so is how WWE has turned those matches into themed shows. I understand that some of you are young and/or new to wrestling, so you might not remember those days, but let me paint the picture for you. Wrestler A is feuding with Wrestler B. It becomes a heated, personal, violent feud. Regular matches aren’t enough to contain the rage, so what’s the solution? WWE’s ultimate “feud ender” known as Hell In A Cell. It could happen in February, June, August, December… whenever. There wasn’t a specific event for the match. It was just brought out when a feud needed it. Do you realize how much that does for “realism” in wrestling? The Undertaker and Mankind needed to solve their issues inside the Cell. Triple H and Cactus Jack couldn’t finish things anywhere else. Brock Lesnar and The Undertaker couldn’t be contained within the normal confines of a ring. The list goes on and on of some of the biggest “blood feuds” in WWE history NEEDING the Cell to host things. We don’t get that anymore. Now, we just get whatever feuds are happening at the time of year when the Hell In A Cell event is taking place. If it were up to me, there wouldn’t be an event for Elimination Chamber, Money In The Bank, or Hell In A Cell. As I said earlier, if you absolutely, positively need Elimination Chamber, then just do it in the middle of the year. Otherwise, the Chamber and the Cell should only be brought out when necessary. I’m keeping Elimination Chamber around for now because, while it is an event themed around a gimmick match, it’s a match that can happen at any time. There are always going to be five challengers “worthy” of a title shot at any given time, and there will always be six challengers “worthy” of a chance to have a title shot.
As for Money In The Bank, I loved it when it was part of the WrestleMania card. If you remember the original idea for the match, it was a way to get some key performers on the Mania card even though they didn’t have any real feuds going on at the time. That’s a great idea. It helps to either create a brand new star, or to heat up a star that had gone cold for a bit. Sounds like a win/win to me. The timing of it works, too. You have Money In The Bank winners crowned at WrestleMania, and they have until the next WrestleMania to cash in. It’s easy to remember, and it’s easy to write.
Just for the sake of keeping track, let’s take a look at a hypothetical “PPV” schedule for 2023, based on how I would like to see things play out.
- Royal Rumble (January)
- ??? (February)
- WrestleMania (April)
- ??? (May)
- ??? (June)
- Elimination Chamber (July)
- SummerSlam (August)
- ??? (September)
- ??? (October)
- Survivor Series (November)
- ??? (December)
To start filling out those missing months, the first thing we need to do is bring something back. Well, technically, WWE just brought it back, but for this, we’ll make it an entire event. It’s something that people always look forward to when it’s around, but WWE tends to ruin it soon thereafter. For this column, just humor me as I bring King Of The Ring back. For those of you that remember when King Of The Ring was an annual pay-per-view, you’d remember the original shows saw the Quarterfinals, Semi-Finals, and the Finals of the tournament taking place on the show. Eventually, it would be switched to where only the Semi-Finals and Finals took place on the show, but it would flip flop between two and three rounds a bit before the show was scrapped altogether. There’s more than enough talent on the WWE roster to have three rounds on the same show, but that also means there’s more than enough talent to fill up the rest of the card to where you only need to do two rounds. Where do you place the show, though? When it was an annual show, it was always held in June. Since then, it has been spread out throughout weeks and months, but the Finals have taken place in April, May, September, October, and November. April and November are obviously out of the running here. If you put it in February, you can allow a bit of levity smack dab in the middle of the “Road To WrestleMania.” May can do the same for after WrestleMania, and would also allow you to break from the same old “RematchMania” shit that WWE likes to give us in May. June is for the folks who like tradition. September would be the “come down” period after SummerSlam. October will allow for the final part of the year to have something that folks can sink their teeth into. December means we can start the new year with new royalty.
Just for shits and giggles, I’m going to place it in May. For far too long, the May show has been almost the exact same card as what we got at WrestleMania, which is completely asinine. I think a name change for the show is in order, too. We got the debut of the Queen’s Crown tournament that ran side-by-side with King Of The Ring last year, so the name of the show itself should indicate that. I’ve seen people say the show should be King & Queen’s Crown, King & Queen Of The Ring, The Crowning, and a bunch of other similarly themed names. To make it easy, let’s just go with the simple King & Queen Of The Ring, giving us an updated calendar of:
- Royal Rumble (January)
- ??? (February)
- WrestleMania (April)
- King & Queen Of The Ring (May)
- ??? (June)
- Elimination Chamber (July)
- SummerSlam (August)
- ??? (September)
- ??? (October)
- Survivor Series (November)
- ??? (December)
For my next addition to the calendar, I’m going to bring back another show that WWE has used through the years, but not since 2020. The idea of the show has stayed the same, even through an event name change out of nowhere. Whether you call it Night Of Champions or Clash Of Champions, the point remains the same… every main roster title gets defended on the show. That gives you nine matches (ten if you count the 24/7 Title, but you shouldn’t) to run with. Easy concept and an easy selling point. Of the nine Night Of Champions shows, the last six were held in September, while three of the four Clash Of Champions shows were also held in that month. Works for me. SummerSlam is the second-biggest show of the year, so having an “easy” show after that makes sense, and it helps to get the ball rolling into the final few months of the year. Since Clash Of Champions was the name last used, I’ll go with that. Let’s update the calendar:
- Royal Rumble (January)
- ??? (February)
- WrestleMania (April)
- King & Queen Of The Ring (May)
- ??? (June)
- Elimination Chamber (July)
- SummerSlam (August)
- Clash Of Champions (September)
- ??? (October)
- Survivor Series (November)
- ??? (December)
In case you’re wondering, I’ve dropped the Day 1 event from the calendar. It made sense in 2022, as January 1st was a Saturday. In 2023, January 1st will be a Sunday, so it works there. Moving forward, though? Will you have a Monday night pay-per-view on January 1st, 2024? Wednesday night pay-per-view on January 1st, 2025? Probably not. It’s a cutesy idea, but it probably doesn’t have lasting power.
The easy thing to do when it comes to filling out the rest of the calendar is go with holiday-themed shows. February? The return of St. Valentine’s Day Massacre! October? Use Halloween Havoc for the main roster instead of a televised episode of NXT! December? Obviously, a return of the greatest show of all-time, December To Dismember! I will, however, use a bit of that idea for my June event. The idea of shows like Bash At The Beach and Beach Blast have always intrigued me. WCW used Beach Blast in 1992 and 1993, holding the shows in Alabama and Mississippi, respectively, before switching to Bash At The Beach from 1994 to 2000. Bash At The Beach was held in Florida five times (Orlando, Daytona Beach three times, and Fort Lauderdale) and California twice (Huntington Beach and San Diego). That’s a good start. It’s a much better idea than having a show called Beach Break in fucking CLEVELAND, OHIO. Let’s do Bash At The Beach in June. It can take advantage of the summer vibes, but it also avoids July and August, when temperatures really start getting crazy. Every now and then, when possible, you could even have the show at some sort of an outdoor venue. It would look good on television, at the very least. Oh, and since we’re getting really crazy with it, Hawaii would be in the rotation of places to host the event. I was born and raised there, so I would definitely love to see something like that. Here’s the updated calendar:
- Royal Rumble (January)
- ??? (February)
- WrestleMania (April)
- King & Queen Of The Ring (May)
- Bash At The Beach (June)
- Elimination Chamber (July)
- SummerSlam (August)
- Clash Of Champions (September)
- ??? (October)
- Survivor Series (November)
- ??? (December)
My next addition is going to draw a groan or two from long-time wrestling fans who were around for all of WCW’s tenure. The concept of this event is tremendous, but WCW failed to execute it properly. Shocking, I know. The concept I’m referring to is BattleBowl. If you’re unaware, this was an idea where WCW would take their roster, split it all up, and then create random tag teams in what they called a “Lethal Lottery.” You might have tag partners, family members, stablemates, etc. forced to face off for this one night. The winners of the tag matches would then compete in the BattleBowl battle royal at the end of the show, and the winner would receive a ring, a title shot, and so on. You could update that for the modern era if need be. Having the winner receive a World Title shot is fine and all, but with things like the Royal Rumble, Elimination Chamber, and potentially King & Queen Of The Ring, you’re already going to that well a lot. Even if the winner receives a wild amount of money in kayfabe like one million dollars, that could work. It’s refreshing when you hear a wrestler talk about wanting to win a match or a title because it means a bigger pay day for them. As for the concept itself, it would definitely keep things fresh. Tired of seeing The Usos vs The New Day? What about Jimmy Uso & Kofi Kingston vs Jey Uso & Xavier Woods? You could also see things like random pairings that end up working well together and forming an actual team after the event. There can also be advancements in heel or face turns, or at least the seeds can be planted for those turns in the future. If done correctly, a lot of shake-up can take place because of a show like this. Let’s go ahead and put it in February for two reasons. One, you don’t need anything too wild and dangerous between the Rumble and WrestleMania. Two, the whole “random tag partners” idea shouldn’t take place next to Survivor Series, where heels and faces often team up in the traditional elimination-style matches. Now our updated calendar looks like:
- Royal Rumble (January)
- BattleBowl (February)
- WrestleMania (April)
- King & Queen Of The Ring (May)
- Bash At The Beach (June)
- Elimination Chamber (July)
- SummerSlam (August)
- Clash Of Champions (September)
- ??? (October)
- Survivor Series (November)
- ??? (December)
With only two spots left, I think it’s safe to build something from scratch now. We don’t need a new theme or a gimmick match. All that we need is two new show names to help round out the calendar year. If we’re going to keep it real, you could call the two shows “October Show” and “December Show” and they would still be better names than Great Balls Of Fire and some of the other weird names the company has thrown at us over the years. You could come up with two show names at random and you’d be fine. In fact, I think that’s what I’m going to do. I’ll find a site with a lengthy list of show names used for e-feds and things of that nature, and pick two from that list. Those shows will take up October and December on the calendar.
For our October show… Hellfire. Somewhat fitting, actually. How about that? As for the December show… Eve Of Destruction. I guess, depending on when in December it happens, that could be somewhat fitting, too. Like I said, these are just two random names. There’s no special Hellfire or Eve Of Destruction gimmick match attached to the shows or anything like that. Just your run-of-the-mill show name like Fully Loaded, No Mercy, etc.
Here’s the final look at the calendar:
- Royal Rumble (January)
- BattleBowl (February)
- WrestleMania (April)
- King & Queen Of The Ring (May)
- Bash At The Beach (June)
- Elimination Chamber (July)
- SummerSlam (August)
- Clash Of Champions (September)
- Hellfire (October)
- Survivor Series (November)
- Eve Of Destruction (December)
In my opinion, that’s a solid mix of events. You have the “Big Four” shows, plus a couple returning blasts from the past, as well as some fresh blood. Almost everything plays off of each other, allowing for a nice flow throughout the year, and there are stakes involved at almost every turn. That’s all I can ask for.
What say you, ReaderLand? I want to know what you think about the WWE pay-per-view schedule. Do you think it’s fine the way it is? If not, what are some changes you would make if it were up to you? Would you bring back some shows from the past, or would you come up with some brand new names? As always, hit me up in the comments section below, or on Twitter (@HustleTheSavage), and let me know what’s on your mind.
Weekly Power Rankings
- CM Punk vs MJF: Raise your hand if you expected this to be a 40-minute match on television. If you have your hand raised, you are a fucking liar. Quite the unexpected epic here. MJF has really shown the ability to step up in big matches, putting on some of the best in-ring performances of his career. Having him be the person to hand Punk his first loss was probably the right call, even if you thought it should’ve happened on pay-per-view instead of television. Also, RIP to Punk’s knees after hitting the Pepsi Plunge for the first time since Dwight Eisenhower was the President of the United States.
- The Creed Brothers vs Grizzled Young Veterans: The streak is over! When the brackets for this year’s Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic were released, everyone expected James Drake and Zack Gibson to reach the tournament finals for the third consecutive year. Alas, it was not to be, as they were eliminated in the semi-finals this year. This was a really fun tag team match. The Creed Brothers have looked really good during their brief time in NXT, but this was definitely the best they’ve looked. It helped that they were up against a GYV team that seemed to have ditched the stupid gimmick change they’ve had over the last few months and were back to their usual selves. I have no idea what the ceiling for Julius and Brutus Creed is, but they look like they could be a big success in NXT and on the main roster one day. Time will tell.
- The Idea Of A “Two-Man Power Trip” With Bryan Danielson & Jon Moxley: When we got the first tease of Danielson and Moxley, everybody was excited at the idea of them tearing the house down against each other. What we weren’t thinking about, however, was what Danielson hinted at on Dynamite… that the two of them should pair up and become an unstoppable force in AEW. That’s such an intriguing booking idea. It isn’t something that should happen very often, and it doesn’t, but it’s usually incredibly entertaining when it does. You really could have them run roughshod for a while before one of them inevitably turns on the other. As an added bonus, Danielson tossed an idea of a stable involving people like Daniel Garcia, Wheeler Yuta, and Lee Moriarty. Are you kidding?!? That would be great! Shit, even if Moxley declines the team idea, I want to see Danielson lead a stable like that.
- The New Day vs Los Lotharios: It wasn’t a terribly long match, but it packed a lot of quality into less than ten minutes of action. Before anybody asks… yes, I’m very disappointed to see Big E unceremoniously bumped back down to a tag wrestler again. Shit, I’m still disappointed about the same thing happening to Kofi Kingston a couple years ago. From all reports, it sounds like the people most disappointed are Big E’s fellow WWE Superstars, who hold him in very high regard. Maybe he’ll be back in the main event scene one day. Again… time will tell. We probably shouldn’t count on it, though.
- Sammy Guevara vs Isiah Kassidy: Another good in-ring showing for Kassidy, further showing how much he and his tag partner, Marq Quen, are being hurt by being in the ridiculous stable with Matt Hardy. They went from being one of the top young tag teams in AEW to being almost completely forgotten, and that’s a shame. I want Jeff Hardy to show up in AEW, if only to see him and his brother become a tag team again, hopefully freeing Matt’s stablemates to do bigger and better things.
- Dolph Ziggler Challenging For The NXT Title: In one segment, we’ve basically been teased with the idea of Dolph facing Bron Breakker, Santos Escobar, and/or Tommaso Ciampa in the near future. I really like the idea of sending some Raw and Smackdown wrestlers to work programs in NXT. It can be very beneficial to the NXT talent if done right, and it can provide a boost to the main roster talent, too. Lord knows Dolph has been spinning his wheels for a long, long time now and could use something… anything… that feels somewhat different. This could be it.
- Ricky Starks vs Jay Lethal: Say what you want about Jay Lethal, and Lord knows social media has done a ton of that, but he has been somewhat lost in the mix since signing with AEW three months ago. This was only his third televised match for the company, and he has now been on the losing side of all three of those matches. He’s undefeated on AEW YouTube, though, so hooray! This was the good performance you would expect from both men, complete with a highlight reel finish. I just don’t know what to expect out of this AEW/Lethal pairing anymore.
- Pac & Penta El Zero Miedo vs Malakai Black & Brody King: I really dig the Black and King duo, and I would love to see them go on a rampage (no pun intended) in the AEW tag team scene. On the other hand, I would love to see Pac achieve more than he has since joining the company. This is one of those situations where I get what I want, either way, so I just want to see a good match. That’s exactly what I got.
- Raw Quiz Bowl: It was stupid, but it was supposed to be. These segments have had no business being as entertaining as they’ve been. Kudos to Randy Orton, Riddle, Chad Gable, and Otis for that. They’ve all played their roles to near perfection.
- Keith Lee & Mia Yim: They recently got married after being engaged for nearly a year. Congratulations to the happy couple! Now, let the AEW speculation for tonight continue.
This Week’s Playlist: “Weight In Gold” by Gallant… “John Woo Flick” by Conway The Machine, Benny The Butcher & Westside Gunn… “Something New” by Wiz Khalifa & Ty Dolla $ign… “What We Do” by Freeway, Jay-Z & Beanie Sigel… “Function” by E-40, YG, Iamsu! & Problem… “Check Yes, Juliet” by We The Kings… “Over My Head” by Alabama Shakes… “The One Time In Houston” by Wale… “The Matrimony” by Wale & Usher… “This Life” by Curtis Stigers & The Forest Rangers… “John The Revelator” by Curtis Stigers & The Forest Rangers… “Bulls On Parade” by Denzel Curry… “Sell Out” by Reel Big Fish… “Superman” by Goldfinger… “The Impression That I Get” by Mighty Mighty Bosstones… “River” by Bishop Briggs… “Not Tonight” by Snow Tha Product… “Your Glass House” by Atmosphere… “Real Love” by Mary J. Blige… “Big Ship” by One Groove… “Starboy” by The Weeknd & Daft Punk… “Redbone” by Childish Gambino… “No Problem” by Chance The Rapper, Lil Wayne & 2 Chainz… “HUMBLE.” by Kendrick Lamar… “My Friends Over You” by New Found Glory
