5 pay-per-views WWE should kill
WWE's pay-per-view schedule has undergone many changes over the years. Mercifully, the latest was that WWE reduced its pay-per-views from 16 in 2017 to 13 in 2018. That still only feels like small potatoes, though, when the company could be much bolder.
The biggest recent news for the company is the seemingly imminent new TV deal with NBC Universal over Raw, which is even more favorable than the current deal, and the potential to make more money still off of SmackDown on the open market. The deal is so favorable, in fact, that Dave Meltzer remarked that Raw would soon be more lucrative than pay-per-views.
The new TV deal thus opens an opportunity. The TV shows could be bigger instead of often feeling like weekly fillers for a lackluster build to often-backwater pay-per-views. If more such shows were cut in light of this recent development, perhaps the focus on longer-term storytelling would be greater.
In truth, the company could do very well with a schedule built around the big four shows (Royal Rumble, WrestleMania, SummerSlam, and Survivor Series), and a few pay-per-views to mark the midway point between them.
Which should be on the chopping block, then?
1. Fastlane
Widely reviled, with numerous infamous showings under its short chronology, Fastlane has often only served to act as an actual roadblock on the Road to WrestleMania, with many fans ridiculing its name as a result.
This was particularly glaring this year, when the terrible build to the pay-per-view on SmackDown felt like going through the motions for no real reason, stalling the build to AJ Styles vs. Shinsuke Nakamura, Asuka vs. Charlotte, and by extension, the Raw Women's Championship match, as well as other feuds.
No one would shed any tears if Fastlane was cut and the entire month of March could be used to build the numerous WrestleMania programs.