WWE's 2022 pay-per-view schedule is a step in the right direction for the company
WWE revealed their pay-per-view schedule for 2022 earlier today, and it includes a lot of notable changes.
For starters, WWE is cutting back from their typical twelve pay-per-views a year down to nine. The other notable change is that seven of the nine will now be Saturday night events instead of the traditional Sunday slot.
With these changes to the schedule, WWE is on the right track to making their pay-per-views feel special again.
Time to mark your calendars 🗓 🤩
As first reported by @sbjsbd, the 2022 WWE pay-per-view schedule has been released!
wwe.com/shows/wrestlem…
Let's start with the change from Sunday to Saturday nights for WWE pay-per-views. This is a welcome change for many people, especially their European audience.
One of the main complaints from people overseas is that WWE PPVs would start around midnight on Monday and go on into the early hours of the morning. This would leave many fans tired since most of them would have to work a few hours after the pay-per-views go off the air.
With the move to Saturday night, this problem is solved, and it also prevents WWE from going head to head with Sunday Night Football in the fall and early winter months.
The next big change was the decrease in the number of pay-per-views from twelve to nine. That number will likely increase with a rumored Labor Day weekend event in the UK and two Saudi Arabia shows. It is still a nice change.
Another complaint fans have is that WWE has too many pay-per-views, and as a result, they don't feel as unique as they used to. AEW has only four pay-per-views a year, and they ensure to make the events feel special.
WWE is heading in the right direction by cutting shows, and they should continue this trend in the future.
Two other changes on the WWE PPV schedule that stick out is that WrestleMania will once again be two nights, as well as SummerSlam moving to July.
One of WWE's better changes since the pandemic was making The Showcase Of The Immortals a two-night event. Fans were becoming tired of WrestleMania running for seven to eight hours on a Sunday night (early Monday morning overseas).
With WWE's biggest pay-per-view being two nights and running about four hours each, the shows have become more manageable to watch and enjoyable as a result.
Also, with no shows scheduled between the Royal Rumble and WrestleMania, feuds will be allowed to build more and feel more important when The Showcase Of Immortals rolls around.
🚨 #WrestleMania will take place on Saturday, April 2 & Sunday, April 3 at @ATTStadium, and you can get your tickets on Friday, November 12 at SeatGeek.com! https://t.co/BFNJRu72Ez
SummerSlam moving up to July is also an excellent move. The Biggest Party Of The Summer's late August place in the WWE calendar always felt awkward.
While it was technically summer, it was closer to when classes began for students and more like a "last hoorah" for the season. July will have a "big party" feel that WWE wants SummerSlam to have.
@WrestleFeatures Finally Summerslam in actual summer. 😂 All jokes aside I always felt like Summerslam should be in July. Especially with all the beach themes they've done in the past. People start school by the time summerslam is on.
The one thing that WWE can do to make these changes even better is to get rid of most of the gimmick pay-per-views. One of the things that made the recent Seth Rollins vs. Edge Hell In A Cell Match feel more important was that it was unexpected and made sense for their feud and not because the Hell in a Cell pay-per-view mandated it.
Instead of the gimmick pay-per-views, WWE needs to go back to the more generic names like Backlash, Judgment Day, No Mercy, etc.
To wrap things up, WWE can still do things to make their schedule better and the shows feel more important. However, the release of the 2022 PPV schedule today seems to be a signal that the company is on the right track to achieve its main goal.