Step 5: No Splitting of Pay-Per-Views
Let’s have a little history lesson, shall we? I randomly picked The Great American Bash from 2004, right in the middle of the brand split the first time. You had a “Smackdown only” Pay-Per-View headlined with The Undertaker defeating The Dudley Boyz. Yes, that was your main event. Other matches that night included JBL vs. Eddie Guerrero, Keno Suzuki vs. Billy Gunn, Luther Reigns vs. Charlie Haas, Rey Mysterio vs. Chavo Guerrero, Sable vs. Torrie Wilson, Mordecai vs. Hardcore Holly and John Cena in a Fatal Four Way Match. Wow, how brutal are some of those matches for a PAY PER VIEW. Out of that entire card, maybe 3 of those matches should have been given the honor to be on a Pay-Per-View card. Let’s look at a “Raw only” PPV from that time frame as well. One month prior, WWE Unforgiven had Triple H vs. Randy Orton, Chris Jericho vs. Christian, Shawn Michaels vs. Kane, Tyson Tomko vs. Steven Richards, La Resistance vs. Tajiri and Rhyno, Benoit and Regal vs. Evolution and a pre-show match with Maven and Rodney Mack.
My points are pretty clear here, right? If you combined the three matches from Smackdown’s No Mercy event with 4 matches from Unforgiven, you would have had a solid card. Instead, you had garbage. You had hot garbage for two YEARS. With a one-hour preshow before each PPV, WWE knows that there is no need for Raw and Smackdown to have their own special events. Make sure it feels important and not like Sunday Night Heat.
Success comes with risk. This should not be viewed as a big risk, but a necessary risk.
