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The weeks leading up to WrestleMania are the most exciting time to be a wrestling fan. It’s when we try to figure out what the card is going to be and the Road to WrestleMania makes a pit-stop at the Elimination Chamber PPV. The main-event of ‘Mania is supposedly set once the Royal Rumble is over, but the February PPV gives the WWE a chance to change things if they need to.
There’s just one thing I’ve always wondered though – does the WWE really need a PPV in February?
Looking at this year’s PPV calendar, there isn’t a PPV in March, but there are two in June. Now that the WWE Network is going to be available from this month, it won’t make much difference to the people who would usually buy every event. That only goes for fans in America though. If fans from the UK or elsewhere wanted to buy every PPV, that would mean buying 2 in a month.
Personally, I wouldn’t buy every PPV even if I could afford it. I may be a big fan, but the product isn’t that good! In years gone by, there’s usually been a huge gap in the weeks leading up to ‘Mania from the February PPV in order to build storylines.
That’s fine and it’s important to do that because it’s the biggest event of the year. However, I think it would benefit the fans if the WWE were to cut out the Elimination Chamber event.
I would have WrestleMania in March and build up the storylines every week on Raw from the Royal Rumble onwards. Doing that would also give the WWE more time to build towards other PPVs during the year.
If every fan was to buy the WWE Network, it wouldn’t matter because every PPV is going to be shown on the Network for a brilliant price. There’s just one problem though. Not everyone is going to buy the Network and those who don’t may still want to see every PPV. Too many events in a small space of time is too expensive for most fans.
Money aside, does the WWE need the February PPV to further storylines or to change things?
Right now, WWE could use the Elimination Chamber to insert Daniel Bryan into the main-event at WrestleMania 30. The fans have been very vocal about Batista getting a shot at the WWE World Heavyweight Championship ahead of Bryan. I think the WWE have screwed up big time by the way they’ve handled the situation.
Putting Daniel Bryan in the WWE World Heavyweight Championship match at the Elimination Chamber has got fans hoping that he’ll win, and therefore go on to WrestleMania as the defending champion. Wouldn’t it have made more sense to have him win the title at the biggest show of the year instead of at a second-rate PPV?
Yes, the Elimination Chamber gives WWE the chance to make up for their mistakes, but I don’t see the point in having Bryan win the WWE World Heavyweight Championship at the Chamber. Surely the sight of him standing tall at WrestleMania, when it’s all said and done, in front of 70,000 people, holding the WWE World Heavyweight Championship high would solidify him as “the man”?
Looking back at February PPVs of the past, St Valentine’s Day Massacre in 1999 allowed the WWF (at the time) to change the main-event of WrestleMania 15 by having Stone Cold Steve Austin defeat Vince McMahon in a steel cage to become the number 1 contender for the WWF Championship.
I admit that there have been times where having a PPV in February has served a purpose, but I still believe that WWE would manage fine, if not better, without having a PPV on the road to WrestleMania.
First of all, wouldn’t it (potentially) boost the ratings if they had a championship match on Raw which had implications for the WrestleMania main-event? That would mean that the WWE wouldn’t be restricted by having to use an Elimination Chamber-type match to further storylines.
Even if they wanted to insert Daniel Bryan into the main-event at WrestleMania, they could have a match on Raw where he’d get the chance to make the match a triple-threat. Instead of having Bryan vs HHH at WrestleMania, they could have a huge match like that on Raw and bill it as The Authority trying to hold Daniel Bryan back, despite what the fans want.
There’s enough time between the Royal Rumble and WrestleMania for the WWE to change things if they need to, without restricting themselves to having a multi-man gimmick match – like the Elimination Chamber – where a championship is on the line.
From a fan’s point of view, it’d also make Raw more interesting to watch, it’d be more exciting and unpredictable, and it would mean that there’d be one less PPV for us to pay for.
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