Will WWE Have Two PPV Events Per Month After the Brand Split?
. Jumping up from three hours per week to eight hours a week feels like a massive change in [...]
With a brand split coming up next month, the WWE might be ramping up the number of pay per view events. Beginning in July, the WWE is dividing up their roster between RAW and Smackdown so that both shows have exclusive talent. Each show will have exclusive storylines and feuds, with the hope that dividing up the roster forces more fans to watch Smackdown when it goes live on Tuesdays. According to multiple reports, the WWE is also tentatively planning on increasing the amount of pay per view events, so that both shows have one event per month.
The source of the rumor is Jerry Lawler, a WWE Hall of Famer and current color commentator on Smackdown, who told fans about the WWE's possible plans over the weekend. Lawler said that while the rosters will converge for major PPVs like Wrestlemania and Summerslam, "off-months" will have one PPV for each show. This is a pretty major deviation from the WWE's last brand split, when the company simply alternated their monthly events, so that one month would feature the RAW roster and the next month would have the Smackdown roster.
While more wrestling seems like a good thing, the alleged change might be taxing on the casual fan. In addition to three hours of RAW a week and two hours of Smackdown, fans will also be expected to watch three additional hours of wrestling once every two weeks (and that's not even counting NXT, which adds an additional hour of wrestling for fans). Jumping up from three hours per week to eight hours a week feels like a massive change in viewing habits, something that not all fans will be willing to commit to.
Of course, this is just a rumor and the WWE is famously known for changing its plans multiple times at the last minute. Would you be willing to watch two PPVs per month? Let us know in the comments!
(Source: Wrestling Observer Radio)