WWE has been delivering the “best of both worlds” for over five years now. Following the brand split in Summer 2016, WWE began running pay-per-views exclusive to Monday Night Raw and WWE SmackDown Live, as each show received their own monthly special roughly every four weeks. This essentially doubled the amount of pay-per-views that WWE was running annually and also led to the company producing a Sunday special just about every other weekend. WWE ultimately ditched the brand-exclusive pay-per-view concept in April 2018, electing to have every pay-per-view feature both Raw and SmackDown matches. The rosters remained separate, as WWE Survivor Series was the only event to feature crossover matches, but all cards were a hybrid of red and blue brand bouts.
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This could be changing in the coming weeks. According to insider account WRKD Wrestling, WWE is discussing having “brand exclusive premium live monthly events.” It’s unclear if this means both Raw and SmackDown would each get a premium live event every month or if the two shows would alternate.
If it is the former, WWE’s premium live event schedule would essentially double once again. January, April, one of the summer months and November would remain with just one show, as Raw and SmackDown have always shared the “big four” events, but the remaining eight months on the calendar would be home to two PLEs each. Looking towards the latter, which would be the likelier option, Raw and SmackDown would have somewhere between 6-8 weeks to build to their respective events as opposed to the current 3-5 weeks.
Another variable comes in the form of the international events. As mentioned, the “big four” are typically shared, but WWE has since added a number of overseas shows since their last brand-exclusive PPV format. Considering WWE ventures to Saudi Arabia twice per year, an easy split would be going with one roster for the first event and the other roster for the second. That said, other international markets like Puerto Rico and the United Kingdom, which WWE rarely hits, might be subject to co-branded shows.
Fans should get a better idea of WWE’s plans for the remaining calendar following the WWE Draft, which kicks off this Friday on WWE SmackDown.
Stay tuned to ComicBook.com for updates on WWE’s premium live event format following the WWE Draft.
