The Rise and Fall of the Pay Per View – Is SummerSlam 2011Part of a Bigger Problem?

First Pay Per View ordered: WrestleMania 13, March 23rd, 1997. Price: $30
Last Pay Per View ordered: WrestleMania XXVII, April 3rd, 2011. Price: $65

I understand that times have changed. WrestleMania is now a premiere event that is presented on such a larger scale than all of WWE’s other ppv events. High definition also raises production costs which are transferred to the consumer. Up until 1995, WWE held 4-5 ppv’s a year: Royal Rumble, WrestleMania, King of the Ring, SummerSlam and Survivor Series. In 1995, they went to a 12 ppv format per year. The extra 7 events, dubbed In Your House, were two hours long (as opposed to three) and cost $19.99. In ’97, they made those events three hours long with the 17th installment entitled Ground Zero. Still, they cost $30 per event. The storylines were written better and every month you felt the desire to order the ppv in fear that if you did not, you would miss out on something huge.

Pay per view events used to matter much more to the fabric of storytelling and revenue. Today, WWE is such a powerhouse in the cable television and merchandising world that ppv’s have been put on the back burner. This Sunday, SummerSlam was WWE’s latest victim. We went into SummerSlam with four booked matches. This is touted as the second largest pay per view event of the year second only to WrestleMania. They built up four matches and gave it a price tag of $55. That seems pretty steep for an event that featured only one match that fans really felt a burning desire to witness live (Cena vs. Punk for the title). The opening match for SummerSlam featured a 6-Man Tag Team Match. The actual work done in the match by the performers was above average and it ended up being an enjoyable contest. However, there were no stakes. Any writer of books or movies will tell you to raise the stakes. SummerSlam should be all about stakes as it is one of their biggest shows. A 6-Man Tag Team match used to be a vehicle used on Monday Night Raw to build up to three individual one on one matches at the pay per view event. As we saw with the main event, SummerSlam was used as a vehicle to draw viewers to the USA Network for Monday Night Raw instead of using it as a conclusion to a feud.

I enjoyed the ending to SummerSlam. CM Punk pinned John Cena with a clean win. Triple H not seeing Cena’s foot on the rope allowed both Cena and Punk to get over in the match without either one suffering. The post match shenanigans played on our expectations as wrestling fans. As Cena argued with Triple H, I was waiting for Cena to turn heel… it did not happen. As Triple H raised Punk’s hand in victory, I expected Triple H to clobber Punk turning him heel… it did not happen. Out of nowhere comes Kevin Nash powerbombing Punk and allowing Alberto Del Rio to cash in his Money In The Bank contract to finally win the Championship (the title I feel he should have won at WrestleMania). CM Punk recently said in an interview that he is not trying to bring the Attitude era back from 90s but rather create a new reality type era. I will be the first to say that professional wrestling is at its best when the line between fiction and reality is blurred. Kevin Nash and Triple H are the best of friends in real life so the idea of Nash costing Punk his title brings up several questions.
I felt the ending of SummerSlam was well crafted. The writers have an opportunity to do something truly great here. The rumor going around is that they want to build to a match between CM Punk and Triple at Survivor Series.

Nash being thrown into the mix adds an interesting twist to a storyline that looked pretty linear and cookie cutter. I tell people all the time that in the world of television, it is not good enough for people to WANT to watch the next episode of your show. They need to be scared to of missing an episode. SummerSlam made me excited for tonight’s Raw. Will Nash voice his reasons? What is next for Alberto Del Rio as Champion? Is Punk done with Cena and moving onto his next feud?

Survivor Series is in November emanating from Madison Square Garden in New York City. Three pay per view events lay between now and Survivor Series. Night of Champions is on 9/18, Hell in a Cell is on 10/2 and Vengeance is on 10/23. These pay per view events are so close in proximity that their importance diminishes due to the limited time to build meaningful story lines to matches that people feel they cannot miss. At this rate, all they can hope to be are vehicles working to Survivor Series. I’ll be watching Monday Night Raw tonight. I am hopeful with what could be. However, after fifteen years of being a fan, I am highly skeptical of what probably will be.