With the Triple H Era of WWE creative getting off to a pretty optimistic start, I believe some booking and scheduling changes should be made as well. This has nothing to do with pushing this guy or turning that guy—it’s all scheduling, anticipating, and possibly branding of WWE matches and events.
WWE Should Make Ultimate Matches “Random” Again
We have several events centered around a dangerous or gimmick match. TLC, Elimination Chamber, Extreme Rules, and Hell in a Cell. Honestly, those three shows shouldn’t exist. The Elimination Chamber, Hell in a Cell, and TLC all should’ve remained as fail-safe solutions to a title picture problem.
Everything is resolved if your feud or issues with not being number contender have reached Elimination Chamber, Hell in a Cell, or TLC levels. If you lose then too damn bad, find something else to do and see if it leads you back to the World title.
These matches should never be stopovers in a feud. They should at least end that book of the feud. Of course, they will likely run into each again in the following year but for this year, the feud is donzo.
Extreme Rules is different in that depending on how vicious and violent the match is, it could end the feud. However, I can see it being a stopover or a chapter in a feud leading to something more extreme.
…such as Hell in a Cell or Elimination Chamber.
Make GMs Fear for Their Jobs Again
To add a bit of GM Mode for you WWE 2K and SmackDown vs. Raw nerds: give the GMs some risk. Make those three matches—never mind Extreme Rules—lifelines.
The GM is doing a decent or good job if things don’t escalate to where they have to resolve a feud or several feuds in one of these matches.
It’ll be something for fans to observe as far as the GM’s character. Normally, GMs either reluctantly give in to heels, make declarations, or schedule a last-minute match. The General Manager gets a little character when they abuse their powers but that’s it.
However, the risk of corporate being backstage and dropping in to RAW or SmackDown after two lifelines have been used is an interesting twist. The only time we should see corporate on TV is during the Draft to introduce the event and in shots from the skybox.
I’d say using these matches as the measuring stick for how much order a GM has kind of moves us away from GMs being replaced on whimsy or after they let things go way past the firing requirement.
Stephanie McMahon is in the thick of branding for WWE—she would be perfect to threaten GMs as having these dangerous matches point to the GM not having control on the roster and presents a content risk for WWE and a brand risk to the company and its partners.
“Something happens to this cereal sponsorship; something happens to you.”
Deprogramming the Viewing Audience
I’m always reminded of Jim Cornette sharing the story about Chris Candido wanting him to arrive in ECW as a surprise for fans—because the fans are expecting a surprise. Corny made the point that it’s not a “surprise” if people are expecting it.
WWE fans have come to expect that these ultimate matches will occur at the same time every year. Depending on how much focus and how big the storyline seems, there’s expectation that these superstars will be in the match.
Again, these events shouldn’t even be on WWE’s calendar. We shouldn’t be expecting Hell in a Cell or Elimination Chamber. We should be anticipating it. WWE eventually dropped TLC with the final 2020 show but it took them until 2020 to realize “We basically have TLC twice a year with Money in the Bank.”
The matches themselves should be airstrikes on a violent feud and should leave the fans wondering if the GM could call one in. Fans shouldn’t wonder “Who is going to be in the Hell in a Cell match coming up?”
That’s a question to ask when you missed the announcement, not one or two months before the Hell in a Cell-branded event.
Of course, this would present branding issues. If we make the Hell in a Cell and Elimination Chamber matches that the GM has to announce with concern, we can’t just leave the Hell in a Cell and Elimination Chamber events as is.
Like Royal Rumble, Money in the Bank, Survivor Series, and Extreme Rules—you expect the match that’s in the name.
WWE isn’t going to do some wild, deep deprogramming of the fans with Royal Rumble but the Rumble match moves around on the calendar each year. However, they could very easily drop Hell in a Cell and Elimination Chamber and call those events something else.
We will see those matches in that year but when is the mystery. Did the booking leading up to this match result in enough animosity and physicality to warrant the Hell in a Cell? Are wrestlers still being slotted in for an Elimination Chamber slot as if it’s an achievement like MITB, King of the Ring, or Royal Rumble?
What do you think? Leave things as they are or should these two matches go back to being end-all-be-all matches.
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