Warning: Very long post ahead
If I were the one in charge of booking in the WWE, the following is the format that I would use. Please bear in mind that for it to work the booking of the lesser titles would need to change a bit, and some quality divas would need to be brought in at least part time (perhaps in a talent exchange with either Japan or preferably Shimmer):
JanuaryRoyal Rumble
Main Event: The Royal Rumble
Feature Match: IC Title Match
Feature Match: US Title Match
Feature Match: Tag Team Title Match
Feature Match: Raw's #1 contender vs. SD #1 contender - Winner gets #30 slot while loser gets #1 slot.
Reasoning: The Royal Rumble traditionally is easy to predict, which hurts sales. You will notice, neither world champ is booked for a title defense. The reason why is that if they were heir challengers will not be booked for the Rumble match, reducing opportunities for possible winners. Instead, not only will all possible top contenders be in the match, but the champs will be as well (providing the tease of a possible title unification). This should increase sells and make for a better PPV.
FebruaryNo Way Out
Main Events: Chamber Matches (with Rumble Winner on commentary)
Feature Match: Tag Title Match
Feature Match: Diva Title Match
Feature Match: Women's Title Match
Reasoning: Not all of the matches are listed above as some of the top stars that do not make the Chamber matches can face each other, plus perhaps a secondary title match as well (for the champ who does not make the Chamber). This PPV typically does well, and usually is of decent quality as well. Therefore they do not need to get gimmicky beyond the use of the Chamber matches to sell this PPV. Save that for a different PPV.
MarchWrestlemania
Main Event: Rumble Winner's title shot
Secondary Match: Other world title match
Feature Match: IC Title Match
Feature Match: US Title Match
Feature Match: Diva Champ vs Women Champ
Reasoning: Wrestlemania sells itself, but traditionally all the matches are sold as big deals. The secondary title matches will be huge because the winners will get world title shots at the next PPV. The World Title matches will be huge in their own right. They can have a few other featured matches that end long feuds to boot. Considering that WM has the highest order cost, they need to pull out the stops to get the most out of it.
AprilThe Great American Bash
Main Events: Champ vs Champ matches
Featured Match: Tag Title Match
Featured Match: Diva Title Match
Featured Match: Women's Title Match
Reasoning: This one requires that the secondary titles get treated with a little more respect than they do now. In reality, the secondary titles should probably change hands less often than the main titles. Not only that, since in my scenario the secondary title champs will get a number of increased chances to win the big one that other challengers will not (to be explained later), the secondary title champs will be forced to be fighting champs that will be elevated by the title. Not only that, a higher class of challengers will step up as well. Because of this, eventually the Champ vs Champ match format will be the primary selling point of this PPV.
MayFatal Four Way
Main Events: World Title Matches
Featured Match: Tag Title Match
Featured Match: Diva Title Match
Featured Match: Women's Title match
Reasoning: I moved this PPV up the schedule so that this PPV and the previous can help sell the next one (which requires some personal feuds to sell the nature of the PPV). If there is plenty of interaction between the three challengers and the champ, it would help sell this PPV. This is also the second PPV of the year where being a secondary champ gives you an increased chance at a world title as the champs (whether the one that had the title shot at the last PPV or a new champ) are guaranteed slots in the matches. As I imagine that these matches will feature people that have been interacting for the last 3 months, but in a more complex manner, the unpredictability plus capitalization of the last few title matches should make the world title matches something that everyone is interested in to some degree, helping sell the PPV.
JuneExtreme Rules
Featuring: Gimmick matches for the world and secondary titles as well as the culmination of feuds built up from the previous title matches. To be honest, I don't feel like outlining them all. The other featured match is s 2 out of 3 falls final for the King of the Ring Tournament that had been ongoing on both Raw and Smackdown.
Reasoning: I don't like this PPV too much, but since the WWE seems set on using gimmicky PPVs to sell, I think this one is here to stay. Since that is the case, they need to properly build it up. Extreme Rules is full of matches that traditionally were either feud enders or penultimate matches of very hot feuds. Because of this, this PPV felt empty last time because most of the matches lacked the fire normally associated with those type of matches. Hopefully by moving the PPV the matches can be more properly built and have the fire that these kind of matches normally have. If they can do it right, the PPV should do well enough to be worth it.
JulyMITB
Main Events: World title matches
Featured Matches: MITB Matches
Reasoning: Really, the possibility of a repeat of Kane's cash in is a huge possible selling point for this PPV.
August
Summerslam
Basically the same format as WM, subbing the role of Rumble winner with the winner of the King of the Ring tournament. Also, the divas and women titles will be defended instead of champ vs champ.
SeptemberNight of Champions
Featured matches: Do I really need to explain it?
OctoberBragging Rights
Main Events: World Title Matches
Featured Matches: US, IC, and Tag title matches
Reasoning: The Cyber Sunday concept has been a hard sell over the years, but that is because half of the matches were not determined until the day of the PPV. Instead, the matches would be determined ahead of time. Instead of just giving the fans limited choices, the main events will be determined by a week's worth of voting where all members of the roster are eligible. The process is repeated for the IC and US titles, then the next week two challengers for the tag titles will be selected. Finally, the last week would lead to selection of the remaining matches. The real value of this voting is that it will allow the WWE to get a better idea who the fans prefer. Way too often they either don't know or ignore who the fans want to support. With wide open voting they will have hard numbers that are harder to ignore and will help sell their product in the future.
NovemberSurvivor Series
Format: Only classic elimination matches In the first week of promotion for the PPV team captains are selected with recruitment occur over the next couple of weeks.
Reasoning: This PPV had sold very well in the past, but it started faltering when they started messing with the format. The Big 4 should be big sellers, but unlike the other traditional Bigs, WWE messed with the formula for success. They need to go back if for no other reason than the fact that lapsed Hulkamaniacs and their ilk are more interested in the PPVs that feel like the old days. In addition, it will do the WWE some good to have a couple PPVs in which the world titles are not defended so they do not use up feature-able matches too quickly.
DecemberArmageddon
Main Events: World Title Scramble Matches
Featured Match: Tag Team Title match
Reasoning: The Scramble match format can be quite fun, and I think that it should be featured again. I think that the whole TLC PPV format waters down the value of the matches (and the same can be said for the Extreme Rules PPV). Not only that, but this PPV can be used to build up a series of possible contenders for possible Rumble winners. Also, the IC and US champs are given automatic entries into the Scramble matches (another selling point for the elevation of the secondary titles).