Should PLEs have at least 6 matches?

[SirLucas]

My biggest gripe about Backlash was the women's tag team match ran too long. It went a little over 17 minutes, which was a longer than Priest/Uso and Bayley/Naomi/Tiffany. 

I felt like Backlash could have used a 6th match with the women's tag being trimmed down. Ioy's lackeys have been booked like scrubs so it felt awkward to see Bianca and Jade to take so long to defeat them. Did anybody else feel the same? I am not saying the women's tag should have been a complete squash, but for Bianca and Jade would have been built like Superhero women putting up such a struggle to take down Auska and Kairi took me out of the match. 

[Mozenrath]

It's Asuka and Kairi, I think it's fine they didn't just steamroll them. Asuka's beaten Becky clean multiple times, among others, she has the credibility, and Kairi's been her most prolific partner.

In general, I think big shows having too few matches can be a bit weird, but I'll take it over blatant filler, usually.

[Lizuka #BLM]

I'd say bare minimum there should be at least eight except on shows like the Rumble and Elimination Chamber. Getting less matches on a PPV than you do on a given episode of Raw is just dumb.

["Cane Dewey" Johnson]

Do you mean pay-per-views?

[JCBaggee]

I mean, it depends. If there are only five matches, but they're all huge, unforgettable bangers, I don't think anyone would complain.

[MolotovMocktail]

May 12, 2024 12:13:59 GMT -5 JCBaggee said:

I mean, it depends. If there are only five matches, but they're all huge, unforgettable bangers, I don't think anyone would complain.

Case in point was Canadian Stampede, which only had 4 (not counting the pre-show), but is still considered one of their best historic events.

6 should be the target though, for non-Big 4. Mania can do 7 and 7 over 2 nights, and Summerslam can have a bit more as well.

[ace]

I can tell you that I have enjoyed WWE shows with five matches a lot more than ones with twice that many in recent years. There’s probably a sweet spot number so lesser talents don’t have to go as long….but I like this format better than most

[fw91]

5 seems too low. I’d go with 7. But tbh, the most important factor is having a main event with heat. I can’t get into a lot of these good matches because in the era of long title reigns, a lot these lack suspense

[froggyfrog]

I made a comment the card felt light as we were heading into it. It makes sense if it’s a Rumble or Elimination Chamber where we get these huge long ass matches, but I’d like around 8 matches on one of these shows generally

[LiamMcDuggle]

May 12, 2024 11:42:16 GMT -5 SirLucas said:

My biggest gripe about Backlash was the women's tag team match ran too long. It went a little over 17 minutes, which was a longer than Priest/Uso and Bayley/Naomi/Tiffany. 

I felt like Backlash could have used a 6th match with the women's tag being trimmed down. Ioy's lackeys have been booked like scrubs so it felt awkward to see Bianca and Jade to take so long to defeat them. Did anybody else feel the same? I am not saying the women's tag should have been a complete squash, but for Bianca and Jade would have been built like Superhero women putting up such a struggle to take down Auska and Kairi took me out of the match. 

Typically if you see midcarders go close to 20, they massively went over to get their own stuff in. I also don't see why that was not more of a squash match, especially since Jade is still getting her footing.

Bianca is the only main event tier person in that match, so I don't think it was planned to go that long. 

Im fairly sure of The Rock's segments also got cut a few weeks ago, as an LWO match went 20 min on SmackDown

[mistery]

May 12, 2024 22:36:40 GMT -5 LiamMcDuggle said:

May 12, 2024 11:42:16 GMT -5 SirLucas said:

My biggest gripe about Backlash was the women's tag team match ran too long. It went a little over 17 minutes, which was a longer than Priest/Uso and Bayley/Naomi/Tiffany. 

I felt like Backlash could have used a 6th match with the women's tag being trimmed down. Ioy's lackeys have been booked like scrubs so it felt awkward to see Bianca and Jade to take so long to defeat them. Did anybody else feel the same? I am not saying the women's tag should have been a complete squash, but for Bianca and Jade would have been built like Superhero women putting up such a struggle to take down Auska and Kairi took me out of the match. 

Typically if you see midcarders go close to 20, they massively went over to get their own stuff in. I also don't see why that was not more of a squash match, especially since Jade is still getting her footing.

Bianca is the only main event tier person in that match, so I don't think it was planned to go that long. 

Im fairly sure of The Rock's segments also got cut a few weeks ago, as an LWO match went 20 min on SmackDown

I don't think any of this is true. Kairi and Asuka being squashed by Jade would have helped no one, and would have harmed Jade in the longer term. You might not have seen her in AEW, but one of the biggest complaints near the end of her run was how Tony would almost never book her in longer matches to actually learn stuff, which is why like 99% of her matches were just squashes.

And Asuka and Kairi are very high profile members of the roster, and easily two of the best women in the company to work with when it comes to learning in the ring. Jade needs to learn how to work from underneath, and work longer matches, because it's something AEW never really put any actual true effort into doing with her.

I would also argue having Jade and Bianca just squash the Kabuki Warriors would do severe and likely irreparable damage to Kairi and Asuka's careers. Because again, if they just effortlessly put away the Kabuki Warriors, then there would be the problem of them looking like unbeatable gods, and basically killing the rest of the division because of it. Because even as it stands, I can't think of a single team that can beat them, outside of maybe the Kabukis (not that I think it will happen). At least them struggling to put away the Kabukis showed that they are even the smallest bit vulnerable.

[LiamMcDuggle]

May 12, 2024 22:57:54 GMT -5 mistery said:

May 12, 2024 22:36:40 GMT -5 LiamMcDuggle said:

Typically if you see midcarders go close to 20, they massively went over to get their own stuff in. I also don't see why that was not more of a squash match, especially since Jade is still getting her footing.

Bianca is the only main event tier person in that match, so I don't think it was planned to go that long. 

Im fairly sure of The Rock's segments also got cut a few weeks ago, as an LWO match went 20 min on SmackDown

I don't think any of this is true. Kairi and Asuka being squashed by Jade would have helped no one, and would have harmed Jade in the longer term. You might not have seen her in AEW, but one of the biggest complaints near the end of her run was how Tony would almost never book her in longer matches to actually learn stuff, which is why like 99% of her matches were just squashes.

And Asuka and Kairi are very high profile members of the roster, and easily two of the best women in the company to work with when it comes to learning in the ring. Jade needs to learn how to work from underneath, and work longer matches, because it's something AEW never really put any actual true effort into doing with her.

I would also argue having Jade and Bianca just squash the Kabuki Warriors would do severe and likely irreparable damage to Kairi and Asuka's careers. Because again, if they just effortlessly put away the Kabuki Warriors, then there would be the problem of them looking like unbeatable gods, and basically killing the rest of the division because of it. Because even as it stands, I can't think of a single team that can beat them, outside of maybe the Kabukis (not that I think it will happen). At least them struggling to put away the Kabukis showed that they are even the smallest bit vulnerable.

Have to agree to disagree. Damage Ctrl has some of the lowest social media metrics of all content on WWE's socials. They're not over as a collective unit.

But respect your thoughts and appreciate your POV

[mistery]

May 13, 2024 0:10:41 GMT -5 LiamMcDuggle said:

May 12, 2024 22:57:54 GMT -5 mistery said:

I don't think any of this is true. Kairi and Asuka being squashed by Jade would have helped no one, and would have harmed Jade in the longer term. You might not have seen her in AEW, but one of the biggest complaints near the end of her run was how Tony would almost never book her in longer matches to actually learn stuff, which is why like 99% of her matches were just squashes.

And Asuka and Kairi are very high profile members of the roster, and easily two of the best women in the company to work with when it comes to learning in the ring. Jade needs to learn how to work from underneath, and work longer matches, because it's something AEW never really put any actual true effort into doing with her.

I would also argue having Jade and Bianca just squash the Kabuki Warriors would do severe and likely irreparable damage to Kairi and Asuka's careers. Because again, if they just effortlessly put away the Kabuki Warriors, then there would be the problem of them looking like unbeatable gods, and basically killing the rest of the division because of it. Because even as it stands, I can't think of a single team that can beat them, outside of maybe the Kabukis (not that I think it will happen). At least them struggling to put away the Kabukis showed that they are even the smallest bit vulnerable.

Have to agree to disagree. Damage Ctrl has some of the lowest social media metrics of all content on WWE's socials. They're not over as a collective unit.

But respect your thoughts and appreciate your POV

Social media numbers aren't everything. Damage CTRL's segments tend to do very strong viewership numbers. I know Iyo's title defenses were more often than not either the second highest or highest rated segments of the night. TV deals (and Saudi money) is what keeps the lights on for WWE these days. And Damage CTRL is significantly better at viewer growth than a lot of other acts. Basing who should and shouldn't get pushed based entirely off of social media numbers is a bad idea.

Especially since in the case of Damage CTRL, with Dakota Kai being the sole exception, Kairi, Iyo, and Asuka almost never engage with social media, mainly because they are very private people.

[Xxcjb01xX [PIECE OF: SH-]]

For PPV's like Survivor Series and The Rumble, I think there can be exceptions, because both matches are the draws and are designed to go a very long time

[A Platypus Rave]

Kairi and especially Asuka are not people you squash.

Despite her losses Asuka is one of the most protected women on the roster and is always treated like a big deal.

[El Pollo Guerrera]

If it's an event built around a multi-person (more than 4) match, like the Royal Rumble, the Elimination Chamber, or the War Games match... no.

They should bring back the original Survivor Series format, where there's more than one of the matches on the card, and then add the 1990 stipulation where the main event is the 'survivors' of the earlier matches team up to have a final match. I remember being impressed when Tito clobbered The Warlord at the beginning and getting the pin.

[Non Banjoble Tokens]

There should be multiple rings set up that have multiple matches all happening at the same time.

[Sam Punk]

I think so

[saneiac]

You may miss the days when PPVs had extra matches like Mordecai vs Scotty 2 Hotty or Brodus Clay squashing 3MB jobber era Drew McIntyre. I don’t. I don’t think there needs to be a hard limit for number of matches as long as they all matter.

[BRV]

As I said in the Backlash France thread...

The sneaky secret about recent WWE PLEs (WrestleMania notwithstanding) is that the cards have been quite thin.

Backlash: 5 matches
Elimination Chamber: 1 pre-show match, 5 main card matches, 1 promo segment
Royal Rumble: 4 matches
Survivor Series: 5 matches
Fastlane: 5 matches

You have to go back to Crown Jewel in November 2023 to find a PPV card with more than 6 matches.

There's a happy medium somewhere in there. Five matches is too few, as that always means one or two are going longer than they deserve. But nine or 10 is too many, as that leads to matches getting time cut or being altogether pulled from the card. Six or seven feels just right, as each match gets time to breathe but doesn't overstay its welcome.