Are WWE sabotaging B Level PPV's on purpose?

[Deleted]

The network is launching in February and the B shows are apparently going to be given away free on it.


part of me is curious if WWE are booking the B level shows poorly on purpose.


The poor booking leads to lesser buyrates for future shows which WWE can use as justification to their shareholders for placing the emphasis on mainly promoting the B-shows as being on the network over them being available on PPV too.


Also by making the B level shows feel less important it makes the Big 4 standout as more important and will in theory lead to increased buys for the big 4 events.

I mean if theres only 4 PPV events a year and they are alot more important than the monthly specials they give away to network subscribers then spending on the big 4 should be alot higher as having to fork out $50 (or whatever a ppv) is only 4 times a year is much more appealing than the business model they've had since the attitude era which is terribly outdated now of offering a PPV event every month

[paywindah]

They still will get a lot of PPV buys from the international market and from those who don't want the network or simply can't get it because their connection isn't fast enough (if the network is a streaming service) or because their provider doesn't carry the channel (if it's a traditional channel), so there's no way they'll sabotage the PPVs. They still expect a lot of people to buy the PPVs - the network is more to get $ from the huge number of fans who don't buy any PPVs other than maybe Mania.

[Kevin Hamilton]

No.

[shaker]

Yes this is just like that time they intentionally bled off a huge chunk of the fanbase after the Monday Night Wars ended. Their goal that time was to make the overall wrestling product more niche and unappealing to the mass market, so they could make Wrestlemania celebrity appearances mean more.

[Deleted]

No, but it's funny that they're consistently bad enough that this is even a consideration.

[The Dark Order Inferno]

I can't see them doing it. Undermining the B PPV's just so they can put them on the network is an idea so stupid even Eric Bischoff would baulk at it. They'd be effectively killing one revenue stream in order to give the network glorified 'super shows', things they could, and probably will, run anyway. Damaging the shows is going to make them damaged goods rather than them something you can use as a selling point for anything, the people you're burning aren't going to buy a network subscription to watch shows the company has shown they don't care about.

We're more likely to see new B events created and used as a selling point once the network is running, exclusive international Supershows with red hot crowds like the shows they used to film for Colosseum Home video, or revivals of older PPV's like King of the Ring.