Opinion: “Money In The Bank” Should Replace “Survivor Series” as the No. 4 PPV of the Year

On Sunday evening, WWE will present its annual “Money In The Bank” pay-per-view. Using a concept that was first created by Chris Jericho in 2005, the winner of this match is guaranteed an opportunity at the WWE World Heavyweight Championship whenever he would like for a full calendar year.

Since its inception, there have been 16 “Money In The Bank” ladder matches. In all but two instances, the winner of the match has gone on to successfully cash in his contract when the champion is most vulnerable, and has therefore gone on to take his place at the top of the WWE mountain.

It is safe to say that the winner of this match is going to end up being the WWE World Heavyweight Champion within the next year. Even though we, as fans, know that a cash-in will be coming at some point, we all eagerly wait and become elated whenever the briefcase holder makes his move, and successfully becomes champion at an “unexpected” moment.

The crowd response and excitement of the WWE Universe when superstars such as CM Punk, Dolph Ziggler and Seth Rollins became champion due to cashing in their contract was unbelievable. I still get goosebumps whenever I watch those moments on YouTube, as it brings back such incredible moments for me as a fan. And I know that I’m not the only person that feels this way.

I feel that the “Money In The Bank” ladder match is one of the most anticipated matches of the year; mostly because we are almost guaranteed to witness the crowning of a future world champion.

For that reason alone, I believe that it should replace “Survivor Series” as the No. 4 PPV of the calendar year.

The concept of “Survivor Series” is outdated. Gone are the days where a 5-on-5 elimination match is important in a storyline, or settles differences between two personalties in WWE. I would venture to say that the last “Survivor Series” match that was deeply relevant was the 2001 “Invasion” match between WWE and The Alliance, in which Vince McMahon put Shane and Stephanie’s WCW/ECW out of business.

The match in 2014 where Sting made his debut had a little bit of anticipation behind it, but nothing to the level of the “Invasion” match.

Furthermore, I believe that WWE is also realizing this idea to be true, and is demonstrating that with the card that they are giving us this Sunday. Seth Rollins vs. Roman Reigns, and AJ Styles vs. John Cena are certainly WrestleMania caliber matches, yet we’re getting them on the June PPV.

Honestly, I think that the “Survivor Series” pay-per-view should be retired altogether, and should be replaced with a different event. The first name that immediately comes to mind is “Starrcade.” Dating all the way back to when the NWA presented in in the 1980s, this annual event gave us some of the greatest wrestling matches of all time.

Imagine WWE presenting this event in November with the talent that is currently on the main roster. There is no doubt that there would be opportunities to continue that tradition, and give the fans matches that would go down as classics in every sense of the word.

Either way, I believe that WWE is shifting the way that they think about their pay-per-view schedule, and is on the path to making “Money In The Bank” one of the “big four” for the year.

And that is certainly best for business.

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