Four Hour WWE Pay-Per-Views Have Got to Stop

SmackDown GM Daniel Bryan threw some serious derision at the three Hell in a Cell matches headlining Sunday’s Raw-branded pay-per-view, saying that “more is more” and joking that maybe they should make it four or five hours long.

It seems that these mild cautionary reactions weren’t nearly enough, as November’s interbrand pay-per-view, Survivor Series, will be four hours long. That length was previously reserved exclusively for WrestleMania, then extended to stretch out SummerSlam since 2015.

These uber-long shows have got to come to an end. They’re over-exposing WWE, stretching their storytelling abilities far too thin, and exhausting audiences both live and at home.

Just look at SummerSlam 2016. Here we had what was, on paper, a stacked card ready to pull together what should have been an awesome show. But by the time AJ Styles and John Cena had finished their incredible singles match, the crowd had spent most of their enthusiasm, and the rest of the show bordered on “train wreck” territory as a result.

Dean Ambrose and Dolph Ziggler, two popular stars who had built an excellent story for this conflict, were completely unable to draw a reaction, turning an otherwise decent match into a lifeless disappointment.

Suffering even worse were Finn Balor and Seth Rollins, who put on an excellent show but found themselves as little more than the butt to a loopy crowd’s derision of the new Universal Championship title. It wasn’t a great-looking reveal, to be sure, but could you expect an audience to devote their full attention after having just been dragged through three-and-a-half hours of programming?

Now no longer special by comparison, WrestleMania is starting to stretch to five or even six hours long. This year’s show was drawn out by an extended appearance by the Rock, whose meandering plays to the crowd wore out even the most ardent fans of Rocky. By the time the main event rolled around, featuring a Roman Reigns whose appeal was already on shaky ground, there was little hope for that closing match to offer a positive conclusion to the show.

I like wrestling, and at the same time I recognize a lot of flaws in WWE programming. But there’s none bigger than their constant willingness to overexpose themselves. The first big problem was Raw’s extension to three hours, with that extra time serving only to make great episodes good and good episodes mediocre by being padded out with overlong midcard matches and meandering promos.

We’re doomed to three hour Raws for the foreseeable future, since the advertising revenue that third hour brings is invaluable to the company, even if it means a decline in overall ratings. But I’d hoped that their control over the Network, where their only measure of success is giving fans shows that are good enough to keep them subscribed, would mean that they wouldn’t make the same mistakes there.

But at this point, you’d assume that the ultra-competitive backstage environment means that walking back from bigger and (not really) better special events would be an admission of defeat, which seems unlikely coming from McMahon leadership.

Look, Vince. I know you’re not reading this. I know this is just a blog from some online wrestling writer. But please, for the sake of all your fans’ sanity and the quality of your shows, please, please just keep it concise.