WWE Rumors: Big Changes Coming To Pay-Per-Views Next Month And WWE May Sell TV Rights To ‘Big Four’
Hot off the heels of the news that WWE is bringing SmackDown Live to Fox in 2019 for a monster $1 billion deal, it appears there could be a lot more changes happening. Rumors are now flying that there will be some major changes happening with pay-per-view events beginning as soon as next month with Money in the Bank. Fans can expect PPVs to become a bit longer due to them now being dual-branded with each one going four hours at the very least
While nothing is confirmed at this time as WWE hasn’t said anything, there are rumors that all PPVs are going to become a bit longer. With PPVs now being dual-branded to include talents from both Monday Night Raw and SmackDown Live, it is being said that the time is needed to give more time to big matches.
According to PW Insider, WWE needs to accommodate talent from both shows and that will mean lengthening their PPVs. Instead of holding two 3-hour PPVs per month, they will now hold at least one 4-hour PPV each month.
If this does become a reality, it would mean that PPV events would begin at 7 p.m. Eastern and 4 p.m. Pacific starting with Money in the Bank. That also means the Kickoff Show would begin at 6 p.m. Eastern for around five hours of full-on showtime.
This new four-hour length for most PPVs would go into place for almost every show throughout the year, but some may be even longer. Some of the cornerstone events, or the “Big Four,” will likely run even longer that and could end up close to six or seven hours.
Speaking of the “Big Four,” there is talk going around on social media that WWE may be looking to sell the broadcast rights to those events and air them on TV once again. This would take the Royal Rumble, WrestleMania, SummerSlam, and Survivor Series off the WWE Network and have them air on the network which gives the highest bid.
Rumor going around WWE is considering selling the broadcast rights for their big four shows to TV Networks (instead of airing on the WWE Network).
Positive — shows couldn’t go 5 hours on broadcast tv
Negative — commercials breaksWhat do you think? #WWE #RAW #SDLive
— Kenton (@TheKentonLane) May 22, 2018
For now, this needs to be taken with a huge grain of salt as it isn’t even much of a rumor right now and is just more talk on Twitter. Still, it had to come from somewhere and there is the chance it could pick up some steam after the mega-deal made between WWE and Fox for SmackDown Live. There appear to be a lot of changes coming to pay-per-view events in the future and extending the time of the PPVs means a lot more wrestling for the fans on a bigger level.
