By Jason Powell, Prowrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
WWE.com has officially announced that all of it’s 2018 pay-per-view events will feature Raw and Smackdown wrestlers beginning with WrestleMania. The full schedule of 2018 events is listed below.
WrestleMania 34 – April 8, 2018
WWE Backlash – May 6, 2018
WWE Money in the Bank – June 17, 2018
WWE Extreme Rules – July 15, 2018
SummerSlam – August 19, 2018
WWE Hell in a Cell – September 16, 2018
WWE TLC – October 21, 2018
Survivor Series – November 18, 2018
WWE Clash of Champions – December 16, 2018
Powell’s POV: I hope this doesn’t mean the company intends to make every show a six-hour event including two-hour Kickoff Shows. I know some of you can’t get enough, but it’s overkill for others. I see this is the first major crack in the brand split plan since part of the idea was to have brand specific pay-per-views, which would provide more opportunities to mid-card and undercard talent.
Meanwhile, WWE has scrapped some previously advertised pay-per-view events. The May 27 Payback and July 15 Battleground events are not listed on the new schedule. WWE Extreme Rules has moved from September to July 15. WWE Hell in a Cell has moved from September 30 to September 16. Basically, WWE opted against having two pay-per-view events in May and September, and is only advertising one pay-per-view event per month from WrestleMania going forward.
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They should have canceled,at least,4 more of them. And yes,I’m still waiting for RAW to go back to 2 hours.
I’m not enamored with this idea. RAW has been on fire since the roster shake up. And because of how well everything’s been clicking, I consistently look forward to their PPVs. Smackdown, on the other hand, has been lackluster- which is on the creative department. Still, it doesn’t change the fact that there’s only maybe a match or two, tops, that I look forward to on a Smackdown PPV. I regularly skip most. I still pay my network subscription fee every month, though. I just don’t want the PPVs I enjoy bogged down by garbage stories I don’t care about.
Just wanted to chime in too- I don’t want RAW to go back to 2 hours. I enjoy the 3 hour format because I like what they’re doing. It’s not the length of a program, it’s the quality.