WHETHER WE LIKE IT NOT “GREAT BALLS OF FIRE” IS A REAL THING. AND YOU KNOW WHAT? PHALLIC LOGO NOTWITHSTANDING, IT ACTUALLY LOOKS LIKE IT HAS A CHANCE TO PRODUCE A QUALITY EVENT.
Will there be actually fire at the event? Balls of the great variety? There’s a lot to unpack here.
What we do know, however, is that WWE did themselves a great credit by building a card that will hopefully distract fans from the inevitable shame saying the name aloud brings.
Regardless of what you think of their titles, this is the reality in the “Network Era”. We’re getting Pay-Per-View’s every other week, which on the surface sounds fantastic.
Problem is, there simply isn’t enough time between these events to build up a whole lot that strikes an interest. Sure, these events have produced some memorable matches, but proper time to build them up would have pushed them from good to great.
With so little time between to lay the foundations for truly great stories, WWE needs to get inventive. Combine that with the fact that most find the events much easier to digest given the nominal fee for the network, and they have an opportunity for a little outside the box thinking.
With that in mind, here’s five Pay-Per-View ideas that aren’t “Great Balls Of Fire” and are so crazy that they just might work.
1) USA Vs The World in the “Clash Of Nations Cup”
I love this idea personally, and use it as a Pay-Per-View event in my federation on EWR (yes, I still play EWR). Essentially you have a seven match card. Five singles matches, one tag team match, and one women’s match. On one side you have “Team USA”, and on the other “The World”.
Using a Ryder Cup like format, each match is worth one point. Whichever team has the most points at the end of the night wins the “Clash Of Nations Cup”.
Imagine if you will, a Team USA of Roman Reigns, Brock Lesnar, Seth Rollins, AJ Styles, The Miz, Hardy Boyz, and Charlotte battling the likes of Sami Zayn, Finn Balor, Shinsuke Nakamura, Kevin Owens, Rusev, Sheamus and Cesaro, and Asuka with national pride on the line.
Alternate the event each year between a USA location and a European country, and you have a money making event.
2) BattleBowl
Like a few of these concepts on the list, “BattleBowl” isn’t new, and certainly isn’t mine. But still, it creates an intriguing concept given the current WWE roster.
The event would feature a series of tag-team matches made up entirely of teams put together by random draw. The winners of each tag match go into a battle royal at the end of the night, with the winner receiving a WWE title shot of their choosing.
Could Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn co-exist if it meant the potential of a title shot? What if Dawson got paired up Gable and they were drawn to face Wilder and Jordan?
3) King Of The Ring
Another concept that isn’t entirely new, and maybe isn’t entirely dead, WWE “King Of The Ring” was a staple of the Pay-Per-View calendar in the early-90s through to the 2000s. Declining buyrates, and Vince McMahon’s apparent lack of belief in tournaments, saw it dropped off the schedule entirely until a resurrection of sorts, with it appearing intermittently over the last few years.
But with so much time on the network to fill, and so much talent amongst RAW, SmackDown Live, and NXT, the tournament could lead to some exciting, dream-like matches. WWE could also turn what was a Friday/Saturday house show into a live network special and juice up ticket sales.
4) Championship Scramble
I, for one, like the “Championship Scramble” concept. While it does mess a bit with history (for instance: if someone holds the belt briefly during the match, are they recognized as a champion in the history books?) the idea can create excitement, and crowd-popping moments.
To refresh: the Universal Championship and the WWE Championship would be defended in separate main event matches with a set time limit (let’s say 20 minutes). The belt can change hands as many times as possible throughout that time, but whoever is holding it when time expires wins the match, and thus the championship.
Imagine the pop when someone like an Enzo Amore briefly wins the title during the course of the match. Imagine if Sami Zayn finally has the belt in his grasp, only to have the time expire just as the ref is bringing his hand down for the three count?
The amount of Stories the brands could tell during these matches seem endless.
5) WarGames
Long rumoured to have been making a return, it wouldn’t surprise me in the least of WWE was against bringing it back simply because the set up would eat into the floor seats, thus taking away valuable revenue.
Still, a “WarGames” event featuring members of a team RAW against team SmackDown Live could have the potential to be a very fun idea. WWE wanted brand supremacy to mean something with ” Bragging Rights” but truth be told it felt like a very plain and already done concept (“Survivor Series, Wrestlemania”matches).
Add a double steel cage, and tie the event to the legacy of Dusty Rhodes who created it, and were in business!