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Report: WWE Adding Raw & Smackdown WWE Network Events To 2016 Schedule

TJR Wrestling

There was recently a schedule floating around the internet that listed the dates, locations and some venues for the remainder of WWE’s 2016 pay-per-view schedule. The accuracy of this schedule is not yet known since WWE has not confirmed anything.

However, Dave Meltzer reports in his most recent edition of The Wrestling Observer Newsletter that the dates and locations listed for the remainder of the year are all correct, aside from three shows. Even though three shows’ dates and locations are not yet accurate, Meltzer still thinks those shows’ dates and locations make sense considering Jerry Lawler’s recent comments about WWE doing Raw and Smackdown exclusive pay-per-views, aside from the “big four” (Royal Rumble, WrestleMania, SummerSlam and Survivor Series).

Here is the image of the potential WWE pay-per-view schedule for the rest of 2016.

Potential 2016 WWE PPV Schedule

The following is what Meltzer wrote about the above schedule.

“What gives credence to this list is WWE just took out a trademark for Clash of the Champions, the 9/11 date being network exclusive means they couldn’t lock in the date due to timing with U.S. providers because of the late change (PPV providers want all materials to them at least 90 days before the show); plus the dates and sites for 8/21, 9/25, 10/30, 11/20 and 12/18 are all accurate.”

Mark’s reaction: Just to sum it up: Raw would get Clash of Champions, Hell in a Cell and Roadblock, while Smackdown would get Backlash, No Mercy and TLC. I think this schedule is likely what we’ll be seeing for the remainder of the year, since I do believe what Lawler said about WWE planning on having brand-exclusive pay-per-views. Backlash and No Mercy are cool pay-per-views to bring back. In regards to Clash of Champions, that was an old WCW show that WWE recently trademarked, so seeing its name on the list makes sense.

What’s interesting to me is to see how WWE divides up the February to July pay-per-views in 2017. In my head, Money in the Bank has kind of replaced Survivor Series as one of the big four, so it should be interesting to see which brand gets that pay-per-view, or if it’ll be another joint pay-per-view that features crossover in the actual Money in the Bank ladder match. I think I would like to see that rather than two separate Money in the Bank ladder matches (that all depends on what happens with the WWE Title and if they add a second major title).

In regards to what pay-per-views I’m hoping to see return, I’d like to see Elimination Chamber make a comeback and I’d like to see King of the Ring be its own pay-per-view. I think it would be cool if the winner of the King of the Ring tournament got to main event SummerSlam or earned a title opportunity some other time (similar to Royal Rumble). It would be a big improvement over just having the King of the Ring bragging rights and maybe a terrible King gimmick.