WWE Executive Defends Doing PLEs With Fewer Matches On The Card

WWE’s PLEs have undergone multiple changes over time to the disappointment of some, but this WWE executive feels it’s the right way to go.

Premium Live Events (PLEs), WWE’s special events, used to be called “Pay Per Views”(PPVs) back in the pre-streaming era of broadcasting.

WWE had PPVs every month, each with its own unique theme and setting (Survivor Series, SummerSlam, WrestleMania). It would be an event showcasing gimmick matches and major title matches. Storylines and feuds from across the roster would culminate at these PPVs. More often than not, major shifts would happen in the wrestlers’ storylines and title holdings, which would affect storylines on TV in the following weeks.

PPVs would be three hours long as opposed to regular shows like RAW and SmackDown, which were two hours long at the time. Every wrestler, from low-carders to main eventers, performed, bringing the match total to as high as ten per PPV.

In the modern streaming era, WWE has rebranded these events as PLEs. This is because the consumption model has changed in the streaming era. Fans who had to pay separately for each event now only need to pay once to use the streaming service airing the event.

The flexibility of streaming reduces time restrictions for these events, yet the company opts to do only five matches and extend their timeframe. This has been a significant shift in programming, and while many fans aren’t on board, some feel that this is the best way to do it. One such person is WWE executive Bruce Prichard.

WWE’s Bruce Prichard Defends Low Number Of Matches In PLEs, Saying “Less Is More

WWE executive and booker/producer Bruce Prichard feels that the new way is the better way, as it’s easier for fans to remember what happened in the event with fewer matches on the card. He believes that a stacked card is just too much for viewers to digest. Speaking on his YouTube show Something to Wrestle, Bruce Prichard offered this insight.

I go back in time; ten matches on a card is hard to watch. When you look at the presentation and you put so many things in a ten match card, at the end of the night, what do you remember? You’re most likely going to remember the main event, but there may have been an angle in the third match and a hell of a match, but you have forgotten because you have seen so much other shit. Good, bad, or indifferent. I think less is more.

Sometimes you have to battle that demon of, ‘We have to get more people on this.’ The PLE streaming aspect of the business has changed that completely. Talent is not paid on pay-per-view buys. There is no time allotment. They don’t really want more than three (hours). It’s a different time and a different way people consume. ‘I need my WrestleMania moment.’

Prichard says that regular TV is just as valuable now as compared to PLEs.

You have a moment next month in the main event. ‘I want to be on WrestleMania.’ Where? It’s going to get lost here and we’re doing this here. There is a lot more territory and avenues. Plus, you’re doing television every week. Television is just as valuable as the PLEs with rights fees. To be on television to a huge number of people versus PLEs, that has changed. Every time you’re on screen is valuable.”

h/t: fightful.com

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