This is a list of pay-per-view events promoted by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). WWE holds one pay-per-view event per month, except for the month of October, when there are two. With the exception of WrestleMania, each event is scheduled for three hours, although they sometimes run short of that time. Pay-per-view events are a big part of the revenue stream for WWE.[1][2]
History[]
It is a commonly held misconception that the first WWE, then known as the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), pay-per-view was November 1985's The Wrestling Classic, a tournament held at the Rosemont Horizon near Chicago[3], but the first WrestleMania event, in March of the same year, was available on pay-per-view in some markets.[4] The first two WrestleManias were financial successes, and after WrestleMania III became a popular event in wrestling history, the WWF then decided to expand their pay-per-view offerings.
The first Survivor Series event occurred on November 29, 1987, scheduled to conflict with NWA's Starrcade. The WWF informed cable companies that if they chose to carry Starrcade, they would not be allowed to carry future WWF events. The vast majority of companies showed Survivor Series (only three opted to remain loyal to their contract with the NWA), and the resulting financial blow to Starrcade was in many ways the beginning of the end for Jim Crockett Promotions.[5] The debut of the Royal Rumble in January 1988 was actually shown on the USA Network, where it drew the highest rating to that time in the network's history. The event became a pay-per-view the following year.[6]
The first SummerSlam was held in Madison Square Garden in August 1988.[7] The Royal Rumble in January, WrestleMania in March or April, SummerSlam in August, and Survivor Series in November – were the only annual pay-per-view offerings until 1993, when the WWF started the King of the Ring in June. In May, 1995, the WWF began offering pay-per-views in the months that did not already have one. Initially, the WWF used the In Your House brand, but beginning in 1996 began using other names to complement the In Your House name (such as Bad Blood and No Way Out), to avoid confusion. Until recently, World Wrestling Entertainment had a once-a-month pay-per-view schedule, which they had from the late '90s until 2003 totaling twelve a year. In 2004 they offered a 13th pay-per-view, and in 2005 they offered 14 PPV's, 2006 had 16, and 2007 had 14. In 2008, they ended New Year's Revolution, bringing the number of pay-per-views back to 14. The pay-per-view events in the United States are offered by In Demand, Dish Network or DirecTV.
The WWE ran two yearly pay-per-views which were exclusive to the UK up to 2003, but after the brand extension occurred they were removed in favor of international tours, with a TV taping included. Currently, WWE has the WrestleMania Revenge tour, after WrestleMania, at the beginning of the year and the Survivor Series tour, at the end of the year, in the UK. Each includes a Raw, SmackDown, and an ECW taping. In Australia, WWE's pay-per-views are shown on Main Event. In the United Kingdom and Ireland, some pay-per-views are shown on Sky Sports 1 and others on Sky Box Office. Starting with the 2008 Royal Rumble, all WWE pay-per-views are broadcast in North America in High-definition, with similar HD broadcasts starting in the United Kingdom and Ireland from WrestleMania XXIV.
Active and upcoming events[]
The following is a list of the current, active titles for events scheduled by WWE.
Date[8][9][10] | Event[8][9][10] | Venue | City[8][9] |
---|---|---|---|
December 19, 2010 | TLC: Tables, Ladders, & Chairs[11] | Toyota Center | Houston, Texas |
January 30, 2011 | Royal Rumble | TD Garden | Boston, Massachusetts |
February 20, 2011 | Elimination Chamber[12] | Oracle Arena | Oakland, California |
April 3, 2011 | WrestleMania XXVII | Georgia Dome | Atlanta, Georgia |
May 1, 2011 | Extreme Rules | St. Pete Times Forum | Tampa, Florida |
May 22, 2011 | Over the Limit | KeyArena | Seattle, Washington |
June 19, 2011 | Fatal 4-Way | Verizon Center | Washington, D.C. |
July 17, 2011 | Money in the Bank | Allstate Arena | Rosemont, Illinois |
August 14, 2011 | SummerSlam | Staples Center | Los Angeles, California |
September 18, 2011 | Night of Champions | HSBC Arena | Buffalo, New York |
October 2, 2011 | Hell in a Cell | New Orleans Arena | New Orleans, Louisiana |
October 23, 2011 | Bragging Rights | AT&T Center | San Antonio, Texas |
November 20, 2011 | Survivor Series | Madison Square Garden | New York, New York |
December 18, 2011 | TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs | Wells Fargo Center | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
Brand extension[]
In June 2003, WWE announced to continue with their brand extension and make their pay-per-view events each exclusive to a particular brand (Raw, SmackDown!, and in 2006, ECW). The only exceptions to the pay-per-view split were the "Big Four" events (Royal Rumble, WrestleMania, SummerSlam and Survivor Series) which remained inclusive of all WWE brands. The pay-per-view split allowed WWE to eventually add more events to their pay-per-view line-up. From late 2005, pay-per-views would start to frequently have inter-branded matches. In March 2007, it was announced that pay-per-view events would go back to the old format, where the events would all be tri-branded, with the last uni-branded event being No Way Out and the first tri-branded event being Backlash (after WrestleMania 23).[13] The brand-exclusive events were:
Pay-per-view | Brand | Years | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
New Year's Revolution | Raw | 2005–2007 | |
Bad Blood | Raw | 2003–2004 | |
Vengeance | Raw | 2004–2006 | In 2003, Vengeance was a SmackDown!-exclusive event.[14] |
Unforgiven | Raw | 2003–2006 | |
Cyber Sunday | Raw | 2004–2008 | From 2004–2005, the event was promoted under the name Taboo Tuesday.[15][16][17] |
Armageddon | SmackDown! | 2004–2006 | In 2003, Armageddon was a Raw-exclusive event.[18] |
No Way Out | SmackDown! | 2004–2007 | |
Judgment Day | SmackDown! | 2004–2006 | |
The Great American Bash | SmackDown! | 2004–2006 | |
No Mercy | SmackDown! | 2003–2006 | |
December to Dismember | ECW | 2006 | This was the only ECW exclusive pay-per-view.[19] |
Former pay-per-view events[]
Pay-per-view | Year (s) Active | Notes |
---|---|---|
The Wrestling Classic | 1985 | |
This Tuesday in Texas | 1991 | |
King of the Ring | 1993–2002 | |
In Your House | 1995–1999 | |
Bad Blood | 1997, 2003–2004 | |
Over the Edge | 1998–1999 | Discontinued after the death of Owen Hart at the 1999 event. |
Fully Loaded | 1998–2000 | |
Invasion | 2001 | |
One Night Stand | 2005 - 2008 | |
December to Dismember | 2006 | This was the only ECW exclusive pay-per-view. |
New Year's Revolution | 2005–2007 | This pay-per-view was removed because WWE decided to reduce the number of pay-per-views per year. |
Unforgiven | 1998–2008 | |
No Mercy | 1999–2008 | |
Cyber Sunday | Taboo Tuesday (2004–2005), Cyber Sunday (2006–2008) |
|
Armageddon | 1999–2000, 2002–2008 | |
No Way Out | 1998, 2000–2009 | |
Backlash | 1999–2009 | |
Judgment Day | 1998, 2000–2009 | |
The Great American Bash | 2004–2009 | |
Breaking Point | 2009 |
International pay-per-view events[]
Pay-per-view | Year (s) Active | Notes |
---|---|---|
One Night Only | 1997 only | The event took place in the UK in September of that year. |
Capital Carnage | 1998 only | The event took place in the UK in December of that year. |
No Mercy (UK) | 1999 only | The event took place in May of that year. Despite being held in the UK, another PPV called "No Mercy" was held the same year in the U.S. |
Rebellion | 1999–2002 | The event took place in the UK in October between 1999–2002, November in 2001 and December in 2000. |
Insurrextion | 2000–2003 | The event took place in the UK in May between 2000–2002 and June in 2003. |
References[]
- ↑ "WWE Corporate 2003 Quarter 1 Issues". WWE. 2003-08-13. http://corporate.wwe.com/news/2003/2003_08_25.jsp. Retrieved 2007-12-01.
- ↑ "WWE Corporate 2003 Quarter 2". WWE. 2003-11-17. http://corporate.wwe.com/news/2003/2003_11_17.2.jsp. Retrieved 2007-12-01.
- ↑ "Survivor Series 1989 Venue history". WWE. http://www.wwe.com/shows/survivorseries/history/1989/venue/. Retrieved 2007-12-01.
- ↑ http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=CRQNAAAAIBAJ&sjid=LGYDAAAAIBAJ&pg=3855,8201680&dq=wrestlemania+pay+per+view&hl=en
- ↑ Cohen, Eric. "The History of Survivor Series". About.com. http://prowrestling.about.com/od/ringresults/a/survivorseries.htm. Retrieved 2007-12-01.
- ↑ "Royal Rumble History". Bella. http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art53968.asp. Retrieved 2007-12-01.
- ↑ "Summerslam Venue 1988 Venue History". WWE. Archived from the original on 2007-12-12. http://web.archive.org/web/20071212234823/http://www.wwe.com/shows/summerslam07/history/1988/venue/. Retrieved 2007-12-01.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 WWE Official Calendar 2010 (World Wrestling Entertainment).
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 Caldwell, James (2010-02-27). "WWE releases official 2010 PPV schedule, changes one PPV again". Pro Wrestling Torch. http://pwtorch.com/artman2/publish/WWE_News_3/article_39425.shtml. Retrieved 2010-03-01.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 Gerweck, Steve (2010-07-27). "Upcoming dates for WWE PPV events in 2011". WrestleView. http://www.wrestleview.com/viewnews.php?id=1280258946. Retrieved 2010-07-28.
- ↑ "TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs". World Wrestling Entertainment. http://www.wwe.com/schedules/events/rw/eventdetail/15137588. Retrieved 2010-07-28.
- ↑ http://www.coliseum.com/events/show.php?id=1288893447
- ↑ "WWE Pay-Per-Views to follow WrestleMania formula". WWE. http://corporate.wwe.com/news/2007/2007_03_14.jsp. Retrieved 2007-12-01.
- ↑ "Vengeance 2003 Homepage". WWE. Archived from the original on 2007-11-14. http://web.archive.org/web/20071114193106/http://www.wwe.com/shows/vengeance/history/vengeance2003/. Retrieved 2007-12-01.
- ↑ "Cyber Sunday All time results". WWE. http://www.wwe.com/shows/cybersunday/history/alltimeresults. Retrieved 2007-12-01.
- ↑ "Taboo Tuesday 2004 Results". WWE. http://www.wwe.com/shows/cybersunday/history/2004/. Retrieved 2007-12-01.
- ↑ "Taboo Tuesday 2005 Homepage". WWE. http://www.wwe.com/shows/cybersunday/history/2005/. Retrieved 2007-12-01.
- ↑ "WWE Armageddon 2003 Homepage". WWE. http://www.wwe.com/shows/armageddon/history/2003/. Retrieved 2007-12-01.
- ↑ "December to Dismember 2006 Homepage". WWE. http://www.wwe.com/shows/decembertodismember/. Retrieved 2007-12-01.
External links[]
World Wrestling Entertainment pay-per-view events
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