Corrigan’s Corner: Chill with the PPV Throat-Shoving

Bray Wyatt prevents Roman Reigns from winning the Money in the Bank, and an hour later, they’re scheduled to fight at Battleground.

Esqueeze me?

It’s part of this new trend that WWE has developed in which at least one pay-per-view match is booked during the previous pay-per-view. Starting with John Cena defeating Rusev in a Russian Chain Match at Extreme Rules which, in theory, should end a rivalry, WWE immediately announced a rematch (I Quit, or in Rusevian, “GABLRGABLR”) between the titans for Payback.

Sure, it’s a strategy to entice viewers to start saving their 9.99 for the next month’s event, but it also hinders the current PPV. For example, after the Money in the Bank participants were revealed during Elimination Chamber and Dean Ambrose wasn’t shown, and considering the events were two weeks apart, you knew shenanigans would commence and spawn a rematch between Ambrose and Seth Rollins.

And then at MITB, I was hoping for a Reigns’ heel turn to screw Ambrose, but obviously after his match with Rusev was announced, that wasn’t happening.

C’mon though, Battleground is five weeks away—you really can’t wait for Wyatt to explain his actions or Reigns to seek revenge before setting up their bout?

WWE shoots itself in the foot by killing any suspense with these premature announcements. The slogan used to be “anything can happen in the WWE,” but now, the limits are crystal clear. You won’t see Cena lose the U.S. Title on these open challenges if he’s defending against Rusev on PPV. It might be nearly impossible to imagine a Cena loss on RAW, but you reeeaallly destroy that notion when the title defenses are booked weeks in advance.

And enough with just announcing matches—let the actual wrestlers issue challenges. Reigns should get on the mic, or at the very least, point to the Payback sign to indicate a match with Wyatt. Stop with the commentators hearing these mysterious announcements through their headsets and then reciting them to the audience. Who tells Michael Cole about these matches? Does Triple H have a direct line to Cole’s headset? Is he texting him throughout the show? Imagine having Michael Cole’s phone number…Vintage emojies!

With so much content offered to fans, the aspect of unpredictability is more crucial than ever. In order to keep fans invested and excited, WWE needs to chill on the throat-shoving.

Between bills and loans and birthdays and anniversaries and Ashley Tisdale’s return to television, we have enough to remember as it is.

Wrestledelphia.com editor John Corrigan can be reached at . Follow him on Twitter at .