Everyone loves a good gimmick match. Notice the phrasing: a GOOD gimmick match. This seems to have gone right over the heads of those in WWE. This past year saw new "exciting" PPV events featuring a few too many gimmick matches.
I'm going to break down each of the gimmick PPV's to date and explain why they're shit (oh, like you didn't see this coming).
Bragging Rights: First off, this is quite literally Survivor Series. We don't need 2 PPV's with the same theme. Oh wait, they're fixing that by getting rid of Survivor Series for some odd reason. Bragging Rights will never be as good as Survivor Series, simple as that. I don't think I need to go into detail on why.
Hell in a Cell: I miss the good old days when HIAC matches were a year or so apart, and they were only used as for final showdowns. Also, until HIAC, there was a very unique record. Until that fateful September day, every HIAC match featured either HHH or Undertaker. I am aware of Kane vs. Mankind, but that match never officially started. Then, they went and ruined that with the likes of John Cena and many others.
TLC: See the above about matches being a year apart and so on. The magic has been taken away form these matches because it's no longer exciting to hear about them. It used to be "OMG TLC MATCH!!" now, it's "TLC match, kinda obvious." Also, these matches supposedly shorten careers, so assuming that this happens every year, plus the stagnant title pictures, these people should be retired by 2012 (that is NOT an apocalypse joke).
Night Of Champions: This one I actually like. The only gimmick is all titles on the line. We don't see the same match 4 times a night with different people. Plus, with all titles on the line, it properly builds hype. I mean, it gives a chance to shake up the title picture (not that they really do) and the idea is sound. With some tweaking (IE the title pictures themselves) this makes a great event.
Extreme Rules: Way to bitchslap ECW. This whole PPV makes a mockery of hardcore matches. Also, has anyone else noticed that hardcore, extreme rules, no DQ and street fights are just the same match with different names? You could wrap shit in tinfoil, put hooks on it and call it earrings, but in the end it's still shit in tinfoil. These matches are in no way extreme. One chair shot, 5 seconds in the crowd, whoopity doo. I WANT BLOOD DAMMIT!
Now, for the names. Do they really need to be this obvious? I mean, we know there's going to be Elimination Chamber matches at No Way Out, so why does the name need to reflect that. Plus, the names sound stupid. Seriously, when the poll asking about new names for NWO, there was one good option, and that was "Heavy Metal." I thought that if the name HAS to be changed, this is the one to go for. It's got an ominous sound, it gives a general idea of the theme, but it's not obvious.
I get the feeling that WWE thinks that people can't follow along with something that isn't obvious. They think that they need the dumbed-down version of things for their fans to comprehend. But if they didn't try to attract idiots, they wouldn't have to.
In the end, these PPV's take all the magic out of these once special matches. WWE thinks it will make things interesting, but they are going for quantity over quality. Again, you may have 5 tons of shit, but it's still shit. Give me one good HIAC match a year, and I'll be happy. Give me one good TLC match a year, and I'll be happy. But make me waste $40+ on a PPV that's ruining something's former glory, I'll want your head on a platter.
Start focusing on quality, and you MAY stand a chance. Just make sure you have a solid idea first, which these PPV's aren't. 2010 is a new year, let's see some progress.
Nic
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