If you were a fan of dual-branded PPVs in the WWE, well then we’ve got some bad news.
Saturday the promotion announced that after WrestleMania and starting with Backlash in May, all PPVs will feature both RAW and SmackDown LIVE superstars going forwards. Additionally, the WWE also announced their full PPV schedule for 2018.
Here’s WWE’s full statement:
“After WrestleMania, you’ll get the best of both brands – Raw and SmackDown LIVE – every month, on every pay-per-view. Catch every event streaming live on the award-winning WWE Network.
WrestleMania 34 – April 8, 2018
WWE Backlash – May 6, 2018
WWE Money in the Bank – June 17, 2018
WWE Extreme Rules – July 15, 2018
SummerSlam – Aug. 19, 2018
WWE Hell in a Cell – Sept. 16, 2018
WWE TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs – Oct. 21, 2018
Survivor Series – Nov. 18, 2018
WWE Clash of Champions – Dec. 16, 2018”
Meanwhile up until WrestleMania in April, Elimination Chamber will still be a RAW exclusive show while Fastlane will still be a Smackdown LIVE exclusive show.
Wrestle Inc. has also noted a few changes other than the PPV brand merge for the year:
A few changes have been made to the original PPV schedule. Previously, Payback (SmackDown) was scheduled to be on May 27, but has been removed. Extreme Rules (Raw) was initially scheduled to be on September 16, but is now on July 15 with Battleground(Raw) being removed. Hell in a Cell(SmackDown) was on September 30 and has been moved to September 16.
The reason behind the WWE deciding to go to dual brand PPVs is believed to be due to the company not seeing a significant increase in Network subscribers since the split. It’s also been reported that the WWE will also look to increase the length of the PPVs from three to five hours in order to accommodate the increase in superstars from both brands wrestling on one PPV.
Hopefully though merging PPVs isn’t a precursor to the WWE once again merging brands in their entirety. So far the WWE said that wouldn’t be the case.