WWE’s Bruce Prichard has now opened up in detail on why he believes short WWE PLE structures to be better than the long ones. Over the years and since transitioning from Vince McMahon’s creative lead, the Stamford-based promotion has adapted into a more concise style of hosting just four to five matches on a PLE card. Recently, speaking on the Something To Wrestle podcast, Prichard shared his insights on the decision.
“I go back and watch; 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, the last match on the card. 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 s**t. Good, bad, or indifferent. I think less is more.”
Speaking on the move from traditional PPV structure to streaming, Prichard also explained why such a change was important.
“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. Because A, Talent is not paid on pay-per-view buys because there are no PPV buys. There is no time allotment. You can give them an hour, you can give them five hours, whatever. They don’t really want more than three (hours),” Prichard continued.
“It’s a different time and a different way people consume. ‘I need my WrestleMania moment.’ 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, by the way, you’re doing television every week. You’ve got five hours of TV every week. That’s just a lot of television. 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.”
Since the past few years, WrestleMania has moved to two nights to allow for more time, matches, and the chance for wrestlers to showcase their talent, while generally limiting the card to just five matches a night.
