I have a theory about WWE pay-per-views; do we still call them pay-per-views anymore, considering they’re all included with the WWE Network anyway?  But anyway, I have a theory about the monthly shows that the WWE puts out: the less effort it looks like they put into their title logo cards, then the less effort viewers should expect from the show itself.

Naturally, this isn’t perfect, definitive and doesn’t apply to all shows; WWE Fastlane had quite the impressive graphic treatment in the production of its marketing, buildup and actual show, but the card itself actually turned out to be quite lackluster.  But for the most part, it’s no secret that the WWE dumps more money into their big four ppvs of the year (Royal Rumble, Wrestlemania, SummerSlam, Survivor Series), than they do any other show throughout the year.

And as of this year, 2018, WWE’s gotten into this hysteria over producing shows in other countries, almost for no other reason than to call them historic first-time events, to help drum up interest, hype and other attention.  It started with “The Greatest” Royal Rumble in Saudi Arabia, and was followed by the United Kingdom Championship Tournament, where it was held at, for the very first time, the Royal Albert Hall in London.  This past weekend was the WWE Super Show-Down, which was held, for the very first time, in Melbourne, Australia.  And during Super Show-Down, I found out that there was yet another international show on the horizon, Crown Jewel which is going to be in Saudi Arabia again, but instead in, for the very first time, Riyadh.

As historically monumental as the WWE likes to tout these international events, make no mistake that they are NOT immune from the shitty logo, shitty show logic.  Look no further than the fact that “The Greatest” Royal Rumble logo was literally the same logo used in January’s Royal Rumble, but had the word “Greatest” added to the top of it, and had their accent colors changed to Saudi red, green and white.  Surprising nobody, the show was horribly sub-par, and the events of the show had nearly no impact on storylines, save for the Reigns vs. Lesnar feud.

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