Smark Out Moment

Frequently, particularly when I'm complaining about being overloaded with work, I'm asked what I would do if I had the creative control to plan out WWE's pay-per-view schedule for the year.

By that, I mean if someone gave me the keys to the kingdom and said "What events on what months should we build around?", how would I go about structuring the year? Would it be just the Big Four? How would TakeOver events come into the mix? So on and so forth.

Well, since it's the end of 2018, I figured I'd brainstorm a few minutes about the topic and give you my ideas of how I'd sort out 2019.

* Note: Everything labeled "In Your House" is a house show. They don't count as true pay-per-views, as they're just slightly better live events from the regular ones made to feel special for that crowd and airing on the WWE Network, but it isn't anything that they really build to

JANUARY
- In Your House: New Year's Revolution
- NXT UK TakeOver: Blackpool
- NXT TakeOver: Phoenix
- Royal Rumble

FEBRUARY
- Roadblock or No Way Out (featuring the Elimination Chamber match; would take place toward the end, like February 24th)
- In Your House: Fastlane
- Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic starts in NXT

MARCH
- no major events
- In Your House: March to WrestleMania (or) Spring Stampede

APRIL
- Hall of Fame
- NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn V (yes, not "New York"; finale of Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic)
- WrestleMania 35
- Backlash (wrap up everything you can at the very end of the month)

MAY
- Superstar Shake-up
- Fully Loaded or Over the Limit (with the theme being that the rosters are changed and this is a fresh start for the summer)
- In Your House: May Day Mayhem (I like the sound of that)
- start the Mae Young Classic

JUNE
- NXT TakeOver
- Money in the Bank

JULY
+ In Your House: Great American Bash at the Beach (helps offset that Saudi Arabia stuff)
- Evolution (featuring the end of the Mae Young Classic)
- Crown Jewel

AUGUST
- NXT TakeOver: Toronto
- SummerSlam

SEPTEMBER
- Fall Brawl
 - start the King/Queen of the Ring tournament on Raw/SmackDown episodes
- NXT UK TakeOver #2

OCTOBER
- No Mercy (featuring the finals of the King/Queen of the Ring)
+ In Your House: Halloween Havoc

NOVEMBER
- NXT TakeOver: Chicago III
- Survivor Series (Raw vs SmackDown Bragging Rights)
+ In Your House: Starrcade

DECEMBER
- Breaking Point (not a themed event, I just like the name)
- Tribute to the Troops
- Slammy Awards

For those curious, Extreme Rules is just the name for "some kind of gimmick match" and no longer an event. Spread your gimmicks out better instead of forcing them onto a show at that time of the year. The same goes for Hell in a Cell, WarGames and TLC no longer being events, even though the matches can still exist (except TLC cause fuck that, that's just a ladder match).