5 things that could happen if Vince McMahon and Dana White switched places

#2 More build-up to the big matches in WWE

Back in the 80’s and 90’s, it was rare that the then-WWF would ever give its big matches away on free TV. With a maximum of five PPV cards a year by the early 90’s, it was important that the matches between stars had a proper build to them.

Often, the big names wouldn’t have any physical contact at all prior to their first big meeting on PPV.

The WWF’s TV shows were filled with squash matches, Superstars against no-names, and this worked – it was a way to build characters up in the eyes of the fans and make them look great.

These days, though – since the Monday Night Wars of the late 90’s – it’s become commonplace to give big matches away on Raw and Smackdown. This means that by the time a big match is signed for a PPV, the fans have often seen it multiple times under multiple stipulations.

How do you sell a PPV like that? The quick answer is that you don’t.

Dana White meanwhile is a master of building the big fight up. Look at the way Conor McGregor was built up to his fight with Jose Aldo, for instance, after he beat a top contender in Dustin Poirier, he was given Dennis Siver as a showcase opponent.

And you can count on one hand the number of times the UFC signs a big name and immediately drops them into a PPV main event. Usually, they’re given at least one fight on free TV against a lesser name to build them in the eyes of the UFC fans.

Admittedly, this has backfired a couple of times. Mirko Cro Cop, for instance, was given a build-up match too many before a possible fight with Randy Couture and ended up losing all his lustre when Gabriel Gonzaga knocked him out.

Usually, though, it works brilliantly and by the time the big fight comes around in the UFC, everyone and their dog is clamouring to see it.

With no competition from a rival promoter at this point anyway, there’s no reason why WWE couldn’t follow this pattern and build matches using old-school squashes on free TV. I reckon Dana would be all for it if he took over.