SummerSlam is indeed the biggest party of the summer, and as such many fans consider it to be WWE’s second biggest pay-per-view of the year. It’s a title that makes sense considering how far Survivor Series has fallen in the last few years, in addition to how the Royal Rumble is pretty much just an extension of Mania anyway.
Unfortunately, it’ll never be considered the top dog so long as the spectacle that is Mania is still around, but that doesn’t mean they can’t try and force the issue. WrestleMania will forever be known as the biggest show of the year, but what if certain aspects of SummerSlam was tweaked in order to give WrestleMania a run for its money?
It may not be within the realms of possibility from a financial standpoint, but having two events of this magnitude as opposed to one could be a great move in the long run. It would take some getting used to and you’d have to put a lot of faith in the die hard fans to buy both travel packages, but Vince has never been one to shy away when it comes to sticking his neck out on the line.
With that being said, here are five ways SummerSlam can compete with WrestleMania.
#1 Stadium
This one is fairly simple, but it’s perhaps the most effective – WWE needs to hold SummerSlam in a stadium. Why? Because it just look so, so much better and the atmosphere is immediately heightened. If you need a good example of this then you will have to go back and look at when the summer extravaganza was held at Wembley Stadium in 1992.
It was massive back then and it’d be massive again in the present day, and that’s just a fact. Just look at the Royal Rumble this year at the Alamodome – 50,000 people were packed inside that venue and as a result, things just felt ten times more epic.
Sure, it may not have been the greatest pay-per-view, but a stadium show would give SummerSlam a better chance at success.
#2 Week-long festival
WrestleMania is a week-long spectacle, with events starting officially on the Friday and lasting all the way through until the following Tuesday (okay so it may not be a whole week, but the majority of fans will stay for seven days). SummerSlam have tested this out in the past, but they need to commit 100% to the idea.
A smaller version of Axxess would be a great way for fans to interact with the superstars, and when you look down the list of other potential events they’re almost there in this department. They’ve got Takeover, Raw, SmackDown Live and even a travel package dedicated to SummerSlam.
They’re so close to completing the set and ticking this entry off the list, which we’re very happy about.
#3 No anti-climax
Mania serves as the storybook ending to WWE’s calendar year, like a season finale to a big television show. As such, the rest of the ‘season’ lasts about 364 days, which is a bit too long for people to maintain their interest levels. So, why not have a second season finale half way through the year in August?
It would be a lot better to have a definitive ending than an anti-climactic one, which is what we’ve experienced for the last three years on the trot.
With Brock busting Randy open, Taker cheating to beat the Beast and Brock squashing Cena, all three of those events have felt like continuations in a story as opposed to the end of one.
#4 Big entrances
One of the great things about the showcase of the immortals is the entrances. Regardless of whether you’re a mid card talent or a bonafide main eventer, the majority of people have special entrances that truly do make the whole occasion seem that much bigger.
So the same thing needs to happen at SummerSlam, and if the company really wanted to go all out, they could make them summer-themed events.
This may be considered as a bit much by some, but the grandeur of WWE is one of the main reasons why old school fans still tune into WrestleMania year in, year out.
#5 Legendary appearances
Everyone hates the part-timers in WWE: that is until they get to experience their entrance live and then they lose all of the morals that they thought they once possessed. No matter how much we complain about them, there’s no getting away from the fact that appearances by legends make pay-per-views feel that much bigger.
They don’t need to pop up for long in order to keep most of the focus on the youngster stars, but SummerSlam is in desperate need of some star power.
We all know that it’ll continue to play second fiddle to Mania for as long as we all live, but things like this will narrow the gap substantially. Imagine Goldberg returning to face Roman Reigns in a Spear vs. Spear dream match? Sounds good right?
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