User:Makeblake/sandbox/WWEPPV
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This is a list of WWE pay-per-view events, detailing all professional wrestling cards promoted on pay-per-view by WWE.
WWE has broadcast pay-per-views since the 1980s, when its classic "big four" events (Royal Rumble, WrestleMania, SummerSlam, and Survivor Series) were first established. The company's PPV lineup expanded to a monthly basis in the mid-1990s, and reached its peak of sixteen shows a year in 2006 before returning to twelve in 2012. Pay-per-view shows are typically three hours in length, though budget priced events (e.g., In Your House) were shorter, while premium events such as WrestleMania can approach five hours. Since 2008, all WWE pay-per-views have been broadcast in High-definition. Pay-per-view events are a significant part of the revenue stream for WWE.[1][2]
WWE pay-per-views are made available in the United States by In Demand, Dish Network or DirecTV. In Canada, WWE pay-per-views are available through (depending on service provider) Viewers Choice, Vu!, Shaw PPV or SaskTel PPV, and can be seen in movie theatres in HD through selected locations of the Cineplex Entertainment chain. In Australia, WWE's pay-per-views are shown on Main Event. In the United Kingdom and Ireland, some pay-per-views are shown on Sky Sports 3 and others on Sky Sports Box Office.
Aside from its standard monthly schedule, WWE produced additional international pay-per-views between 1997 and 2003. These events were not available in the United States, and coincided with overseas tours in the United Kingdom and Australia.
Following WWE's brand extension in 2002, the company promoted two touring rosters representing its Raw and SmackDown television programs. Aside from the Smackdown-only 2002 Rebellion show, all WWE pay-per-views featured both brands until June 2003. The traditional "big four" continued to showcase the entire roster, while the remaining pay-per-views alternated between Raw and Smackdown cards. A special ECW event in 2005 led to the creation of an ECW brand in 2006, which also received its own dedicated pay-per-view. Additional brand-exclusive events were added to the schedule, which reached its peak in 2006 with sixteen pay-per-view events (five Raw, five Smackdown, two ECW, and the original big four). In March 2007, when WWE announced that all subsequent pay-per-views would feature performers from all brands.[3] Dates were slowly removed from the pay-per-view schedule, and in 2012 WWE returned to holding twelve pay-per-views a year.
In 2009, WWE began to rename several of its "B"-show pay-per-views, identifying them with types of matches such as the Money in the Bank ladder match and the Hell in a Cell cage match.
Since 2012, WWE has offered a free kickoff show before each pay-per-view, available on WWE.com and from social media partners such as YouTube and Facebook.
In January 2014, WWE announced that the WWE Network, a service launching in February, would feature its entire back catalog of pay-per-view events, as well as all future pay-per-views from WrestleMania XXX onwards.[4]