--- title: "How Triple H Could Revive These 7 WWE Events In 2023" canonical: "https://wrestletalk.com/features/how-triple-h-revive-7-wwe-events-2023/" type: "post" language: "en-US" author: "Ryan Coogan" section: "Features" published: "2023-01-26T19:02:54Z" modified: "2023-01-26T19:03:41Z" --- # How Triple H Could Revive These 7 WWE Events In 2023 If you ask a wrestling fan of a certain age what their favorite WWE pay-per-view is, their answer is probably going to surprise you. Sure, everybody loves a Royal Rumble, or a WrestleMania, or a SummerSlam; but for those of us who grew up with wrestling in the 90s and early-2000s, you can’t beat those old school pay-per-views that just don’t exist any more. A lot of that has to do with nostalgia (wrestling fans are nothing if not slaves to a glorified and unachievable past) but there really was something special about those old events, with their ridiculous names and over-the-top posters. Your No Mercys, your Armageddons – basically anything that was also the title of a mid-tier PS1 game – are as fresh in many of our minds as any WrestleMania. It’s kind of strange that WWE – a company that is famous for its inability to move on from the past – has allowed some of those old formats to die completely; it’s pretty remarkable that the company has had the restraint not to do what it does with every one of its 60-year-old legends, and dig them up for one last go around. But with reports suggesting that Triple H is well on his way to doing that, and resurrecting some of our favorite events, we thought we’d take a look at how he could go about reviving seven long-dead pay-per-views: ## **Cyber Sunday** ![](https://cdn.wrestletalk.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/cyber-sunday-logo-june-17-a.jpg) One of the biggest feathers in WWE’s proverbial cap is it online presence. The company has millions of followers on all forms of social media, and is one of the top ten most-watched channels on YouTube (coming in right behind a bunch of 28-year-old men screaming into a microphone while they play Fortnight). It’s pretty crazy that the company had a pay-per-view centered entirely on the concept of the internet well before it had managed to establish itself as the formidable online presence it is today. The concept behind Cyber Sunday was pretty basic: viewers were able to determine how certain matches would go down by voting on polls hosted by WWE.com. Results were pretty mixed, but you can’t deny the appeal of letting wrestling fans – the fandom with the biggest desire to interfere in the product they claim to enjoy – have a hand in booking the product. The great thing about bringing this event back is that you don’t need to do much to modernize it, since it was already well ahead of its time. Instead of directing people to the company’s website, you can now hold votes about match types, potential opponents and a whole host of other things across Instagram and Twitter polls. Will those polls be brigaded to hell? Sure, but who cares? It still boosts engagement, which is the primary purpose of holding a pay-per-view like this in the first place. Not to mention the fact that it’s tailor made to appeal to younger fans, who WWE tends to overlook sometimes in favor of popping the section of the crowd that knows who Bob Backlund is. Hell, put Logan Paul in your main event and you can basically just call this show “Hello fellow kids – the premium live event”. ## **Evolution 2** ![](https://cdn.wrestletalk.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Evolution-6.jpg) The great thing about there only being one Evolution pay-per-view is that, when all was said and done, you sort of only needed one. Like, the whole “women’s revolution thing” worked; women’s wrestling isn’t exceptional or remarkable any more, it’s just a normal part of the furniture. But while that might be true, it certainly doesn’t hurt to celebrate your women every once in a while (especially when one of the biggest criticisms being levied against your primary competition is the fact that they don’t pay their women’s division the proper respect). However, if you really want to differentiate this Evolution from the previous one, here’s my pitch: women’s midcard title. If you really want to prove that you consider your women’s division to be on par with your men’s division, there should be parity in the way you distribute your belts (plus you need to give your Shotzi’s and your Carmellas something to do for 11/12 pay-per-views a year). Make the rest of your show a celebration of your female talent both past and present by having matches that showcase a long-neglected facet of wrestling history, and cap it off by making the main event a bout for a brand new, long overdue belt. ## **Breaking Point** ![](https://cdn.wrestletalk.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Breaking-POint.jpg) I’m going to level with you: I very much doubt that Breaking Point is anybody’s favorite pay-per-view. Held as a one-off in 2009 to replace (the far superior) Unforgiven, Breaking Point was a gimmick pay-per-view in which every single match would be contested under submission rules. Now I’m not a huge fan of submission matches in general; as much as I enjoy some theater in my matches, seeing somebody lie perfectly still while they make faces  and pretend their arm is in a slightly uncomfortable position for an arbitrary amount of time isn’t my idea of entertainment. That being said, it’s actually not a bad concept for a show if that’s the kind of thing that you’re in to (you weirdos). It’s the kind of thing I could definitely see WWE trying out again, mostly because of its current fixation on acting as competition to MMA, and other submission-based “shoot” fighting sports. Putting on a dedicated event to show off that side of your company could be a great idea, with spots for people like Matt Riddle, Ronda Rousey, and even Gable Steveson. I’m not suggesting you put any fake MMA in the show – that’s sports entertainment kryptonite – but a show like this could be a great way to try and capture some of that UFC magic that WWE is always chasing. Throw in a fight pit or two, some I quit matches, and you might have something there. ## **King of the Ring** ![](https://cdn.wrestletalk.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/xavier-woods-king-of-the-ring-october-12-a.jpg) There was a point where the (more or less) annual King of the Ring pay-per-view was a bit of a company hallmark, similar to the way that the Royal Rumble or Money In The Bank is today. It’s the event that helped to make stars out of Bret Hart, Kurt Angle, Triple H, and perhaps most notably Stone Cold Steve Austin. Despite the popularity of the event and the status it brought to its winners, the pay-per-view was discontinued in 2002. While there have been several iterations of the tournament since the event itself was discontinued, results have been spotty at best (you guys remember King Corbin?). There have actually already been some rumblings that Triple H (himself a former King of the Ring) could be eyeing a return for the event. If that does end up being the case, it could probably use a few tweaks to bring it up to speed for modern audiences and give it an actual purpose. Perhaps the biggest change needs to be this: what exactly does the King of the Ring get? Sure, there’s a crown, and a cape, and a big stick to wave around. But where does the prestige of winning this huge tournament rank alongside, say, the midcard titles? It might be better instead to make it so that the tournament winner receives a title shot. Hell, you could make this into SummerSlam’s equivalent of the Royal Rumble, with the winner determining that show’s main event. Failing that, it’s a good opportunity to put a belt on the line and let people just go hog wild in pursuit of it, as opposed to the usual one-and-done match you get with most championship defenses (although you probably couldn’t make than an annual thing; I think most people have cottoned on to wrestling being fake by now, but I think it’s going to stretch their incredulity to breaking point if the WWE Champion just happens to vacate the gold at the exact same time every year). It also might be a good idea to pull a Survivor Series: Deadly Games and have the entire tournament take place in one night, using it as a unique storytelling format where a single narrative takes place over multiple matches (oh no, I’ve been possessed by the spirit of Adam Blampied). As with the previous entry, there are a ton of opportunities here for WWE to do something that they rarely get a chance to: highlight the ‘sport’ aspect of its sport entertainment. ## **Night of Champions** ![](https://cdn.wrestletalk.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Night-of-Champions.jpg) If you aren’t familiar with Night of Champions, the concept was pretty simple: it was a WWE pay-per-view where every single main roster WWE championship would be defended in the course of one night. It’s kind of a great idea, because it means that no matter what story you’re telling at any given point in the year, all of a sudden even your most reluctant heels have to drop all their pretense and defend their titles at least once. Sometimes wrestling – especially WWE – gets so caught up in the soap opera side of things that it loses sight of its own meta-narrative, i.e. WWE is a fancy fight club, sure, but it also has rules and contracts (yes, even for zombie wizards and serial killing clowns). Refusing to defend your title, or show up to work? Fine, whatever, heel’s are gonna heel. But there’s one night a year where you don’t have a choice but to defend your gold, so by God you’re going to defend it. Night of Champions is a great concept, because not only does it mean that you’re guaranteed to see all of the company’s top talent in one place at least once a year (considering that doesn’t even happen at every WrestleMania), but because of the sheer number of belts being defended it means that at least one is all but certain to change hands (that’s just simple math, baby). It’s a solid way to indicate to an audience that’s all too familiar with the concept of a B-show that “hey, this pay-per-view will definitely be of consequence, and if you miss it you’ll be missing something important!” ## **Judgment Day** ![](https://cdn.wrestletalk.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/finn-balor-dominik-mysterio-rhea-ripley-damian-priest-judgment-day-december-20-a.jpg) Most of our favorite discontinued pay-per-views don’t really have any associated gimmick, so suggesting that WWE bring them back is tantamount to just demanding they “Say the line, Bart” and just give us something we vaguely remember from when we were 14. I couldn’t resist this one though, mostly because I have a great/terrible pitch that I want to poison your eyes with. You know how nWo used to take over WCW pay-per-views in the 90s and early 2000s? And you know how there’s currently a stable in WWE called Judgment Day? Don’t boo me! Don’t boo the truth! Look, I’m not saying that Judgment Day are Hogan, Hall and Nash (mostly because every member of the Judgment Day can actually wrestle), but you could have a similar situation here, where the world’s most violent Hot Topic employees take over WWE for an evening and put on a show of their own. I’m thinking you do it around Halloween, with a visual theme that’s half way between the high school goth aesthetic of the stable, and the regular goth aesthetic of the Attitude Era pay-per-view. Have each of the Judgment Day compete for a title and, since we’re in fantasy territory here, have them all win (yes, even Dominik). That probably sounds like the worst kind of fantasy booking, but remember we’re talking about Rhea Ripley, Damien Priest and Finn God Damn Balor here. They might be a joke stable right now, but they have all the ingredients to become the company’s next big thing, and showcasing them in this way could be the way to do that. ## **No Mercy** ![](https://cdn.wrestletalk.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/No-Mercy.jpg) With the Hell In A Cell premium live event apparently going the way of Old Yeller (which isn’t the worst thing in the world, if we’re being honest), WWE is in desperate need of an October pay-per-view to bring the spooks for Halloween. While Halloween Havoc seems like the obvious choice here, that’s technically a WCW event which automatically disqualifies it from this list. Plus NXT has that show on lock, and I don’t want to take anything else away from those guys (who am I, Vince McMahon?). Like Judgement Day, No Mercy doesn’t have a specific gimmick or match type associated with it, but the name is so synonymous with quality wrestling that WWE should bring it back anyway. Make it the time of year that wrestlers blow off their most heated blood feuds: father vs son, friend vs friend, Otis vs Tucker. Basically make it what Hell In A Cell was supposed to be, but without the contrivance of having every single one of those feuds blow off inside an actual cell. Cage matches, street fights, TLC – have it be the one show of the year where you are guaranteed an emotional, merciless climax to the year’s most worthy stories. Also – and I know this is asking a lot – but maybe this is the show where we bring back blood? Make No Mercy a little slice of Attitude Era violence in a year that otherwise has to cater to advertisers; a little treat for those of us who remember how it felt to see Austin refuse to tap out to Bret. **Think you’re a wrestling mastermind? Well you can prove it by taking quizzes in [our brand new quiz section](https://wrestletalk.com/quizzes/)! Don’t forget to [tweet us](https://twitter.com/WrestleTalk_TV) your results!**