Reason WWE Is Making All PPVs Dual Branded — Shows Extending to 4-Hours?

During today’s installment of Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer discussed reports of WWE making all their pay-per-view events dual-branded after WrestleMania, with the first show being Backlash. Here are a few notes that Meltzer discussed regarding the change:

* WWE’s official word regarding the reports is that an “announcement is coming soon.”

* One of the reasons WWE is making the change to dual branded shows is because the advances for several single branded pay-per-view events haven’t been strong. The feeling is with more top guys on the show, the easier it will be to push ticket sales.

* When they tried to cut back on the number of pay-per-view events, it caused some storylines to be extended longer than what they needed to be. There were some points where it would be nearly two months before a storyline could have it’s pay-per-view blow-off match. This made it more difficult to book for weekly television.

* One of the downsides to switching to dual brand shows is that far less guys from each brand will be appearing at pay-per-view events. Basically, they won’t be trying to book everyone on the card.

* There is speculation that they could extend all the pay-per-view events to four hours long. The reason they would do this is so that they can have a good number of matches. Three hours doesn’t leave much room for that on dual branded shows.

* Instead of having just six or seven matches, they will have to eight — four from each brand and they will probably be slightly shorter matches if they don’t extend to four hours.

What are your thoughts of WWE making all the pay-per-view events dual branded shows? Sound off in the comment section below…