By Chris Newth, PWTorch.com contributor

So WWE premieres Fatal 4-Way tomorrow night. Like many others at the Torch, skepticism is my initial reaction when considering the prospects of this one. What is the single most enticing reason to order the PPV? I can’t really pinpoint it. If I had to choose, I’d hesitantly go with whatever the NXT group has in store for Bret Hart.

As of the time of this writing, WWE.com lists five matches on the card for tomorrow’s event, three of which are Fatal 4-Way matches. The undercard consists of one-on-one bouts for the United States and Intercontinental Championships.

I guess my primary issue is the branding of the PPV itself. I can understand massive hype for big-time gimmick matches like the Elimination Chamber or Hell in a Cell. But Fatal 4-Way matches? Eh, it would be like structuring the next PPV around Triple Threats. I just fail to see the justification for branding an entire event around a card stacked with four-person matches. It’s not flashy at all, which renders the gimmickry-based purpose of these off-brand PPVs flawed.

The other issue, of course, is the idea of diminishing returns. When you see an Elimination Chamber match and it’s really good, the next one--especially when it takes place literally minutes later--loses value. Things are watered down easily. The only thing WWE can do is make each Fatal 4-Way match stick out in some way from those that air before it. But why not just hype the importance and uniqueness of a Fatal 4-Way match and throw viewers one every few months instead?

Trying to find some kind of analogy to prove how a Fatal 4-Way can be fun one time but quickly passed up the next, I submit any WWE video game. Sure, out of all the various types of matches from which to choose, it’s cool to give the Fatal 4-Way a try. But nobody plays the Fatal 4-Way over and over. It doesn’t have the showy quality of Ladder matches or the simplicity of singles matches. It falls in a strange area that would be bold to enjoy multiple times, and even bolder to structure an entire PPV around.

As for the storylines that feed into the card, I think they have been overshadowed by other forces on their respective shows. The NXT invasion angle stole most of the focus and interest on the Raw brand. It’s more intriguing to tune in to Fatal 4-Way to find out how Raw GM Bret Hart will deal with the NXT thugs than it is to see how John Cena must fight three guys to retain his gold.

Meanwhile, Smackdown’s World Heavyweight Championship has also been relegated to an auxiliary function to help direct our collective attention to Kane’s revenge storyline. Kane and the NXT faction are stealing the attraction of those bouts. So the question becomes: do you want to order the PPV to see what Kane and the NXT crew do after the scheduled title matchups? Don’t get me wrong; they are great selling points, but do they detract from the matches to the point where people may just want to wait for Raw to find out what happened?

As for the Divas’ Fatal 4-Way, I think all four women have shown a lot of improvement, with Gail Kim and Alicia Fox standing out in particular with some strong Superstars matches. Eve and Maryse are really entertaining too, but their rivalry seems to have worn on people, so in this case adding two more variables to the equation might be a plus. But will it be a smooth, compelling bout that sucks viewers in or a rough and uncoordinated staccato match that draws your attention to the botched spots? By the way, this question also applies to the two main event 4-Ways.

The Miz is always pitch-perfect in his heel role, while Drew McIntyre certainly upped his game in the past month by showing how ruthless and cruel he can be. On the flipside, both R-Truth and Kofi Kingston make fantastic babyfaces that viewers can easily get behind. With these elements in play, the two matches for the U.S. and IC Titles could very well steal the show tomorrow.

I tend not to make predictions, but whatever: with most of the build-up for this PPV falling flat (and that doesn’t mean WWE TV has been awful lately, just that the pay-per-view hype didn’t catch), I’m predicting that one of the surprises or shockers that J.R. was speculating about is that every WWE title will change hands. That would be a relatively newsworthy event, while also highlighting the “anything can happen” aspect of the show that announcers have been using the past few weeks.

*And just another quick prediction while I’m at it: I think Ted DiBiase will buy the guest host spot on Raw. Here’s hoping he can finally prove the premise of his entire character--that he can get whatever he wants with money. So far, he’s really been unable to accomplish anything.

Feel free to email feedback to cnewth3@gmail.com

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