WWE executive Bruce Pritchard discusses philosophy behind WWE PLE structure: “Ten matches on a card is hard to watch”

WWE executive Bruce Pritchard believes that having four to five matches on a PLE card is better than having 10 matches on a card for the benefit of the fan experience.

“I go back and watch; ten matches on a card is hard to watch,” said Bruce Pritchard on the January 9 Something to Wrestle podcast. “When you look at the presentation, and you put so many things in a ten-match card, at the end of the night, what do you remember? You’re most likely going to remember the main event, the last match on the card. But there may have been an angle in the third match and a hell of a match, but you have forgotten because you have seen so much other s–t. Good, bad, or indifferent. I think less is more.”

Pritchard said one reason why PLE cards are shorter is because wrestlers are no longer relying on a pay day from appearing on a PLE since WWE has moved from PPV to streaming. “Sometimes you have to battle that demon of, ‘We have to get more people on this,'” said Pritchard. “The PLE streaming aspect of the business has changed that completely. Talent is not paid on PPV buys. There is no time allotment. They don’t really want more than three hours.

“It’s a different time and a different way people consume. ‘I need my WrestleMania moment.’ You have a moment next month in the main event. ‘I want to be on WrestleMania.’ Where? It’s going to get lost here and we’re doing this here. There is a lot more territory and avenues. Plus, you’re doing television every week. Television is just as valuable as the PLEs with rights fees. To be on television to a huge number of people versus PLEs, that has changed. Every time you’re on screen is valuable.”

WWE currently has roughly six hours of main roster programming per week with Raw on Netflix going roughly around two and a half hours and Smackdown moving back to three hours last week on USA. In addition to PLE’s on ESPN Unlimited, WWE also began airing Saturday Night’s Main Event quarterly on Peacock in December 2024.