WWE Backstage Reaction To Five-Match PLEs

Since the completion of the WWE-UFC merger under TKO Group Holdings, many of WWE's pay-per-views/premium live events, especially those outside of the Big Five, have been five-match cards, with WWE filling the extra time on the often three-hour events with more adverts or segments.

Instead of being angered by fewer matches on pay-per-views, talents within WWE have instead told Fightful's Sean Ross Sapp that it makes having a PLE match more special.

"It stacks Raw and SmackDown, and talent understand how important Raw and SmackDown is these days. That's where a lot of the money is coming from, so they're getting paid - the PLEs probably by show getting paid more, but it's one of those things where talent understand it's probably best to have 5 matches than 15 matches and that waters it down. And when they make it on a PLE, it's a little bit more special now. And this is an aggregation of sort of how I've talked to people," Sean Ross Sapp said on Fightful's Raw review.

"I haven't had anybody say, 'You know what? I hate 5-match PLEs.' I just don't have people in the company that say that. Now maybe after this, I will, but it's one of those things where, again, there has been an increased emphasis on Raw and SmackDown in the types of matches that we saw in the main event tonight [Jey Uso vs. Seth Rollins] and other big title matches...Now I can't speak for everybody, I can only speak to those I've talked to. But also some of the time constraints, even on the five-match shows, can be a little iffy."

WWE look set to present another five-match pay-per-view this weekend with Backlash on Saturday, May 10. The card for the show is as follows:

• John Cena (c) vs. Randy Orton - Undisputed WWE Championship
• Jacob Fatu (c) vs. Drew McIntyre vs. Damian Priest vs. LA Knight - WWE United States Championship
• Dominik Mysterio (c) vs. Penta - WWE Intercontinental Championship
• Lyra Valkyria (c) vs. Becky Lynch - WWE Women's Intercontinental Championship
• Gunther vs. Pat McAfee

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