This is the week that Paul Heyman will have to take a break from selling his KoolAid in order to sell “December to Dismember,” ECW’s first pay-per-view.  Clever titles alone will not sell Sunday night’s show.  It’s going to take a whole lot of the magic that has been missing ever since ECW came back from the dead as a summer series on—appropriately enough--the SciFi Channel.  

Add to that the fact that viewers are being asked to cough up $40 for each of the three PPVs taking place between November 26 and December 17.  Every time you turn around there is another WWE pay-per-view.  Literally.  

Since this is the holiday season, where demands are made on every last dime of discretionary income, spending $120 to watch glorified TV shows is at the bottom of my Christmas list.  If WWE's pay-per-views were actually in the "wow" category, that would be one thing.  But they are not. 

I think the crass commercialism and Cryme Tyme-style pick-pocketing of the viewers’ hard-earned money may come back to bite WWE in the McButt.  They’ve become too greedy. 

·        For instance, Survivor Series lacked $40 worth of pizzazz. 

·        I have serious doubts about the marketability of “December to Dismember.”  Most weeks ECW can barely fill up an hour with solid entertainment.  This week, ECW filled up the hour very nicely, but the fact that they spent virtually the entire 60 minutes putting over one PPV match was very telling.  The PPV card is a little skimpy at this point and they’re going to have to fill nearly three hours on Sunday night.  How many people are willing to fork over a couple of twenties to see Bob Holly and Mike Knox?  Not I.   For a lot less, you can buy ROH tapes and watch C.M. Punk with formidable opponents.

·        Armageddon may be the ultimate loser in this trilogy of terrible marketing.  Unless the card for the PPV is phenomenal, viewers may well find themselves peering into their shrinking wallets and wondering if another donation to McMahon Family Wealth Management, Inc., is really necessary this month.

I remember a time when pay-per-views were events to look forward to.  Now they are cookie-cutter shows that come around far too often and seldom deliver much entertainment.  Sort of ho-hum, if you will.  Or to put a Christmas twist on that—bah humbug!  

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Thanks for reading and see you next week.