Going through the forums over the last week or so, I believe that a good group of the people that post on here more often than others often talk about how they aren't really looking forward to a certain pay-per-view due to a couple of matches on the undercard. Reading these posts got me wondering what is the criteria to building a solid, if not good, ppv event? Should the WWE take the UFC/Boxing approach and build up the main event matches as best as they can and throw together a decent midcard that can keep the audience around until the big parts of the show? Or, should they put more attention on the undercard matches and less on the main events because the people that are in the main event can sell the audience themselves? I hope for a good variety of answers as there's probably more than one way to answer the question.
As for me, my belief in order to build a good ppv event is to, first and foremost, do the absolute best job that you can do with your main event storyline(s) that you have going on in your promotion. I think the majority of the fans base whether or not to buy the ppv on what the main event scene looks like going into that event. Take the 2001 Survivor Series as my example. While the show did consist of some solid matches on the undercard like The Dudleys vs The Hardys and Edge vs Test, the majority of the fans went there because of the WWF vs The Alliance Winner Take All Match and left talking about how much fun they had watching that match. If a match that isn't a main event is able to steal then hats off to the people in the ring that did a great job. We'll most likely get to see them in the main event stories sooner or later.
Having said that, the undercard does need a little love too. After looking back at the shows from this year's Elimination Chamber to last year's Extreme Rules, the average number of matches held in recent pay-per-views is a little over 7 matches a show. Take out the normally two main event matches and that leaves 5 matches to be used on the undercard. This is where a company would have to produce matches where there is somewhat of a backstory/build to it. Doesn't have to be main event quality build but a build nonetheless. I think a good number for this would be either 3 or 4 (Two or three title matches and one or two good feuds coming to a head). This would leave room for an impromptu match or two that a company might want to throw together to see how the fans would react.
In conclusion, emphasizing your main events to entice the fans to buy while having some solid undercard matches to introduce to some of those said fans would be my way to build a solid event. Now it's your turn, how would you go about booking a ppv show?