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WWE Network |OT| $9.99 PPVs, that's gonna put some butts in the seats

D

DaBargainHunta

Member
strobogo said:
Seems like a pretty accurate comparison to me. Lex was pushed as the next big star, repeatedly couldn't win the big one, and then was bussed down to the mid card, before forming a tag team that didn't go anywhere while being mostly a JTTS. Lex being a former WCW Champion didn't matter a whole lot, as many people tuning into WCW when Hogan showed up had never heard of WCW and wasn't aware of Lex's history in the company.

I was just pointing out how hilarious it was that WWE went full on revisionist history on Lex's WWF run because that makes it sound like more of a blow to them after burying Lex and that whole run for the past 20 years.

"They stole away Hogan and our Hogan replacement" sounds a lot better than "They stole a guy who was a main eventer a year and a half ago that we don't really use for anything more than to make other guys look good now".
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There's no revisionist history going on, other than WWE finally deciding to give Lex credit instead of burying him. What they're saying now - that Lex's appearance on Nitro was impactful - is the actual truth.

Your comparison sounds good on paper, but it's spoken like someone who wasn't actually around back then and only learned of Lex's run later on. Regardless of what you may think, Lex was not seen as a midcarder by fans back then - even if his big push did dwindle a bit (Bulldog team, etc.). You also erroneously act like there were no existing WCW fans watching Nitro, only new ones who weren't familiar with Lex, but that's a ridiculous statement to make.

Either way, Ryback is still a terrible example. He's never been a World Champ. He's never been a true main eventer or top star. Lex was both for many years. There's no comparison between Ryback's cup of coffee in the main event picture and Luger's many years of headlining against Flair, eventually becoming WCW World Champ, getting the massive Lex Express push in the WWF, etc.
 
S

strobogo

Banned
Big for WCW fans happy to have Lex back. Not as big for WWF fans, who he never really connected with despite a very heavy (and heavy handed) push. Lex's run at a top guy in WWF was not good for WWF. From a financial or match quality perspective. I'm not saying it wasn't a big deal. What I'm saying is the way MNW portrayed it (like Lex jumped back to WCW in the middle of his main even run) was funny, especially after years of shitting on Lex and that run.


It was a good move by Bischoff. It was surprising, a big deal to WCW fans, and turned some WWF fans into the show. They portrayed it about as big as Hogan and Savage jumping, which I don't think is nearly accurate.


It's the same kind of silly shit where WWE will bury the fuck out of WCW, how poorly run it was, how stupid the gimmicks were, how bad the wrestling was...until they want you to watch or buy something about WCW.
 
Z

Zach

Member
You both have a point. Now let's get to what really matters:

strobogo said:
I don't think there are any licensing issues besides ECW stuff. For a while, some WCW entrance themes were edited, but those seem to have been resolved. WWE has all the licensed themes and PPV songs, plus old ads and logos. ECW is really dicked since they used real music ALL THE GOD DAMN TIME and didn't have the rights to use them even at the time, so now all the music is dubbed on those shows. For the most part, the new ECW themes aren't even sound alikes. Promos get cut off a lot. Like stuff where Joey is at ringside. Any promos that start while the music was still playing are mute until the music stops.



I can't get over how the first ep of MNW really tried to portray the Lex Express as this big thing that was really popular after 20 years of full on burying it any chance they got. All to make it seem like Lex jumping for the first episode of Nitro was a huge loss to WWE, when in fact Lex hadn't been a major player for over a year and had no solo PPV matches after Summerslam 1994.
Click to expand...

Are you saying DDP, Raven, etc. now have accurate WCW themes?!
 
S

strobogo

Banned
Zach said:
You both have a point. Now let's get to what really matters:



Are you saying DDP, Raven, etc. now have accurate WCW themes?!
Click to expand...

Idk. I just know that some of the themes were cleared up. DDP's did sneak into at least one PPV....with Positively Kanyon.
 
D

Deleted member 47027

Unconfirmed Member
In Ring
Smackdown Replays
2014
Former Agents of Shield - 07/25/2014
 
S

Shellshock929

Member
strobogo said:
6 months in and here is what the Network still doesn't have:




Any of the secondary/syndicated shows from WWF or WCW
Complete lack of any territories besides World Class, which hasn't been updated in months
Nitro
A ratings system, be it stars like Netflix, or votes/thumbs up
History of shows you've watched
Playlists
The ability to set update reminders for shows you want (IE, send a notification when a new Raw from 1997 is uploaded)
Group viewing with chat (Would be pretty fun, but not essential)
Videos playing back from where you left off
EVERY video having time stamps
Auto chronological play, be it to set to play all Raws/Smackdowns/PPVs from a period in order, or just in each category. Imagine if were watching a show on Netflix and had to back, find the right season, and then find the next episode instead of just auto playing the next one.
A player that doesn't die if you try to jump 10 seconds back while paused
Ability to change the size of the player or have a pop out version
A page that details ALL new uploads. There isn't even a *New* anywhere when things get updated.


As great of a value as the Network is, god damn are they really half assing on a lot of features that are standard for just about every video streaming service in the world. Especially egregious is that they use "Like Netflix, but better" as a slogan when they don't offer features they've had for years.
Click to expand...

1. Still waiting for WWF Wrestling Challenge, WWF Superstars (1985/6-2001), Prime Time Wrestling, Action Zone, Mania, Shotgun Saturday Night, Heat, Velocity, WCW Worldwide, WCW Saturday Night, and others.

2. AWA, Georgia Championship Wrestling, Championship Wrestling from Florida, pretty much anything else that's NWA Related.

3. Nitro is supposedly coming to the network during the fall.

4. Agreed.

5. Yes!

6. Yes!

7. YES!

8. Would be nice, but not needed.

9. YES! Why they don't have this at all is beyond me, especially when your browser freezes, or Shockwave plug-in crashes.

10. At first, I thought every video would have it, but it seems like they need to put them in.

11. Definitely.

12. Yeah.

13. Yeah.

14. That would be amazing!

On a total side note, Hulk Hogan's Rock 'n Wrestling is rumored to come to the WWE Network. If it's true, I hope they can get 720p remastered versions, because it wouldn't look good if it's just cropped.
 
Z

Zach

Member
strobogo said:
6 months in and here is what the Network still doesn't have:

Any of the secondary/syndicated shows from WWF or WCW - Meh. It'll come.
Complete lack of any territories besides World Class, which hasn't been updated in months - I'm okay with this coming later.
Nitro - Comin' soon! Woooo!
A ratings system, be it stars like Netflix, or votes/thumbs up - This would be great.
History of shows you've watched - I'm down.
Playlists - Cool.
The ability to set update reminders for shows you want (IE, send a notification when a new Raw from 1997 is uploaded) - Now you're just getting crazy.
Group viewing with chat (Would be pretty fun, but not essential) - Fancy.
Videos playing back from where you left off - This happens already for me... Or do you mean, like, I load up the Network and it has a Recently Watched or whatever, a la Netflix? Both are essential, really.
EVERY video having time stamps - Yeah, yeah.
Auto chronological play, be it to set to play all Raws/Smackdowns/PPVs from a period in order, or just in each category. Imagine if were watching a show on Netflix and had to back, find the right season, and then find the next episode instead of just auto playing the next one. - YES, SIR.
A player that doesn't die if you try to jump 10 seconds back while paused - Yeah.
Ability to change the size of the player or have a pop out version - Sure.
A page that details ALL new uploads. There isn't even a *New* anywhere when things get updated. - Mmhmm.
Click to expand...

:D
 
D

DaBargainHunta

Member
strobogo said:
Big for WCW fans happy to have Lex back. Not as big for WWF fans, who he never really connected with despite a very heavy (and heavy handed) push. Lex's run at a top guy in WWF was not good for WWF. From a financial or match quality perspective. I'm not saying it wasn't a big deal. What I'm saying is the way MNW portrayed it (like Lex jumped back to WCW in the middle of his main even run) was funny, especially after years of shitting on Lex and that run.


It was a good move by Bischoff. It was surprising, a big deal to WCW fans, and turned some WWF fans into the show. They portrayed it about as big as Hogan and Savage jumping, which I don't think is nearly accurate.


It's the same kind of silly shit where WWE will bury the fuck out of WCW, how poorly run it was, how stupid the gimmicks were, how bad the wrestling was...until they want you to watch or buy something about WCW.
Click to expand...
I can agree with most of this.

I will say, however, that Luger's jump was bigger than Hogan/Savage in a way simply because Nitro was a bigger stage with more people watching. Hogan and Savage showing up on WCW Saturday Night, while cool, wasn't as big as it could have been because WCW itself wasn't as big as it could have been when those jumps took place. To me, it was the same as Hogan, Jeff Hardy, and Kurt Angle jumping to TNA later on. It was cool, yeah, but TNA wasn't (and still isn't) a big enough platform to make the most of what they had.

Of course, the Hogan/Savage jumps would become much more significant later on when WCW finally did have all the pieces in place. TNA never got to that point.
 
D

dubq

Member
I would love to see a playlist/queue editor on the Network site/app. Ie: check off a bunch of shows you want to watch in a row and then just hit play.
 
Z

Zach

Member
Hmmm... Network is still working even though my sub expired yesterday...

More on this as it develops.

Actually I'm gonna go watch some BoJack Horseman.
 
Z

Zach

Member
DaBargainHunta said:
Pretty sure they stealth-bumped everyone's subscriptions to Sept. 3rd or something like that.
Click to expand...

Whaaaaa? Where'd you hear that? That would be great. I mean, either way I'm resubscribing on the 1st because that's when I'd like to be billed, but that'd be fun if I kept access until then.
 
M

Man God

Non-Canon Member
Nitro did it for me, I'm turning auto renew on. Without it I just would have taken a break and reupped right after NoC, avoiding the thread and seeing if they gave some cool discount the day after when they get the shocking numbers. I'd rather watch 100 hours of Nitro than get a WWE t-shirt.
 
R

RBH

Member
WWE announced on Raw tonight that the first 100 hours of WCW Nitro will be added to the WWE Network beginning next week.
Click to expand...



Bv7IJqGCUAArjPL.jpg




ifC4DyCZegCWp.gif
 
C

C.Dark.DN

Banned
Wait, that graphic says "the very best of monday nitro".

Yeah... It's going to be split. Which means I can't get too far into reliving the monday night wars in order.
 
D

Deleted member 47027

Unconfirmed Member
First 100 hours of Nitro going up this week. Dope.
 
D

dubq

Member
Interesting they say "best of" but also "the first 100 hours" - surely the best of Nitro aren't the first 100 hours.. someone in marketing needs a talking to.
 
R

Ravager61

Member
I could have sworn last night on Raw they said "first 100 hours" of Nitro and made a point of saying you can watch from the beginning.
 
S

strobogo

Banned
The revisionist history in MNW is going to get NEXT LEVEL BONKERS once DX is covered. DX SUCKED so much. The HBK/HHH/Chyna version is somehow even worse in 1997 than it was in 2006. Shawn going out and rambling for 20 minutes while high and until his already gravel laden voice sounded like he was gargling blood while not even saying anything was awful, just like Hulk doing the same thing on Nitro was horrible.


So far it has Lex's run in WWE being super successful and a huge blow to them when he jumped to WCW, the VO talking about how great WCW was doing in the ratings with the nWo angle while Hall and Nash bury the shit out of WCW at the same time, EVERYTHING in the Vince interviews feel very put on and far too cordial. Then you have the Bischoff interview from 2002 where he was still half in the EB character while doing it. Shit is going to get great when they talk about DX being so amazing and turning the tide.

It will eventually turn into a Kliq circle jerk, no doubt. With clips of Hall, Nash, HHH, and HBK all saying how great it was that they were on top of the wrestling world in both companies, with X-Pac pretending like he was a big factor in both groups.
 
D

DaBargainHunta

Member
Zach said:
Whaaaaa? Where'd you hear that? That would be great. I mean, either way I'm resubscribing on the 1st because that's when I'd like to be billed, but that'd be fun if I kept access until then.
Click to expand...
That's what it said on my account when I checked a few weeks ago, and I'm positive it originally said August 24th (or thereabouts).
 
C

C.Dark.DN

Banned
Ravager61 said:
I could have sworn last night on Raw they said "first 100 hours" of Nitro and made a point of saying you can watch from the beginning.
Click to expand...
I went back at they do say that on RAW. Along with the conflicting graphic.

We'll find out soon enough.

Any word on sep 05 to dec 96 raws?
 
H

Host Samurai

Member
Y'all nuts. OG DX was GOAT. Prime HBK/HHH/Chyna/Rude. They started to really cross the line at the time between heel and face. It was such an odd time in WWF as both HBK and Bret (top 2 faces in the 90's) were not really faces. OG DX was cutting edge at the time and not goofy garbage DX like the 2006 version. Also HBK's promos were funny as fuk.

But DX making the same impact as NWO is laughable.
 
S

Sephzilla

Member
Attitude Era DX was generally always entertaining whether it be the original incarnation or the post-HBK incarnation. The revisionist history that will annoy me though is when they try to play up that DX was on the same level of the nWo.

With all due respect to DX, while they were cool and entertaining they simply weren't on the nWo's level. The most significant thing DX did was when they tried to invade Nitro.
 
S

strobogo

Banned
Host Samurai said:
Y'all nuts. OG DX was GOAT. Prime HBK/HHH/Chyna/Rude. They started to really cross the line at the time between heel and face. It was such an odd time in WWF as both HBK and Bret (top 2 faces in the 90's) were not really faces. OG DX was cutting edge at the time and not goofy garbage DX like the 2006 version. Also HBK's promos were funny as fuk.

But DX making the same impact as NWO is laughable.
Click to expand...

Boy are you going to be in for a shock when they start putting 1997 Raws up.
 
H

Host Samurai

Member
strobogo said:
Boy are you going to be in for a shock when they start putting 1997 Raws up.
Click to expand...

I haven't seen 96/97 RAW's in years, but I found those 2 years to be the real Attitude era. So dark and unpredictable. Everything after the Montreal screw job became watered down Attitude era.
 
A

Anth0ny

Member
strobogo said:
Boy are you going to be in for a shock when they start putting 1997 Raws up.
Click to expand...

I went through every 1997 Raw a couple of years ago and I thought they were still entertaining. Shawn high on cocaine brought some amazing, gifable moments. Definitely cutting edge for the time.

For WWE to act like they were at the same level as NWO is crazy, though.
 
S

strobogo

Banned
Host Samurai said:
I haven't seen 96/97 RAW's in years, but I found those 2 years to be the real Attitude era. So dark and unpredictable. Everything after the Montreal screw job became watered down Attitude era.
Click to expand...

Anth0ny said:
I went through every 1997 Raw a couple of years ago and I thought they were still entertaining. Shawn high on cocaine brought some amazing, gifable moments. Definitely cutting edge for the time.

For WWE to act like they were at the same level as NWO is crazy, though.
Click to expand...

Shawn's promos from that time are death now. He's blasted and rambles until his throat bleeds. Never says anything. Repeats himself constantly. They are terrible. Hogan was doing the same thing on Nitro at the time and those were also awful.
 
H

Host Samurai

Member
The special thing about 96/97 WWF/WCW is that wrestling was in a big transitional period that made the product very unpredictable, but you just knew that wrestling was about to explode shortly after. In 96/97 I started wearing NWO and Austin shirts to school and people were noticing it, than in 1998 wrestling just boomed. But from mid 96/97 was just ridiculous. The products just had that "real" feeling about it before it got a bit cartoony in 98.

-Austins rise
-Bret's heel turn
-HBK being cheeky as fuck
-Brian Pillman
-NWO
-Ken Shamrock bringing MMA into mainstream wrestling
-DX
-Nation
-Kane

Lots of groundbreaking shit went down.

Also Shotgun Saturday Night being filmed live in NYC. Undertaker tombstoning HHH down an escalator in Penn Station actually happened....in 1997
 
D

DMczaf

Member
Real Ass Stone Cold is a national treasure. When those Raws begin hitting the Network, and kids who just think he's about drinking beer and catchphrases find out that Stone Cold used to be realer than real...
 
S

strobogo

Banned
Host Samurai said:
The special thing about 96/97 WWF/WCW is that wrestling was in a big transitional period that made the product very unpredictable, but you just knew that wrestling was about to explode shortly after. In 96/97 I started wearing NWO and Austin shirts to school and people were noticing it, than in 1998 wrestling just boomed. But from mid 96/97 was just ridiculous. The products just had that "real" feeling about it before it got a bit cartoony in 98.

-Austins rise
-Bret's heel turn
-HBK being cheeky as fuck
-Brian Pillman
-NWO
-Ken Shamrock bringing MMA into mainstream wrestling
-DX
-Nation
-Kane

Lots of groundbreaking shit went down.

Also Shotgun Saturday Night being filmed live in NYC. Undertaker tombstoning HHH down an escalator in Penn Station actually happened....in 1997
Click to expand...

I agree with all of those except for Kane. Nothing gritty or "real" about him. That tombstone wasn't even close to the weirdest thing on Saturday Night. Marlena flashing Sultan, the Flying Nuns, Sunny making a sex tape with ELMO.
 
S

Striker

Member
Host Samurai said:
Y'all nuts. OG DX was GOAT. Prime HBK/HHH/Chyna/Rude. They started to really cross the line at the time between heel and face. It was such an odd time in WWF as both HBK and Bret (top 2 faces in the 90's) were not really faces. OG DX was cutting edge at the time and not goofy garbage DX like the 2006 version. Also HBK's promos were funny as fuk.

But DX making the same impact as NWO is laughable.
Click to expand...
HBK was mostly a heel in his singles run, though. Short time as a face in '95-96.

Funny enough I was watching random wrasslin' clips on YT the other day. A Bret-Hunter match shows up which took place in Oct. 1997. It read in the description that Triple H was a "cornerstone" of the stable. You know, the midcard guy. Not Shawn.

Definitely going to be revisionist history. Just like WWE giving Triple H his ripped six pack for his 1996-97 model in WWE '13.
 
H

Host Samurai

Member
strobogo said:
I agree with all of those except for Kane. Nothing gritty or "real" about him. That tombstone wasn't even close to the weirdest thing on Saturday Night. Marlena flashing Sultan, the Flying Nuns, Sunny making a sex tape with ELMO.
Click to expand...

Something about Kane's beginning storyline through 1997 was pretty dark and depressing. Undertaker buring down his house and killing his parents. WWF has hyped Kanes arrival from June-October and when he arrives hes a 7 foot Michael Myers on steroids.

hahaha Flying Nuns, weren't they the Headbangers? Also remember PG-13? the Nation's rappers.

How can I forget that ECW invasion on RAW in 1997? It seemed like RVD was really going to jump ship with Sabu. There was also another ECW incident at a WWF In Your House event....and dat Haymen call on Livewire. Good shit was happening back than
 
S

Striker

Member
Paul Bearer made the Taker-Kane story really great to unveil.

The '96-97 period had some new, interesting characters: Mankind and Goldust. Cartoony in a sense, but worked really well for what was presented.

Speaking of Goldust, I have been watching some '96 Raw shows lately. He called Ahmed Johnson "Mandingo" in his promo while an Ahmed-Triple H match was going on.
 
H

Host Samurai

Member
Striker said:
Paul Bearer made the Taker-Kane story really great to unveil.

The '96-97 period had some new, interesting characters: Mankind and Goldust. Cartoony in a sense, but worked really well for what was presented.
Click to expand...

I like how in 1997 they made Mankind believable by explaining his past as Cactus Jack and he was a dude named Mick Foley. That really evolved the character and made him much more realistic. Those JR interviews that aired on RAW in 97 were done very very well. WWF even did the same with Goldust. Took an outrageous character and gave everyone his back story as Dustys son. It was cool to see WWF at the time refer to characters as their real names and give them a back story.

Its funny to watch WWF from January 1996 - June 1996. Its like Vince bugged out once Hall and Nash left than started to make the product more adult oriented. Early 96 was clearly New Generation, but by the summer things started spicing up a bit.
 
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