Mr. Enigma
Member
The previous director of content for WWE Network just got shitcanned. Maybe the new guy/gal decided it's time to put everything up all at once.
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WWE Network |OT| $9.99 PPVs, that's gonna put some butts in the seats
- Thread starter Kaladin
- Start date
The previous director of content for WWE Network just got shitcanned. Maybe the new guy/gal decided it's time to put everything up all at once.
Watch the Clashes
Definitely watch the Clashes. If you're up to January 1992, you have 17 to watch, which sounds like a lot, but they're only 2 hours and have some of the best JCP/WCW stuff ever on them, AND give some added context to the PPVs. Especially before 1991 or so, since there were fewer PPVs before then. COTC were big, big deals for most of the time they were around. PPV worthy or better most of the time.
Alright, alright. You guys win. I'll do it. But should I include them in my PPV Super Grades?!
D
Deleted member 47027
Unconfirmed Member
Put them in the grades Zach!
CotCs are so fun and I really love how each one had a theme to it that a production team spent real time on. Like VII, which was the one at a military station, they filmed people there saying hi to their families, they had MPs around for entrances, and boy it was good. Horrid matches for the first half though, I mean...the Ding Dongs...
CotCs are so fun and I really love how each one had a theme to it that a production team spent real time on. Like VII, which was the one at a military station, they filmed people there saying hi to their families, they had MPs around for entrances, and boy it was good. Horrid matches for the first half though, I mean...the Ding Dongs...
D
Deleted member 47027
Unconfirmed Member
Also, a little update today. Nothing's gonna compare to that CotC dump for a long time but hey, more Legends of Wrestling Roundtable!
Vault
Legends Of Wrestling
2006
Stars of the 80s - 2006/12/31
In Ring
Raw Backstage Pass
2014
Backstage Pass to Raw #1093 - 2014/05/05
Vault
Legends Of Wrestling
2006
Stars of the 80s - 2006/12/31
In Ring
Raw Backstage Pass
2014
Backstage Pass to Raw #1093 - 2014/05/05
So WWE seems to be quite concerned with the Network numbers, they fired the head of programming a few days ago and they're currently running a referral program where you can refer up to 10 people and you get 25 dollars in WWE Shop credit each if they become subscribers.
This screams to me that they've been adding very little people since Mania to the subscribers, which is bad news for us. Not so much because I fear they will end the service, but if they don't get to 1 million before the fiscal year is over, I expect the price to go up.
This screams to me that they've been adding very little people since Mania to the subscribers, which is bad news for us. Not so much because I fear they will end the service, but if they don't get to 1 million before the fiscal year is over, I expect the price to go up.
I'll deal with the Dongs if I get some Muta out of the deal. And I suppose I'll add 'em in with the grades as I go. I hope the more and more outrageously lengthy posts aren't getting on anyone's nerves...
FallingEdge
Member
I've got no problem paying more. Well worth it imo.
Rafa=FedKilla
Banned
Panic mode E is best E. Nitro needs to start going up. There is also a lot of opportunity for original content for past and to get current people over.
Depends what they add for me. If Monday Night Wars is as good as I hope it is and/or this post-mania slump for the current product is just a bad patch, I'll be happy to pay more. Otherwise I may have watched everything I wanted to watch by then the speed I'm getting through things.
Personally, I'm hoping that the Monday Night Wars program analyses a week or a month of the Raw(s) and Nitro(s) in that period and then they put up the full episodes of each one too, starting with the very first Nitro feat. Lex Luger.
Host Samurai
Member
I loved it. Excellent booking and characters. The only reason why it was a poor drawing period was because Warrior and Hogan left and there was a major roster shift. Passing of guard. Also at the time wrestling was not considered "cool" at the time. The business was always starting to become exposed with people saying its "fake". It takes time heal the reputation to build stars which is probably why WWF randomly threw the belt on Bret Hart with no proper feud or build up with Ric Flair. Flair was in a major feud with Ultimate Warrior at the time.
Been watching some more old skool ECW and had no idea that Mike Awesome made some appearances in 1994. That was pretty surprising as I always associated him with the later ECW era like 98'2000.
D
Deleted member 47027
Unconfirmed Member
Yeah Mike Awesome's presence is friggin weird. Reminds me of seeing Shane Douglas all over the place in NWA, WCW, WWF back in the day. He's always felt like an ECW guy to me.
Yeah, he was just taking indie bookings at that point and got the permanent deal after his matches with Tanaka I believe.
True. I guess my biggest gripe with 1993 was the huge Lex Luger face push. He was awesome as the narcissist and had a good short feud with Mr Perfect, but they tried to make him out to be Hogan 2.0 and it failed miserably. I wish Mr. Hughes/Undertaker feud would have happened during that time.
Speaking of ECW, I wonder when they going to put back up the 95 episodes. The last one I saw was the one where Shane declared himself as the ECW champion which was amazing.
Host Samurai
Member
I believe he was mostly in Japan at the time under the name The Gladiator. Dude was awesome....no pun intended. His "Awesome bombs" looked deadly as fuk. Too bad he didn't stick around long enough at the end of ECW to have a match with RVD
Host Samurai
Member
What was the story with that feud? Did they even have a match? I know he stole the ern and there was a build up but I can't find the match on the network at all?
They were pushing the idea of Hughes/Taker, but from what I read Mr. Hughes didn't want to put taker over. Also he used to dose off during his matches. Eventually he got let go and went off to ECW and Taker just ended up continuing his feud with Giant Gonzales.
They had a house show match though.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=praxmphp108
Hogan and Warrior leaving had little to do with 1993 being a bad drawing period. Attendance had been dropping steadily since 1990, when Hogan and Warrior were around. The problems came not so much from lack of star power, but the product in general being stale with way over the top characters (even compared to the late 80s) and a lot of dog shit talent to work with. It was down in 1993 in the US no matter who was on top. The industry peaked at WM6 and was slowly coming back down without most noticing until they woke up one day and were at the low point. That's why WWE was doing so many European tours in 1991-1993.
As for Bret, his first title run came about because Warrior was supposed to get the title again in 1992, but his firing changed all plans so they threw it on Bret. That's why it had no build.
Host Samurai
Member
When I was in grade school at the time of the New Generation era and wrestling was just not considered "cool" anymore. When I was in kindergardern/1st grade everyone was talking about wrestling. It was cool. Its also interesting seeing how small the arenas were during that 93-94 RAW time period.
Going back to those old RAW's, I actually really enjoy that era. Lots of charm, great characters (and bad), excellent booking and the matches were great too. There is something about the pacing and ring acting that just worked so well. This was also before the internet boom so the product was somewhat mysterious. The only problem with rewatching the old RAW's now is that those old episodes of Superstars so I can follow the storylines better. WWF at the time were really doing good for what they were working with at the time.
Its also fun re watching some early 90's outdated gimmicks like Men on a Mission. Whoop there it is. I loved how most of the roster owned up to their gimmicks and sold them like champs. Look at Nailz. Yeah he might have sucked in the ring, but his character was awesome and he acted it well. Same goes for the Mountie, IRS, Papa Shango and Razer Ramon
I still say they should sign deals with smaller promotions and run their PPVs live on the network.
But that makes too much sense so it'll never happen
How does that make sense? Why would they promote competition? Why would the smaller promotions want to be beholden to WWE? It's the WWE Network. WWE means WWE and their vault holdings. Not indie shows running IPPVs under their banner.
D
Deleted member 47027
Unconfirmed Member
Well there's a couple things WWE could do to make that a smart endeavor.
-- Require that if it wants to air on WWE Network, WWE will own that footage for archival use. This would take care of future-proofing the content so they have rights to a "before they were stars" thing.
-- Indies would like it because it ups their exposure onto a rock-solid delivery platform
-- WWE gets more content for those interested
It's not as far-fetched as I initially thought, but it has to be worth it for both parties. WWE securing the footage for the future can be worth it, as well as adding to their catalogue. Indies would kill for a bigger distribution model and a guaranteed payday.
slightconfuse
Banned
WWE should cut a deal with ROH to use archival footage for guys like Punk, Bryan , rollins and Cesaro.
It's not worth it for either party. WWE is then subject to terrible indie shit under their banner. The indies would no doubt get a horrible deal out of it. WWE has so much content that it will take decades to be able to upload it all. There is no need to get more indie shit.
Shane was already taking it that way by having WWE.com cover news and updates from every other promotion, because he felt WWE should promote and cover the entire industry. WWE.com even had forums for TNA and Ring of Honor on it.
Then he left and they went into super "wwe is the only thing that exists"
They've always been "WWE is the only thing that exists". This is a company that had Ric Flair jump ship and then have their announcers pretend they had never heard of him or have any idea where he got his title from.
Yeah, kinda. But he still had the belt and showed it on TV which essentially alluded to other promotions existing somewhere in the universe, right? I dunno. I think this is mostly right and the Flair thing was a unique, compelling bending of the "WWE is the only thing that exists" rule.
Edit: But I do recall Gorilla responding to Heenan with a hilarious "who knows where he got that belt?!" though. Hilarious stuff.
"I don't have a CLUE where he got it from!"
Haha, yeah. Gorilla. What a nut.
Host Samurai
Member
I loved how Flair brought in the WCW title.
That's cool. I wonder where things would be if Shane had stuck around.
WWE would do well to realise that they can take advantage of the fact that they are the entire landscape of wrestling to a huge percentage of the population. I get Stro's point about the indie shit reflecting badly upon them and indies not wanting to be subject to the whims of the WWE but if they could find some middle ground, making the WWE Network more of a broad wrestling network could be really special.
Imagine Progress streaming their events on the Network. If you could do it in such a way that you retain the flavour of the individual promotion, but pitch the Network as being a selection box from the entirety of wrestling, dang. Dang.
I should mention that I'd assume they'd only do PPVs for smaller promotions that have a certain amount of production quality and consistency/trustworthiness. I wouldn't expect PPVs from gyms and one-step-away-from-backyard-wrestling promotions. I'd more likely expect that they'd let smaller promotions pay to use the NXT arena, rebadge it for that promotion, etc. Kind of becoming a services/production company. I actually think they already do production for other (non wrestling) companies?
I see The WWE Network as finally being able to hold their feet to the fire and to improve the product. If the WWE Network fails the WWE may fail. They need to step up their booking and ditch the crap like Kane and DB last night.
ATM, I will not be re-upping when my six months is over with and they recently got me back to watching the WWE after not watching it for about 10 years. I'm sure there a lot more people like me. Hopefully they realize this. It's a shame Shane isn't running the company but Steph is. She just doesn't have the nose for the business that Shane has.
ATM, I will not be re-upping when my six months is over with and they recently got me back to watching the WWE after not watching it for about 10 years. I'm sure there a lot more people like me. Hopefully they realize this. It's a shame Shane isn't running the company but Steph is. She just doesn't have the nose for the business that Shane has.
Shane doesn't have a nose for the business and never wanted to run the company. That's why he left. He was never, ever involved in any of the creative work. He didn't have the aptitude or desire. People have been saying for years that Shane should be in charge, but Shane isn't in charge because he had no desire or passion to take over from his dad. If he had stayed with the company, at most we would have had something like WWE Network sooner.
Liu Kang Baking A Pie
Member
What in the world are you basing this on?
A penis, probably.
Arrowgigantic
Member
Stop talking about noses and this business, you'll summon HHH.
I can't agree that Shane would somehow be better. It would be interesting to see what he did differently, but I don't think it would necessarily be any better.
Can't believe we're talking about who has a nose for the business and Triple H hasn't come up. Now that's a nose.
Edit: There we go
Can't believe we're talking about who has a nose for the business and Triple H hasn't come up. Now that's a nose.
Edit: There we go
Host Samurai
Member
Who was originally suppose to be The Undertakers "higher power" I predicted it being Million Dollar Man. God that was a buzz kill.
I don't think there was ever a set plan. Ideas thrown about were Jake Roberts and Shane Douglas, though.
Shane Douglas?! And I don't even hate Shane Douglas like a lot of folks (I'm a sucker for boot tassels >_>).
That's always been one of the rumors. Who knows if it is true. It was a typical Russo idea where he didn't actually have an end game in mind.
I bet you'll get an A rating out of a Clash before you do any PPV. The first Clash is better than probably every PPV in the 80s besides GAB89. The 45 minute Sting/Flair match, Lex/Barry vs Arn/Tully, and the straight up ECW style Fantastics vs Midnight Express. It's a dope show.
I think JCP/WCW probably had as many or more memorable matches from Clashes than PPVs until 1994 or so.
D
Deleted member 47027
Unconfirmed Member
Lex/Barry vs Arn/Tully is worth the price of admission, but there's so much other good stuff that Stro mentioned. Amazing Clash.
Clash 1 is dope as fuck. Clash 2 isn't as good, but I really love the crowd energy and atmosphere of 1987-1990 JCP/WCW. In ring wise only, JCP/WCW was better than WWE more or less from 1985-1999. My nostalgia is for Golden Era WWE, but JCP/WCW was almost always better in the ring, even during the terrible times of 1993-1995.
Host Samurai
Member
I forgot Shane Douglas. I always thought he was going to be behind Austin losing the ladder match vs Shane and Vince.
Going to watch all the Clash of Champions. Its funny that WCW stopped those events in 97, right before WCW started getting horrible.
I get why they dropped them. The whole point of COTC was to do a big, PPV style event for months without PPVs. When you have a PPV every month, the concept becomes outdated.