Jump to content
Pro Wrestling Only

WWE Network... It's Here


goodhelmet

Recommended Posts

The first Wargames was released on home video right? I seem to remember commercials for it back in the day. Then again Turner Home Video was notorious for butchering shows to fit it on video tape so maybe what's on the network is the better version.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 6.1k
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

I'm listening to the podcast version now, actually, and while there are some good bits, there isn't a ton that seems controversial. It's not like Steph is painted in too negative a light or anything (I remember him saying that she'd probably follow Vince's lead on RVD getting punished, for instance).

 

I'm leaning towards "work" (which would of course make it the dumbest work).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I could think of two reasons WWE would want to edit discussion of ECW on Syfy:

 

 

1. It was the show where Vince laid down the edict that no one would mention Chris Benoit ever again.

 

2. It was the show where CM Punk started getting momentum to become a star and WWE is salty they just lost the lawsuit they were (allegedly) funding.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The first Wargames was released on home video right? I seem to remember commercials for it back in the day. Then again Turner Home Video was notorious for butchering shows to fit it on video tape so maybe what's on the network is the better version.

 

Don't get me started on those Turner video's they ruined so many shows on the UK releases cutting matches for no reason.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The beginning of the end?

 

Something To Wrestle With Bruce Prichard

29 mins ·

 

Heads up STW fans! No #SomethingElseToWrestle on the WWE Network, today. Bruce and Conrad shot the show this past weekend but “creative differences” are going to keep us off the air today. We’re fighting for us, the fans. Tune in this Friday for WWE’s ECW.

_____

 

Video from Conrad: https://twitter.com/HeyHeyItsConrad/status/1004418487706677248

Link to comment
Share on other sites

He opened the ECW show the next night by saying his mention of Benoit's name would be the last time it would be said on WWE TV and that the following show would be them doing what WWE does best, putting smiles on faces. Pretty sure that was how it went, I'm not exactly leaping to go back to that time and rewatch those shows.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I could think of two reasons WWE would want to edit discussion of ECW on Syfy:

 

 

1. It was the show where Vince laid down the edict that no one would mention Chris Benoit ever again.

 

2. It was the show where CM Punk started getting momentum to become a star and WWE is salty they just lost the lawsuit they were (allegedly) funding.

 

I'm probably wrong, but I also think it might have to do with Punk.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

He opened the ECW show the next night by saying his mention of Benoit's name would be the last time it would be said on WWE TV and that the following show would be them doing what WWE does best, putting smiles on faces. Pretty sure that was how it went, I'm not exactly leaping to go back to that time and rewatch those shows.

Yeah that's more or less it. He did say that in the 26(I think it's 26) hours since the news broke the facts have become clear. I felt he'd have been better off saying "the full facts" as the horrible facts were known before raw started. Three people were dead. I realise I'm speaking over ten years after the fact but it would have been better if he'd said that.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Being that the news broke on a Monday, the timing was extraordinarily bad for WWE. The first thing I knew was that they were all dead, from reading the headline on the company's website. This is just before Twitter and everyone had Facebook, so news did not travel as fast as it did now. If those avenues were as widely available and accessible in 2007 as they are now I have a feeling the news that it was a murder-suicide would have gone more widespread and perhaps before the show that night even aired. My memory of it is that I heard inklings from legit press about the whole mess, just after the show ended.

 

Part of me thinks, and maybe especially now when the company is on the cusp of making a legit fortune from their TV deals, what would be the response if a tragedy or something on that level of controversy happened. Because back then my impression was that it was going to hurt the company deep and nobody would ever look at the business the same again. Yet I couldn't be more wrong about it as I sit here typing this out a decade later.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

My memory could be wrong but I think there were enough facts out there by the time Raw went on the air that they shouldn't have done the tribute.

 

Im glad they did the tribute it was great to see some japan Benoit matches.

 

Pardon?

 

You are glad they did a tribute to someone on the day they murdered their family, because you got to see some puro?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My memory could be wrong but I think there were enough facts out there by the time Raw went on the air that they shouldn't have done the tribute.

 

 

There was pretty heavy debate on this, but there was enough uncertainity at the time Raw started that it is excusable the show started. About an hour or so into it it was pretty clear what happened and it was looking real bad for them.

 

It was clear based on the "tributes" some people were offering that there was at least some folks considering the possibility and not wanting to be on TV praising a murderer.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

They were probably so overcome with shock and grief in the moment that they weren't thinking clearly, which is a bit of an understatement. But in the only remotely comparable situation -- Owen Hart dying on a pay-per-view -- they also made some questionable split-second decisions. The mentality when in that very moment that you're learning something that awful would cloud the judgment of most people.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My memory could be wrong but I think there were enough facts out there by the time Raw went on the air that they shouldn't have done the tribute.

 

 

I'll never forget Regal on that show. He clearly knew something was wrong.

 

I can't speak for everybody but that was the moment I knew. I can't even go back and watch but his cryptic words seemed so out of place. You guys can retcon this all you want, when RAW started, almost nobody was thinking that Benoit murdered his family. It was just Eddie Guerrero all over again, a guy in his prime suddenly dead and we were all devastated. You just think home invasion or something. And then Regal comes on...

 

Honestly somebody here would have shit on ANYTHING Vince would have done that night. At least he had the decency to call bullshit on his angles after being "blown up" the week before. You wanting the tribute to not happen means we have to deal with Vince being "dead" too.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Remember, though, Benoit had brought up the "family emergency" before going home, and just when specifically have there been instances of someone finding their family dead (from CO poisoning, a home invasion, or whatever) and immediately killing themselves? It's my experience that suicide simply isn't that spontaneous.

 

That said, I'm in the position of someone who was at work until 11pm that night with no Internet or phone access, so by the time I heard about anything happening I was getting the full story at once. I still already knew that Benoit was consciously missing the PPV, though.

 

WWE had options for Monday night. Even running a generic best-of show would have been a better option than what ended up happening.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.


×
×
  • Create New...