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WWE Network... It's Here


goodhelmet

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Just heard Dave Meltzer on Between the Ropes say that taking WrestleMania off the network and back to traditional PPV only is a decision that WWE should be taking around January.

 

Am I missing something, or doesn't it have to be done by September/October at the latest so that nobody is signing up for the six months covering Mania under the impression it's included in the package?

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That's a possibility but a risk they'd consider. My point is if they don't announce till January that Mania isn't on the Network, anyone who signed up for six months in the fall is going to have a legitimate grievance, particularly if the promotional material still explicitly mentions WrestleMania.

 

On the Hall of Fame, it appears the edits are the removal of the various in-house ads that played between each induction, and an audio tweak so that when somebody swears it's removed and the crowd audio left intact, rather than the audio being cut completely as happened on the live broadcast.

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The network was sold as something that includes all pay-per-views, including Wrestlemania. I don't feel like there's a way to go back on that, and I think it may backfire and result in subscription cancellations.

I won't cancel my subscription, that's cutting off your nose to spite your face. But I'll be pissed off as I'm getting rid of cable/ satellite and going Roku.
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I don't see WWE cutting Mania. If The Network received 600,000 subscribes due to it being every wrestling fans wet dream AND including Mania in the deal, I can see the subscription number increasing every year before Mania. WWE removing it will not give that on-the-fence person any incentive to buy. If Mania doesn't convince someone to buy the network (and let's admit that its a huge selling point for some), then nothing else will. WWE has pretty much made, though not really, 40 million dollars off Mania and their next 6 PPVs. When the cable provider numbers come in and the math is done and compared to last year's numbers when there wasn't a network. I think we will then have a better indication is Mania will be included in year 3 of The Network.

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I watched the Countdown episode, Infamous Gimmicks, last night. I'm assuming these were filmed a year or more ago, because CM Punk was a talking head, Bryan's beard wasn't as bushy, and people like Matt Stryker also added their two cents. Vince Russo was there too.

 

Daniel Bryan once again came across badly, calling The Mountie a stupid gimmick. These sorts of talking head appearances do him no favors whatsoever. I hope someone behind-the-scenes has worked with him on improving that aspect of his performance since these were filmed.

 

The Mountie and Disco Inferno were both on this list, which I found a bit unfair. Say what you want about those gimmicks, but both Jacques Rougeau and Glenn Gilbertti embraced those characters and made them work. In contrast, it's obvious that Terry Taylor's heart was never completely into the Red Rooster (I can't blame him, but still). He did try though.

 

A.J. was cute, the way she sweetly liked some of the more horrible gimmicks. Miz recalling JBL comparing him to Rooster was interesting. JBL was a selfish prick who went into business for himself back then instead of doing his job as a color commentator of getting the characters over (my opinion, not Miz's, LOL - and I generally like JBL). Even Piper on commentary did his darndest to make the Gobledy Gooker sound special.

 

 

The Boogeyman

at #1 was a strange choice. I don't think he'd even make the list at all if the poll happened today or a year from now.

 

I was expecting Bastion Booger to be #1 (after seeing some of the people who #3, #2, etc.), but he wasn't on the list at all.

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Also Miz should not claim superiority over Disco Inferno.

 

It's ironic because everyone would have been singing Disco's praises if that had been a WWE gimmick.

 

Years ago, when Honky Tonk Man was hyping a mystery man, the big internet rumor was that it'd be Disco. No idea how much merit that ever had, but it was out there. It ended up being Rockabilly (Billy Gunn with a new, atrocious gimmick).

 

Yeah, but The Mountie WAS a stupid gimmick.

 

So are any number of successful gimmicks on paper (Undertaker, etc.). Jacques made it work. You can't deny that.

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It almost seems that the show is designed to make some of the talking heads look really bad, most notably (but not exclusively) Jericho, Punk, Bryan, the Miz and DeMott. Not that I ever had a good opinion of the last two, mind you. Some of the comments reg. Disco Inferno were more personal insults than just criticising the gimmick.

 

They sell the whole thing as being voted by fans. Did they ever do such votings on the website or is this just plain bs?

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That Countdown was awesome, I thought. It reminded me how much of a Glacier mark I was when I was younger. Evern on Worldwide or Saturday Night I was hyped to see him.

 

The Disco segment came across as really petty and mean-spirited. The gimmick was great for an obnoxious heel but that got lost in the personal attacks by the talking heads, especially Demott. Steiner destroying the duck got a big laugh from me.

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- I tired of talking head shows ten+ years ago, too, but I didn't think anyone came across poorly here. Bryan was featured for a total of, what, forty seconds? Punk has been shown on newly released clip shows on the network for a while now (and not billed as 'Former WWE Superstar' like Dibiase Jr.).

 

- The key word here is 'infamous', not necessarily 'worse'. A Canadian cop who sang his own song is silly. Doink was #2 but not really slammed.

 

- They said the word 'rooster' so often it lost all meaning.

 

- Why wouldn't da boogeyman be #1? Or at least on the list? For such a silly, inconsequential clip show like this, I had a completely different read than good ol' C.S.

 

- The only one they took personal shots with was Disco, but besides not having a relationship with WWE, is that because it was a self-produced gimmick? That was his call, not corporate's idea. Him asking for directions to the nearest tanning salon, disco, palm reader got a legit lol, though.

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The Disco segment came across as really petty and mean-spirited. The gimmick was great for an obnoxious heel but that got lost in the personal attacks by the talking heads, especially Demott. Steiner destroying the duck got a big laugh from me.

 

Agreed. DeMott - of all people - has no room to talk. Hugh Morrus as a name/gimmick was the drizzling shits. Maybe with a different name, it would have worked. He seemed cool enough in his WCW debut (on WCW Saturday Night) against Macho Man as "The Man of Questions" (a dumb name too, but miles ahead of Hugh Morrus or Hugh G. Rection).

 

- Why wouldn't da boogeyman be #1? Or at least on the list? For such a silly, inconsequential clip show like this, I had a completely different read than good ol' C.S.

 

Maybe I'm guilty of taking these stupid Countdown shows too seriously, but every one of them (that I've seen) has been plagued by unnecessarily nasty potshots. It's one thing to lightheartedly poke fun at wrestling's silliness, but some of the talking heads are downright mean-spirited. Daniel Bryan, sadly enough, comes across as one of the smuggest assholes of the lot (I love him otherwise) - but he's far from alone in that.

 

Edit: My stance on Bryan isn't because of this episode alone. He has come across badly in other episodes too.

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I can't imagine Jacques looks back on it too fondly either, considering he had to deal with actual mounted police harassing him.

 

He must have liked it well enough, because he more or less kept it going with The Quebecers when neither of them really needed to be "mounties" at all.

 

It was plagued by the same problem as all the occupation gimmicks -- when exactly do they perform their day job?

 

On WWF shows. :D

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