WWE Network... It's Here

[khawk20]

There was such a lack of International Montreal footage a decade ago that the rights holder at the time, Aaron Weiss, actually came to me for the matches I had taped off of TV when they aired and used some of it in his monthly PPV broadcasts.

 

I'd like to think that some of the original tapes might have shown up since then, but I have my doubts. Gino Brito didn't apparently have any, and most of what is out there now besides what I had is from TV-taped sources. Good to watch, but probably not as good as they would like for showing on the network.

 

Of course, they did air some Georgia snippets in the past on COD that were atrocious, which they apparently got from traders, so there is hope...

[Hollinger.]

They could probably grab whatever that group was that ran with Dinsmore and the Bushwhackers and a bunch of other WWF guys a couple years ago. There wouldn't be a ton there, but they could probably cobble together some shows with recognizable names.

[khawk20]

They could probably grab whatever that group was that ran with Dinsmore and the Bushwhackers and a bunch of other WWF guys a couple years ago. There wouldn't be a ton there, but they could probably cobble together some shows with recognizable names.

 

That would reek of effort, though. I'm not sensing that much thought will be put into whatever sort of CRTC appeasement is deemed acceptable.

[JNLister]

Not sure if this is the start of anything, but the new archive 1999 Smackdown uploaded today had chapter marks, the first time I've seen them on new stuff for months.

 

Amusingly the first one I clicked on simply read "Triple H executes Pedigree and wins."

[Sidebottom]

For the life of me, I don't know why everything isn't chapter marked. Running the footage through their machines would literally scrub in seconds to locate match starts. Even if it was just the match starts and not for all the backstage stuff. Hell, even if they just broke the shows down to random quarters it would save on the inconvenience of having to forward wind 3/4 of a show to find where you left off the day before... because they are yet to sort out the auto resume. This is all stuff I'm confident will be sorted in time though.

[PhilTLL]

For the life of me, I don't know why everything isn't chapter marked. Running the footage through their machines would literally scrub in seconds to locate match starts. Even if it was just the match starts and not for all the backstage stuff. Hell, even if they just broke the shows down to random quarters it would save on the inconvenience of having to forward wind 3/4 of a show to find where you left off the day before... because they are yet to sort out the auto resume. This is all stuff I'm confident will be sorted in time though.

 

Man, I dunno. The more I think about it, six months is a pretty long time when it comes to bug fixes, or at least it would be for a company that was actually good at funding projects and listening to user/viewer feedback. And don't look at a chronological list of additions, it'll just make you sad. (Hint: There haven't been any new Old Schools or WCCW episodes in over 3 months.) I know they're holding back for the rollover dates, but my optimism is fading.

[cowboy hats]

Not sure whether to blame the network or the 360, but I'm willing to hate on both. Got home thirty minutes into the ppv, so fired up the ol' 360, hit watch 'from beginning' instead of 'now' and it brought me to the live feed (and the ending of a match). Tried that a few times with the same result. Finally rewound from the live feed to get to the beginning. Horrible picture quality. Tried to tough it out, but as I was now 50+ minutes behind instead of my original 35, I abandoned the first hour and went to the live feed and Ambrose/Rollins. Picture quality was HD-solid the rest of the night, with a few weird skips here and there (the worst being a particularly egregious one at the end of Lesnar/Cena).

 

Experience of watching a ppv live on the network for the first time since Wrestlemania: disappointing!

[goodhelmet]

Yesterday was the first time the Network froze up on my cell phone. There were a couple of hiccups on my desktop as well but nothing compared to the cell phone failure. I am also one of the luckier ones when it comes to network service.

[Matt D]

I had to hit refresh once during Swagger's entrance. That was about it.

[Cross Face Chicken Wing]

It was pretty bad for me on the PS3, but my PS3 is downstairs, further away from my wireless router than the upstairs PS4 I usually watch on. Not sure if that had anything to do with it.

 

I switched to my cell phone for Lesnar/Cena and it was flawless.

[PhilTLL]

While I'm disappointed with the lack of archive material so far, I will say last night was my first try at sitting down and watching a whole PPV live, and it was flawless for me on a Roku 2 with middle-package Cox in Oklahoma City.

[Clayton Jones]

The replay stream on my Roku hiccuped a handful of times and went back about 4 seconds, and for two of the matches (Rusev/Swagger and the main event) skipped ahead a few seconds and missed the finish.

[cowboy hats]

I should mention that my problems with the Network last night were with the 360 wired directly to the modem. Really no difference between that and wireless. Again, not sure whether to blame the Network, the 360 or the internet connection (Time Warner).

 

New video vault tonight: Kurt Angle/Undertaker from 9/4/2003 Smackdown. Its inclusion seems a bit...odd. Are they celebrating its 11th anniversary coming soon? Taker returning at NOC and they'll highlight a number of his matches for some reason?

[flyonthewall2983]

At least they are adding stuff from shows otherwise not on the network I believe.

[cowboy hats]

Video vault: Punk/Cena from Raw, February 2013

[shoe]

The 1st of the Monday Might Wars series shows up this week.

[cowboy hats]

I may have missed the detail and we'll find out in the next few days anyway, but do we know what the Monday Night Wars will look like? I think I read it will be twenty episodes? How will they frame each episode? Profiles of particular angles, or highlighting a month or two each episode?

 

A new Beyond the Ring is up this week - I think it's the 50 Greatest Finishing Moves

[CaptCabana]

They are getting LAZY with the scheduling. Sunday looks to have the Top 50 greatest finishers Beyond The Ring, followed by The Shield's Journey to SummerSlam...then they repeat this 3 hour block two more times in a row! Jesus, guys. Throw any random PPV in if you're looking to fill 3 hours.

[Migs]

Hoping Monday Night Wars debuting means they'll get back to showing Raw (and add Nitro) next week.

[JNLister]

I may have missed the detail and we'll find out in the next few days anyway, but do we know what the Monday Night Wars will look like? I think I read it will be twenty episodes? How will they frame each episode? Profiles of particular angles, or highlighting a month or two each episode?

 

 

At a guess I'd say broadly chronological, but possibly with some focusing on a topic. Episode 1 went up to the Madusa incident.

 

I find it impossible to speculate about this series without making wildly inappropriate comparisons to The World At War.

[hammerva]

Interesting on the Shield special how Gabe Sapolosky basically accused Cary Silkin of holding him back in Ring of Honor. Not the first time it has been thought but not if it is the first time Gabe said it. Granted I believe it is true but Gabe is just as guilty with waiting wayyy too long to pull the trigger on him being the champion

 

Holy shit CZW footage on the WWE Network. It just got cold in hell right now

[PhilTLL]

They are getting LAZY with the scheduling. Sunday looks to have the Top 50 greatest finishers Beyond The Ring, followed by The Shield's Journey to SummerSlam...then they repeat this 3 hour block two more times in a row! Jesus, guys. Throw any random PPV in if you're looking to fill 3 hours.

Are there only like 3 people running the network, so when they get new assignments they don't have time to make schedules? Just a couple of months ago they showed all the Slamborees in a week, and other similarly random things.

 

Last week's WON did mention the archival stuff had really low traffic. Maybe we're losing the battle.

[slackermillionaire]

 

They are getting LAZY with the scheduling. Sunday looks to have the Top 50 greatest finishers Beyond The Ring, followed by The Shield's Journey to SummerSlam...then they repeat this 3 hour block two more times in a row! Jesus, guys. Throw any random PPV in if you're looking to fill 3 hours.

Are there only like 3 people running the network, so when they get new assignments they don't have time to make schedules? Just a couple of months ago they showed all the Slamborees in a week, and other similarly random things.

 

Last week's WON did mention the archival stuff had really low traffic. Maybe we're losing the battle.

 

 

The lack of uniqueness in the schedule is even more of an oversight considering the subscribers in Canada at the moment only have access to a small amount of VOD content and now they are stuck with the Network repeating itself.

[DMJ]

I have a Network-related question to pose for discussion...

 

So, Lesnar is not likely to be defending the title at every "Special Event" between now and Mania, but barring some fluke win, it does seem like he will be champion for the next several months, if not all the way up to WrestleMania 31.

 

This has led many to theorize that the WWE could headline upcoming "Special Events," such as Hell in the Cell and TLC with matches such as Triple H vs. Reigns and Ambrose vs. Rollins.

 

One talking point has been that, in the "post-PPV" world, you've already "sold" these Special Events with Network subscriptions, meaning, you don't need to worry about buyrates anymore and that gives the company more flexibility to run shows without a World Title match. We saw this already at Battleground IIRC.

 

But, as a Clevelander gearing up for the sale of tickets for the upcoming TLC PPV, it *does* make me wonder how attendance for PPVs will be affected if at all. I'm a big enough fan of the midcard and the TLC gimmick itself to say that I'll likely go no matter what. I'm also a Network subscriber who gets enough mileage out of the Archive to be renewing regardless of whether Lesnar is appearing monthly or not. But I'll also admit that I don't always go to RAWs, SD tapings, or house shows in my city because, well, they cost money and they're not "big deals" when they happen so regularly in this area.

 

My question is - do you think attendance for PPVs, which in WWE especially, have almost always featured a main event title match (even if it wasn't the hottest match on the card) will be affected by Lesnar's reign, or, more broadly, the idea that these are now "Special Events" and not PPVs that the WWE needs to invest more into selling?

[slackermillionaire]

I have a Network-related question to pose for discussion...

 

So, Lesnar is not likely to be defending the title at every "Special Event" between now and Mania, but barring some fluke win, it does seem like he will be champion for the next several months, if not all the way up to WrestleMania 31.

 

This has led many to theorize that the WWE could headline upcoming "Special Events," such as Hell in the Cell and TLC with matches such as Triple H vs. Reigns and Ambrose vs. Rollins.

 

One talking point has been that, in the "post-PPV" world, you've already "sold" these Special Events with Network subscriptions, meaning, you don't need to worry about buyrates anymore and that gives the company more flexibility to run shows without a World Title match. We saw this already at Battleground IIRC.

 

But, as a Clevelander gearing up for the sale of tickets for the upcoming TLC PPV, it *does* make me wonder how attendance for PPVs will be affected if at all. I'm a big enough fan of the midcard and the TLC gimmick itself to say that I'll likely go no matter what. I'm also a Network subscriber who gets enough mileage out of the Archive to be renewing regardless of whether Lesnar is appearing monthly or not. But I'll also admit that I don't always go to RAWs, SD tapings, or house shows in my city because, well, they cost money and they're not "big deals" when they happen so regularly in this area.

 

My question is - do you think attendance for PPVs, which in WWE especially, have almost always featured a main event title match (even if it wasn't the hottest match on the card) will be affected by Lesnar's reign, or, more broadly, the idea that these are now "Special Events" and not PPVs that the WWE needs to invest more into selling?

 

 

Interesting point and I am sure time will tell when it comes to attendance, I think at the moment though WWE has enough name cache to be able draw decent attendance figures for "special events" though if the quality of big name matches does drop I think we could see a hit in attendance in 2015/2016.

 

One thing to note though is that the WWE Network is offering a month by month price of 12,99, if say a sizable chunk of subscribers only sign up for this month for Night of Champions and do not renew for Hell in a Cell, it would put pressure on the company to make the monthly pay per views a big deal.

 

I think the next couple of months are going to be quite telling when it comes to the shape of the network, there are so many unanswered questions. We know 100,000 subscribers found a way to cancel before there 6 month subscription ended, but how many people are not aware of the work around and have been waiting for their 6 months to end so they can get out of the deal? How many people did not click the auto renew and signed up just for Wrestle-mania and have rarely used the service since? How successful was the network roll out internationally? The news that the subscription cable service has been a success in Canada so far, is also a big deal.

 

Something to note about the international roll out, I live in a capital city in Australia and signed up to the network the first day via vpn go around, I am lucky in the sense that I have high speed unlimited broadband for a decent price (helps that I live in a share house with 3 other dudes so we end up paying abit less than $15 each a month each). Just today I recently came across someone on the f4w boards who lived in rural Australia who was hoping that the network could possibly pick up a similar deal here in Aus that they made with Rogers in Canada. Where he lives, the best internet broadband plan he can get is $50 a month for 20gb. I have heard people say that the streaming the network works out to be basically 1gb an hour, so the network is really not the feasible for him, unless he was already buying each monthly ppvs already and only used the network to watch them exclusively.