WWE Network... It's Here

[Loss]

By the way, they quickly dropped "special events" and went back to pay-per-views. Even though they technically aren't, they realized that label has meaning and decided to stick with it.

[shoe]

They mention how the old school stuff doesn't do as well as the original programming. Well the original programming does have set times. We know when Legends House was airing, NXT etc. these things are episodic. The older stuff isn't rolled out weekly with a scheduled time. So people can't get in a routine. Just a thought.

[khawk20]

Even if they're talking about the VOD old school stuff, the initial offerings would have already been consumed by those interested, and probably early on (the MSG and Boston shows, for example). I would guess most of us would watch a 1975 MSG show on the network once and that's it.

 

That point would make more sense to me if they were rolling out even one 80's house show a week and had data based off of that.

 

...having said that, "old school" is such a large lump depending on what era you were watching "back in the day". Are they talking about 70's and 80's stuff, or early-to-mid 90's offerings, or all of them together?

 

For me it's even harder to quantify that argument without knowing what those who are looking at the data consider to be old school.

[Loss]

They also don't really hype the old stuff all that much. They never did any type of announcement that the Clashes were there, for example. I think the idea that no one is interested in old stuff is probably true in some ways, but not to the degree the numbers show. It's a self-fulfilling prophecy.

[khawk20]

It makes me wonder about the different thought processes going on there, too. I mean, The WWE went hard and heavy and paid some good money to get a lot of these old video libraries, and kept all of their own stuff in good shape. Seems like they have invested too much not to pay more attention to it while trying to make the outlet that will actually air that material successful.

 

Is there a disconnect between the desire to acquire and the desire to use it?

 

Unless they've determined that the olderl footage is best suited for specials on specific wrestlers, like HOF presentations and the like, and intend to use it mostly in that capacity. They could be using viewing data compiled from Classics on Demand and what was watched and what wasn't, if such a tracking system was possible for that service. Even then the sample size was likely very small compared to what they could draw on for data from the actual network now that it's running.

 

All I know is between the lack of older footage that I'm interested in and the Canadian roll-out, so far the network has disappointed this particular fan far more than I thought was possible. I guess it can only improve from here....right?

[KrisZ]

Oh you can better believe there are some higherups that could care less about old school stuff and would much rather have original programming

[pantherwagner]

Oh you can better believe there are some higherups that could care less about old school stuff and would much rather have original programming

 

I think this is the answer. Knowing VKM's mindset I find it hard to believe that a lot of people would strongly push to him that "regional matches with guys working the arm for 15 minutes in smoke filled arenas" is going to bring numbers up. If anything I can see them completing the MSG shows collection at some point because that's their own legacy and now they are cool with Bruno.

[Matt D]

Oh you can better believe there are some higherups that could care less about old school stuff and would much rather have original programming

 

Generally, unless they're going to give us stuff that's completely and totally unavailable, MSG matches or dark matches from before tapings that we've never seen before or territories where they have far more footage than has ever been revealed, I'd much rather have original programming. I love the older stuff, but if I want it, I can get it. I'd rather have something that is new, either to the tape trading community or to the world. There is a near infinite amount of wrestling on youtube that I haven't seen. I'm not looking for more territories on the network if they're things that I can see for a relatively small expense on my schedule and more easily.

[Childs]

But ideally, they'd give us all of the above, right? That's kind of how they sold it originally--you get all the PPVs, new specials plus this treasure trove.

 

At this point, I go weeks at a time without watching the network. Almost all the excitement I felt at launch is gone. But I enjoy getting all the PPVs, and that's enough to keep me hooked.

[Timbo Slice]

They can do both. No reason at all not to put the old stuff on there. The original stuff has been really non-existent save a couple features.

[slackermillionaire]

Not to mention how good the old stuff looks cleaned up and remastered for the network.

[Beast]

So today is the end of the initial six month period for the Network. Is anyone not renewing, or at least not renewing right away?

 

I think I'm going to go without it for at least two weeks and see if any improvements occur while I'm away. I was hoping they'd ramp up new content or at least new classic stuff at this point, but there doesn't seem to be anything different coming up before the end of the month. Maybe they're waiting for Night of the Champions...

[Eduardo]

I just checked off the box for it not to renew yesterday. Might get it sometime later in the Fall if a PPV main event really interests me. Will definitely get it back by Royal Rumble time. It's not that I don't like the WWE Network because I do, but American football season is starting. So pretty much my entire Sundays are going to be devoted to watching NFL Sunday Ticket and the Sunday Night Football games with my brother and friends. There's already enough wrestling on cable TV, and DVD's I have, to keep me entertained in the mean time.

[JNLister]

WWE's Inbox feature on YouTube this week (fan asks questions, wrestlers answer) is about cartoon characters and starts with a clip from Eastern Championship Wrestling TV with Chris Michaels doing a promo and concluding that "we're not a cartoon."

 

I mention that to ask why they've clearly got somebody with the encyclopaedic knowledge or an incredibly detailed database to think of and locate an obscure clip based on one word, yet they can't figure out that you need to show World Class from 1983 in chronological order.

[cowboy hats]

And they know enough to get Keith David and Gary Thorne as narrators. Can one of the dozens of pop culture websites desperate for content put together an oral history of the first six months of the network?

[pantherwagner]

WWE's Inbox feature on YouTube this week (fan asks questions, wrestlers answer) is about cartoon characters and starts with a clip from Eastern Championship Wrestling TV with Chris Michaels doing a promo and concluding that "we're not a cartoon."

 

I mention that to ask why they've clearly got somebody with the encyclopaedic knowledge or an incredibly detailed database to think of and locate an obscure clip based on one word, yet they can't figure out that you need to show World Class from 1983 in chronological order.

 

I read somewhere (it may have been here) that each piece of footage in their archives is incredibly well documented with stop points, hashtags or whatever technology they use to mark stuff like quotes, angles and even missed spots, so they can quickly search for "cartoon" in a central database and everything related to that pops up and then you only have to locate the tapes.

 

Not that I'd like to defend their incompetence in dealing with old footage in the network but I believe World Class hasn't been shown in order because of gaps in the library.

[JNLister]

So given their library is so well-organised, why did they stop adding chapter marks to the Network uploads after a few weeks, not only making playback harder to use, but making the search tool utterly useless? The limitations of the network are all the more annoying when you know they do have the ability to make it so much better.

 

It really does feel like they quite quickly switched from "make it as awesome as possible to boost subscribers" to "this is all the audience we'll get, let's do as little and as cheaply as possible without running them off."

 

Also, of the 9 missing episodes in the current WCCW run on the Network, I believe 5 aired on Classics on Demand or 24/7.

[Matt D]

One frustrating thing about WWE as opposed to other forms of media in 2014 is that there's just no way to ask a question like "Will the gaps in WCCW be filled?" I don't know if it's because of the carny background but there's just no access.

[goc]

Even just a token way to ask them questions so they can thank you for your interest and tell you they are currently evaluating what to put on The Network next is better than nothing at all.

[pantherwagner]

So given their library is so well-organised, why did they stop adding chapter marks to the Network uploads after a few weeks, not only making playback harder to use, but making the search tool utterly useless? The limitations of the network are all the more annoying when you know they do have the ability to make it so much better.

 

It really does feel like they quite quickly switched from "make it as awesome as possible to boost subscribers" to "this is all the audience we'll get, let's do as little and as cheaply as possible without running them off."

 

Also, of the 9 missing episodes in the current WCCW run on the Network, I believe 5 aired on Classics on Demand or 24/7.

 

I absolutely agree with you John, when you have that knowledge it's frustrating that they have done such a shitty job and that the only way to use bookmarks is to get spoiled (which isn't a big deal to me but I'm sure it is to a lot of people). Just the same as us not getting any old MSG shows or NWA TV 1985 or any other footage that has already been shown in the past on Classics.

 

I had no idea about those World Class episodes already being shown before. It's even worse then.

 

Our only hope to get old remastered shows at this stage is that the international numbers end up being much better than they expected and that more people are put to work on the project again because it really looks like the schedule is being run by an intern.

[PhilTLL]

Even just a token way to ask them questions so they can thank you for your interest and tell you they are currently evaluating what to put on The Network next is better than nothing at all.

It does exactly what you said, but there is @AskWWENetwork on Twitter. Somebody there did read and form-respond to my classic content complaints.

[C.S.]

I watched the first Monday Night Wars episode. I'm not sure if this is the same thing was that was shown "live" on the Network a month or two back and then never archived. It was okay for what it is, but there was nothing new or special. They used a fake widescreen for the old footage, which drove me nuts, because text got cut off and the picture quality was unnecessarily bad. This did remind me of the impact Lex Luger had on the first Nitro and on the Monday Night Wars in general. Without him, people might not have been curious enough to tune in to the second episode of Nitro. It would have been another TNA, where people may have ordered the first PPV but didn't get the second one because there was no hook to keep them coming back for more.

 

Edit: It wasn't mentioned on the show, but the promise of Hogan vs. Luger for the second episode was HUGE at the time. PPV main event caliber matches simply did not happen back then, and one show setting up the next was also rare if not nonexistent. Plus, there was the mystery of whether Luger was face or heel, whether he'd win the title or not, etc.

 

I also watched the Shield/SummerSlam special. Fun stuff, especially about their time in ROH and developmental.

[KrisZ]

That was also the very first Hogan vs. Luger match and they gave it away on TV

[Matt D]

That was also the very first Hogan vs. Luger match and they gave it away on TV

 

At the time, that might have been the right call. They needed to make a splash. Going back to the "give it away on TV" well over and over was another story.

[C.S.]

Matt posted what I was just about to. Agreed on all counts.