WWE Network... It's Here

[sek69]

So I was reading Observers from the time Hall and Nash jumped to WCW, and in it Dave states the plan for them was basically what ended up happening at Bash at the Beach but with Luger being the third man. Now I'd heard that before, but what was news to me was how it was going to be explained in storyline: the plan was to tie it all the way back to the first Nitro when Lex appeared and imply he was sent from the WWF all along. At this point it's stated the idea was to have Hogan vs Hall on the August PPV, so I wonder what the chain of events was to have it end up going down the way it did.

[flyonthewall2983]

Storyline-wise that makes a lot of sense, but it would not have had nearly the same impact as Hogan being the third man was. Plus it would have been in keeping with how often Lex went back and forth between heel and babyface when he was in WCW previously.

[shoe]

More ECW and WCCW in September. Nitros in 6 weeks or so. WWE Raw for the Monday night wars. A program called rivalries. They want to add more WCW t.v by the end of the year.

 

Nitros have been added. Rivalries are still coming. September has come and gone and we've gotten zilch on WCCW and ECW.

[PhilTLL]

It's especially baffling with ECW and WCCW because it seems like they picked two promotions that they already had a big set of edited episodes for--yet they're not actually putting out what they have. They aren't digging out tapes and blowing dust off of them, they did that 5+ years ago for 24/7. What reason do I have to be optimistic about them converting Saturday Night or Mid South or whatever else if they won't even replay WCCW and ECW?

[Stiva]

My subscription runs out in 4 days or so and I've decided against renewing, especially after seeing what may become of this in the UK with the apparent Sky wrangling.

[kayfabe1984]

 

More ECW and WCCW in September. Nitros in 6 weeks or so. WWE Raw for the Monday night wars. A program called rivalries. They want to add more WCW t.v by the end of the year.

 

Nitros have been added. Rivalries are still coming. September has come and gone and we've gotten zilch on WCCW and ECW.

 

 

Not to mention the old Raw episodes stopped dead in their tracks at August 1995, right as the Monday Night War series started. Would it not have made sense to post the old Raw episodes along with Nitro as the series was starting? Apparently not.

 

Really, really disappointed there were no new additions of WCCW or ECW.

[JNLister]

Does the Rogers version have listings more than a few days in advance on the EPG (unlike the over the top version.) If not, does that mean it's largely useless on DVRs?

[Dooley]

So I was reading Observers from the time Hall and Nash jumped to WCW, and in it Dave states the plan for them was basically what ended up happening at Bash at the Beach but with Luger being the third man. Now I'd heard that before, but what was news to me was how it was going to be explained in storyline: the plan was to tie it all the way back to the first Nitro when Lex appeared and imply he was sent from the WWF all along. At this point it's stated the idea was to have Hogan vs Hall on the August PPV, so I wonder what the chain of events was to have it end up going down the way it did.

 

Bischoff said in a TV interview that Luger was the original plan, but then they felt that would be too predictable. Apparently up until a couple of days before the event, the plan was to have Sting as the third man. Hogan then read the tea leaves and inserted himself into the angle.

[El-P]

 

So I was reading Observers from the time Hall and Nash jumped to WCW, and in it Dave states the plan for them was basically what ended up happening at Bash at the Beach but with Luger being the third man. Now I'd heard that before, but what was news to me was how it was going to be explained in storyline: the plan was to tie it all the way back to the first Nitro when Lex appeared and imply he was sent from the WWF all along. At this point it's stated the idea was to have Hogan vs Hall on the August PPV, so I wonder what the chain of events was to have it end up going down the way it did.

 

Bischoff said in a TV interview that Luger was the original plan, but then they felt that would be too predictable. Apparently up until a couple of days before the event, the plan was to have Sting as the third man. Hogan then read the tea leaves and inserted himself into the angle.

 

 

Hum… Sullivan said many times that Hogan was the number one idea and Sting the back-up plan in case Hogan refused at the last time. Both he and Bischoff said it took a lot of work and persuasion to have Hogan agree to turn heel, as most of his entourage was getting in his ears saying it would be bad for his career. So I don't believe Hogan throwing himself in the angle at the last moment.

[Dooley]

 

 

So I was reading Observers from the time Hall and Nash jumped to WCW, and in it Dave states the plan for them was basically what ended up happening at Bash at the Beach but with Luger being the third man. Now I'd heard that before, but what was news to me was how it was going to be explained in storyline: the plan was to tie it all the way back to the first Nitro when Lex appeared and imply he was sent from the WWF all along. At this point it's stated the idea was to have Hogan vs Hall on the August PPV, so I wonder what the chain of events was to have it end up going down the way it did.

 

Bischoff said in a TV interview that Luger was the original plan, but then they felt that would be too predictable. Apparently up until a couple of days before the event, the plan was to have Sting as the third man. Hogan then read the tea leaves and inserted himself into the angle.

 

 

Hum… Sullivan said many times that Hogan was the number one idea and Sting the back-up plan in case Hogan refused at the last time. Both he and Bischoff said it took a lot of work and persuasion to have Hogan agree to turn heel, as most of his entourage was getting in his ears saying it would be bad for his career. So I don't believe Hogan throwing himself in the angle at the last moment.

 

 

Nash has said the same thing about Hogan inserting himself into the angle. When did Bischoff say that it took a lot of work for Hogan to turn heel? He doesn't seem like the kind of guy to push Hogan to do anything.

 

Also, Hall and Nash have both said that the "invasion" storyline was just a way to get them in the door and not thought of as the massive storyline it became. One would think if the plan was a Hogan heel turn from the get-go that it wouldn't have been initially thought of that way.

[Loss]

In the spring of 1996, from everything I've read, even Bischoff was at a point where he was ready to move on without Hogan if it came to that. Hogan had been out since April and Flair-Savage was showing signs of life on house shows. Meanwhile, Hogan was as difficult to work with as ever and he wasn't the consistent difference maker he was when he first showed up in WCW.

[Dooley]

In the spring of 1996, from everything I've read, even Bischoff was at a point where he was ready to move on without Hogan if it came to that. Hogan had been out since April and Flair-Savage was showing signs of life on house shows. Meanwhile, Hogan was as difficult to work with as ever and he wasn't the consistent difference maker he was when he first showed up in WCW.

 

None of Bischoff's actions seem to bear that out.

[Loss]

Then why was Hogan off TV for almost three months before turning?

[shoe]

The stories was that Hogan was the 1st choice. Hogan wasn't totally committed to the idea of turning heel because of a loss of income of merch sales. They had a backup plan since they've had Hogan change his mind at the last minute before.

[Dooley]

Then why was Hogan off TV for almost three months before turning?

 

Wasn't he filming Santa With Muscles or one of his other straight-to-DVD opuses?

 

I can't find the Bischoff interview on youtube at the moment, but it was when he was on Off the Record in '97.

[Marty]

Does the Rogers version have listings more than a few days in advance on the EPG (unlike the over the top version.) If not, does that mean it's largely useless on DVRs?

 

Yes, up until 7 days, like any other channel.

 

Although, admittedly, it hasn't been consistent. Recently, starting at 6 am on some Tuesday I think, all it had said was "WWE Network Programming". Some other changes to Rogers prompted a reboot and that got fixed. It also went through a stretch of unupdated programming. Again, a reboot fixed that, as some other changes were happening as well with Rogers (new channels, IIRC).

 

I imagine DVRing (or, as we call it in Canada, PVRing ) wouldn't be an issue.

 

(I say all this as a non-subscriber (at present), as IPGs can be seen whether you're subscribed to the channel or not. I have no idea what On Demand changes exist, OTOH.)

[sek69]

Hogan was off filming a movie/TV show somewhere which is why he was gone. In fact, the last Observer prior to Bash in the Beach Dave pretty much confirmed Hulk would be the guy based on a reader saying he worked on the set of his movie and Hogan was telling people he would be the guy. Dave interpreted it as Hulk being smart enough to know the invasion angle would be money and wanted to be a part of it.

 

It is true Hulk wasn't 100% convinced until the last minute, Eric wasn't on the pre-PPV Main Event show since he spent all that day making sure Hogan didn't back out. I remember they did some kind of angle on TV where he was kidnapped or something but it got forgotten before the PPV was even over.

 

 

Also reading Dave's overview of the risks of turning Hogan heel and potentially alienating the kid fanbase that buys all his merch reminded me very much of a certain someone everyone wishes would turn heel today.

[JNLister]

 

Does the Rogers version have listings more than a few days in advance on the EPG (unlike the over the top version.) If not, does that mean it's largely useless on DVRs?

 

Yes, up until 7 days, like any other channel.

 

Although, admittedly, it hasn't been consistent. Recently, starting at 6 am on some Tuesday I think, all it had said was "WWE Network Programming". Some other changes to Rogers prompted a reboot and that got fixed. It also went through a stretch of unupdated programming. Again, a reboot fixed that, as some other changes were happening as well with Rogers (new channels, IIRC).

 

I imagine DVRing (or, as we call it in Canada, PVRing ) wouldn't be an issue.

 

(I say all this as a non-subscriber (at present), as IPGs can be seen whether you're subscribed to the channel or not. I have no idea what On Demand changes exist, OTOH.)

 

 

Cool to hear, though of course it raises the question of why the over-the-top service regularly has no more than a few days' programming listed.

 

Is DVR/PVR a US/Canada thing? I've heard both terms used in the UK (though the brand name 'Sky Plus' is more common) but with a distinction, namely that DVR is bare bones functionality where you can pick a show from the EPG to record and possibly get a series link/season pass, whereas PVR makes smarter use of a wider programming database so you can do searches, get personalised suggestions and other features you get with services like TiVo.

[goodhelmet]

Kevin Sullivan reinforced the idea on his MLW podcast that the plan was for Hogan and that he had people trying to talk him out of it. Sullivan said he basically babysat Hogan all day and night before the PPV to make sure he didn't get cold feet.

[PeteF3]

In 1996 I was just some dude with a Prodigy account and rumors were swirling like crazy that Hogan was the 3rd man. The build-up was long enough that *everybody* and their brother was rumored for that spot, and it was always one of those "Believe it when you see it" things. But it didn't exactly come out of nowhere.

[Matt D]

There was huge hype for that, even casual hype. I wasn't watching at all in 1996 but I still watched that in scramble vision.

[sek69]

The time from when Hall and Nash first showed up on Nitro up to Bash at the Beach was the most insane time to be a wrestling fan on the internet. There were just enough people who kind of knew what was going on and tons of people who thought they did, Every day it seemed there was a new rumor.

[KrisZ]

The rumors after were always better such as Yokozuna on Nitro every week....Shawn wearing the nWo shirt

[Matt D]

What the hell happened to Al Issacs anyway?

[Log]

I wasn't online yet for BATB, so I was sure it was going to be Bret. He had been gone for a while, so it seemed likely.

 

I watched the PPV at my house and my friend who never watched wrestling kept saying it was going to be Hogan. We didn't think he was right. We were obviously on top of things.