WWE Network... It's Here

[El-P]

Those shows look truly awful. It's sad that WWE's ownership of what was US pro-wrestling has turned into this.

[Kronos]

I was just turning on my next Nitro, and I actually read the disclaimer at the beginning, it amuses me that they refer to the participants of the show as "actors".

[BigBadMick]

Anyone else get annoyed at the start of each episode when they refer to the Monday Night Wars taking place 'throughout the decade of the 90s'?

[iamthedoctor]

The narrative harped on about Goldberg being incapable of having a good lengthy match whilst ignoring what was perhaps Scott Hall's last ever great match at Souled Out 99 which was a belter as well as the Fall Brawl 2000 match against Steiner which was brilliant. These are just two examples off the top of my head, but to say Goldberg couldn't work is laughable. When he was booked right, he could produce something excellent.

 

Thats probably one thing that would put me off watching the War episodes why they constantly have a dig at WCW Characters. I used to love seeing Goldberg wrestle in WCW especially when he would throw out a new move that looked out of place you wouldnt expect him to do.

 

I really wish I knew what on earth was happening with the UK deal as it got delayed for no reason I guess because Sky now wants a piece of the profits which I didnt think they could do once they signed a contract with WWE.

[SteveJRogers]

Anyone else get annoyed at the start of each episode when they refer to the Monday Night Wars taking place 'throughout the decade of the 90s'?

 

Meh. You can tag the New York Yankees as the "Team of the 1990s" even though their run of World Series appearances goes through 2003.

 

Team of the 1970s Steelers won their last Super Bowl in the 1980 calendar year, and while Roger Staubach and Ken Stabler were long gone, their rivals Cowboys and Raiders put in Super Bowl caliber (Raiders made, and won a Super Bowl, Cowboys got upended by the burgeoning 49ner 1980s dynasty) seasons in the early days of the 1980s.

 

Speaking of the 1980s 49ners, they also got Montana's final ring in the year 1990, and by 1993, enough of that team was still in tact, you can put that championship on the Team of the 1980s ledger.

 

Plus its not THAT much of a spillover of what, a year and three months? I'd see your point if Monday Nitro was still chugging along in 2004-2005, when the decade's feel in culture was settling in.

[Jimmy Redman]

I thought his point was that they say "throughout" the 90s when the war only began in late '95.

[...TG]

 

Also, to those who know, is it true that Kevin Nash sold more merchandise as part of The Outsiders than Goldberg? I have seen a few claim that.

 

I wouldn't know for sure, but if you include the standard black nWo shirt, that's no doubt true. Either that or the original Austin 3:16 have to be the two best-selling pieces of wrestling merchandise ever.

[SteveJRogers]

I thought his point was that they say "throughout" the 90s when the war only began in late '95.

 

LOL! Welp, to be fair, the Yankees didn't really get going until 1994....

[Jimmy Redman]

Yeah either way it's a very minor thing to be nitpicky about.

[sek69]

I'm looking forward to the Nitro-era Raw shows, they got such a much needed kick in the ass at that time.

[BigBadMick]

Yeah either way it's a very minor thing to be nitpicky about.

I wouldn't be annoyed about it if it happened once, but when the same thing is blurted out every week it grates on me.... a bit. Won't stop me watching or anything like that

[DMJ]

I just watched the "DX Confidential" interview and, again, the thing comes off as such a revisionist history of things that it is almost unbearable at times. For those posters who detest the WWE's overhype of HBK, steer clear because it will largely enrage you.

 

The Pros:

- At least some credit given to the originality of the Chyna character and how important she was at getting Triple H over.

- Footage of Shawn Michaels "retiring" at the post-WM14 press conference. Basically, all you see is him getting held back by Shane McMahon and then storming out of the building. I'd never seen this footage or really knew about it as I always figured Shawn left quietly without incident. How foolish for me to think he'd be so classy in 97'.

 

The Cons:

- The continued WWE push of DegenerationX as a truly revolutionary stable in professional wrestling when, the fact is, while they sold a ton of merchandise over the years, they didn't really "create" much new. You can really sum up their actual landmark moments into just a handful (Rude appearing on Nitro and RAW on the same night, the Mike Tyson storyline [which was really more about Austin], and the X-Pac "shoot" the night after WM14). Everything else was sketch comedy and dick jokes and much of it really wasn't THAT original (for example, the nWo parodied the Horsemen in 97', almost a year before DX parodied the Nation).

 

I'm not saying they weren't popular or that the whole DX marketing campaign hasn't been a huge seller for the company for going close to 20 years, but in terms of actually changing the face of a wrestling promotion (and arguably the national wrestling landscape), I'd rank DX well behind the Horsemen, the Freebirds, the nWo, the Hart Foundation, and probably even the Dungeon of Doom and Moondogs. When you throw in international stables (which I admittedly know nothing about) and others I'm forgetting, I'm guessing DX barely rank in the top 10 of truly game-changing stables.

 

- Very little mention of the Outlaws and X-Pac. The 98' version of DX was arguably more important and prominent than the original 97' group, so, I felt like it would've been nice for, at some point in the interview, Road Dogg or Gunn to make an appearance via Skype if they couldn't be there in person.

[El-P]

- Very little mention of the Outlaws and X-Pac. The 98' version of DX was arguably more important and prominent than the original 97' group, so, I felt like it would've been nice for, at some point in the interview, Road Dogg or Gunn to make an appearance via Skype if they couldn't be there in person.

 

It's hilarious on so many level since the Outlaws were just way more over than Triple H during the entire second DX stint, as was X-Pac from that matter, coming off the infamous shoot-on-Bischoff comeback promo.

[C.S.]

 

 

Also, to those who know, is it true that Kevin Nash sold more merchandise as part of The Outsiders than Goldberg? I have seen a few claim that.

 

I wouldn't know for sure, but if you include the standard black nWo shirt, that's no doubt true. Either that or the original Austin 3:16 have to be the two best-selling pieces of wrestling merchandise ever.

 

 

That, plus the nWo and Outsiders had a several-year headstart on Goldberg and were around longer, so it's likely true. If Nash was using that as an example of how he's a "bigger draw" than Goldberg though, then he's full of shit. (Not sure if he's saying that though...where did this data come from?)

[Migs]

Looks like the next Monday Night Wars is a full one on the Chris Jericho jump.

[Matt D]

I hope they talk about how he got buried after he jumped and how Kane had a better 99 than Jericho.

[Johnny Sorrow]

It's apparently about how the debut was huge and then he had a ton of other issues once in WWF .

[shoe]

The rivalries show has potential. I hope they handle it right. In my interview with Tito Santana I told him I hoped they do one for his feud with Valentine. By the clips that show isn't in the works yet.

[pantherwagner]

I hope they talk about how he got buried after he jumped and how Kane had a better 99 than Jericho.

 

His stance on that (what he has hinted at in his podcast) is that it was his fault and he had to learn "the WWE style".

[pantherwagner]

The rivalries show has potential. I hope they handle it right. In my interview with Tito Santana I told him I hoped they do one for his feud with Valentine. By the clips that show isn't in the works yet.

 

This could be great but based on the clip I'm sure it will revolve around Austin, Rock, Hogan, HHH, Undertaker, Shawn, Cena, Flair and maybe two or three more. I expect that there will be plenty of overlap with the "Greatest Rivalries" DVD and the Wrestlemania Rewinds.

 

It would be cool if they featured less remembered rivalries like DDP vs. Savage, Cactus Jack vs Vader, Funk vs Flair, Funk vs Lawler, Santana vs Valentine, Dusty vs Graham, but I wouldn't count on it.

 

WWE.com has got a feature on Lawler vs Kaufman ... it would be interesting to see the WWE spin on that story ... but again I wouldn't count on it, as it's clear that the website flies well below Vince's radar.

http://www.wwe.com/classics/classic-rivalries

[Matt D]

I'm pretty sure we'll get

 

Austin vs Rock, Austin vs HHH, HHH vs Rock, Undertaker vs Shawn, Undertaker vs Kane, Vince vs Austin, HHH vs Foley, Taker vs Mankind, Cena vs Edge, Cena vs Orton, HHH vs Orton, Hogan vs Andre, Hogan vs Savage, Hogan vs Sting, Flair vs Sting, Hogan vs Flair before we get anything more interesting. We're looking at season 3 before they start "scraping"

[pantherwagner]

I'm pretty sure we'll get

 

Austin vs Rock, Austin vs HHH, HHH vs Rock, Undertaker vs Shawn, Undertaker vs Kane, Vince vs Austin, HHH vs Foley, Taker vs Mankind, Cena vs Edge, Cena vs Orton, HHH vs Orton, Hogan vs Andre, Hogan vs Savage, Hogan vs Sting, Flair vs Sting, Hogan vs Flair before we get anything more interesting. We're looking at season 3 before they start "scraping"

 

This is what the ad on the PPV showed:

Rock vs HHH, Taker vs Shawn, Taker vs Kane, Hogan vs Sting, Piper vs Hogan, Austin vs McMahon, Rock vs Cena, Mankind vs Taker, Rock vs Austin, E&C vs Hardys

 

I never expected anything else or something groundbreaking so at least I hope they make it a fun show. This really shows you what they think is their audience, though.

 

It's interesting that they aren't yet making a bigger push to get over 40s. You'd think these are the people that wouldn't mind spending 10 bucks a month (didn't the AWA PPV's do susprisingly decent numbers a few years ago?). Maybe they think the technology gap is too large... I don't know.

[shoe]

I watched the 1st rivalries show. It was different than how I envisioned how I would do it. It's basically Wrestlemania rewind. To me this is another wasted opportunity. I wish the network would hire Jim Cornette , Jim Ross, JJ Dillon or that type and put them in charge of the History of a Wrestling for the Network. Put Shane o Mac or Vince Russo in charge of producing concepts for Attitude Era , Eric Bishoff, Kevin Sullivan , Tony Schiavone, Dusty Rhodes in charge of WCW/Nitro concepts etc. Have a Stephanie McMahon type producing current vanity projects like features at SXSW, social media stuff etc.

[goodhelmet]

I completely disagree with your wish list. They need less carny fucks.

[pantherwagner]

I completely disagree with your wish list. They need less carny fucks.

 

Yes, that's a list of carny fucks that would do what they think Vince wants, which, actually, is the problem. Tony is the only one that has moved on with his life.

 

The problem is not the lack of knowledgeable people in the company. Again, I redirect people to the WWE classics section of the website as proof that they already have the smart people there. The website is great. Look at the playlists. There's a Stan Hansen playlist, a "rare ladder matches" list that actually features rare ladder matches, Best of Muta and Sting together, a freaking Savio Vega playlist. Stuff from all eras to appease nerds like us. Cool features like "where are they now" (these would translate well to mini-original content features), the program with the archivist...