WWE Network... It's Here

[Sidebottom]

Memphis library ownership is far too screwed up to likely see the light of day on such a mainstream platform.

[BigBadMick]

Is the Savage Documentary any good?

[anotherspammer]

Is the Savage documentary the one from the new DVD?

[C.S.]

Is the Savage documentary the one from the new DVD?

 

That's what I was wondering too. If it's just snippets from the DVD, I'd rather wait for the DVD and see the whole thing.

[The Chief]

I bought the bluray today, I'll be posting my thoughts after I watch it tonight.

[Sidebottom]

It's a 25 minute preview on the Network, for the record.

[hammerva]

So in the ECW Exposed Part 2 show (the remaining of the twitter questions), Heyman claims one of his plans for ECW Heatwave 98 was a Misawa vs Kobashi match but instead ended up with the RVD/Sabu tag match. Yeah I am sure

[Timbo Slice]

Makes sense that he asked for that to happen and got Shinzaki and Hayabusa, though.

[Sidebottom]

Makes sense that he asked for that to happen and got Shinzaki and Hayabusa, though.

 

Asked who? There was a working relationship between ECW and FMW, not AJPW.

 

Heyman could have wanted Kobashi / Misawa, but Kobashi was out with a knee injury for the Summer of 1998 which some believed would put him out for quite some time (and his last match was dropping the Triple Crown to Misawa incidentally). Would have been great to see at that time however if the planets were aligned differently.

[Timbo Slice]

Hayabusa and Shinzaki were semi-regularly working AJPW after the '97 RWTL, meaning that there was an in there for Heyman if he wanted it. I'm guessing the injury put the end to those talks, though.

[Sidebottom]

Hayabusa and Shinzaki were semi-regularly working AJPW after the '97 RWTL, meaning that there was an in there for Heyman if he wanted it. I'm guessing the injury put the end to those talks, though.

 

But there was no relationship between ECW and AJPW and AJPW were not agents for Hayabusa / Shinzaki.

[Timbo Slice]

Sure, but what's to stop him from making a phone call to try and make it happen? I'm not saying Paul is being 100% truthful (although the fact he said it right away makes me think it couldn't have been complete bullshit either), but he reached out to AAA, he reached out to FMW, he reached out to Michinoku Pro, a phone call or two to see if it could happen makes sense, at least.

[MikeCampbell]

Kobashi was Triple Crown Champion in August of '98. I doubt Baba was going to let him go anywhere period. Let alone the American equivalent of FMW to put over their tag champs, unless he *REALLY* liked RVD from his time in AJPW.

[Sidebottom]

Slice, as I said in my original post, Heyman could have and likely did want to book that match, however I shoot down the notion Hayabusa and Shinzaki were "replacements". Not having a pop at you, more so Heyman for saying it. The HW98 tag was part of a talent exchange programme with FMW, AJPW had nout to do with it. It seems at best Heyman is merging two different stories into one.

[jushin muta liger]

I just watched that clip and it definitely seems like Heyman was mixing up two stories cause even for him, it was hard to remember the details.

 

Now to be fair, Kobashi worked a tag match at an FMW stadium show in 97 so it's not out of the realm of possibility that Kobashi could have came to ECW. And Tommy Dreamer worked at All Japan in 95 for a couple of tours. However, Heyman getting both Misawa and Kobashi seems like stretch.

[KrisZ]

AJPW/FMW had a working relationship for a few years there and it was widely reported back in 1998 that Heyman & Kobashi were close to an agreement but it just never happened.

[Johnny Sorrow]

Since a few years later these guys would appear for fucking ROH, is it that unbelievable they might have possibly come over for a far more hot and successful at the time promotion?

[PeteF3]

2005 NOAH was in a lot worse shape, as was Japanese wrestling in general, than 1995 All-Japan.

[MikeCampbell]

Kobashi didn't come over *JUST* for ROH. He was also working for Harley Race in WLW, and Harley had been sending his boys over to NOAH for years. So, it's more likley that Gabe and/or Cary found out he was coming over and jumped at the chance to get him.

[Johnny Sorrow]

My point is it's not Really that inconceivable that Kobashi and Misawa would have appeared in ECW at the time given how hot ECW was at the time.

[C.S.]

The WWE Network update with the Watchlist, etc. got added to Roku. You may need to force the update through the menu settings.

 

It's a welcome feature, but the app is much slower as a result now. Every time you click on a show or add anything, it has to reload the options.

 

Also, it wiped out my "resume" settings for the Foley episode of MNW. If that happens every time there's an update, that would be next to useless.

 

WWE Network still feels like a clunky beta product, but at least features are finally being added that every other service in existence launched out of the gate with.

 

Two steps forward, one step back...

[Marty]

So....I'm in Ontario...and...yep, I got the Rogers version of the Network last month. To be honest...I'm quite happy with it and watch it fairly frequently. The deciding factor in me getting it was the ability to watch live PPVs (or anything else) via cable and not have to worry about buffering, throttling, or whatever (the internet we have is very hit or miss, particularly in peak periods). I was also able to research what they have On Demand beforehand (Rogers search feature is helpful with that) and when I got the subscription last month (week leading up to Hell In A Cell), it had 160 titles (more than the 13 they started with in August). It's up to about 240 now and counting. They add seemingly a PPV or two per day. So it's not the full network, obviously, but there's still more than enough there for me to watch and I get the viewing experience (zero issues) I want.

 

I do have a question, perhaps someone like Bix can answer: When they announced the numbers last month, I know they included the international totals. Do those international figures include the Canadian ones? The reason I ask is because I don't know how much access WWE has to that since Rogers oversees that distribution directly and not them. Thanks to anyone who knows whether or not this is the case.

[shakla]

Finally signed up for the network. Why not take advantage of it for a free week.

 

I'm 40 minutes in on Spring Stampede 2000 (wanted to see if the cursing was intact as a test run, since Classics on Demand had it muted). More theme edits than I was expecting. I don't remember every WCW theme of that era, but it appears that Russo's Iron Man knockoff, Scott Steiner (with Steinerized) and Ernest Miller (awful dub, sounds like Rock Me Gently from the 70s) have been edited so far. Looking forward to the Hogan/Bischoff backstage stuff, possible drops there.

[shakla]

Alright, from pre-network reviews I'm reading on Spring Stampede '00, did Scott Steiner actually use the Steinerized theme at that time? Seems so out of place.

[flyonthewall2983]

With WCW specifically, some versions have dubbed themes, some don't. Old WWF stuff is more consistent from what I've seen.