flyonthewall2983 Posted March 7, 2014 Report Share Posted March 7, 2014 http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/WCWs-Greatest-Pay-Per-View-Matches-Volume-1-Blu-ray/93770/#Review This release seems very redundant given the Network's launch. I'm just wondering who the remaining audience will be for their archive releases like this now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loss Posted March 7, 2014 Report Share Posted March 7, 2014 What a horrible selection of matches. Anyway, home video has been in decline for a while now. That stood out to me when they did comparisons to last year on the last conference call. If I had to guess, they will still release things occasionally, but it will be rare and not as much of a priority. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pantherwagner Posted March 7, 2014 Report Share Posted March 7, 2014 What a horrible selection of matches. Anyway, home video has been in decline for a while now. That stood out to me when they did comparisons to last year on the last conference call. If I had to guess, they will still release things occasionally, but it will be rare and not as much of a priority. Why do you think that it is horrible? Not a DVD I'd pick up but the selection of matches includes enough big names and, on paper, interesting match ups to attract the kind of people who would buy this. But other than deluxe Blu Ray Wrestlemania DVD box sets or 5 dollar DVD's at Walmart or Target I can't see much of a market for the home video division. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sidebottom Posted March 7, 2014 Report Share Posted March 7, 2014 As Loss said, DVD has been on a decline for a while now. The effort over the last few years has been so so, in terms of matches, extras etc. I have an article from WWF magazine kicking around somewhere on the eve of the first two DVD release (Wrestlemania 15, and Stone Cold Hell yeah) and the enthusiasm was huge. Over the years, the creativity in the releases became routine. The documentaries have been getting better, but I imagine these will be network priorities moving forward. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marty Posted March 7, 2014 Report Share Posted March 7, 2014 If I remember Mookie's chart correctly, home video peaked in 2008. As for how the Network will affect it, it depends on how many would rather own physical media vs. streaming a pretty large library. You're still going to get collectors. To be honest, I think it'll affect the BR portion of home video. Blu-ray never really took off for WWE (some will argue it struggled in general for everything else, but it bombed with WWE) and with another HD option, people may turn away from that. Oddly, I think they'll keep going with DVD until the market really dries up. They're ridiculously cheaper to make and more people for whatever reason have stuck with them vs. BRs. Anyways, that WCW set is one of those types of sets that has lots of "we've seen these before" that they do every now and then. I think it's kinda for the next generation that's never seen them before or for anyone unaware of it. Plus, as Jose mentioned, it's a solid collection of some of the more memorable WCW PPV matches wrapped into one, so it's an easy sell for those who don't buy those things very often (casual fans). The Shawn Mania set is like that too, and compared to recent releases will sell like hotcakes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyonthewall2983 Posted March 7, 2014 Author Report Share Posted March 7, 2014 My problem with their WCW releases is that they seem to think they have to be comprehensive in their coverage, meaning that they seem to think those last 2+ years are worth covering. There is no real reason that triple-cage Russo fuck-up belongs on a War Games compilation with the matches from the 80's or the ones in '92 and '94. That sucks about the Blu-ray not taking off. As a format I much prefer it to DVD, but I understand the tendency to move towards the latter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loss Posted March 7, 2014 Report Share Posted March 7, 2014 Also they picked matches like Sting & Dusty vs Road Warriors that just aren't very good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyonthewall2983 Posted March 7, 2014 Author Report Share Posted March 7, 2014 Added to which they have matches on there which have been on previous releases. They don't mine too deep with respect to WCW material, or even their own sometimes (like the MSG disc). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mookeighana Posted March 10, 2014 Report Share Posted March 10, 2014 If I remember Mookie's chart correctly, home video peaked in 2008. As for how the Network will affect it, it depends on how many would rather own physical media vs. streaming a pretty large library. You're still going to get collectors. To be honest, I think it'll affect the BR portion of home video. Blu-ray never really took off for WWE (some will argue it struggled in general for everything else, but it bombed with WWE) and with another HD option, people may turn away from that. Oddly, I think they'll keep going with DVD until the market really dries up. They're ridiculously cheaper to make and more people for whatever reason have stuck with them vs. BRs. Anyways, that WCW set is one of those types of sets that has lots of "we've seen these before" that they do every now and then. I think it's kinda for the next generation that's never seen them before or for anyone unaware of it. Plus, as Jose mentioned, it's a solid collection of some of the more memorable WCW PPV matches wrapped into one, so it's an easy sell for those who don't buy those things very often (casual fans). The Shawn Mania set is like that too, and compared to recent releases will sell like hotcakes. http://www.f4wonline.com/more/more-top-stories/96-wwe/35580-on-wrestling-2013-wwe-financials-examined-wrestlenomics-style Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goodhelmet Posted March 10, 2014 Report Share Posted March 10, 2014 Was 2008 the Flair DVD release? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
victory Posted March 10, 2014 Report Share Posted March 10, 2014 Was 2008 the Flair DVD release? Yes. I just looked it up. The one with the documentary ( The Definitive Collection) came out that year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Chief Posted March 10, 2014 Report Share Posted March 10, 2014 The original Flair DVD, "Ultimate Ric Flair Collection" was released in 2003 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mookeighana Posted March 10, 2014 Report Share Posted March 10, 2014 Was 2008 the Flair DVD release? In recent years, home entertainment revenues have declined as a result of several factors, including consumers shifting to digital formats, subscription rental services and discount rental kiosks; general domestic and international economic conditions; increasing competition for consumer discretionary time and spending; piracy; and the maturation of the standard definition DVD format. In response to these declines, WWE is customizing its content and promotion to make the product more compelling for consumers. 2008: WrestleMania XXIV, which shipped approximately 326,000 gross units. 2007: WrestleMania XXIII, which shipped approximately 367,000 gross units. T2006: WrestleMania XXII, which shipped approximately 425,000 gross units, representing our largest selling DVD release in our history. FY2006: WrestleMania 21 was our best-selling DVD of all-time. Additionally, WrestleMania: The Complete Anthology box set, a release including the first 21 years of WrestleMania with a $279.95 suggested retail price, and sets of the WrestleMania Anthology broken into 5 year series, accounted for $7.2 million of total gross domestic revenues. FY2005: The Rise & Fall of ECW, which chronicled the history of Extreme Championship Wrestling, and Hard Knocks: The Chris Benoit Story. FY2004: The Ultimate Ric Flair Collection & The Monday Night War & WrestleMania XX. These three titles sold a total of approximately 335,000 units in fiscal 2004. In addition, we gained distribution in one large retailer in 2004, thereby increasing sales. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blazer Posted March 10, 2014 Report Share Posted March 10, 2014 I remember driving all over hell and highwater looking for that Flair set in late 2003....finally found it at a Circuit City on the north side of Chicago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Ridge Posted March 11, 2014 Report Share Posted March 11, 2014 I am a pretty big collector of Blu Rays and DVDS from WWE. Probably would have picked this set up if it was released before. But with the network there is very little interest right now for something like this since I can watch all the full PPVs. There is not much stuff out there for pending releases either. I will continue to pick up the major four PPVS for my collection but this year has the potential for me to buy the least of their sets. WWE also seems to be giving up on Blu Ray format in North America. The Best of Raw/Smackdown has been released on Blu for years now but only got a DVD release this time around. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
victory Posted March 11, 2014 Report Share Posted March 11, 2014 I remember driving all over hell and highwater looking for that Flair set in late 2003....finally found it at a Circuit City on the north side of Chicago.Yeah I remember looking all over for that one here in Chicago as well. I eventually bought it online from Deep Discount DVD for a cheaper price which I guess made up for all the gas I wasted. I still love the structure to that DVD where they focused on six of his top feuds. Shame they got away from that format. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loss Posted March 11, 2014 Report Share Posted March 11, 2014 Haha, Circuit City on the North side of Chicago. I moved to Lakeview four years ago and I'm trying to imagine where that would be. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blazer Posted March 11, 2014 Report Share Posted March 11, 2014 Haha, Circuit City on the North side of Chicago. I moved to Lakeview four years ago and I'm trying to imagine where that would be. Loss, it was on North Avenue, a bit west of Sheffield....so west of the little shopping area that has the Best Buy....kinda at Kingsbury and North Ave, on the northwest corner. I think it may be a public storage facility now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blazer Posted March 11, 2014 Report Share Posted March 11, 2014 http://www.yelp.com/biz/circuit-city-chicago-2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loss Posted March 11, 2014 Report Share Posted March 11, 2014 Awesome, thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bradhindsight Posted March 11, 2014 Report Share Posted March 11, 2014 Added to which they have matches on there which have been on previous releases. They don't mine too deep with respect to WCW material, or even their own sometimes (like the MSG disc). I wouldn't know different if this wasn't still the plan but the idea with the WCW PPV Match set is that there will be subsequent volumes, like they did for Nitro. FWIW, I have no issue with the triple cage war games match being on that set. Hey, we're completists. They haven't completely abandoned Blu-ray here although, as noted, both the Best of Raw & Smackdown 2013 AND the Best of 2013 PPV sets were not offered in blu ray for the first time in four years. That was disappointing. I doubt they'll ever go back to non big 3 shows on blu-ray - they tried exclusive BR releases with Best Buy on EC, Payback, MitB. I can't imagine they sold well. Their "After Raw" Dark Match comp, as well as the more recent comps like Shawn and the WCW one will have BR versions though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blazer Posted March 13, 2014 Report Share Posted March 13, 2014 I'm curious as to what happens to the video already out there on Amazon, ie the anthology sets for Summerslam, Rumble, SSeries and Mania. They hover between $20-$30 each. I wonder if we'll see those drop soon to like the $10 price point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bradhindsight Posted March 13, 2014 Report Share Posted March 13, 2014 Yeah FYE already dropped those to $10 buy 1 get 1 for an extended period. The market itself should dictate a lot of those coming down in price. I need to check out eBay and see how some of the more rarer releases (like Judgment Day 2002 and Vengeance 2002) have fared price-wise. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kronos Posted March 13, 2014 Report Share Posted March 13, 2014 With the blurring and the "F" bleeping, it's almost not worth the anthologies even at that ridiculously low price. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyonthewall2983 Posted March 13, 2014 Author Report Share Posted March 13, 2014 Plus a lot of the ones that are over 3 hours (and with WrestleMania, that's a lot) they are two-sided discs which aren't too fun to mess around with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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