When it comes to older footage,where is your balance between original broadcast presentation vs new high quality picture footage?

[SPS]

I was thinking about this after hearing Kris and Bix talk about how ECW on the WWE Network is almost unwatchable due to the understandable edits done to remove the copyrighted music.

 

Also with ROH starting up it's new streaming service it will probably remove a lot of the entrances of the 2002-2008 pre-HD Net era with the copyrighted music as most of their DVD releases have in the past few years.

 

So with stuff like this I was wondering other peoples thoughts on this strictly from personal preference as a viewer?

 

Obviously this is necessary as they would not be feasibly able to pay for all the copyrighted music, but when you watch stuff back do you prefer the newer edited footage with the higher quality picture or is it more about seeing it as it originally aired?

 

I personally don't mind to an extent when it comes to just match footage but when watching a PPV or show I really prefer to see it as it originally was, especially ECW and ROH as the music and everything added so much to the atmosphere and setting the mood for the matches.

 

But on the other hand as someone who didn't see an era like say AJPW in the 80's, I prefer watching the G+ airings of matches (which cut off most entrances and such)due to the higher quality footage vs the old taped copies I've seen from traders which have all of that but is of a lower quality.

 

So I guess it really comes down to what your relationship to the product is, I imagine those fans who didn't see ECW before the Network might not be put off as much by the edits since they have no comparison?

 

What are some other folks thoughts?

[Ricky Jackson]

Better video quality is nice but I'll choose poor/lesser quality with original music intact every time. Don't get me wrong, I love all the recent uploads to the Network, but damn, some of the dubs drive me nuts

[sek69]

Sometimes with rare stuff you take what you can get, but something like ECW is so widely available unedited it's hard to watch the Network versions. Most of them honestly aren't too bad, but someone like New Jack or Sandman loses everything that made them unique with their original music dubbed out.

 

Like Boogie Woogie's music being dubbed out isn't too bad because it's just happy music for him to come out to, but New Jack's whole match being done without Natural Born Killers defeats the whole point.

[Laz]

Tossing my hat in with not being able to watch ECW on the Network. The music was such a vital part of the company's presentation, from the dozen or so White/Rob Zombie tunes to "Natural Born Killaz" to "Walk," that dubbing it over ruins the mood. I literally subbed when it came out just to re-live my favorite ECW shows and declined to re-up over it.

 

ROH editing it out won't bother me, as the only theme used there I think was important at all was Bryan using "Final Countdown," if only for Final Battle '08. Maybe Joe using LL Cool J, but the important part of his theme everywhere major has been the Godzilla intro.

 

Overall, quality of footage only matters to me if the edit takes away from the mood. I have no problem if watching a WCW card from 1992 edits out "Mr. Bang Bang," or whatever, but Sandman needs Metallica.

[thebrainfollower]

I am keeping my old Coliseum videos, not only out of nostalgia but for the amazing theme intro

[sek69]

When you think about it, it's kind of amazing major companies would use actual music on TV/video releases and seemingly never think there would be a problem with that. Sure, you can say 80s WWF would not have been able to predict DVDs, streaming, OTT and all that but did they think having Ricky Steamboat come out to Sirius would never become an issue? JCP never stopped to think that having guys come out to popular music on a show airing on a nationally available superstation would not come back to bite them?

 

ECW could almost be excused since their whole persona was being the rebel underground promotion that didn't give a shit about things like music rights, but almost all the other edits that happen are solely due to promotional arrogance.

[southofheavy]

There's no way they would have seen it coming that far back. It wasn't an issue until the record industry completely shit the bed and artists needed to secure rights and licensing agreements to continue making money. ECW was the last bastion of it, and it coincided with the last record industry boom.

 

Would love to have complete runs of ECW and the territories with the original music. It bothers the hell out of me that the Midnight Express' theme isn't on the Network. But with ROH, I really, REALLY don't need to hear AFI, The Final Countdown or Self-Esteem by The Offspring ever again. They could edit all that stuff out for their streaming service and it would not bother me at all.

 

I'll say this: Outside of PWG's constant Dio references and CFO$ occasionally knocking a theme out of the park, the wrestling business has wildly awful taste in music.

[Flyin' Brian]

For the entire presentation I'd rather watch the originals. If they change the music I'd rather them just edit out the entrances all together for the most part. The changes just take me out of it.

[peachchaos]

The future is fan edits of Network footage. The ECW fan edits should be in circulation within the next year or so. With MACW we're basically talking about the theme song, and a lot of the 82 stuff we have from 24/7, so I don't think anyone will take that project on but who knows.

 

On topic, I would say it depends on if the original video quality is any good. We have really good looking ECW VHS footage, but the 80's territory stuff generally doesn't look as good. It's a horse-a-piece really.

[daveprazak]

A third generation VHS dub rather than an edited version, everyday.

[C.S.]

I don't care about music at all and barely remember what the original themes were anyway. Give me higher quality video every time.

 

Obviously, I prefer uncensored/uncut footage when it comes to anything - music included - but because Paul Heyman was such a liar, thief, con man, and carnie, he literally stole music and now we're unfortunately in the situation we're in.

[sek69]

Every promoter stole music, Heyman was just the last one to do it.

[Kronos]

The early 80's territory stuff I have ever traded for or downloaded over the years is almost always borderline unwatchable. I much prefer the Network versions of that stuff, when it exists. And for the other stuff, including Memphis and Continental, I am just glad it exists.

 

I didn't watch ECW back in the day, so I am not tied to the music the way you guys are. But the set of VHS rips I have of the ECW PPVs is fairly watchable - and the preshows are worthy additions. And the presence of things like Sandman or Welcome to the Jungle is always welcome.

[flyonthewall2983]

For some reason "Sirius" is left in during Steamboat's entrance at The Big Event. I'm guessing because it's not as audible as it might have been on other shows.

 

I don't mind it so much when they take out well-known songs from major artists, but music that was originally in those videos and nowhere else. The replacement of the music on those old CHV's is quite sad to me (but I like the new music on the later ones).

 

Someone on here mentioned Bischoff talking on his podcast about how he got "Voodoo Chile" by Jimi Hendrix for a fairly reasonable price in WCW, but that it would be impossible now because of how many platforms it would be on. Makes me wonder how much WWE had to pay for using "Cult Of Personality" for CM Punk and now "Bad Reputation" for Rousey.

[Laz]

I'd imagine "Cult of Personality" would be a little cheaper given Living Colour's level of fame being less than Joan Jett's.

[flyonthewall2983]

Going back a little on what I said before, watching Hogan come out to "Eye of the Tiger" at MSG gives you a pretty good idea of just how over he was at that point.

[flyonthewall2983]

Getting to the original question of picture quality, I like watching old VHS rips of stuff on YouTube. As long as it sounds at least audible I'm fine with it. There's a certain charm to mono tracks for older movies. I noticed this when I first started buying DVD's that I found the 5.1 surround tracks too clean.

[iamthedoctor]

The network is cool and all but I absolutely hate the way ECW has been edited to hell on the network.

 

ONS was one of my fav events but really hate that Vince wouldnt pay rights to use Enter Sandman on the Network, thankfully I recorded it back in the day so can always watch the unedited one.

 

Ive never been a fan of edits and really wish they would leave them in which is why original footage will always be better.

[TheDuke]

I like the song "Obsession," and it is a better song, but I do like the generic replacement theme song they use for the Saturday Night Main Event episodes on the Network. I think it does a good job of hyping you up for the matches you are about to see. And it sounds like it fits the era. Was there a time where this song was used for Main Event instead of Obsession in the original run?

[ChuckScumm]

I like the song "Obsession," and it is a better song, but I do like the generic replacement theme song they use for the Saturday Night Main Event episodes on the Network. I think it does a good job of hyping you up for the matches you are about to see. And it sounds like it fits the era. Was there a time where this song was used for Main Event instead of Obsession in the original run?

 

It took the spot over Obsession around 1988.