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Resurrecting WCW PPVs


Hey Scott, maybe you've discussed this already, but here goes anyways.  In your opinion, do you see any worth/chance of WWE using any of the old WCW PPV Themes?  What would be the harm to the product to run Bash At The Beach, or a Halloween Havoc, or Spring Stampede?  Hell, even Hog Wild?  Say whatever else they will against WCW, at least they tried to use different settings for their shows.  Even Nitro would be broadcast live from non-traditional venues.  Is it simple a "we won't do it because WCW", or what?  Granted, some of these shows that WCW ran failed in  spectacular WCW fashion, but surely the WWE Juggernaut should be able to succeed where WCW failed.  Thanks for all of your work,

Ozzy

PS:  DS9 Season 7 Review?

Geez, I'm still only 7 episodes into the fifth season of Sons of Anarchy (FUCK YOU, CLAY!), not to mention that I wouldn't even remember what was going on at the end of DS9's sixth season.  Those reviews were binge-watched in the days when I worked early mornings and had all day to fuck around and do whatever I wanted.  That was long before marriage and a 4 year old and stuff.  

As for the WCW PPV idea, we've been calling for that forever, especially the change in visual presentation that the product so desperately needs.  Everyone has to learn to work WWE style, and all the production guys have to learn to direct Kevin Dunn style.  Doing a show from the beach or a theme park or ANYTHING would break up the monotony so much.  Remember the train station where they did the first Shotgun Saturday Night?  That was FUN!  Do a show from the fucking ECW arena, whatever.  SOMETHING.  

Comments

  1. The December PPV has never exactly caught on..why not just call it Starrcade? Halloween Havoc also makes sense to use.

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  2. Didn’t most of these outdoor weird-location
    shows turn out to be logistical nightmares or not be cost-effective? They’re
    cool, but I get why they don’t do them. Lee of an excuse for not having a cool
    Halloween Havoc set, but they did cut back massively on stuff like pyro in
    recent times so I imagine extravagant sets for non-Wrestlemania shows aren’t a
    high priority.

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  3. Back in 2006, wasn't "Halloween Havoc" listed on their PPV slate in WWE Magazine? It was going to be a Smackdown PPV, I think?

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  4. I always loved Bash at the Beach 1995, that took place at a beach. Even if the event was kind of...ehhh..it was just a fun awesome visual. It also makes it seem worthwhile for purchasing the PPV as you are seeing something different. The B squad PPVs are no different visually than RAW except for some graphics.

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  5. Bash at the Beach and Halloween Havoc are perfect.

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  6. Do Halloween Havoc in May. That'll really screw with peoples' heads.

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  7. I wish they'd do "seasons" too. Like Jan-Feb-March is WM season. A new batch of storylines begins with the summer season of April-May-June-July-August. And a fall season for Sept-Oct-Nov-Dec. Blow off the fall angles with a resurrected Starrcade in December so you can start fresh again in Jan for the Rumble.


    Turn Starrcade into WM Jr. Like it was before they started running huge stadiums.

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  8. no no, we'll have Halloween on Christmas

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  9. wwe uncensored!!

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  10. THIS IS HALLOWEEN
    THIS IS HALLOWEEN

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  11. Question: Why does it bother us so much that the WWE will go to the 1990s well so often yet we can't help ourselves from dipping our toes in that nostalgic water just as frequently? I'm incredibly guilty of it in my own right. I can't stop watching Nitros from 1996.



    But when it comes to the current product, I'd much rather they just blow it all up and start all over again in many respects.

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  12. It might just be the stink of WCW on them, but most of the WCW PPV names always sounded hokey to me. Starcade has grown on me, and I could see that one in the rotation, but the others? Spring Stampede? Is this a one-off name because you're in Calgary or Texas and want to play off of that? If not then it sounds ridiculous.

    Not that Fast Lane is much better I suppose.

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  13. "This venue can't work WWE style! It'll never work in this business again!"

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  14. I posted this before but these are the PPVs I'd do. I think each one needs its own distinct brand/theme:


    Jan: Royal Rumble (The Rumble Match)
    Feb: Superbrawl (The Road to Wrestlemania PPV, all the matches inform the Wrestlemania card)
    Mar: Wrestlemania (The Grand Daddy of them all)
    Apr: Backlash (The fall out from Wrestlemania)
    May: Slamboree (A nod to the tradition wrestling, the history, maybe with old seldom used gimmick match. If you're going to trot out old guys to wrestle do it here)
    Jun: Money In The Bank (The MITB Match)
    Jul: Great American Bash (4th of July crap, patriotism, trot out Hacksaw Jim Duggan)
    Aug: Summerslam (Mini Wrestlemania. Halfway to Wrestlemania show)
    Sep: Night of Champions (Only PPV of the year where every title is on the line)
    Oct: Halloween Havoc (Hardcore PPV)
    Nov: Survivor Series (Survivor Series elimination matches)
    Dec: Starrcade (A homecoming show)

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  15. Yeah, even watching WrestleKingdom 9, the all around different setup was nice.

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  16. WWE buying that stupid HD titantron has ruined all visuals from the company. Every show looks and feels identical.

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  17. Changed my mind, replace Slamboree w/ KOTR Tournament for May.

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  18. The answer is kind of obvious in that Vince doesn't want anything WCW to be around his product. Look what happened to WCW after he bought them. If it's not his creation, it will not excel or succeed. He's even going to have his son in law beat WCW's biggest creation in Sting at WrestleMania in 2015!

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  19. Now that PPV revenue isn't a big consideration anymore I like the idea of fiddling with the days/times of PPVs.


    I like that they used to hold them in the afternoons some times. I like when they used to do the Survivor Series on Thanksgiving Eve.

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  20. Matt_INDEED_Was_Bayless'd!February 11, 2015 at 7:44 AM

    The one I'm still shocked about to this day is not using Halloween Havoc. Especially in the PG era. The kiddies love Halloween, and here's a Halloween-themed PPV. Look Kids, John Cena is in the back dressed like a Power Ranger! And here's a bobbing for apples contest! That's the cheesy sports entertainment kiddie bullshit they love.....it's amazing they don't do it.

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  21. Whenever the venues are brought up on shows like the Legends Roundtable... Michael Hayes and the other WWE guys are VERY quick to jump in with, "Yeah, but did it make any money? No. So there ya go!"

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  22. And here's the thing... they'd be so fucking good at it too!

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  23. Matt_INDEED_Was_Bayless'd!February 11, 2015 at 7:46 AM

    ...and in the night we'll wish this never ends?
    we'll wish this never ends?

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  24. I thought it was awesome when it debuted in 2008 but it's been seven fucking years. Imagine them using that electric entrance they used for the early Raws in 2000.

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  25. I think they need less living in the past, not more.

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  26. Could WWE sell out the ECW arena today? They can barely sell 2,000 seats for a show in a 12,000 seat arena (outside of a few cities they run once a year)

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  27. The only things that look and feel different are WrestleMania and NXT... and the jury seems to be in on both those things being pretty damn great.

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  28. Yeah, without a doubt. I think they could even sell it out for NXT.

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  29. My issue with the Attitude reunions are they're almost always DX. I think most of us that were there at the time realize that DX were big, but aside from the Tyson stuff when Shawn was still in the group they were generally an upper midcard act. Shit, Hunter had to leave the group to become a main eventer. They weren't the big game changer that HHH and Vince try to say so this stuff seems to have an agenda, even though most of it is lazy booking with the COO pulling his buddies in for a quick paycheck. They also go to the well too often -- the WCW stuff would be getting the same amount of hate if they did it every 2-3 months. Have DX or the NWO reunite every 18-36 months and there's no issue.

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  30. Obviously you guys haven't seen pictures of the last few months of Smackdown tapings

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  31. The real tragedy is Halloween Havoc sitting on the shelf all these years.

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  32. They did 7,500 for Hartford on the 29th of January. Not sure how did they did in Denver the week after.

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  33. The real tragedy is that blow up goblin from HH 98 has been sitting on the shelf all these years.

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  34. I even liked No Mercy as an annual PPV name.

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  35. Good idea. I think Canadian and Japanese promotions used to do that. It's been said a zillion times before, but if they rotated the roster they could do this. Say Cena is on top, because he's Cena, and he's feuding with Brock at Mania. Brock leaves at Mania because his dates are up. The next night Rollins comes back and they feud. In the past one of the big issues with roster rotation was nobody wanted to miss Mania -- and they still don't -- but without the PPV payouts maybe this is less of an issue and if you promise them a spot on a rebuilt SummerSlam and Starrcade, this can be done easier. I know people wouldn't want to skip Mania, but younger guys might if they're told they'll get a push on the summer roster. Better to get a series of big matches in July than 3 min. at Mania.

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  36. Catching up on NXT this fine morning before the Special tonight.

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  37. Probably depends on the hook. If it's another mix of Kane, Big Show, Cena, etc then maybe not. But if they promote it right and it's different then I think they can get 2000 ppl at a reasonable price.

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  38. Yep. Gave you something fun to look forward to that Wednesday night before all the Thanksgiving festivities began.

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  39. That is a great list.

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  40. The real tragedy is SLIM JIM not sponsoring PPVs anymore

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  41. Yeah, but these guys only look at tickets. What about sponsorships, PPV buys? I hate when they talk about papering because Vince papered the shit out of Mania 3 and the Rumble in San Antonio when Shawn regained the belt from Sid. So the answer is don't book huge stadiums or run PPVs in the headliner's hometown? Granted Mania 3 made money and the papering was for TV purposes, but it has the same validity as saying an outdoors PPV with free tickets that was covered with sponsorship money didn't make money. I also seem to recall Bischoff saying that WCW had sponsors for the spring break Nitros and they didn't lose money. I'm sure there have been many Raws that didn't sell out and attendance was technically a money loser, but USA's contract meant you still made money that night.

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  42. The show I went to in Austin last month was at least 80% tarped off. Saw a picture of the same thing from last night's tapings

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  43. The real tragedy is Lord Alfred Hayes not leading into commercials by saying (in a thick British acent): "Promotional consideration paid for by the following:"

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  44. Rebrand the nXt specials as old WCW PPV''s. At NXT Chi Town Rumble............

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  45. "Remember the train station where they did the first Shotgun Saturday
    Night? That was FUN! Do a show from the fucking ECW arena, whatever.
    SOMETHING."

    According to Triple H, NXT will start touring later this year. If the can reign in the production costs, they'd be foolish not to tape shows at the ECW Arena, Hammerstein Ballroom, and other places in Chicago or LA that would be super-hot for a NXT show.

    Hell, do one at the Impact Zone or the Nashville Fairgrounds just to stick it to TNA.

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  46. DAMNIT WHERES THE DAILY UPDATE!

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  47. What time is that on?

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  48. Why? WCW died for a reason.

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  49. I did some Googling and the live WWE numbers don't look so hot. I believe they averaged about 4400 paid for 2014 and it dropped to the high 3000s for December 2014.

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  50. Huh? From the January Observer:
    * WWE's domestic live events averaged 4,575 tickets sold per event in September 2014, down from 5,063 per event in September 2013 and up from 4,104 per event in September 2012

    * Domestic WWE live events averaged 5,239 tickets sold per event in October 2014, up from 4,389 per event in October 2013 and 4,762 per event in October 2012

    * WWE's domestic live events averaged 3,710 tickets sold per event in November 2014, down from 4,957 per event in November 2013 and 4,786 per event in November 2012

    Those aren't great numbers, but they're FAR higher than "barely sell out 2000 seats a show).

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  51. Great American Bash worked FANTASTIC last time.

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  52. More attendance figures:
    * January 29th in Hartford, CT for SmackDown drew 7,500 fans
    * January 30th in Las Cruces, NM drew 8,000 fans
    * January 31st in Orlando, FL for NXT drew a sellout of 400 fans
    * January 31st in Albuquerque, NM drew 7,000 fans
    * January 31st in Edmonton, AB drew 6,000 fans
    * February 1st in Loveland, CO drew 2,700 fans
    * February 1st in Calgary, AB drew 2,500 fans
    * February 2nd in Denver, CO for RAW drew 8,500 fans

    Yeah, there's some crappy house shows in there (2,700 in Loveland and 2,500 in Calgary). Excluding the NXT show, that's an average of over 6000 per show.

    I'm not WWE apologist (and I realize that's still a shitty number), but it's woefully inaccurate to say WWE can "barely sell 2,000 seats for a show"

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  53. According to Cornette, the Alamodome Royal Rumble did 47,514 paid tickets with 12,511 comps for a total of 60,525. Tickets were as low as $10 and they STILL had to give out of the tickets for free.

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  54. The Observer says January 20th in Austin, TX for SmackDown drew 5,500 fans

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  55. This will never happen because in Vince's head WCW = failure and WWE = success.

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  56. This isn't going well.

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  57. I mean, that is true

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  58. It's just their way of saying, "WCW is wrong and WWE is right."


    Also, Michael Hayes still wakes up wondering how he ever ended up with the sweet gig he's got now, so he's got to keep his nose clean.

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