QOTD #28: Favorite Forgotten Moments

Today’s Question: What is your favorite moment in wrestling history (that nobody ever remembers)?

I’m talking about topics that are never mentioned on DVDs, rarely brought up by other people on the Internet, but really stuck out to you as a fantastic match or segment.

We’ll dive into that tomorrow.

Yesterday I asked for you to come up with WWE Network improvements. With the Q2 report not far away, WWE is expected to remain well below early projections. So your ideas are both designed to maintain the current base (which they cannot afford to lose) as well as attract new viewers.

Ryan Yoder: Kind of a small detail, and it may be different on devices that are not PS3s, but the option to sort PPVs chronologically would be helpful for people who would like to watch the PPVs in order but do not know the order.

As a PS3 user, I agree. I have a fairly good memory for stuff that happened 10 years ago, but they juggle around their lineup so often now that Battleground might have been a September Pay-Per-View previously, unless that was Night of Champions, etc etc. Having the lineup in order to be able to relive the action would be wonderful.

TheGrailspiral: The network, like hbo, needs a legitimate new idea/concept to become relevant to a larger audience. We are the core and love the library and such. HBO doesn't rely on its movie database, it features original new programming. Wwe needs this. Court Bauer said they need to think outside the box, like broadcast house shows or have a daily news show based on the old live wire show. SOMETHING

They’re obviously trying with their programming such as Legends House, but it’s nowhere near enough to attract anyone outside their current subscribers. I agree with the idea, but it needs to be fresh, because everything they do continues to cycle through the same cast, the same writers, and the same ideas.

Mike Mears: Here's a small change I'd love to see: have a DVD-like menu for each show. When you pull up a show, it gives a brief synopsis of the event. Why not just replace that with chapters for each match/segment?

Considering they already own the DVD’s and have the menus pre-made for most the shows from the past 15 years, this should be a snap.

Stranger In The Alps: A Just Added section, along with a schedule of what's Coming Soon, with specific dates. And STICK TO IT!

daveschlet: More content. For example All the old WCW Saturday Night Shows, Monday Nitros, AWA stuff, UWF stuff, and so on. And then for their live stream, they should put these shows on at the times they aired. Also, some new content stuff. I like the LiveWire idea I read in the comments, broadcasting house shows would be cool too, but they might see that as discouraging people to go to those shows. Also, more legends round table discussions or a show like TNT used to be. Just something different. But my major gripe, would be more content. I love the clashes and PPVs and SNMEs, but to have the shows that lead up to all these matches would also be great.

This was pretty much the #1 choice for everyone. I get the feeling that the appetite for WCW is a lot stronger than the WWE brass even begin to realize. There is so much content with the Turner library at their disposal, and virtually none of it is up. I understand that their brand is their daddy; but fans are tuning in for CONTENT, and lots of it; and one audience they may not have full tapped into yet are the jaded older fans who WWE lost some time ago. Offering the old NWA, AWA, and WCW footage would be a great place to start.

jungguy: The option to watch historical RAWs/Nitros from each week "simultaneously" ... and giving you the option to watch picture in a picture or switch back and forth between the two as if it were real time. Come up with creative or Network centric commercials to take the place of regular commercial breaks.

I think this would probably be a better tool for the live stream (or in this case, during the Wars, the “streams”), but I like the creativity here.

DJ Sprite: Also, since they want more original programming, how about a "My Favorite..." It could be about a wrestler's favorite match, event, storyline, title win... Whatever that given wrestler chooses to talk about.

I love this. Food Network fills tons of space with “The Best Food I Ever Ate”. There’s no reason they couldn’t run a similar feature with the Network.

Justin Henry: I'd add the ability to make playlists. Live-tweeting (or thread commenting) is fun with a group all watching the same thing, and it'd be fun to make a viewable marathon with some sort of theme for group viewing purposes

BeardMoney: Better interface. It would be great if it would save your place, like Netflix does with its streaming content, so that if you stop watching a show at one point, it would start up there the next time you put it on.

I agree with this. I do the majority of my watching late at night, or in the weekend afternoons. More often than not I either pass out during the show, or my wife wakes up from her nap and doesn’t really have any interest in watching Superbrawl 7. By the time I come back to it I have to figure out where I was; would obviously be better to just stop and resume.

Steven Bellah: Create your own compilations by choosing individual matches.

Absolutely. I think a brilliant option is to either allow a free-for-all, or maybe niche style ideas where you can “build your own Supercard” using the same rules we do sometimes, by not repeating a title defense or wrestlers during the card. Also “make your own Superstar DVD”, by giving you a list of every match they’ve ever had and let you pick the matches to create this. In terms of custom work with their content, the sky is the limit with this.

Basscase: The best improvement should be how they promote the service. Having all the wrestling you could possibly want is great, but they need to give a good reason WHY. WM for cheap? Sure. But you need to give the average viewer an education as to what it is, what you can do, and why you need it. You need to not so much say that it's like Netflix/Roku, but show what it can do and let people come to their own conclusions.

Yeah I find the line about “it’s like Netflix but better!” really weak. It’s their brand, they shouldn’t be comparing the two, but giving out their own benefits. They have a zillion people in marketing, this should be their top priority without question.

We also had a million calls for International expansion throughout the thread, which is obviously a big issue for everyone. I’d love to stop having to pay for a DNS in order to get it, so by all means, I’m on board with an eventual launch in Canada.

My idea for the Network is definitely an in-house option that should be made available in time with the arrival of more content. I want in depth Superstar Profiles.

What I mean by this, is let’s suppose I clicked on John Cena. I could see his career in-ring record, his championships held, what gimmicks he’s performed under, etc.

From there, let’s suppose I clicked on Championships. In looking at when they were won, I could click on the dates and watch the match it took place on. If I clicked on his win/loss record, I could get a detailed look at his matches either year over year, or a full track record, starting from Match #1.

Comprehensive? Sure, but these are easily the types of features that marketing can sell to show they are taking their product very seriously, and the interactive experience is like nothing else you’re seeing today.

Food for thought. Great discussion today guys. Have a great Friday. Catch you tomorrow.