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Your take on WWE Network show concepts

Blog fodder:

So I just watched the first episode of The Monday Night War on the Network, and I gotta say it was pretty good, as reported. A little spin work, as expected, but mostly it was a nice in-depth look at the very start of the war leading into the nWo forming. THIS is the type of show they need more of to really hook viewers...they need to use their library to make new shows out of rather than just copy reality TV shit and pretend that wrestling can be squeezed into any format. They should have an Attitude Era show, and while they should show the Nitros in their entirety like the RAWs, they need to have a Best of WCW Saturday Night or a Best of the WWE: 80's & 90's type show to show some of the forgotten TV stuff that up until now only made it onto their DVD sets.

Would those concepts work you think? You got a better idea, tough guy???

​The video vault is such a gigantic waste of time right now and it could be awesome.  They could be showing all those YouTube shows on the Network, edited into a half-hour "Best of" show, for example.  Apparently the reason is that the people running the Network are not wrestling fans.  Wrap your head around that:  The people in charge of programming a 24 hour over-the-top wrestling network do not watch wrestling.  So don't set your sights too high for newer and better content is what the message seems to be.  ​

Comments

  1. Vince isn't in "the rasslin' business."

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  2. Non-fans would be the type to just show the PPV and not have the events leading up to the PPV available.

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  3. I would love it if they did compilations of old storylines: like Hulk/Andre. Start off with the two as enemies when Hulk was a bad guy, see them become friends, see Andre turn on him, and then keep going to Summerslam 1988. With the network, it could be a six hour show and there would be no problem. They could also do the Savage/Hogan storyline, and take you through the years. Or Undertaker/Michaels. Or Horseman/Sting Make the storyline the star, where each match builds on the previous one.

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  4. This was my question, and actually that's exactly one of the shows I thought of I forgot to put into the post...they should def. have a show, call it 'Good Friends, Better Enemies' to be all self-referential and shit, and have each show be about a particular feud or storyline angle, with at the very lease abbreviated versions of all the matches involved therein. You can't complain too hard about not getting full uncut matches in this show when you can bop right over to the PPV section and watch it there if you want. Plus, that's what they would do anyway.

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  5. The Monday Night War show was Ok. Nothing I didn't really already know and the only new footage for me was the Ted Turner interviews designed to make him look bad. I did laugh when I was told WWF was a small, regional promotion before Vince (I think Linda said it). I also thought they overstated Luger's "superstar" status in WWF before he left. Yes he was a top guy in WCW and in WWF until WM10, but by the end he was tagging with Bulldog and nowhere near any belts. I also had to laugh at Vince's often repeated spin about how he is about building up his business and not hurting competitors. Ehh, some of the promoters in the early and mid 80s might disagree and JCP would certainly disagree when Vince booked Survivor Series to kill JCP and threatened to not run his WWF ppvs on ppv companies that booked both JCP and WWF.

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  6. I may be in the minority but I'd rather just have unedited weekly shows and unedited house shows rather than best of shows. A show focused on a particular feud might be interesting but if it means taking attention and time away from getting up Primetime and WCW Saturday Night and the like, then I will pass.

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  7. My 6 month commitment ends tomorrow and I am not re-upping.

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  8. It still amazes me that someone, who has made billions of dollars in the wrestling business, is embarrassed to be in the wrestling business.

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  9. Let me preface this by saying that I still love The Network. I don't have a lot of time to watch a ton of it, so even though the content isn't super diverse, it's yet to bother me.


    But from a business perspective, they've made several mistakes right from the beginning:
    When they first announced The Network, there was a ton of buzz about it, especially from former fans no longer watching WWE. Rather than announce its debut six weeks in advance, they should have waited maybe a week tops. What I would have done was rather than announce in January that it'd debut at the end of February, I'd have held a presser the week before WrestleMania and that it'd debut the Monday following WrestleMania. That way, you still get your usual high buyrate for WrestleMania and you get a combination of the initial Network buzz and usual WrestleMania buzz aiding the debut. It also keeps your biggest weapon (WrestleMania 31 included) still unused in the arsenal.


    The second issue as discussed here is the live stream. At first, I thought the live stream was pointless but I disagree now, especially considering their Canadian deal. I think, as I've seen suggested here and other places, is that rather than the seemingly totally random and often terrible scheduling, with all the territory footage they have, they should upload a new episode in its old time slot each week. Just one episode. That keeps the fans both wanting more and adds at least some rhyme or reason to what's being shown. Fans would know that every Saturday at 6:00 would be a new episode of WCW/Saturday Night. Just start from the beginning and keep going. Same thing with Mid-South/UWF's prime show, ECW late night, etc, etc... And when you have free time slots, that's when you can air Legends House/Total Divas/other original programming.


    But I guess when The Network is being run by folks who've never watched wrestling and know nothing about it, something that seems so logical and easy in theory isn't so in practice.

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  10. I think the easiest thing to produce would be like a "Hard Knocks" or "24/7" type of show. Sort of what we got with the Bryan and Shield docs, but a weekly doc show focused on one superstar a week. Do a 13-episode series and they will totally be re-watchable. That's more along the lines of "entertainment" instead of wrestling anyway. Vince has wanted to be HBO forever. It makes sense.

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  11. Only half jokingly but it makes sense, I don't think Steph and company are that big of fans of wrestling either

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  12. Trips is. This is quite obvious.

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  13. Because? Interested to hear.

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  14. Yeah, was aiming more towards Steph and the soap writers she brought in.

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  15. The thing is, I can afford the 15 a month (Network plus Unblock Us), so it would take a lot for me to not renew. But it may come. The reason the complete archive doesn't work for me as well as I initially thought it would, is this:

    If I was 10 or 11 years old, the network would have consumed my life and it would have made me the happiest kid on earth. I also may have severely lacked sleep. I could get off school on a Friday night, or come home from school at 3:00 pm and watch Wrestlemania X, XI, and XII, ALL IN A ROW!

    Now, I work Monday - Friday roughly 8:00 - 6:00. Then there's the Supper thing. Then there's housework or whatever errands I have. I also don't mind watching Jeopardy every night at 9:00--my one holdover from traditional television "forced" viewing. On the weekends, I like to go out with my friends, or have a date night with my girlfriend.

    So, really, my time to view the network comes, at best, in 20 minute chunks. I'll start a Raw, all gung-ho and excited, but by the time HBK defeats Jimmy Del Ray in the opener, I've gotta do something else. I definitely don't have time to sit down and watch a three hour pay per view.

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  16. That and they still have DVDs to sell, so besides the $9.99 they're making us pay for DVDs to see the classic footage.

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  17. Stranger in the AlpsAugust 25, 2014 at 8:39 AM

    Has anyone looked at the live stream schedule lately? it appears that the programming is now on a 3 or 4 hour loop, where the same shows are being repeated several times a day now. Those RAW and Smackdown Flashbacks at 8 or 9 in the AM? Gone.

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  18. How about roll out the network the day after WM AND have the show already on demand that next day. They get the buys from the casuals (who wont be getting the network most likely anyway and just want to see WM live) and from the hardcores who NEED to see WM live or it is ruined. Then when the network rolls out the next day you get everybody who would sign up anyway and maybe some more leaking in that didnt get to see WM live for some reason.

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  19. I wouldn't mind him having complete control.

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  20. how about some other original programming like HBOs. Could have Mr. Fuji as the head of a crime family in Fujpranos, could have Dean Ambrose calling everybody cunts in the old west in SHIELDwood, and the divas in a continuation of the Real Sex series.

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  21. Give it another 4 months.

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  22. the network does its best work for me usually when Im on the shitter or in the bath tub. bring the ol' Kindle in there and start up an episode of Legends of Wrestling or Countdown or WM Rewind or whatever.

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  23. I think he just hates that it's considered to be like a side show at a carnival, and that he wants more people to take it serious. That's why he tries so many "entertaining" spots.

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  24. That is a perfect way to describe it.

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  25. ugggh. They "leave then wanting more" philosophy is a colossal failure. Enough already. Put the archives up and let people realize they have stuff to watch for years instead of irritating old school fans and having them "hope" that they bother to put up some content we find interesting.

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  26. it kinda amuses me that the harder they sell on Raw, the less they seem to be trying on the actual programming of the network.

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  27. ....I don't know why I just thought of this but...shouldn't Shane be running the network? Wouldn't he theoretically be the perfect guy for this? Mix his knowledge of the business and the company along with his real world tech business experience.

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  28. Welcome to life.

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  29. So this was a new show? Not just the Monday Night Wars DVD?

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  30. Now you know how Spike feels! Sorry, couldn't help it.

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  31. This is why the video vault needs to be pulling all kind of great and lost matches from house shows, prime time, WCW Saturday night and so on and loading the network up with stuff that isn't already on the network.

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  32. How about just adding shit to give context to all these random ppvs that are up. That's all I ask for.

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  33. The issue is to do a hard knocks type show I think WWE would have to look uglier than they want. The pain of the road, the getting screwed or held down in the story lines..All the stuff Vince doesn't want you thinking about his company.

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  34. The Love-Matic Grampa!August 25, 2014 at 9:13 AM

    Apparently the reason is that the people running the Network are not
    wrestling fans. Wrap your head around that: The people in charge of
    programming a 24 hour over-the-top wrestling network do not watch
    wrestling.



    Yeah, this was definitely the time to go against their normal M.O. and bring in an actual wrestling nerd or two to run what is essentially a project geared towards hardcore fans. Just stick them in the basement so Vince and HHH don't catch a glimpse of them and have a fit about "geeks" infesting Titan Towers or something.

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  35. The Love-Matic Grampa!August 25, 2014 at 9:18 AM

    This philosophy works when you have a product that is in high demand. The subscription numbers show that decades-old footage doesn't necessarily fit into that category. So perhaps it is time to re-evaluate the business plan.

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  36. Fix the network:
    1. A fucking schedule
    2. Attitude era/Nitros now and in huge junks.
    3. ecw TV + the pre PPV Supershows
    4. a video vault that brings us matches not found on the network
    5. NWA/WCW Supershows from the 80's that weren't on PPV (Original War Games and such)
    6. Prime Time
    7. Prime Time
    8. Start putting up WWE & NWA 80s TV episodes.

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  37. The Love-Matic Grampa!August 25, 2014 at 9:20 AM

    But...I thought the painter was overzealous!

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  38. even more puzzling, they already have a show that is at least a bit like that and is not on the Network: Vintage Collection.

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  39. Shanes not coming back. Last i heard anyway.

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  40. I guess it's kind of ironic that a "Divas Undressed" show, something that could boost the Network subscriptions at least a bit, is off the limits because of the current direction of the company (because for the first time ever because of the Network being an on demand channel instead of the usual bait-and-switches they could actually do it and show nudity).

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  41. Hell just bring back Confidential.

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  42. Does anybody know how big this Rey contract is?


    How can Vince justify that type of contract for a wrestler who doesn't wrestle? I know he doesn't actually need a justification, but these are the type of things that drop stock prices (and I don't mean the actual contract, unless it's like 100 million for 2 years or something insane. I mean the practice of signing guys who don't do anything).

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  43. exactly.


    "who cares about some random tv promo on a syndicated tv show?" "wrestling geeks, the people who very likely make up most of your subscribers!"

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  44. I've seen 98% of the PPV's they have on there in the library, the SNME's are available on Youtube, I've seen a bunch of the Clashes, the new documentaries they are adding have already been released on DVD or have little to no interest from me, the live PPVs have had bad quality live minus 1-2 of them, they have put in little to no effort in putting up any older content like Prime Time, NWA/WCW Saturday Night, Nitro, Thunder, heck even the older RAWs are going up very slowly.

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  45. No, their roster is very solid. Its just there are literally no feuds going on besides Abyss/Bram (Bram has won every match and they have all been gimmick matches), Wolves/3D/Hardys (Bully leaving the company doesn't help), Joe/Low Ki (Joe already beat him last week), and Roode, Eric Young, Aries vs. Lashley, MVP, King has absolutely no interest from me.

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  46. paraphrasing an austrian rapper:
    "do I want respect or the cash? I decide to go with the latter, because the former automatically comes with it."

    Vince is already being taken serious in the sense that there really is no one in his right mind that wouldn't acknowledge that he made a fortune out of a "circus".

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  47. Why? In all honesty, I'm not sure what the point would be. Doing that with Rey seems to give you no short term gain (whatever they're paying him surely equals more than whatever the "damage" would be if he went to another promotion, since WWE doesn't even really have any serious competitors right now) and no long term gain (you're pissing him off and making him less likely to cooperate when you want to bring him back in the future for some one off thing or an appearance or whatever). What's the gain for WWE by keeping him on payroll for another year? There's no WCW anymore.

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  48. Virgil's Gimmick TableAugust 25, 2014 at 9:39 AM

    The network is the ONE THING that I thought they couldn't possibly fuck up. The one reason I still give my money to this company... And they're fucking it up.

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  49. This is the exact logic I would assume Vince would have too. "I paid you millions for months while you were injured, and now that you are finally healed you want to go and work for the competition? FUCK YOU! ...I'm going to keep paying you and not let you work!"

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  50. That is so the European audience has the same prime time experience as the North American audience. I think aside from Live shows they are starting to focus less on the live feed and more on the on-demand stuff. The Live Feed is going to become just a filler between PPVS

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  51. Mostly old footage with talking heads like the Miz. The Miz talking about wrestling wars. Oh, and Kofi. My subscription is up and I'm done too. Have most of this on vhs anyway

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  52. Does WWE pull in a huge Latino audience with Los Matadores and fake Sin Cara?

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  53. Wait, so you DON'T like TNA now? Finally!

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  54. I bet that if he took the mask off, that would hurt his marketability no matter who he wrestled for.

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  55. I'd settle for a search function that works. Seriously, how hard can that be - it's not 1997.

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  56. All great ideas. Especially #4. I was excited to see a video vault and couldn't help but laugh when I saw Megapowers vs Megabucks as the first match uploaded.


    Another thing I'd like to see added are all the old Coliseum Video releases. "Supertapes", "World Tours", etc.

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  57. I think a lot of the old-school fans will do this actually. They'll come back once it improves. And the thing is they don't really need to develop a ton of new content either to retain people - start with all the stuff they do have and start airing it already.

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  58. Yea...or at least video vault matches could be coming from those. all the HBK/Savage/Bret/Perfect matches that made those tapes watchable.

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  59. ......I'm just going to say it. Tuesday Night Titans

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  60. Exactly. Bret/Flair in '92 is the perfect type of match for a video vault.

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  61. TJ: has anyone listened to the interview Steve Austin did with Kamala? It's pretty interesting.

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  62. Good synopsis of it - it was fine, nothing groundbreaking or edgy. The line about him "helping his business, not hurting others" was silly. I'm all for it, but geez, call it what it is. I mean the guy steamrolled territories, which was brilliant but that sort of hurts other business and all.

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  63. Actually the first thing the vault show have is every single heavyweight title changing match.

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  64. That line is awesome. I used it on a paper for a paper for a marketing class back in college in 98.

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  65. I like the wrestling a lot, but the storylines/feuds are non-existent currently.

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  66. I doubt it, but I do think they are a little afraid of losing Latino audiences who are more familiar with luchalibre gong back to watching AAA when WWE isn't the only show in town.

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  67. Seems more coincidental than comical.

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  68. Hope he wasn't in character.


    Austin: "So what are your best WWF memories?"
    Kamala: "UAAAAAEEEAAHEEEEHHHHH"

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  69. The funny part is they have what seems like it should be the hard part figured out relatively well - getting people to know about the app and how to access the network itself. They're fairly ahead of the curve on that, save some issues as mentioned. But the part that should be a slam dunk they seem to be dropping the ball on which is content. They have such a vast library and can't seem to figure out how to put it up. Forget new content for a minute, because even without that they have a ton of stuff people would love to see. It's weird.

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  70. The Love-Matic Grampa!August 25, 2014 at 9:57 AM

    It seems like most (not all) of the complaints are centered around issues that are easily fixed, which is where I think most of the frustration is coming from. The Network itself is a great concept, but it's not fully formed and the company seems to be taking an inordinate amount of time getting its shit together. Is it really that hard to create a stable timetable for when stuff will be released? Or to have some consistency in terms of what is released? I understand some stuff has to be edited (although I don't like it), but as many have pointed out there was tons of "sanitized" footage from 24/7 that hasn't shown up on the Network. So what's the hold up?

    I'm not saying throw everything up at once, either (although those low numbers seem to indicate that instead of being "hungry for more", people will just wait until their favorites are up before signing up and/or renewing). But clearly something isn't working, and the lack of attention to small details is going to end up hurting this endeavor before it really gets off the ground. Causals aren't buying this thing, and annoying the hardcores with constant shilling combined with bad customer service is a recipe for disaster.

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  71. Haha...no, but his voice doesn't match what I expected.

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  72. I really liked Confidential, even just adding the old ones would be nice.

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  73. They need to add those shows at a faster rate than once a week. Once I've seen all the ppvs I'd bail if they milked it that slowly. I want a full archive not something once a week.

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  74. Just watched the Ironman match between HHH and The Rock, as well as the Raw the next night. Seems like at the beginning of the American Badass stuff for Taker, they were going for more of a Hell's Angel vibe with him. It was a bit of a continuation of the stuff he was doing towards the end of the Ministry gimmick before he took time off, where he came out dressed in the biker gear on a regular basis but still came out to the Ministry music.

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  75. Instead of Ask Jeeves it could be Ask Lord Alfred Hayes

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  76. That actually sounds terrible. This is why I don't want anything original they do outside of wrestling. It will be garbage. I only want to watch the actual raw and Nitro's not some rehashed talking head crap and pro Vince spin...puke

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  77. Wow they are really going to fuck this whole thing up aren't they.

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  78. To me this is easy, you make the whole library available to sink those of us who wouldn't piss on the new product to put out a fire and they make the ppvs good to sink those of you who still enjoy following the wwe from week to week. Instead they add 5% of the library and stop and put no effort into building good ppvs.

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  79. That'd be great if we could get it yet in Europe.

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  80. And if so, what happens...do they let the new deal with the pandas run out and we're back to blurring? Does Benoit go bye bye again (not that I care...)

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  81. I find it sad that Lashley has seemed like an afterthought these past few week, I get that MVP doesn't have power anymore, and Dixie was the main heel, but come on, he's YOUR champion TNA.

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  82. Well wouldn't the 24/7 stuff have to be re-edited to put back in certain things? (WWF references, certain theme songs, certain murderers...) If it's violence they're worried about, they do just apply different ratings to them, right?

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  83. Well they said Nitro was coming.
    To me this is like when formerly niche cable channels decide they must appeal to all demographics. Classics on Demand was the niche version. The Network is trying to appeal to casuals and current fans, which cuts into the "original" premise.

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  84. I remember when Shane left, the Observer and other places talking about how it could quite possibly be the biggest story of the decade. Would he take over TNA? UFC? Try to put his dad out of business? So much speculation, and then absolutely nothing, ever.

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  85. Can you ask your boss to have it up on a big screen in the office?

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  86. O/T: Was there any worse string of 3 World title matches on PPV than the 2010 ones between Kane and Undertaker?

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  87. Funny enough, we just installed a huge flat screen in and got new leather couches for the waiting room. So the last couple of Raws I've been coming back to work to watch.

    However, my boss is really cool so it's not a George Costanza type situation where I'm sneaking around to do it.

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  88. CruelConnectionNumber2August 25, 2014 at 10:36 AM

    Sept 1st is my last of the 6 month payments. I won't be renewing because the product SUCKS and the on demand content sucks even harder. Good riddance. I hope the whole model collapses on them for ripping us off with shitty PPV streams the past couple months and lame content available.

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  89. Things might be different now, but there was a HUGE thing in Mexico over him putting the mask back on after los

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  90. CruelConnectionNumber2August 25, 2014 at 10:37 AM

    Wrestling goes back to smoky bars in the south!

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  91. It's like they bought Hotbot and installed it. They're a step away from telling us to go to AOL and type in a keyword

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  92. Aye. Every time Jerry is told to put on that fake burned out smile and say "I love shows like Total Divas and Legends House!" you can tell this isn't being marketed or run by anyone who cares about wrestling.

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  93. Signing guys to do nothing isn't necessarily a bad thing. Rey leaving could, in theory, jump* start a rival promotion or hurt WWE's drawing power when they tour Mexico & Latin America. If you sign Rey to say $200K/year and can gain that money back in promotional work + less erosion in ratings/PPV revenues/tickets, it's a financial positive.

    Eventually, someone could sue the WWE claiming the practice to be anti-competitive. AAA could even argue that the WWE being allowed to operate as a monopoly in this fashion violates fair trade practices and could sue in the World Court.

    * Note: Rey can't actually jump without tearing his ACL.

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  94. Did anyone else find it odd that on the Monday Night Wars, everyone referred to it as "The WCW" and not just "WCW?" It was almost like they were told to say it that way.

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  95. Another thing they have to do with the archive is finish what they start. Why did they just abruptly stop uploading WCCW and ECW? I was surprised that they began with the Eastern Championship Wrestling days rather than just diving right into the Extreme stuff. But when they did, I thought "Okay, they're gonna show the entire evolution of ECW." But they just stopped uploading them. Just like that. Really...97% of the people who comment on this blog could do a better job as the person in charge of the Network's video archive. The people running that are shooting themselves in the foot.

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  96. Bunch of Bret wannabes if ya ask me.

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  97. Final remnant of Bret Hart's creative control...

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  98. Or just put on a different mask. He could be Villano XI.

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  99. There is NO World title feud, NO X-Division title feud, NO real Knockouts title feud, barely a tag title feud. Ugh. MVP as a heel just has no appeal to me as a mouthpiece for Lashley. Lashley has had a hell of a run of matches as World Champion, but the list of challengers is running very thin and there's not story behind any of the title matches. It's just Guy A challenges Lashley for the title and Guy A loses. Onto Guy B....

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  100. That appears to be the plan, yes.

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  101. Give any one of us a copy of Final Cut and access to the library, in a week you'd have better programing than they've had in six months.

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  102. Extant1979 - Ghetto SuperstarAugust 25, 2014 at 11:03 AM

    I just started listening to the Austin podcast, I've got his second Eric Bischoff interview on now, as they discuss Bret Hart's horrible WCW run.

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  103. Monday Night Raw
    "I tell ya, it's the tightest 3 hours and 10 minutes on TV!"

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  104. But seriously...

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  105. wow, you guys are really never happy.

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  106. Did someone hack your account?

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  107. Extant1979 - Ghetto SuperstarAugust 25, 2014 at 11:07 AM

    I will watch Smackdown on Thursdays the same amount I watched Smackdown on Fridays and TNA on Thursdays: pretty much never.

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  108. Between them choosing to add next to nothing over the six month trial and a certain user of a certain website saying he'd be adding all the "exclusive" content like the SHIELD mini-doc for torrent I see no reason to rejoin.


    I'm in the minority I'm sure but next to free PPV's is never going to draw me, I can watch them free anyway but often times choose not to because the current product does not interest me.


    I subscribed for Attitude, and one sixty minute mini-documentary that is mostly rehashed commentary from ten year old DVD's is not going to cut it.


    Fun while it lasted I suppose, I hope they figure out what the fuck market they're even aiming this at sooner rather than later.

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  109. Extant1979 - Ghetto SuperstarAugust 25, 2014 at 11:10 AM

    Without Rey on TV, the masks they sell will eventually just be wrestling masks and have nothing to do with the wrestler who it was created for. Or, they'll replace the Rey masks with the mask of another guy.

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  110. Extant1979 - Ghetto SuperstarAugust 25, 2014 at 11:11 AM

    Even if they do a panel ON Raw, why should we give a shit?

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  111. Extant1979 - Ghetto SuperstarAugust 25, 2014 at 11:14 AM

    Welcome to the BoD!


    (Sorry, Abey, for stealing your gimmick, but the urge struck me).

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  112. Extant1979 - Ghetto SuperstarAugust 25, 2014 at 11:16 AM

    I defend the Network a lot, and I have no plans to cancel my subscription, but the decision making over there is clearly becoming questionable. I'm shocked that it took them less than six months to get ridiculously lazy with it.

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  113. Jesus, what kind of Mexican restaurant charges for chips and salsa? What a ripoff.

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  114. To be fair I've been pretty unhappy with the Network since the beginning.


    They've had 180 days to put up original content, we got abysmal countdown shows, a couple decent WM rewinds with rehashed interviews from DVD sets that are available on Netflix, and a Warrior interview that was only released because he died otherwise it would've ended up on DVD first.


    I see very little effort being made to make this a worthwhile investment of time or money.

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  115. His podcast is better than I expected it to be. You can tell he really loves wrestling and he has tons of stories with a lot of the guys he has on.

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  116. Extant1979 - Ghetto SuperstarAugust 25, 2014 at 11:21 AM

    I went to a Tex-Mex place that I frequent around here Friday night with my girlfriend, and we ordered some nachos as an appetizer. What we got was a bowl of tortilla chips with a side dish of dips, including salsa, guacamole, beans, olives and cheese. NOT what I wanted at all.


    If I order nachos from a Mexican place, I want a gigantic messy plate of chips slathered in other stuff. That was so disappointing.

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  117. Extant1979 - Ghetto SuperstarAugust 25, 2014 at 11:22 AM

    What the fuck is Velocity? Is that a racing channel?

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  118. Extant1979 - Ghetto SuperstarAugust 25, 2014 at 11:24 AM

    The mask thing is part of the culture in Mexico. I'd be shocked to see it change.

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  119. Extant1979 - Ghetto SuperstarAugust 25, 2014 at 11:28 AM

    Well, a search of the TWC website confirms that Velocity is NOT on Time Warner Cable. Maybe once Comcast gobbles it up...

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  120. It's so he can make a killing and then when they threaten to take it away, he can play the "more taxes mean I have to slash jobs" card

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  121. Wouldn't TNA just take the Spike offer then? I still bet they wind up on FXX or something of that nature.

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  122. I think a lot of that issue is trying to remaster those old tapes, I can't imagine they were all in pristine condition. I've never tried to remaster, clean and transfer a video cassette to digital. I'm sure it's a cumbersome process.

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  123. You are missing the point. :Cue Mike Tennay: "Welcome to Velocity's number one rated show TNA IMPACT WRESTLING!"

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  124. Just started my subscription a couple weeks ago. If I have nothing left to watch after 6 months then I'll cancel. But I still have all of the SNMEs to watch and all the Clashes. Then there's a ton of ECW and WCW stuff I never got a chance to see back on the day... Plus, I really like having people over for ppvs. Add to that I have two kids, teach, coach football, it's not like I'm running through this stuff.

    In other words, I'm good.

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  125. What Spike offer? The Spike offer is only until the end of the year, isn't it? The question is what happens once 2015 comes along.

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  126. I'm in the same boat. There's still so much shit I haven't seen that when/if I get to it I'll be fine.

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  127. it's b/c they're on the fast track to extinction

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  128. Why aren't they running those YouTube shows of bad wrestling with the Fake HHH puppet, Road Dogg, and what'shisname? Those were comedy gold. Pull them off YouTube, put them on the Network, and the 9.99s will come raining from the sky.

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  129. That's what my therapist said! *rimshot*


    Wait, that wasn't funny.


    Fuck.

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  130. It would be funny in some ways that they ended up on a channel with the same name as a former D level WWE show.

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  131. CruelConnectionNumber2August 25, 2014 at 11:54 AM

    They started with ECW eisode #30 or something. Episodes #1-5 are readily available in perfect quality on DailyMotion

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  132. can't wait till they end up on the jakked channel, livewire, or raw am

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  133. The Monday night war show could be a huge step for them. I thought it was solid. There's so much ECW I still have to watch too.

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  134. The only thing that bothered me about that era of Taker was the jeans. Seeing Taker wrestle in jeans, especially blue jeans, was jarring.

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  135. And that's probably ripped off of someone's personal collection and not the catalog of footage they purchased.

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  136. I get why they're holding Rey hostage. TNA would actually have a solid main event if they got their hands on him: Jeff Hardy vs. Raymond Stereo!

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  137. Huh, mighta missed it but don't see it on my comcast listing

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  138. That was the anti Flair-Steamboat series.

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  139. I thought it was very good. James Harris sounds like a good ol' country boy who is at peace with where he is in life and with his wrestling career.

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  140. I enjoyed it, just for the story part of it. Kane, after a good 12 years, FINALLY got a decisive feud win over his big brother.

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  141. Extant1979 - Ghetto SuperstarAugust 25, 2014 at 12:16 PM

    I was going by the wiki page, which said it was on Comcast.

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  142. Still could be. Much like TNA on Spike, I didn't put much effort into finding it

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  143. I let my sub expire today without renewing. Not that I won't — I probably will the day of NoC — but I just got bothered by the lack of MNW Raws and Nitros. I know it isn't for everyone, but that period was my 80s, and them just up and stopping adding the 95 Raws really pissed me off. Like I said, I'll probably re-up in a few weeks, but didn't feel the need to auto-renew.

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  144. Threadjack: how likely do you fellas think it is that WWE is going to fall into their traditional (i.e. BORING) holding pattern through the end of the year, causing a lot of people to tune out until Royal Rumble? Or will the Network force them to try to keep the product fresh and interesting?

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  145. So Cena was interviewed and said that a heel turn would never happen, that he has it in him, but he 'does what he is told'. For some reason that quote makes it seem MORE likely to me...

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  146. I also have to imagine that it's a huge pain in the ass to deal with the issue of music rights with the old ECW stuff.

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  147. This, so so so much.


    At any point in the last five years I could have gone anywhere on the net and watched the Jericho versus Shawn matches, but the storylines and interviews leading up to said matches, that's the stuff I'm willing to pay for because I just can't find it anywhere else.

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  148. Seriously, they need to bring back "Are You Serious", that would be golden.

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  149. Well they fired whatshisname

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  150. It's ridiculous that the hottest period in wrestling history is nowhere to be found.

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  151. I don't mind the lack of original stuff to be honest, because I find most of it un-entertaining anyway. Also, you said the current product doesn't interest you, so why care about original content that would most likely be focused on the current roster.


    I agree they have gotten pretty lazy, though. With all the DVDs they have, I'd like to see more added more frequently. I'm an Attitude Era fan like you, and I'd like to see that get underway with the airing of the shows together like they did on 24/7.

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  152. Wellllllllll, it's the biggggg showwwww

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  153. They've now done the same with the 95 Raws. After blasting through 2.5 years, the well has run dry.

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  154. Extant1979 - Ghetto SuperstarAugust 25, 2014 at 12:25 PM

    Aren't we already in that holding pattern? Regardless of who has the belt, there's no real big build for things going on. Especially since they're tossing the Cena-Lesnar rematch into Night of Champions. No idea why they don't keep the two separate one more month until Hell in the Cell.

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  155. I just don't understand saying the library sucks. It may not have EVERYTHING you want, but it certainly doesn't suck.

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  156. I expect those to start again soon with Nitro alongside it. Makes sense why they stopped where they did.

    They usually view Raw in different buckets. Pre War era 1/93-8/95 is often looked at as almost a completely different run.

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  157. That's what I got from it too. He wasn't bitter about anything and seemed really happy about his life. I didn't realize how often he worked main events though. After listening to him talk about working with Hogan and Andre (and his dust up with Andre was pretty interesting) in WWF, Lawler on top in Memphis, JYD in Mid South, The Von Erich's in Dallas, etc. He had a really solid career.

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  158. It will be the Confidential Network... which works because NO ONE KNOWS ABOUT IT!

    Sometimes my brilliance even impresses me!

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  159. If you want to know how Eric Bischoff felt about the war in 2003 when he was still employed by Vince, this is the show for you!

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  160. I still think it eventually happens, and he'll make an amazing heel in whatever iteration it ends up being. I know pretty much everyone shit all over it- and given the lameness of writing about a dead horse as beaten as the Cena heel turn and just fantasy booking in general, I get it- but Zana laid out a pretty fucking good way to turn Cena heel if they want to do it right now. (Which they don't.)

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  161. That as a half hour show would be fantastic.

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  162. cowardwhotriedtoquitAugust 25, 2014 at 12:41 PM

    In theory, the next 6 weeks need to be hot between the end of the initial six month period and those who signed up for Wrestlemania, plus some more focus on Smackdown when it moves to Thursdays.


    WWE could reasonably argue that putting the title on Brock keeps "the product fresh and interesting", but what else could they really do in the title picture (I assume that is your focus, unless a hot divas feud qualifies as fresh and interesting)? Of their recent big stars, Bryan is injured, Punk is gone, Cena is (presumably) going to be crushed in back to back PPVs; assuming Brock stays heel and actually wrestles most/all PPVs before Summerslam, the best options are...Sheamus? Big Show? Not exactly compelling to me.


    Brock going home with the title until the Rumble would put even more pressure on WWE to come up with something interesting: perhaps its own version of Bound for Glory to determine who would face Brock next. It would put a ton of pressure on Reigns if WWE thinks a series of matches between him and HHH would be enough to maintain subs/viewers while the champ doesn't wrestle for three months (and, presumably, without having his next challenger named).

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  163. it was all run on 24/7. no remaster or music issues to deal with

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  164. The good news is the Monday Night War show has started and allegedly they are adding Nitros in October.

    I'm perfectly happy with the Network because there's a ton of shit I haven't seen and want to see but can't anytime soon. However they could add a couple of things:

    -- Every Coliseum Video Comp Tape (Best of WWF Vol 1-20 and all the others). Those things were GOLDEN!

    -- The Network Saturday live stream should be a run of old school Saturday shows from All-American Wrestling, Wrestling Challenge, Superstars, NWA/WCW Saturday Night, etc. etc.

    And I think most of that will come eventually. It's clear they are trying to figure this out as they go.

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  165. yep it aint rocket science

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  166. TJ: "Antonio Inoki will hold another pro wrestling event in North Korea to try and "promote peace" through sports. He previously held two events in the country in April 1995. They featured talent from NJPW and WCW and were aired by WCW as a taped PPV in August that year. Bob Sapp is the biggest name announced so far. The event was announced in Japan Times."

    Bob Sapp to bring about world peace.

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  167. Spite is a powerful emotion. The way they handled this makes me think he did something too piss someone off.

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  168. I'm actually REALLY interested by the Brock/Cena rematch next month. The most interesting booking, generally speaking, comes from having two guys who you can't imagine losing going up against each other. (Or, even more generally, simply having no idea what's going to happen.)
    That's how I feel with Cena/Brock III. Would they really give the title right back to Cena after he just got mauled in wholly unprecedented fashion at Summerslam, and at a time when making a splash to get new Network subscriptions would behoove them?

    Would Cena really job clean twice in a row, even to Brock?
    Will they really let Brock carry the title long-term when he's rarely around?

    And what about Rollins? With Ambrose out a few weeks filming his movie, he ain't got shit at the moment. If he doesn't have a scheduled match at NOC, look the fuck out.
    There's no obvious answer, and whichever direction they go it will feel big- even the backlash against Cena simply winning the title back would feel so overwhelming that it would be the impetus to...something. I can't wait for NOC, personally. Of course, whatever happens, following it will likely be the predictable fall malaise, but they've at least postponed that a month.

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  169. You thought it would take longer, or that it would be sooner?

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  170. "Why would I pay for it when I can steal everything instead?"

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  171. Here's something I don't understand...


    Right now they target kids right? People too young to have the fond memories of the past, they need to be sold with the present. What WWE has at their disposal is a 24 hour-a-day immersive experience right? If you are a die-hard fan of the current product you should be able to keep up with it at all times with The Network.


    Point being, shouldn't they be taping their current houseshows and airing them? Not all of them, but the international tours (specifically Japan where reports indicated that Cesaro/Kingston had an actual NJPW-esque match) or MSG shows. They shouldn't be live, but just film them the way they did in the 80's, have the green commentators throw some play-by-play on there and BOOM--you've got exclusive content with today's stars.

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  172. Extant1979 - Ghetto SuperstarAugust 25, 2014 at 1:07 PM

    I figured it would take them about a year to get to this point. The quickness in which they achieved their apathy is impressive.

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  173. I think spiteful incidents like the one going on now with Rey Mysterio are going to become a lot more common once Stephanie McMahon truly takes over. She's a true Kool-Aid drinker in terms of the McMahon legacy, she sees any action taken that goes against WWE's best interests as a true slap against her family and reacts accordingly. Pair that with the fact that she's your typical strong womyn who won't take no crap for fear of looking weak and talent will be walking on eggshells for a long long time to come.

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  174. davidbonzaisaldanamontgomeryAugust 25, 2014 at 1:10 PM

    I'll settle for a Puppet H shiw

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  175. Hunter better truly take over then.

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  176. Gotta give him his yearly main event push.

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  177. Th worst part was Taker selling the urn.

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  178. Right before they send Edge after him to crap all over his victory.

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  179. davidbonzaisaldanamontgomeryAugust 25, 2014 at 1:17 PM

    Right? I fucking hate that. Chips and salsa should be a given

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  180. I don't know, I just remember specific dates sometimes.

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  181. Considering that this is the same person who equated 9/11 with the federal government charging her dad with the distribution of steroids, you're probably right.

    Her smugness is best displayed on the Paul Heyman DVD, especially when she talks about how Heyman doesn't know how to do business properly. This is someone who only has a job in a multmillion dollar corporation because she's the CEO's daughter.

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  182. That would be a great forum for young cameramen, announcers, directors etc. to experiment and learn.

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  183. I heard about this earlier in the year and I wondered what kind of names Inoki would be bringing in considering WWE would steer clear of this like Inoki has Ebola.



    Also worthy of note is that it will be held in stadium that holds 20,000. Yet North Korea will use Hulk Hogan inflation to probably put the attendance at 213,000, as they did back in 1995.

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  184. Then they call fans who aren't buying it "cheap."

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  185. Cena vs. Bray announced for tonight. Going to be an awesome episode.

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  186. I always figured that WWE will see a spike in subscriptions from January-April each year, with many viewers letting them lapse for a few months before Mania season picks up again early the following year.

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  187. Puppet H vs. Kermit the Frog -- BOOK IT. And is Road Hogg still working in the E?

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  188. Most definitely. And like I said, they shouldn't be live. Tape them, add in commentary, air it a day or two later. Give it the bare-minimum post production. The stripped down look would give the product a "lost footage" kind of feel that they old MSG house shows had. I'd assume it'd be a lot of fun of 10 year olds to discover

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  189. I didn't discover that show until June and after watching all the episodes and scraping the Fabulous Ones jokes that stunk -- I had tears in my eyes that it was over before I knew it had even begun.

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  190. I'm not entirely convinced Shane could even rescue a wrestling promotion and have it rise to be a competitor to WWE. Evidently he has some forward thinking ideas and is more likable than Stephanie, but I'm not sure if he's as astute a businessman as his dad. I'm still surprised that he left the company, though, because I just assumed he was the heir apparent to Vince.

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  191. Road Hogg got fired again?

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  192. But it's just $9.99! That's all you need!

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  193. Are PPVs free on the network?

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  194. I believe the rumor is that Spike offered TNA the same deal they have been under for the past couple of years. TNA wants more money, but Spike won't budge.

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