Well, so far we know that we're gonna have a "Wrestlemania Rewind" show which will look back on and detail each Wrestlemania over three episodes. I'm highly looking forward to this show, as the True Story of Wrestlemania DVD they released earlier this year was good, but in reality it only provided a small sampling of most Wrestlemanias and I was left wanting more info. So taking three, presumably half-hour, or one full hour episodes to go over each Wrestlemania, has the potential to be incredible. The key will be if they just stick to all the newer wrestlers talking about their memories of each Wrestlemania as a kid, or in addition to that, also getting a good portion of the stars that were there for each Wrestlemania to discuss what was really happening at the time. Both perspective would be good. I'm far more interested in hearing Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels talking about Wrestlemania X and XII, then hearing John Cena, Randy Orton, and Santino Marella talking over and over about how important that Wrestlemania was, etc. But I understand the need to have the current wrestlers' perspective, but if that's all they have on the episode, like they've done in their recent DVD released, that will be highly disappointing. But as long as they get older wrestlers that were there and participated in each of the old, classic Wrestlemanias, it should be outstanding.
We also know we're getting a Divas reality show. I could care less honestly, but I understand the need for it, and I'm sure many will enjoy it.
We're also going to get a re-hash of the Monday Night Wars, not that there's anything wrong with that. I assume this will be similar to the WWE 24/7 On Demand channel where they play weekly episodes of Raw and Nitro back to back. What would be interesting is if in addition to playing each episode back to back, if they have a special half our after the two episodes for the week, where the wrestlers that were on the show talk about that particular episode. It doesn't have to be real long, just a half hour, as wrestlers only have to discuss an hour or two of television for each week. Imagine, where they show the episode in early 1999 where the Fingerpoke of Doom happened the same night as Foley winning the title, and having all of the wrestlers talk about that week of their respective companies. That would be cool. Just to add more interest and info rather than just simply playing the two episodes back to back like they currently do.
And then there's going to be a "Real World" type show of WWE Hall of Famers. This should be absolutely hilarious and awesome. Yeah it's not pure-in ring competition. Who cares? Who doesn't want to see The Iron Sheik, Sgt. Slaughter, Jimmy Snuka, Roddy Piper, Pat Patterson, Michael Hayes, or other WWE Legends living in a house together and being let loose? You must not like entertainment much if you don't want to see that lol.
And we just found out today that WWE is going to have their own version of Sportscenter which is an absolutely fantastic idea. This could be like the modern version of Byte This and Tuesday Night Titans, all rolled into one. While some fans at the time thought Tuesday Night Titans was ridiculous and a dumb concept, in actuality it was great, because it served as exposure to every wrestler on the roster, and helped to get them over with fans to understand their character. WWE desperately needs a show like this again, as there are so many talented wrestlers currently who are severely lacking in personality and a connection with the fans. Can you imagine Dolph Ziggler or Jack Swagger or John Morrison going onto the show being interviewed for 10-15 minutes to get themselves over and talk about their current feud and themselves? They desperately need a platform to do that with. It'd be cool to have some wrestling experts or panelists discuss the week in WWE, take in calls and e-mails and texts from fans. It should run about 2-3 hours. We already have tons of online wrestling shows like this that aren't affiliated with WWE. WWE is long overdue for a show like this.
Those are the only announced shows thus far, and I'm looking forward to three of the four.
Of course, I'm sure we'll get replays of all of the classic ppv's. Maybe each Sunday, they can have a marathon run of ppv events. What I would love to see them do is go back through the entire history of wrestling via ppv, and play each ppv event in order that they happened. Not just WWE, but also the NWA/WCW, the 2-3 AWA ppvs, and the ECW ppvs, and maybe even any other odds and ends ppvs of companies they might own. Instead of jumping from Wrestlemania III to Summerslam 95, why not start with the very first Starrcade, and play each ppv that happened in order. This would take years to do, but man it would be awesome. You could basically watch and re-live the entire history of pro wrestling play out every Sunday on your couch. Who wouldn't want that? Also what would be a nice extra touch is before each ppv event, air the special show that lead into the ppv a week ahead. Like remember all of the Summerslam Spectacular shows, that usually were the "go home" show for the upcoming ppv? Play those right before you start the ppv. And even playing the 30 minute preview parts where Mean Gene Okerlund would go over every match and convince you to order the ppv? That would really add to the nostaliga factor and make you feel like a kid again in 1989, and wanting to beg your parents to order the ppv. Only this time, now you're an adult, you don't have to order it, you're getting ready to watch it!!!
Also, same deal with TV shows. For WWE play all of their weekly television in order. Start with All-American Wrestling, then Tuesday Night Titans, then Superstars, then Wrestling Challenge, then Prime Time Wrestling, then Monday Night Raw, then Action Zone, then Shotgun Saturday Night, then Smackdown, Heat, Jakked, WWECW, NXT, etc. Just play out the entire history of WWE via television shows, etc. And I don't mean play every episode of All American Wrestling, then begin with the next show that debuted. I mean play out an entire week's worth of old WWE TV like how it happened back in say 1990. For example, in 1990 WWE had Wrestling Challenge, Superstars, Prime Time Wrestling, and a couple episodes of Saturday Night's Main Event. Pick a day during the week to dedicate to weekly wrestling shows, and play them back to back. For a particular week play the episode of Prime Time Wrestling, then play that week's episode of Wrestling Challenge. Then play that week's episode of Saturday Night's Main Event if there was one, then finish it off with that original week's episode of Superstars. It's basically literally reliving the whole history of the WWE. Then after the four episodes of WWE wrestling are over, then play that week's NWA television, then the AWA television, and once they get to the 90's and beyond, play Smoky Mountain Wrestling's weekly television, ECW's, WCW's, etc.
So that covers their replays of ppv events and tv shows.
I'm sure WWE will have replays of past events and all of the DVD's they've put out. Maybe once a month have a weekend marathon of replays of WWE DVD's (either just the documentary portions, or even play the whole DVD). I'm sure replays of the old Slammy Awards, and all of the WWE Hall of Fame ceremonies will be aired. What I would love is for them to finally air the original Hall of Fame ceremonies from 1994, 1995, and 1996 that were never aired on television. We've all seen the HAll of Fame from 2004 on, but the original classes from the '90s were never shown on television in their entirety. That would be some rare gems to show, which would be good.
I imagine the Legends Roundtable will continue on the new WWE Network. That is by far the best part of the current WWE 24/7 On Demand service, and I would love to see it continue. And I'm sure it will. It's so popular that they've released DVD's of certain episodes, I'm sure it will continue.
I also like the concept of the current "Hall of Fame" episode on WWE 24/7 though it could be much better than it is. Currently, a particular Hall of Famer is chosen each month, and a short 40 minute overview of their career is done and ends with their Hall of Fame speech. Unfortunately, they're not very well made, as the Hall of Famer in question is never interviewed, and you practically don't have any wrestlers talking about the Hall of Famer. It doesn't go very in-depth. It basically gives a short overview of their career and shows portions of 3-4 of their most importnat matches. Keep that idea, but do a much more in-depth biography. Increase it 1-2 hours, interview the particular Hall of Famer (if he/she's alive), get other wrestlers to talk about them, particularly wrestlers that they had classic matches/feuds with. Basically make a new WWE-DVD style documentary/interview with each monthy or weekly Hall of Famer. It's good concept, but it could be much better. Hopefully the WWE Network will improve on the current WWE 24/7 On Demand format.
Finally, back to original shows, I like some of the ideas I've seen. In particular the Rivalries show idea. The Bret Hart/Shawn Michaels DVD that just came out could be the best DVD ever released by the WWE (I already put it in the top 3 with The Rise and Fall of ECW, and Bret Hart's 1st DVD), and I'm immensely excited at the possibility of future DVD releases of more rivalries. I would love for this show concept to be done on the WWE Network as well. However, I think that the big time major feuds should be kept to DVD releases. Stone Cold/Rock should obviously be a DVD. Stone Cold/Vince should obviously be a DVD. Flair/Steamboat should be a DVD. However, there's plenty of classic feuds that are maybe not quite worthy of a DVD set (or that don't have enough material to put on a 3 disc DVD set) that can instead be showcased on the WWE Network. Or perhaps classic feuds that might not be well known enough today to sell (Von Erichs/Freebirds heavily comes to mind). Some feuds I can see being featured on the WWE Network instead of on a DVD set include Shawn Michaels/Chris Jericho, Bret Hart/Owen Hart, The Hart Foundation/The British Bulldogs, Hulk Hogan/Rowdy Roddy Piper (though that could be a DVD set as well), Bruno Sammartino/Larry Zbyskzo, Hulk Hogan/Andre the Giant, Macho Man Randy Savage/DDP, etc.
I would also love for WWE to go the route that VH1 pioneered back in the late 1990's by having their own 100 Greatest Special Countdowns. We've already gotten a 50 Greatest WWE Superstars set, and a 50 OMG! Moments set. There's plenty more "Greatest lists" countdowns that the WWE could do. Greatest Intercontinental Champions, Greatest Wrestlemania Matches, Greatest Technical/Submission Wrestlers, Most Charismatic Wrestlers, Greatest PPV events, Greatest Old-School Wrestlers, Greatest Wrestlers of Today, and of course the obligatory, Greatest Moments and/or Matches for each year, as a year-end special. I say WWE should do about 2-3 Greatest special each year, in addition to the yearly Greatest Matches and/or Moments of the Year.
I also like the concept of a behind the scenes look from a wrestler's perspective. I would call the show "A Week in the Life of......(Insert Wrestler Here)." The chosen wrestler would basically take cameras with them for the week and basically give a glimpse to the fans what their life is like. This can either be done in kayfabe, or shoot, or both. Have the wrestler highlight their training regimin, their home life (if they choose to), their travel routines, and backstage preparing for the night's show and match. It'd be fascinating material I'm sure. And once again, it would give good exposure to the chosen wrestler, and would really help the wrestler connect with the fans. They've already done these types of shows on WWE.com, such as Shawn Michaels' diary leading up to his Hall of Fame induction, Bret Hart's diary leading up to his match with Vince McMahon at Wrestlemania in 2010.
In addition to the Rivalries episodes, they could do the same things with matches. Take a classic match and get the two wrestlers together to talk about the match, what went into it, the behind the scenes story of what led to the match, the politics behind it, issues and other stories that took place in the match, what the wrestlers were thinking as it was going on, and then the aftermath of the match on the two wrestlers' career and wrestling as a whole. And of course you can have other wrestlers that weren't involved in the match chime in (both wrestlers of that particular era, and wrestlers of today). I would call this series "Classic Matches: ""Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. Bret Hart"", etc. For that example, spend 20 minutes or so of Bret and Stone Cold and other wrestlers talking about their Wrestlemania 13 match. Mainly Bret and Stone Cold obviously, but you can also have other wrestlers chime in with their thoughts on the match. Then after the 20-30 minute documentary is over, re-play the match, perhaps on certain occassions, change the commentary to have the wrestlers commentate their match with someone like Jim Ross or Michael Cole, like they do on some DVD sets. Then after the match is replayed, the aftermath of the match can be discussed for 5-10 minutes by Stone Cold/Bret Hart, and other wrestlers. Make that whole episode about an hour long (with the exception of Iron Man Matches. Make those about an hour and a half)
And finally, I would like to see a show centered around old-school wrestling. I would be absolutely thrilled if WWE contacted outside pro wrestling historians to discuss the history of pro wrestling on their show. Perhaps WWE can go over the entire history of pro wrestling in America, with weekly episodes chronociling the history of wrestling. Start with the very beginning of pro wrestling in the 1800's, then work your way up. Instead of a 2 hour documentary or something, stretch it out. Hell dedicate an entire episode to the controversial match between Frank Gotch and George Hackenschmidt and it's reprucusions on the wrestling industry. Talking about the origins of teh NWA, the AWA, and the territory days, up to modern pro wrestling. They can do whatever they want with their episodes. Even highlight one particular wrestler, or match, or decade or whatever. Just document the history of pro wrestling. This would educate younger fans on the tradition and history of pro wrestling in America. Which IMO, WWE has a responsibility to do. They are the flag bearer for American pro wrestling. They own 90% of the footage that is known to exist for American pro wrestling. They have a responsibility to make sure it isn't forgotten, and I would be thrilled if they would do a show like this.
Basically, that's most of my ideas on what they can do with the WWE Network. It seems that most people posting here want them to stick with replays of old wrestling shows and ppv's. I think it should be much, much more than that. WWE can really provide behind-the scenes looks at the WWE and the pro wrestling industry, show off it's history and tradition and educate and entertain so many fans at the same time. People that think they should just stick to showing old matches and ppv are really missing the boat on what the WWE Network could be, IMO.