Will the WCW pay per view tapes ever be released on dvd?

[President Evil]

Ive had this question in my mind for a long time.

For the last few months Ive been purchasing WCW pay per view tapes on ebay and Amazon. These tapes can go from $30 all the way up to $150. They are very collectible, plus the reason Ive been buying them is because many of these pay per views I never got to watch them before. And I dont like to always be watching them on youtube.

I know Vince now owns the complete WCW video library, and that the last couple of years they've been releasing Monday Night War dvd, Rise and Fall of WCW dvd, Best of Nitro dvd, Best of Starrcade, I appreciate them releasing this, but this is just bits and pieces, a match here, a match there, I'd like to see it in its entirety. I know Vince could give the green light to do this, but my gut feeling says he wont. Even though they've released a few WCW dvds, Vince will forever see WCW as the competition even if he owns it today.

It would be awesome if they released Starrcade, Superbrawl, Bash at the Beach, Halloween Havoc, all these great pay per views on dvd as an anthology.

Does anyone think this will ever happen?

 

[The Hardcore Kid]

I could see them doing like "Best of Starrcade" or something like that with some of the bigger WCW PPVs. I really don't think they'll ever just straight up release WCW PPVs in their entirety, though.

 

[I Am Myers]

I have been wondering/hoping for the the same thing. I did watch some of the WCW pay per views back in the early 90's or I would rent them and copy them on to a vhs, but it would be nice to have them on DVD. I have also been hoping they would put out seasons of WWF SuperStars and Wrestling Challenge from the 80's and 90's. However with the new network in the works they will need all the video they have. If they are put out on DVD why would people watch them on the channel? So sadly I doubt we will ever get old school WCW pay per views.

 

[byrnside]

I can't see them doing much more than this for a few reasons:

Vince's ego. That's probably the main reason albeit not the most important in my opinion. Think about it, why would Vince want to release entire PPVs of a company he was at war with for so long and eventually crushed.

The PPVs, for the most part, were absolute crap. With a few exceptions here and there, which is why I think it'd be more beneficial to continue releasing the "Best of DVDs." To allow fans to see major matches that occurred. A big problem is not that many big matches actually occurred. Typically WCW creative found a way to screw up the major, dream matches that they had.

 

[Captain Mike]

Maybe Vince likes the idea that he can make money off a company and name that he defeated and now owns?

That would be a great reason to release the DVD's I would think...

I could see a box set of Halloween Havoc, Superbrawl, Starrcade and possibly even something like Bash at the Beach of Uncensored...

 

[Max Moon]

I could see them doing like "Best of Starrcade" or something like that with some of the bigger WCW PPVs. I really don't think they'll ever just straight up release WCW PPVs in their entirety, though.

WWE released a "Best of Starrcade" in 2009. Check it out. It's awesome. Starrcade was always WCW's mania.

 

[Captain Mike]

That sounds awesome, I would rather a box set though. Yeah Starrcade was WCW's Mania without a doubt, I felt they tried to make SuperBRAWL their Mania at times but in all honesty it didn't compare to Starrcade. That card whether it was the greatest thing in the world or somewhat lackluster always seemed to deliver for me...

 

[DeathClutch]

I doubt it, thou I'd enjoy owning some of them.

WCW's last dvd did sell well, so I'd say get in touch with WWE-DVD and as a collective request the let WWE know their is high demand for WCW ppvs.

 

[Pedigree1]

no i dont see it happening for a couple of reasons.. One most of the wcw ppvs were not that good!! Other reason is well Chris Benoit sorry but he was a huge part of wcw ppvs be kinda of hard to release ppvs with him in it!! I own the starcades thats awesome in itself maybe they could do halloween havoc

 

[President Evil]

Ive been collecting WCW pay per view tapes from 1996-1999. Basically from the formation of the nWo to its demise. I have about 80% of them.

The pay per views are not as bad as some people make them seem. The wrestlers/promoters know a ppv cost way more than a regular cable Nitro so they actually put a bit more bang for the consumers buck.

Theres a great match between DDP vs Giant in Starrcade 98, Uncensored 1997 and 1999 are fun to watch, and Superbrawl 1998 is really good too.

 

[rge2010]

I very much doubt this would happen for a number of reasons.

I doubt there would be little demand from a consumer standpoint for every WCW PPV to be released seperately in its entirity. You'd have to be real hardcore to buy them all.

Second of all, it would dillute sales on current WWE DVD sales. Productions that WWE spend alot of time and money producing.

Finally, these WCW DVD's may push current TNA talent and viewership could switch. Sting, Flair, Steiner, Hogan etc.

Sorry, but the best WCW fans are going to get is 'Best of series' which I feel is suffice. If it misses a particular match, then hit the torrents or youtube.

 

[AnthonyM4]

I go on ioffer.com to buy the original versions of the ppvs. I've also watched some wcw ppvs on classics on demand and I absolute hate how they dub over the original music and Michael Buffer's voice! To me that's a big deal. If they released the ppvs on dvd dubbing over stuff will happen.

I have a decent collection of the original wcw ppvs on dvd. The pic quality isn't as good as it would be if wwe released them, but for the nostaliga reasons I like watching them in original form. Even if the pic quality isn't great.

 

[whoopin' ass]

yeah, i think it is going to be "best of" releases and not actual ppv releases. wcw never did a good job of releasing them either, at least not that I ever saw. i know that some were released over the last few years of wcw but i think they are going to remain in vince's video library assuming wcw didn't record over them. as many people as there are out there who would like to see them for the "remember when" factor, i don't think there would be enough market for them especially the way wwe prices things. would you be willing to spend $200+ for a single year of wcw ppvs? what wwe should be doing it putting them all up on the wwe on-demand channel and let people watch them whenever they want. the amount of stuff on that channel is pretty disappointing.

 

[trashboy]

I go on ioffer.com to buy the original versions of the ppvs. I've also watched some wcw ppvs on classics on demand and I absolute hate how they dub over the original music and Michael Buffer's voice! To me that's a big deal. If they released the ppvs on dvd dubbing over stuff will happen.

I have a decent collection of the original wcw ppvs on dvd. The pic quality isn't as good as it would be if wwe released them, but for the nostaliga reasons I like watching them in original form. Even if the pic quality isn't great.

I would love to have all the WCW ppvs.. heck even the full seasons of Nitro and Thunder.. but like you said, when WWE releases anything old like that.. they dub over the music and that to me, takes away from the entrances.. I loved alot of WCW's music so to not hear it would suck.. I've been wanting to check out that ioffer.com, I've seen they have full seasons of WCW and WWF shows on dvd on there

 

[TheCrusher]

I would love to see WWE make video yearbooks, featuring the best of a given year. They could even come in a two-disc format and have a WWE disc and a WCW disc. (Not sure Vince always would want that, though. There were a few years there were WCW would have a better disc.)
Include: Recap of biggest feuds, most memorable moments, most bizarre moments, a quick review of who debuted that year, memory snippets from stars of the era, and of course the best matches.
I'm old, and remembering what happened what year and what order things went in is sometimes pretty challenging for me. I would love to be able to have a collection of year-by-year discs to keep the memories in order.

 

[madrox]

Funnily enough, when Vince bought WCW me and some friends who loved watching WCW shows every week asked the same thing and while it'll never be confirmed if it'll happen or not, even back in 2001 we all agreed that the still huge fanbase for that company will make sales huge if they decided to do it.

 

[brochester8]

I don't see the PPV's themself being released, but i do see "Best of" DVD's being released. We have Starcade so we could get Slamboree, Bash at the Beach, Great American Bash as those were there 4 main PPV's. I would like see the "Best of" of all those so maybe it will happen.

 

[Macho_King]

They could release them all but chris benoit would be cut out of the ones they put out (unless they allow him to be in them again) so that would take away from the events.

 

[Poop Master Flex]

I would like that very much.

If WWE ever thinks actual money can be made by releasing old WCW PPV's then I would be all for it.

Personally I would love if they came out with a Wrestlemania box-set type thing for Starrcade and Clash of the Champions. Starrcade is a no brainer as it was the biggest event WCW/NWA had for the last almost 20 years of being around. There were many classic Starrcades which boasted many classic matches.

Clash of the Champions is also something I would love to see as it was basically a PPV for free that happened quarterly for a lot of years. Clash of the Champions also had many great matches, title bouts and memorable moments (like Sting vs. Flair at the first one, the match that launched Stings career).

I think maybe release a few full events (like maybe Starrcade 83, 85, 97, maybe some Fall Brawl/War Games PPV's, a few GAB) and see how it goes. If they sell well it could be the start of releasing them regularly.

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

I really do think that if Vince thought there was a genuine interest in the WCW PPVs of years gone by, then I think he would release them. He is a businessman and will do pretty much anything if he thinks it will make him some bucks.

Just look at some of the shit things he has allowed to appear on WWE tv. He does it because he believes it will bring him in some money.

I would love to see the WCW PPV's released definitely. I would certainly pick up a few of them and there are plenty of matches I would like to see but never had the chance to. However, I am not expecting them to be released in the near future, as Vince does not seem to think there is enough interest in the old WCW footage to release the PPV's, even though I think he should. Until something changes his mind I do not expect we will ever see the full PPV's, and will have to make do with the odd match or compilation DVD set every now and again.

 

[FitFinlay4Life]

Tough call, there are certain things that the WWe doesn't want fans to see - Benoit matches, Rey unmasked, certain WWe HoFers and legends looking second rate, TNA stars looking greater than guys they proceeded to take to the next level etc.

On the other hand, it makes business sense. At some stage I envisage double event discs, as they currently do for ex releases and older PPVs from their own cannon.

 

[FlairFan2003]

That sounds awesome, I would rather a box set though. Yeah Starrcade was WCW's Mania without a doubt, I felt they tried to make SuperBRAWL their Mania at times but in all honesty it didn't compare to Starrcade. That card whether it was the greatest thing in the world or somewhat lackluster always seemed to deliver for me...

WCW always built Starrcade as their biggest show. In fact, if you know the history, you know that Starrcade as a once a year supershow was what prompted Vince McMahon to create WrestleMania, once he saw how much money on merchandise and closed circuit SC was doing.

Ever since the early 90's, the two companies had a small group of regular shows, one every season, that were major, by the mid 90's both companies started adding other PPV's. In WWE your "Big Shows" were Royal Rumble in Jan for the early year, WM in Spring, their biggest show, SummerSlam in the summer, and at the end of the year Survivor Series. WCW gave you SuperBrawl in Feb (early year), Great American Bash/Bash At The Beach in the summer (originally this was one show, then they split it into two shows, the one in June being a minor PPV, the one in July being huge), Halloween Havoc, & their biggest show Starrcade.

Many matches from these PPV's have made it onto various "Best Of" Sets, especially those spotlighting Flair, Hogan, Steamboat, and Savage, among others. In 2009 WWE issued an extensive Starrcade retrospective that had interviews with several WCW/WWE stars and a count down of matches, chosen in part by a fan vote on WWE.Com. This included the brutal Steel Cage "I Quit" Match with Tully Blanchard vs Magnum TA from 1985, Kevin Nash ending Goldberg's streak in 1998, and Ric Flair's emotional win over Vader in Charlotte in 1993. If Starrcade interests you check this out.

Will actual DVD's of individual PPV's be issued - probably not. Fact is, WWE only issues such sets shortly after an event. For example, there is no re release of SummerSlam 95 or Survivor Series 89, etc, although there have been box set retrospectives on some of these WWE shows like WrestleMania & SummerSlam. I would expect Vince to pilfer more individual matches from these old PPV's for other special sets like "Best Of Steel Cage" or "Greatest Rivalries", etc.

Halloween Havoc and SuperBrawl could be a nice combination as a "Best Of Set", not sure there were enough great matches to satisfy an individual set for each. Now a 3 disc retrosepctive on Great American Bash, starting with it's origins as a SuperShow in the mid 80's through the 90's and the Bash At The Beach series could be a really good DVD.

 

[Ovaltine]

The PPVs, for the most part, were absolute crap. With a few exceptions here and there, which is why I think it'd be more beneficial to continue releasing the "Best of DVDs." To allow fans to see major matches that occurred. A big problem is not that many big matches actually occurred. Typically WCW creative found a way to screw up the major, dream matches that they had.

Okay, I usually lurk here and never post, but this commnet really pissed me off!

Are you really naive enough to think that all WCW PPV cards were crap?! How much of the WWE Cool Aid are you drinking? Making are remark like that makes me wonder if you are you even old enough to remember WCW beyond what little information that the WWE machine has let you know.

WCW was pretty much always (with the exception of its dying days) known as the better wrestling company (that's quality of wrestling- the actual in ring product- not wacky characters, goofy skits or what have you). Hell, if you watch some of the Wrestling Roundtables on WWE on demand many WWF/E wrestlers (Mick Foley, Micheal Hayes, Jim Ross) admit that WCW had undercards that were incredible. It wasn't until guys that were past their prime started maineventing (Hogan, Piper, Nash) that the main event quality suffered, but it was only the mainevent that suffered. The undercard matches were still amazing. So, around 90% of most of WCW's PPVs were good.

You can red rep me for this I really don't care. Because with WWE spoon fed comments like this being made I will wear my red with honor!

 

[TM Punk]

The only wcw dvd's I ever see coming out are best ofs. You can do a lot with those. Maybe they'll do best ofs for the main wcw ppvs. They at least need to do a best of starcade, fall brawl (can't get enough war games), and halloween havok. Hopefully the halloween havok dvd doesn't end abru...

 

[President Evil]

WCW is the reason I still own a vcr. Owning these pay per views, along with owning taped Monday Nitros, capture one of the best eras/times in wrestling.

The impact that WCW/nWo had in wrestling is still fresh in people's minds.

Plus WCW was/is very rich in history. It would be nice for this new generation of young fans to see some of these older pay per views. For them to see a young Eddie Guerrero, a young Chris Jericho, young Rey Misterio, younger Booker T. These tapes can be easily transferred to dvd editing Chris Benoit.

What I liked and still like about WCW is that it had a little bit for everyone. They had the colorful mexican "luchadores" with their crazy high flying, the had good midcard matches, like Raven, Saturn, Malenko, and then of course the big guns Sting, Hogan, Goldberg.