WWE TV

[TKO 3:16]

There was an article up on this site a couple of weeks ago and it got me thinking about it.
WWE TV, if they do put a channel on cable/satellite, how would that work?
To the average wrestling mark, we would want the channel on mainstream, viewable T.V. Now to my question....
If WWE goes on and does this "channel", would it be for free with all the rest of your channels, or would you have to pay for it.
Also, what would you expect from a channel like that? What "type" of programming would that channel contain? Do you think it could possibly be the beginning of a ne "attitude era" or atleast a way for the WWE to start slowy inching back to it? Your thoughts..

 

[FromTheSouth]

I don't think that there would be enough programming available to WWE. There would be enough for months of programming, but eventually we would be getting house show highlights and profiles of Koko B. Ware, and that wouldn't sustain viewship.

They already have Classics, or whatever it is called, and that works fine. Vince is too protective of kayfabe, and only breaks kayfabe when he can make a new kayfabe angle about it. Plus, the channel would have to be completely positive, so there could be no outsiders giving real opinions of the show.

Could you imagine a show like Wrestlecenter? A scripted news show about predetermined matches? That would go over like The Hindenburg in an oil field.

Good idea, but it wouldn't work.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

I'd expect that the channel would feature mostly footage from the WWE Video Library. The WWE's tape library is extensive and contains most of the footage from most of the major pro wrestling promotions in the United States and Canada from the past 50+ years. According to Wikipedia, the WWE has over 100,000 hours of footage from television shows to ppvs to recorded house shows to everything else in between.

As far as Raw and Smackdown goes, they'll probably show older and classic episodes of the shows, maybe shows like a wrestlers roundtable featuring former WWE wrestlers or older wrestlers that the WWE is on good terms with, etc. There are a lot of potential options that the WWE has but, for the WWE's sake, I think they'd be better off having the network be an option that's part of your standard satellite or cable selection. I don't think all that many fans are going to shell out the extra bucks for it as they would for something like HBO. Satellite and cable bills are through the roof already and, times being what they are, most people just aren't going to have a near $100 tv bill every month. I know I'm sure as hell not. It's high enough already.

 

[Crippler CrossFace]

If they got creative they could probably do it. Obviously there is a best of show, like top 10 wrestlemania matches, or best fueds that sort of thing. They would have to learn from the sports that have done it. They could do profiles of wrestlers, past and present, have shows that talk about the Hall of Fame stuff that isn't necessarily scripted. What they lack is the ability to have a round-table discussion about breaking news because news isn't exactly something that favors the WWE. Like they haven't mentioned the Undertaker pyro thing and they wouldn't be able to on a news show either. Which is what makes those channels tick. Without that it is almost certain it will fail.

If they allow them to do something along the lines of "the chairshot reality" of this site then it might work but otherwise I doubt this can actually work.

 

[VintageWWE]

I don't get how this channel will work at all. The only thing that I think WWE can do is show footage from their wrestling library, but wait a minute isn't that what WWE Classics is for? The only way this channel could succeed is if WWE does break kayfabe and have discussions with wrestlers, such as interviews or match analysis with their actual opinions. It's highly this channel would succeed even if it does break kayfabe if we must pay for it like with HBO. No one would pay to watch a WWE channel in this age and day. There's just no point.

 

[ZeroVX]

This is something that's been bouncing around in my head for a bit...

With WWE's recent desire to have their own channel for their shows, I started wondering if maybe there's the potential to have a channel that showed wrestling not just from WWE, but from any organization. Old and new WWE, WCW, ECW, AWA, NWA, old and new TNA, ROH, and even independents like Chikara or PWG. Hell, it could even broadcast stuff from abroad, like from Japan or Mexico.

Now, obviously there are some drawbacks. It would eliminate any sort of competition that the groups could have, meaning the upcoming "Monday Night War II" wouldn't exist. Also, it would require people to agree on allowing footage to be shown, since Vince McMahon owns a huge portion of wrestling history and might not want to air it on the same channel as potential opponents. Still, it would make some serious money from wrestling fans, and it could draw attention to lesser-known companies if they got on board.

This may seem like something that could never happen, but if they can have an all NHL channel, why not wrestling?

 

[TKO 3:16]

I wasn't speaking of it in the sense that it would have to be about "kayfabe" and shit like that. More than a "re_run" station, What I was talkin about here was, WWE TV as in CLASSIC matches. Yeah, so they have classics on demand. But us @ home as the audience for WWE, we should have something besides Raw, Smackdown, NXT and ppv's.
May seem like a lot, but I'm talking about CLASSICS. Like episodes or raw, or smackdown or classic ppv's in their entirety.
A chanell sloey devoted to"the attitude era" where classic storylines, feuds, and gimmicks were built. When wrestling was @ its peak, that's what I'm talking about.
WWE TV should be IMO comprised of all WWE dvs's, and random and classic episodes from all brands. And shit you know what, for all that, if it was $30/40 extra, I'd pay.

 

[nwojeff]

I think this is actually pretty close to what Vince McMahon has in mind, and he plans to get it on the air by the summer of 2011. He may not own the tape library of every promotion but he does own WCW, ECW, AWA, of course WWF/WWE and several others, and they're always trying to acquire others. So I think while what you propose is somewhat unrealistic, the WWE's network will be pretty close to this anyway, because Vince will probably put every show but Raw on his network and the rest of the time will be replays of those shows and old shows from all of the other promotions he owns, including his own company.

 

[LamaNamaneumi]

I do not understand. WWE Classics On Demand has old episodes of Raw and Nitro. It also has old NWA, WCCW, ECW, and my personal fav. Prime Time. They also have some PPVs in their entirety and they show PPVs about 3 or 4 months after they air if you have missed anything. WWE Classics has a lot more than just that and its only like $8.00 a month, and you pick what and when you want to watch it.
So why pay like $30/40 for the same thing?

 

[nwojeff]

It will probably work in much the same way that the NFL network does, except with less analysis shows and more time devoted to past shows contained in the massive tape library.

I figured out that with the amount of content they own, with their own history and all of the other promotions' tape libraries they own, they could air fresh content for over 12 years and not have to repeat anything. This doesn't even take into account that they will definitely have some original programming on the network, like maybe NXT if it's still around by the summer of 2011, Superstars, Smackdown and maybe even Raw when the USA contract is up at the end of 2014.

Plus they can replay these shows in the late night early morning hours and replay some of the old content as well. Do you have any idea how much content is replayed on channels like NFL Network and NBA TV? The amount of content WWE has is not even close to being an issue in getting this channel on the air. The biggest issue for them will be if they can get it onto a standard cable package or at least a digital cable/satellite package.

And why does everyone keep bringing up WWE Classics on Demand? This has the potential to be much, much better.

 

[wushady]

I think it could work and I'm hoping it happens soon. My cable company already carries every sports Channel like NFL network, MLB, NBA, and NHL. I would imagine WWE channel would have a similar format to those channels. Like showing old shows and have some original programs.

 

[KingSpeaks]

I've been thinking about this for a long time...and i wish they would finally get their own channel. I think that so much could be done for wrestling in general. it doesn't just have to be a channel for the "E", but for independents also. this would be a chance for them to have game shows (wrestling jeopardy, millionaire, a stump the schwab type of show), best of shows like the NFL network does (top 10 finishers, powerbombs, top rope legdrops), original programs (there is probably some wrestler who would get their own stupid tv show), and they could do reality shows also. But i really do think that they could sell tv time for independents. also, we could see some of those old ppvs from WCW and ECW in the 90s.

Yeah, I can only hope they would do stuff like this. If it was to happen, it will probably just be like WWE Classics and repeat all week.

 

[Syborgg]

Obviously the ideal would be to have it as standard as like the Golf channel. Then instead of relying on deals with USA and MyNetwork they would host Raw and SD!(and others) on their own network. Perhaps they would have Top 10 type shows, also show vintage matches and PPVs. I would hope that they would also replay that week's shows for the people that happen to miss Raw one Monday, or go out on Fridays and don't see SD!. Think of what would be on there right now.....they'd probably be showing a ton of WM footage. Plus they could carry the HoF and maybe create a sort of interview show done by someone like J.R. to interview WWE superstars, whether in kayfabe or in character. Hell maybe they could even show us some FCW stuff. The possibilities are just about endless. Besides it doesn't have to be a full 24 hrs, lots of channels go off air late at night.

 

[Lt 0reo]

I think it could work like the NFL Network does. Have some original shows and classic matches, reruns of shows, top ten shows, and when the contracts expire with MyNetworkTV and USA start airing Raw and Smackdown on the the WWE network.

 

[pessimism101]

I think a WWE TV channel would run in a similar format that The Fight Network and/or The Movie Network (in Canada) does and they'll probably use WWE 24/7 as storage channel for previously aired material. Plus, WWE having its own network would be like having a safety net for WWE Superstars.

 

[Tastycles]

A WWE channel could work, but only if they put interesting programmes on there. Classic matches is all well and good, as are repeats of the WWE shows, but in all honesty that isn't going to sustain interest forever. The sorts of things that would maintain interest would be things like shoot interviews and forums for discussing the prduct, which wouldn't go down very well under a WWE banner. I'd say a better option would be for the WWE to rent out their library to a third party channel. That way the WWE is operating with zero chance of loss for a profit,and the channel would be a lot more free to produce interesting programming. It'd be like the old wrestling channel, but with old matches people want to see rather than ROH shows from 6 months ago.