March 17, 2021
How the WWE Network has added financial clout to critical success; On My Screen This Week
If you happen to reside at Titan Towers or the Performance Centre, your WWE Network experiment is over.
The Network is not shutting down, of course; rather, WWE has begun the process of closing U.S. accounts so that viewers can be encouraged to sign up on Peacock, the NBC streaming service that has bought the American rights to the Network for the next five years, and which is moving all of the content from WWE’s servers onto its own.
Those who signed up with an American address - I am, for all intents and purposes, hiding out in the same basement as Aleister Black - and a VPN in February 2014, before it launched in the UK in January 2015, will now likely have to pay £9.99 instead of the $9.99 (£7.19 at time of writing) to which they had become accustomed. That is, at least, if they want to have access to all of the previously uploaded video-on-demand.
The more concerning thing, though, is how this affects future uploads. WWE has already long since ditched the upkeep of the beloved Hidden Gems section, and especially given that Peacock does not expect to have all of the VOD content available until Summerslam (tentatively scheduled for August 22) there’s a strong possibility that WWE will get used to not adding more content, and/or see it as an unnecessary expense.
The Network has been a godsend for new, old, and emotionally attached wrestling fans, be it with excellent in-house documentaries, old pay-per-views, and even previously unreleased (since they first aired, anyway) territory TV shows, such as Mid-South Wrestling, Georgia Championship Wrestling, and Jim Crockett Promotions. Though it has had occasional problems, the Network search engine was certainly useful, and with a term like “Flair Steamboat” at least being capable of bringing you all of their available interactions without having to know the names and dates of the shows.
More pointedly, these have been available in 1080p resolution, upscaled from the original tapes, meaning that while some archivists may attempt to make copies for their personal collections, the audio and video quality of the Network offerings will not be topped.
While there have been rare problems with the Network, including on its launch and when it underwent an upgrade from Flash to HTML5 video in July 2019, the service has been a huge critical success, with minimal difficulties in live streaming of supercards (including Wrestlemania), a diverse range of material available and, realistically, more content than anyone would ever watch in a lifetime.
Given the realities of the content migration, and that the price of the Network is lowering to $4.99 for those who are willing to deal with adverts ($9.99 for the ad-free service), there will be a temptation not to push the service to add new content or develop in other ways.
However, since Peacock lost almost a billion dollars in 2020, and given that Network subscriber numbers have failed to match internal estimations, an opportunity has been presented for WWE to cement itself as one of the premier content creators in entertainment.
Rather than taking the Peacock money and running, it is now time for the WWE Network to spread its wings.
On My Screen This Week
This issue’s selections are brought to you by a four-year-old having to isolate after a COVID-19 case in his pre-school.
Unless you’d been watching the weekly television prior to this Wrestlewar 1992 encounter, you’d have had a hard time guessing the details of the babyface-heel dynamic. As it is, Tom Zenk yells some gibberish at the camera as he comes to the ring, making you think he might be the bad guy in the scenario, but he’d spent the last few months losing to The Dangerous Alliance and The Tailor Made Man on television. Light-heavyweight champion Flyin’ Brian had spent his time wrestling Richard Morton and Brad Armstrong over the belt he won so brilliantly from Jushin “Thunder” Liger at Superbrawl.
Pillman and Zenk awkwardly attempt to create a lot of movement in the early going, running the ropes for little reason, which didn’t exactly set this up to be the great contest it could have been. Indeed, it takes several minutes and a tremendous Zenk powerslam off a Pillman slingshot to move things into third gear. From there, there are some excellent near-falls, including one off a crucifix that really gets the blood pumping, before an awkward Zenk landing off a missed top-rope dropkick brings proceedings to a conclusion at the right time. (***)
Kerry Von Erich vs. Ric Flair (WCCW; May 11, 1984)
Five days after Kerry Von Erich won the NWA World championship from “Nature Boy” Ric Flair in a memorial show for his late brother David, they were at it again at the Dallas Sportatorium for a bout that had all of the grit that was missing from the contest at Texas Stadium.
Flair is on fire here, going after Von Erich with short fists while being willing to throw down with haymakers and chops outside the ring. The action is perfect for this crowd, which is loud and shrill because of the number of female Von Erich fans cheering on their Adonis; it’s not technically perfect, but on the few wrestling moves to be seen here in between the brawling, it’s rough enough to have some credibility.
After a couple of wonderful near-falls off an O’Connor Roll and a backslide - which is how Von Erich had wrested the NWA World title from Flair in the first place - there’s a delightfully clean TV finish to start bringing proceedings to a close.
Ever the master, though, Flair does a fantastic job of keeping his heat by showing how outraged he is at his own failing, by continuing to brawl with Von Erich after the bell. (***1/2)
There’s a surprisingly hot start to this one-night, round robin tournament encounter, which suggests that within their 15-minute time-limit, each of the combatants (and I’m including other tournament participants Ric Flair and The Great Muta here) are going to go at their matches hard and fast, and make an ambitious Starrcade concept work through sheer effort.
Unfortunately, however, incredible feats like Sting’s self-catch on a dive peter out very quickly into an all-too-basic brawl, only made worse by a terrible, overly co-operative finish.
Why the match started out so well and ended so poorly is anyone’s guess, but it set the tone for a show that promised everything and delivered almost nothing. (**)
A good suspense story works across almost all television genres, but there’s nothing like a bad one to stick in the memory.
Everything you need to know about how the Sting versus Black Scorpion rivalry was going, and how it would end, is shown in the Scorpion’s arrival to the ring. After several mask-clad yet unidentical wrestlers make their way down the aisle, what looks like a painted cardboard spaceship lowers, and out emerges the “real” Black Scorpion. Various clues are given as to his identity, such as the fact that he and Sting had once been tag team partners, while the city of Tulsa, Oklahoma was named.
This was, in fact, in order to get some fans to believe that the Scorpion might be Jim “The Ultimate Warrior” Hellwig.
Even had the mystery man been the Warrior, though, it’s hard to believe that this match could’ve been any worse. Clad in fluorescent green, Sting looks the part as WCW World champion, but his expression gives away that he knows it will be almost impossible to make this cage match a success.
The “What are we watching?” style of presentation - later to be seen in the equally dreadful Undertaker versus Undertaker from Summerslam 1994 - simply doesn’t work, and worse, Sting gives far too much to an opponent who can’t live up to his hype. As such, WCW’s top babyface looks weak, and he’s only made to look worse by special referee Dick The Bruiser, who is slow to count the pinfall that will mercifully euthanise this abomination.
After audible booing and some fans chanting “Nature Boy!” even the post-match brawl and lacklustre reveal of Ric Flair as the Scorpion fails to enhance the terrible execution of a bad idea.
Less than a month later, Sting dropped the WCW title to Flair, who had never deserved it less. (1/2*)
A Little Bit Of Housekeeping
Being a full-time dad changed my plans for this issue, but as projected last time, I will hope to include a podcast here sooner rather than later.
I am available for further editing and occasional writing work, with my expertise being in pro wrestling, mixed martial arts, football (soccer), and classic rock music. You can inquire about my rates by emailing brian(at)hardcopy(dot)ie. I can also provide professional editing feedback, or offer advice or mentoring, by prior agreement and through the same email address.
This is a great read. I suggest you use more interesting titles than the date in order to pop in my inbox and encourage more opens