What will the WWE Network "be"?

[metylerca]

Seriously. We've speculated for a couple of years what we've wanted to see on the channel when it finally emerges. We've had a precursor to it in WWE Classics on Demand. But when it all comes down to it and the network is up and running, just what will the network show?

I see it going a predictable and safe way of showing recaps of RAW and Smackdown (If they're allowed to), Total Divas re-runs, Legends House, maybe some WWE Youtube shows being fleshed out into 30 minute sitcoms or video package shows, the return of Livewire. Maybe they'll show their many documentaries in a two hour block on certain nights. And they will show classic footage, but that'll be kept to a minimum and I seriously only see them playing Monday Night Wars at first.

I've seen many people froth at the mouth at the idea of WWE Network showing old Mid South and AWA, as well as old episodes of Wrestling Challenge and maybe old PPV's on a regular basis. But I have this weird feeling that the network will only devote a fraction of a fraction to old programming, instead focusing on re-runs of current products to maximize exposure and possible profit from them. If it's commercial free, I can see them editing in their own commercials for PPV and upcoming episodes of their existing shows and maybe PPV sponsors. If it's a regular channel ala FX or USA, I see them loaning out some time to reality television with a vague relationship to wrestling and just repeating the same 6 hour block of television twice in the same day before getting to primetime (which will also replay as soon as it's over). True wrestling will more than likely be relegated to a 1am slot, with little to no continuity in what shows (like how Teen Nick shows out of order random old Nick shows by request) air and if they can, infomercials can run overnight to make spare change to help facilitate production. It's a business after all.

To anyone hoping they'll just toss an old show to a dedicated timeslot and weekly just play the next episode in order, I wouldn't hold my breath.

That's just my opinion though, what do the rest of you fellow FAN members think?

[Error]

I think classic stuff will run during the day and the shows like Legends House and other first run shows along with Legends Roundtable and other stuff that was on Classics on Demand will take the primetime slots. Could see NXT depending on what the Hulu deal is and another possible first run wrestling show getting on there. I wouldn't expect RAW, SD, or Total Divas on there though since they expect those to be big money draws though a Week in Review/highlights show would make sense. They also have said they want to move most of the PPVs to the Network (WM and SummerSlam being the excluded).

Eventually (provided this doesn't crash and burn) Vince wants to move beyond wrestling and WWE shows according to past comments but I don't see that happening really.

[The Dark Order Inferno]

It's going to be like Hasbro's HUB network, some original programming, but for the most part it's going to be a mix of old stuff owned by the WWE, WWE films, films featuring wrestlers and cheap syndicated programming that generally appeals to the demographics they're aiming for, with a dash of original shows in prime time slots with versions of the old syndicated shows on the weekend. This is never going to be a wrestlingwrestlingwrestling! channel because the WWE don't see themselves as a wrestling company and they don't want to risk upsetting the people paying them for their shows now, so any original content the WWE produces that would be worth subscribing for like Raw, Smackdown, NXT and PPVs, there'll be a 6 month delay on, if they show them at all, and archive wrestling footage is likely to be a daytime/late night thing to try and avoid having to edit them for violent content and to remove chairshots and blood.

The non legends based original programming will be stuff along the lines of Superstars, filmed before the big shows, or clip shows like the old WWF syndicated shows, maybe even fan interaction shows like livewire. The long rumoured cruiserweight show, will be little but old WCW matches and a few WWE style high flyer matches taped before Smackdown, look for it to be the new home of Evan Bourne and Tyson Kidd as the WWE just aren't going to pay to hire a bunch of new guys to work a style they don't see money in.

Ultimately though, this is going to end up being a moneypit for the WWE, as big as Oprah's network and the aforementioned HUB, when it failed to start making money in year 2, a lot of wrestlers are going to start losing their jobs as they're the ones who suffer because of the McMahon's poorly thought out vanity projects... Also, the WWE have a lot of TV deals up for re-negotiation in the upcoming year or two, if they use the WWE network for leverage to try and get a lot more money and support from their partners, it may well go horribly, horribly wrong for them.

[DoubleDare]

It'll be like any tv network.
It'll start off good, showing old episodes of stuff.

In a couple years tho, it won't be showing anything wwe related and just have bad shows on it and reruns of cops.

[doinkmark]

They'll start out showing wrestling reruns, WWE Films, and stuff they shot years ago like Legends House. It'll be mostly WWE reruns despite owning WCW, ECW, AWA, and just about everything else since they want the WWE brand to still be number one in people's minds. Whatever airs opposite current programming intentionally won't be as good as what's on Raw that night. In fact, it wouldn't surprise me if they saved really good programming for the days current programming isn't on, just to make their overall numbers look as good as possible. We know WWE likes to exaggerate its figures. They'll probably also throw in some random movies and TV shows featuring wrestlers (Rocky 3, They Live, Thunder In Paradise, etc.) to try to show advertisers that they aren't just a "rasslin" network while at the same time still hopefully appealing to wrestling fans. Along those same lines they'll probably air old WBF and XFL. Vince is going to get as much use out of those failed experiments as possible, and it's a way to pad out and diversify the network's content without spending more money. Maybe they'll even air old shows from WWE Hall Of Fame celebrities such as Drew Carey. It's still barely connected to WWE, and being able to offer such a deal might also get them more HOF celebs in the future, which they'd love. If and when WWE produce their own original programming, they'll look for something cheap to shoot. Stand-up comedy, reality shows, "found footage" movies, that sort of thing, until eventually they'll show as little actual wrestling on there as possible.

[Ron Woodsman aka Shempaholic]

Dec 4, 2013 5:54:29 GMT -5 DoubleDare said:

It'll be like any tv network.
It'll start off good, showing old episodes of stuff.

In a couple years tho, it won't be showing anything wwe related and just have bad shows on it and reruns of cops.

That's usually how it goes. "Coming up next on the WWE Network, it's 8 hours of Everybody Loves Raymond!" They'll probably sell out to some company like Maxim in a few years.

[Kevin Hamilton]

An albatross/money pit?

[Deleted]

Dec 4, 2013 9:15:50 GMT -5 Kevin Hamilton said:

An albatross/money pit?

What I came in to say. There is no way I can see this being anything other than an XFL-level disaster.

[Sparkybob]

I'm very interested in paying for this channel,depending on it's price. Could be very entertaining.

[carp (SPC, Itoh Respect Army)]

It's going to be a bunch of reality shows and maybe one or two scripted comedies. Nothing to do with wrestling; very little produced in-house. Like any other network, except run by people who don't know how to run a television network, so it'll fail almost instantly.

[Push R Truth]

I want to see a weekly show where drunk JBL does kayfabe interviews with wrestlers as he walks around backstage stark ass naked.

[Baldobomb-22-OH-MAN!!!]

a figment of Vince's imagination and nothing more.

[Apricots And A Pear Tree]

Not just a place but a state of mind.

[Deleted]

If it ever launches, it will be what 95% of Raw is spent talking about for the following year (at least).

[Baldobomb-22-OH-MAN!!!]

Dec 4, 2013 9:32:14 GMT -5 Lizuka #BLM said:

Dec 4, 2013 9:15:50 GMT -5 Kevin Hamilton said:

An albatross/money pit?

What I came in to say. There is no way I can see this being anything other than an XFL-level disaster.

if they actually go throw with it, it'll damage them a lot worse than the XFL did. nobody outside of hardcore wrestling fans is going to watch, and even then if it's a specialty channel I don't see a lot of them shelling out the money for it. this is WWE, not HBO. assuming they're even allowed to use Raw or Smackdown or Total Divas footage, that's still a network consisting entirely of reruns, old footage and a bunch of B-movies. wrestling has enough problems getting advertisers aboard already and I also don't see many people approaching WWE with original series, either.

[Bad Moon]

Are Raw and Smackdown gonna move to WWE network then or is it gonna be just for the kind of content that would otherwise go up on their website or straight to DVD?

[paywindah]

There would be so much less risk (and much, much smaller costs) if they would have realized it's 2013 and you don't need to sink millions into an actual cable channel. You can still get a huge audience by doing online stuff and making your channel available on as many devices as possible.

[Deleted]

Going on paywindah said, who would have rather seen this become a sort of online "WWE Netflix" service where you paid a small price each month to be able to select specific episodes of a huge variety of past shows to watch?

Every person ever?