An idea...a dream, really.

[OldDirtyBernie]

So The Network hasn't been AS successful as the WWE had hoped, which means they're losing money. Obviously they'd like to keep it going, which means they need to find ways to make money to offset what they spent developing and launching, to get to the profit point. Aside from giving in and selling limited time to outside advertisers and beginning to have outright, complete commercials on the Network, what could they do?
I was thinking the other day about how Vince funneled money into ECW for a bit. Deep down, Vince DOES believe that a small amount of competition is a good thing as long as his product is still on top. Why not sell time to the indies?
I haven't really ironed out any details but, using ROH as an example - WWE could sell them a Sunday spot to air their PPV live. I know that ROH is trying to go the Real PPV route but if they used The Network, they're at least guaranteed to be broadcast within the wrestling fan base. Obviously a crapload of details would have to be worked out, such as replays, ownership rights after the fact, etc. Personally, though, I see it as a way to expand the interest in wrestling in general as well as The Network while getting some exposure for smaller promotions/indie wrestlers without the WWE outright buying everything.

This would probably also provide a good measuring stick for future talent.

[Mozenrath]

There is some merit to this, but I imagine it could also be a legal nightmare on a few fronts. I also question how cheap it'd have to be for indies to see that as a viable method of advertising, since it'd be a huge gamble.

[OldDirtyBernie]

Indeed. Like I said, it's basically a nugget of an idea and there are a lot of logistics that would have to be ironed out. I would imagine that, past WWE wanting to pretend that they're the only wrestling company in kayfabe, the biggest hiccup would be WWE wanting to own the footage vs. whichever company wanting to be able to put it out on DVD at a later date, since that's how a lot of indies make quite a bit of money.

[KAMALARAMBO: BOOMSHAKALAKA!!!]

Pretty coold idea/dream. I don't think it's completely out of the question either. I could see them testing this out with not an indie, but a bigger international company most likely NJPW. WWE want to expand into new markets anyway so this could be a great way to do this and not flat out destroy the local promotions. A little bit different from the raid and piss on the corpses of the regional promotions Vince took with the initial national expansion, but oh well.

[phen0m2112]

Nice idea/dream, something I would like to see.

I just don't see Vince doing this unless there was a financial gain to be made.

Lamentably , this isn't the attitude era.

[kinginthenorth]

The Briscoes would be fired in an hour.

[OldDirtyBernie]

An agreement with NJPW would be wonderful. Test out showing a PPV of theirs as well as having the network over there when they go international, and possibly have one huge supershow during the year with exhibition matches if they don't want any talent exchanges if titles change hands.

And yeah, things like the issue with The Briscoes would be one of the major hangups as I could see, since WWE is a public company and a LOT of people would be very unhappy when they see some of the things that Mark(I think) said on twitter. Obviously WWE could place the disclaimers before the show like they have with old ECW shows that contain cursing, but there's still accountability.