It's a little concerning that the Worm got the biggest reaction of the night.

1/7/2014 7:54:03 PM

^ Jake was a good finish.

The only time Cena was on all night was to save and hug Flair while cutting a short promo on Orton. And Orton was only on with him and Flair to open the show.

Ziggler got a concussion from a Superstars match with Ryback before Raw last night.

1/7/2014 8:18:17 PM

Quote :

"a short Jerry Lawler"

So... like a dwarf?

1/7/2014 9:40:12 PM

Quote :

"WWE Network, the first-ever 24/7 streaming network, will launch live in the U.S. on Monday, February 24, featuring all 12 WWE live pay-per-view events – including WrestleMania – valued at more than $600 per year for $9.99 per month with a 6-month commitment. WWE Network will also include groundbreaking original programming, reality shows, documentaries, classic matches and more than 1,500 hours of video on demand at launch. "

1/9/2014 8:01:12 AM

I'm intrigued by it, but I don't know that I'm going to bite. They picked a good price point to get a lot of the "well I'm not sure, but it's only X bucks a month" crowd to buy in though.

1/9/2014 8:06:48 AM

if they show full, unedited Wrestlemanias, Royal Rumbles, etc. from the 80s and 90s i'll bite (since there's no way to get them anymore it seems)

1/9/2014 8:24:47 AM

Apparently that's going to happen.

Quote :

"WWE Network will offer all WWE, WCW and ECW pay-per-views as well as classic matches uncut and uncensored, encores of Raw, SmackDown and WWE Main Event totaling more than 1,500 hours of video on demand at launch."

http://www.wwe.com/inside/wwe-network-to-launch-feb-24-26174061

1/9/2014 8:30:13 AM

Interesting.

I'll probably subscribe for a month or two in the summer when it's slow at work and binge the hell out of those classic PPV's.

[Edited on January 9, 2014 at 9:54 AM. Reason : nevermind, I see you have to commit for 6 months]

1/9/2014 9:28:46 AM

it also includes NXT which is leaps and bounds better than RAW

1/9/2014 10:06:36 AM

says just classic matches, not whole events

[Edited on January 9, 2014 at 10:08 AM. Reason : i also want uncensored WWF logos]

1/9/2014 10:08:31 AM

Did anybody hear the wrestling impersonations on 99 the fan the other day. It was a contest for Panthers/49ers ticket, spurred by Ric Flair supporting the 49ers. The finalist were a Ric Flair, Macho Man, and Stone Cold impersonations. Pretty funny.

1/9/2014 10:13:04 AM

it says all pay per views... as well as classic matches.

1/9/2014 10:13:52 AM

I want to sign up for this shit yesterday. With PPVs running $50 now, $120 for all the PPVs is a no brainer. The possible caveat from the WWE perspective is that at $10 a pop, I'm going to watch them all even if the card is bullshit, and I won't really mind if the show sucks.

All the on demand stuff is a huge bonus, and it's cool that they'll have Raw after air, since I don't watch it live anyway and the neutered Hulu Plus version is a bummer.

The only weird thing to me is that the signup starts the day after Elimination Chamber. You'd think they'd want a test run with a full subscriber base before Mania, in case something that's an easy fix goes wrong.

1/9/2014 12:10:47 PM

^ I think WWE PPV is going to die and this network will bring that about (save WrestleMania at least from 2015 onwards). Think about this, they're not going to put much effort into what are now called PPVs into the future if they have a set monthly fee they're getting from everyone and the subscriber numbers will not fluctuate all that much (you can't get it month-to-month, you have to get a 6-month contract).

I think everything's going to happen on Raw now because why do they have to build big monthly shows anymore if their "viewership" or subscription rate is not going to go up or down based on how good or bad they did building the show up?

I think this network financially is going to flop. They make a major part of their annual revenue on WrestleMania. They'll still get the live gate they get, but $60 multiplied by say 1 million buys is gone. If every single person that gets WrestleMania gets this network (and a lot of people, at least 50% only buy WrestleMania all year and to your average PPV it's someone like 10-15% of the people that buy WrestleMania watch that show), they'd hypothetically break even compared to last year for that month. But then the money from your PPV buys from mostly hardcores for the next 5 months is zero.

[Edited on January 9, 2014 at 5:26 PM. Reason : /]

1/9/2014 5:12:14 PM

^I read an article somewhere last night that mentioned WWE only gets 40% of the PPV fee currently, but with WWE Network, they will get all of the revenue directly. Also, as you said, some people only get Wrestlemania, but say they decide to do the 6 month minimum of WWE Network in order to get Wrestlemania, thats $60 to WWE as opposed to ~$22 otherwise...how many people are buying 5+ PPVs a year? It will definitely mean more eyes on the lower tier PPVs too...which Im sure will lead to more ad money .

Regardless, there will still be a lot of people who will still buy the PPVs through cable/satellite anyhow because they dont know better/its "easier"/etc.

1/9/2014 5:51:14 PM

Plus it's drawing somebody like me back into their product that's been gone for awhile. I'm considering trying it out for the classic stuff right now only but it could possibly get me interested enough to come back as a regular viewer (probably won't but who knows) if I'm exposed to current angles/wrestlers while I'm checking out the classics.

[Edited on January 9, 2014 at 6:10 PM. Reason : http://www.theverge.com/2014/1/9/5292638/stone-cold-stunner-wwe-network-could-be-the-start-of-the-a-]

1/9/2014 6:08:30 PM

so it's called the WWE Network, but it isn't a network, it's an app?

bust, pack it in with the XFL, WWF New York, and all of Vince's other harebrained schemes

1/9/2014 6:18:45 PM

Quote :

"^I read an article somewhere last night that mentioned WWE only gets 40% of the PPV fee currently, but with WWE Network, they will get all of the revenue directly. Also, as you said, some people only get Wrestlemania, but say they decide to do the 6 month minimum of WWE Network in order to get Wrestlemania, thats $60 to WWE as opposed to ~$22 otherwise...how many people are buying 5+ PPVs a year? It will definitely mean more eyes on the lower tier PPVs too...which Im sure will lead to more ad money ."

1. They would be insanely stupid to put WrestleMania on the WWE Network beyond this year. They make so much money on WrestleMania compared to the rest of the year. So I think that's a one-time thing to just kick start people buying the network.

2. This is just my opinion, but I believe for most of what we call PPVs now will become nothing more than glorified Saturday Night's Main Events. They won't make money on them anymore, which removes the motivation for them to make them good. Meanwhile, they have a hard enough time most weeks to fill 3 hours of Raw, so move the good matches to normal TV where they can at least pop you ratings.

Me personally, I'm not going to watch the extra stuff because I watch Raw and for WWE, that's enough for me for a week. I don't watch half the PPVs because some weekends I'm not at home or I'm just uninterested in the show. And I know I'm not the typical casual fan, but if I watch extra wrestling in a week, it's more likely to be Impact or something like ROH or New Japan instead of Smackdown.

(FYI, the Magnus-A.J. Styles title match is now.)

[Edited on January 9, 2014 at 10:45 PM. Reason : .]

1/9/2014 10:28:50 PM

well if you have DirecTV and want to watch WWE PPVs, you may have to get the network anyway:

Quote :

"DirecTV may cancel future WWE PPV events In WWE's release sent out earlier today, it noted that they would continue to offer PPVs via traditional televised means, but said that it is possible companies may not continue to carry them. The contracts that inDemand and DirecTV have with wrestling companies, boxing companies and UFC are that the PPVs can't be put on the Internet for a lower price than is being charged by the cable companies, so they aren't undercut. Obviously, putting PPV's as part of the new WWE network package would significantly undercut the price, and if they allowed WWE, a third place competitor in the pay-per-view market to violate that longstanding agreement, they would be powerless against the big two, the major boxing events and UFC. DirecTV released a statement today to the Los Angeles Times which stated: "Clearly, we need to quickly re-evaluate the economics and viability of their business with us, as it now appaers the WWE feels they do not need their PPV distributors." DirecTV claimed in the release that the WWE has been in a steady decline on PPV (actually the first half of this year was far stronger than in past years, but the last few months have been down). They noted the network "will only accelerate this trend." Vince McMahon claimed it would be foolish for cable companies to no longer carry WWE events, saying it is "found money for them.""

1/10/2014 12:20:01 AM

so here's the 2013 WWE PPV buyrates for North America (for these purposes: USA/Canada/Puerto Rico, Canada won't get the WWE Network for another year)

WrestleMania - 662k
Royal Rumble - 364k
SummerSlam - 185k
Elimination Chamber - 181k
Money in the Bank - 151k
Extreme Rules - 137k
Hell in a Cell - 121k
Payback - 108k
Survivor Series - 95k
Night of Champions - 92k
Battleground - 87k
TLC (Dec. 2012) - 75k

So that adds up to 2,258,000 buys for a calendar year. Multiply by $60 for an average PPV price. That's $135 million. The cable companies keep half. So say from PPV for 2013, WWE made from the USA, Canada, and Puerto Rico made $67.5 million. Remove 10% to take out Canada and Puerto Rico and we're around $60 million for WWE's PPV income for the year. For them to get $60 million at $10/month means they would need 500000 subscribers for every month of the year to just keep making what they were making before. And that is more than the number of that got their 2nd-best PPV, which had Rock winning the title.

1/10/2014 12:53:29 AM

Yeah, but those buy numbers are at $45-60 a pop. How many more people will purchase them at a 78%+ discount?

I usually buy 2-3 PPVs a year (Rumble, MITB, and some years another good card), chip in for Mania at a friend's house, and watch the rest via booted stream.

So on the low, counting the $10 I throw in on Mania, WWE is getting $100 of my money per year.

I'd sign up for WWE Network today if I could, which means $120 per year in WWE's pocket.

I think there are a lot of people like me who would rather pay a little more and get all the shows.

1/10/2014 3:42:15 AM

1/10/2014 1:26:36 PM

You had me at the Fink.

Also LOL Patterson.

1/10/2014 1:41:06 PM

I've never bought a PPV, but I think I will probably pay for the network.

1/10/2014 4:09:07 PM

big muscular hairy sweaty men in tight revealing clothes squeezing on each other

(i did not realize that Uncle phil from the Fresh Prince was the voice for the Junkyard Dog in the Hulk Hogan's Rock 'n Wresling cartoon)

(the after midnight show on comedy central has a segment about the Iron Sheik's tweets)

1/10/2014 4:28:54 PM

(cool)

1/10/2014 4:46:56 PM

None of them are hairy.

1/10/2014 6:21:32 PM

I guess the 4th wrestling promotion on semi-national American TV:

Quote :

"The long discussed movement of AAA to the U.S. was announced officially as a joint venture between Mark Burnett of Survivor fame and Robert Rodriguez of the El Rey Network by Scott Sassa, the Vice Chairman of El Rey Network. Sassa, one of the major power brokers at TBS when wrestling was on that station, announced a one hour television show that would debut during the second half of this year. One Three Media, run by Burnett, would partner with Lucha Libre AAA, run by Joaquin and Dorian Roldan. Burnett said this was a long-term commitment to bring Mexico's No. 2 sport into the U.S.market. They have a storyline in place, with the idea of building both prime time television specials on the network and PPV shows. http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/mark-burnett-bringing-lucha-libre-670131"

El Rey is a new English-language network targeting Latinos being started up by Comcast.

1/13/2014 4:42:09 PM

Ultimate Warrior -> WWE Hall of Fame

looking forward to the in-character promo speech

1/13/2014 9:35:45 PM

looks like Hogan will be back in time for WM as well

1/13/2014 9:46:59 PM

Quote :

"None of them are hairy."

Albert/Tensai/Sweet T/

1/13/2014 10:34:38 PM

Quote :

"I've never bought a PPV, but I think I will probably pay for the network."

this.

I've always just watched pirated versions live in shitty quality so might as well pay a measly 10 bucks and get HD. may even watch some of the other shit.

I'm just curious if you'll be limited to one IP... I might want to watch at work. If you AREN'T limited to one IP, then what's keeping TWW from getting one account and sharing it? pardon if this has been answered already.

1/13/2014 11:45:03 PM

it'll probably be like Netflix where you can only have two or three devices streaming at any given time

1/14/2014 8:57:30 AM

Let's talk about how hitting the eject button on the Daniel Wyatt angle because the best visual moment for the company in years.

I know they're probably paying Batista a healthy sum (though maybe not if he's really hanging around for two years), but Bryan's at least gotta win the Rumble, right? RIGHT?

1/14/2014 11:22:32 AM

we all knew he was gonna turn back, but that lasted, what, all of a week? more awful booking by Vince and his lackeys

1/14/2014 12:25:22 PM

I don't have any problem with them bailing on it. The crowd's weren't buying it and they shitcanned it. I actually semi-care about Bray Wyatt now, so they managed to accomplish that in the two week run.

1/14/2014 3:02:30 PM

that one week angle threw Daniel Byrant out the title hunt and put put John Cena in. it was a scam.


I'm for the wwe network. they actually can make a tv network. I would love to watch any classic match on a random tuesday afternoon.

1/14/2014 3:17:17 PM

Mae Young dead after "kicking out at 2" a few weeks ago. no 100 year match with Steph now, though making it past 90 is certainly nothing to sneeze at

1/15/2014 11:02:02 AM

Daniel Bryan reportedly suffered a concussion monday night. shit.

1/15/2014 11:33:30 AM

1/15/2014 4:56:47 PM

I can't believe there's an active thread for this, but I just came in here to post that this bull character is awesome.

1/15/2014 9:03:30 PM

He was the best high-flying wrestling midget in Mexico. Look up Mascarita Dorada on Youtube.

TNA is live tonight from Huntsville, Alabama (no more Impact Zone at Universal Studios). They opened the show with a remembrance of Mae Young. That was nice.

Quote :

"Kurt Angle vs. Bobby Roode cage match - if Angle loses, he can never go into the TNA Hall of Fame Bully Ray vs. Ken Anderson Sting vs. Ethan Carter III Gail Kim vs. Madison Rayne for Knockouts title James Storm vs. Gunner pole match in TNA title #1 contender's match"

May be on the show that is being taped for next week, but Davey Richards and Eddie Edwards of ROH fame are going to debut tonight in TNA as a tag team.

1/16/2014 9:07:38 PM

ok I just found out that Vince McMahon graduated from ECU. I'm just learning this.

1/17/2014 7:46:24 AM

^ Also from Havelock originally.

1/20/2014 8:16:22 PM

Batista is just the worst.

1/20/2014 8:59:20 PM

Is he melting?

1/20/2014 9:12:16 PM

Something a little different, Ric Flair talks wrestling in North Korea in a USA Today interview.

Quote :

"In April of 1995, Ted Turner-owned World Championship Wrestling teamed up with New Japan Pro Wrestling to put on the largest pay-per-view in pro wrestling history, held in Rungnado May Day Stadium in Pyongyang, North Korea. As part of the International Sports and Cultural Festival for Peace, the “Collision in Korea” was a two-day show with a combined attendance of 340,000. North Korean organizers hoped to entice the greatest athletes in the world to come — and though many declined — boxing legend Muhammad Ali and “The Nature Boy” Ric Flair led a small gang of Japanese and American pro wrestlers to the secretive country. Nearly 19 years later, Flair discussed his trip to Pyongyang with For The Win. FTW: What was it that made you decide you wanted to go to North Korea? Ric Flair: Well, initially it was going to be Ted Turner, Jimmy Carter, me and Muhammad Ali — in the end it just ended up being myself and Muhammad Ali, and some other guys that worked on the undercard (the Steiner brothers, the Road Warriors, Chris Benoit, Dean Malenko, and Scott Norton to name a few). I just thought, number one, it’d be cool to travel with Muhammad Ali. Number two, it was a challenge, and I just thought it would be an experience to remember later in life. FTW: Did you consult anyone before you went over? Was it an easy decision for you, or something you had to think about for a while? Flair: I talked to some friends of mine in politics and asked what they thought, and they all thought I was crazy for going. Back then I was just a team player, and they wanted me to go. I think they asked, if I’m not mistaken, George Foreman if he wanted to go. When I’m in the same light, the same consideration as George Foreman… that’s pretty cool and I’ll accept the opportunity. FTW: Can you describe the experience of getting off the plane in North Korea? Flair: It was extremely intimidating. They split us all up, took our passports, took us to different hotels, and they assigned different people to take care of us. I had someone who stuck with me all the time, from the sports ministry department. The guy who was taking care of me looked at me, and I had a Rolex on. He said “do you know how many years I would have to work to buy one of those?” I had no idea, he said “10 years.” People over there were making six dollars a day. FTW: What was the crowd like at this arena, because it’s a little eerie to watch the show on tape? The announcers repeatedly say there were 190,000 people there that night, is that legitimate? Flair: 190,000. I didn’t even know they had a facility that would hold [that many people]. It was huge — it was a two-day event, I didn’t wrestle the first day. I watched the show with Ali up in the sports minister’s press box. They had a card show, did you see that? It was like synchronized swimming — the cards showed a couple of missiles taking off from Korea, one going to Japan and one going to America. Flair: I think initially they expected it to be more like amateur wrestling… they would ask me how [these wrestlers] could do this to somebody, you know, a wrestling move. I would say “I don’t know, they couldn’t do it to me.” They probably thought they were getting duped a little bit. The crowd enjoyed it, and I wrestled Inoki the second day. The crowd responded pretty well to him. (Though Inoki is Japanese, he was trained by Rikidozan, a revered athlete in North Korea) It’s hard to explain, it was just really intimidating. Flair: They kept us three days after the event — we were supposed to leave right after but they kept us three days longer. The thing that really disturbed me the most was that they wanted me to make a public statement…. that after my time in North Korea, I saw that they could dominate the United States of America if they wanted to. I couldn’t say that, you know what I mean? I can’t remember how I angled my way around that one but I did not say that. I just said that I was thrilled and honored to be there and appreciated their hospitality. They were, for the most part, very nice. It was just an intimidating format, the whole time. There was no misunderstanding that [the North Koreans] wanted us to know that they were a threat as a world power. One of the guys over there [Scott Norton], apparently called home and said something that would indicate I guess that he wasn’t happy where he was, that he didn’t like being there, and they cut off his phone. I didn’t communicate to anybody… I brought my wife and kids to Tokyo with me in case I didn’t make it back. FTW: Do you have any souvenirs from the trip, or did you take any photos? Flair: They wouldn’t let us take pictures. You know what they gave Ali and I? They gave each one of us a huge engraved vase, that was the extent of what I brought back. I didn’t go shopping or anything, I just stayed in the hotel, and did the tours that were pretty much mandatory. In all fairness I can’t say they treated me badly. The watch thing still cracks me up, the guy wouldn’t stop talking about my watch. I almost wanted to give it to him to make sure I was going to get out of there. FTW: You visited at a different time, and North Korea has since lessened travel restrictions and opened the door a bit. What’s your reaction to Dennis Rodman visiting the country? Flair: I don’t really have a reaction. Dennis and I used to be friends, but I’ve probably seen him once in the past 10 years, so I don’t see Dennis enough to discuss it with him. I just know if I was over there, I’d be on my best behavior every minute."

Flair and Inoki with some backstage footage, plus a Beijing Olympic Opening Ceremony-type event: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=SKAusxd0xQM

[Edited on January 22, 2014 at 7:01 PM. Reason : /]

1/22/2014 7:00:09 PM

If anyone is interested in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Awards, I can post select sections up.

Quote :

"Lou Thesz/Ric Flair Award (Wrestler of the Year) Mixed Martial Arts Most Valuable Most Outstanding Wrestler Most Outstanding Fighter of the Year Best Box Office Draw Feud of the Year Tag Team of the Year Most Improved Best on Interviews Most Charismatic Best Technical Wrestler Bruiser Brody Memorial Award (Best Brawler) Best Flying Wrestler Most Overrated Most Underrated Promotion of the Year Best Weekly TV Show Pro Wrestling Match of the Year MMA Match of the Year Rookie of the Year Best Non-Wrestler Best Television Announcer Worst Television Announcer Best Major Wrestling Show Worst Major Wrestling Show Best Wrestling Maneuver Most Disgusting Promotional Tactic Worst Television Show Worst Match of the Year Worst Feud of the Year Worst Promotion of the Year Best Booker Promoter of the Year Best Gimmick Worst Gimmick Best Pro Wrestling Book Best Pro Wrestling DVD"

1/23/2014 8:36:19 AM

Punk got some TV time tonight on the UFC on Fox card. They did say who he was.

1/25/2014 8:57:57 PM

the New Age Outlaws beat the Rhodes Brothers for the tag titles on the preshow

they're opening the show with Bryan-Wyatt

1/26/2014 8:06:04 PM