The Shimmy 08.31.09: The WWE Network!

Clark is out this week but you lucked out and got me a sub. This is a bit of a homecoming for me as I got my 411mania start on The Shimmy, doing a small bit of commentary in a take off of ESPN’s PTI Five Good Minutes. Of course now I do a weekly ECW Report and fill in other places from time to time. But enough about me, let’s get down to The Shimmy!

Last week while WWE was in LA for Raw they took a lot of meetings with industry people. One of the juiciest and most interesting tidbits from these meetings was the news that Vince McMahon has expressed an interest in possibly starting a WWE Network at some point. Needless to say that news piqued the interest of wrestling fans all over the internet and a lot of people came out with their own ideas of what a WWE Network should be. I’ve never been one to pass up a good conversation topic so this week I’m going to talk about my ideas for what a WWE Network should be and how WWE could most effectively utilize it.

Background

In the past, whenever WWE bought out any organization whether it be ECW, AWA, WCW, etc, they also bought that organization’s tape library. Up to now WWE has only been able to utilize that tremendous resource mainly through DVD releases, which is a problem. WWE knows it is sitting on a goldmine but there just isn’t a way for them to distribute all of this material in a way that will be financially viable.

WWE isn’t the only company that had this problem of course, the NFL, NBA, and MLB were also all sitting on mountains of tape and had no way to get it out to the people who were willing to pay for it. Technology brought the answer. With the advent of digital cable and mini satellite dishes, there became a need for programming and with various cable and satellite companies competing for every customer available, the programming could be targeted at a smaller section of the audience rather than having to be everything to everyone. Out of those needs came the NFL Network, MLB Network, and NBA TV. Those channels were able to provide quality first run entertainment aimed at a specific yet loyal audience and also provided an opportunity to utilize those vast tape libraries all the while producing revenue through ad sales. Another advantage to this was that the specific leagues were able to distribute their content themselves, thereby maintaining control of the content.

Putting the pieces together

WWE has a problem. Through the years they have utilized their tape library to produce DVDs covering the careers of major stars and events in addition to their monthly pay per view offerings. The problem is that they have all but run out of major stars and events to cover in a retrospective manner, so much so that they have stated looking to produce DVDs of stars that are not nearly as established as the “legends” of the business or they have produced career profiles of stars without any input from the stars themselves, such as Randy Savage or the Ultimate Warrior. And that still doesn’t address the fact that WWE has thousands of hours or past Raws, Smackdowns, and Nitros with no real way to show them. WWE has tried alternate avenues such as a video on demand service or internet on demand but those services still don’t compare to regular television. WWE is also very vigilant about their content, looking to always maintain control of everything they broadcast or own the copyright to. Of course, after seeing the success of the NFL Network and the MLB network, it makes sense that WWE sees the potential solution to these problems in their own WWE network. Much like the NFL network will show old classic games, WWE could show old classic shows. Much like the MLB network has rountable discussions on baseball’s past, WWE could have roundtable discussions on wrestling’s past. (Granted, WWE already does this through their On-Demand service but on their own channel it would reach a much larger audience.) And of course there is the potential for WWE to move some of their lower tier shows like Superstars or ECW to their own channel.

My idea for a WWE Network

I feel that for a WWE Network to succeed, they first need to look at what need they should fulfill and also look at what the fans want. While there is no shortage of new programming being produced by WWE every week, it’s clear that fans would get a kick out of reliving past episodes of Raw, Smackdown, WCW Nitro, and even the old Superstars shows from the 80s. Not to mention any of the old Mid-Atlantic or Texas shows. So every night during prime time I would run one or two of the old shows along with a ticker at the bottom that helped expain the feuds and storylines that were going on at the time. They could even highlight the history of the wrestlers involved in whatever matches were being shown, where they trained, what they are doing today, etc. I would also run some of the older DVD and tape content like the Diva specials, the first Stone Cold DVD, etc. Of course, I would also show old pay-per-view shows in their entirety. I would also create original programming like a show that highlights current events in WWE; who is feuding with who, superstars on the rise, major happenings, and anything else worth mentioning. A behind the scenes look at WWE would be very interesting as well; a look at how the shows are produced, what goes into stage and pyro set up, a look at how the photo shoots take place, visits with Make-A-Wish kids, celebrity appearances, and even how WWE Superstars train. WWE could also produce a show that highlights the lighter side of wrestling, some of the funny vignettes that have been filmed over the years, embarrassing moments, and things that were just plain silly. With the giant library that WWE has at their disposal, really the possibilities are endless.

Pros and Cons

Over the past few years, WWE can come around and embraced the idea that to be a wrestling fan is to be part of a culture (“WWE Universe”) and as such that culture will accept and be passionate about an entire channel focused on something they are passionate about. WWE would also benefit financially from having their own channel since they would be able to keep all the ad revenue and not have to share it with the channel that was broadcasting their content. The downside to this would be that programming on the WWE Network would be in direct competition with programming that WWE has already established and that could put a strain on the relationships with their broadcast partners. However, if the NLF and MLB were able to work that out then I’m sure WWE could too. Another pro would be that a WWE network would allow for them to gain a foothold where their biggest competition doesn’t have one. When I say biggest competition, I am not talking about TNA, I am talking about UFC. Right now pay-per-view is a huge scorce of revenue for WWE but they are losing out to UFC which has been breaking buyrate records with regularity. If WWE were to gain their own channel they would be able to supplement the PPV revenue that they are losing to UFC.

Final Analysis

WWE has a great idea with their own network and as long as they could get the right people to run it, it really is low risk and high reward with all the content they are sitting on and unable to use. As a wrestling fan, I really hope they go through with it and that it is everything great we all hope it will be.

That’s it for me kids, any comments can be made below or you can email me at andy(dot)critchell(at)gmail(dot)com. Also, make sure to check me out on the UBS Evening Movie News Report over on the Movie Zone where I post the Interactive Babe Photo News Brief each and every week.

Oh, and Clark said don’t die. Later!