The WWE Network: Session 1 - The Library

I've been on the fence with the public announcement and video of the launching of the WWE Network in 2012.  I have various thoughts and comments on this topic and I would name this as Part 1, but I don't know how many Parts I will actually write on this topic.  What I've decided upon is to call each article a Session (I got the idea from MVP's youtube channel).  The first item that I will discuss on this Session will be whether the WWE has enough programming for it's own Network.  Some may not be aware of how deep the WWE Library is.  The following list is based on information from wikipedia.

Current WWE produced programming:

RAW

Smackdown

Superstars

NXT

WWE Bottomline (RAW recap show)

WWE After Burn (Smackdown recap show)

WWE Experience (Raw and Smackdown recap show)

WWE Vintage Collection (features WWF/WWE shows)

WWE Tough Enough (a seasonal show)

Shows like Bottomline, After Burn, Experience, and Vintage Collection are aired outside the US.

Classic WWE-specific Library:

Capitol Wrestling Corporation (1952-1963)

World Wide Wrestling Federation (1963-1979)

World Wrestling Federation (1979-2002)

World Wrestling Entertainment/WWE (2002-present)

RAW (2002-present)

Smackdown (2002-present)

ECW (2006-2010)

NXT (2010-present)

WWE Tough Enough (Seasons 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5)

Non-WWE Purchased Library:

American Wrestling Association (1957-1991)

Georgia Championship Wrestling (1944-1985)

Eastern Championship Wrestling (1992-1994)

Extreme Championship Wrestling (1992-1994)

Ohio Valley Wrestling (1998-2008)

Florida Championship Wrestling (2007-present)

Smoky Mountain Wrestling (1992-1995)

Stampede Wrestling (1948-1989)

Ultimate Pro Wrestling (1998-2007)

World Championship Wrestling (1988-2001)

Jim Crockett Promotion

-Eastern States Championship Wrestling (1945-1973)

-Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling (1973-1988)

-Central States Wrestling (early 1950s-1986)

-Championship Wrestling from Georgia (1984-1985)

-St. Louis Wrestling Club (1959-1985)

World Class Championship Wrestling (1966-1988)

Maple Leaf Wrestling (1930-1995)

With years upon years of wrestling footage at their disposal, they do have enough footage to air 24 hours of the day.  Upon looking at this list, it could be fairly said that the WWE is truly the Guardians of Professional Wrestling History.  Practically all of the libraries that were purchased came from the days of the territory system under the National Wrestling Alliance.  With all this footage, there are many possible shows that can be produced other than airing the actual footage.  There could be a documentary show on the territory system featuring each territory or featuring a particular wrestler or even managers through out the years which could be similar to the History Channel.  They can create a live feed pre-show to Raw or Smackdown which could be similar to many sporting events.  They can produce original programming like "The Day In The Life of ____", which could be similar to MTV, BET and VH-1 shows.  The possibility are endless.  Well, more on that in my other sessions.

Keep checking the site and leave your comments.

National Anthem on Smackdown 2 days after 9/11/01

With respect to the events that happened on September 11, 2001, I just wanted to share with everyone the national anthem being sung by Lillian Garcia on WWE Smackdown which was held 2 days after the tragic event.  WWE is recognized as the first live show to singing of national anthem on live television after that tragic day.

Jeff Hardy: Should we give him a 2nd Chance?

This past week on Impact Wrestling, The Enigma Jeff Hardy made his return to Impact Wrestling.  In a short promo, he expressed that the last time he was on TV, he was at the lowest of his life.  He was a disappointment to himself, the company, and his fans and then he asked everyone to give him a second chance.  Should we?  Yes, we should.

First of all, I do want to say that in his last appearance when he was set face Sting at the Victory Road PPV and was apparently in no condition to wrestle, which led Eric Bischoff to call an audible and have the match last 90 seconds long, was a BLATANT INSULT to the wrestling community.  He knows that.  Impact Wrestling knows that. The whole wrestling community knows that.  So why should he be given a second chance?  Because it’s good business. 

There are many non-WWE wrestling fans that love Impact Wrestling.  If we look in Europe, their show are getting better ratings than Raw or Smackdown.  In the US, though Impact Wrestling seems to be struggling with the ratings, they do have a loyal fan base who watch their show every week.  Many of these fans are Jeff Hardy fans.  Because of the Internet and Social Media, everyone knows the story surrounding Jeff Hardy, but regardless of this, Jeff Hardy can still grab people’s attention and garner a strong following.  If spun right, TNA can create a great storyline and make a great “face” character for the company.

The reason why they need to create a great face character is because that’s not the norm of Impact Wrestling.  Almost all wrestlers in TNA are trying to carry on the NWO/DX/Austin/Attitude Era style of being edgy and raw.  That approached is great but if everyone is like that, then what’s unique about that character?  Nothing.  For every great hero, there is a villain.  For every great face, there is a heel.  What Impact Wrestling needs is that ultimate face, who will battle against the edgy and raw heels as in good vs. evil. 

Jeff Hardy’s last character prior to being suspended was that he was a heel.  After all that has happened, his promo has shown that there has been some maturity to his character.  If Impact Wrestling can further revamp his look, revamp his approach on the mic, make him the ultimate fighter of good, and blame his downfall on the company, there will be so many angles that the company can go with that they are only limited by their imagination.  Of course, Impact Wrestling has their other internal battles that they need to work on in order to help them grow, but if they play their cards write, they can do a lot with this return of Jeff Hardy.  Only time will tell as to how they will handle the situation.  As wrestling fan, I hope for the best for them.

Colt Cabana Interviews Cliff Compton

Colt Cabana has his current Art Of Wrestling podcast on his website www.welovecolt.com

In his podcast for this week, he interviews Cliff Compton, formerly known as Domino when he was with the WWE.  Last month, if you kept up with the wrestling internet news, Cliff Compton and Luke Gallows were stranded in Nigeria after doing a wrestling event.  While they were on tour, the UN Office in Abuja, Nigeria was bombed which put all US citizens in the country on high alert.  Cliff Compton gives us the first account of how he got approached to do the wrestling event, the travel to Nigeria, his experience in the country, and finally being able to leave the country and return back home.  It's a very interesting interview.

Colt Cabana's Art of Wrestling Podcast is released every Thursday.  He aims to chronicle the life and stories of wrestlers as a form of a diary for all wrestling fans to enjoy.  Check out his website at www.welovecolt.com where you can hear his interview.  His podcast can also be downloaded on Itunes.

Internet and Social Media: From WWE Enemy to WWE Ally

Earlier this week, there was drama amongst the WWE Divas over an article that was written on WWE.com suggesting the Divas of Doom (collectively, Beth Phoenix and Natalya) are the saviors of the Divas Division. The topic sparked Nikki Bella to react on her Twitter account regarding how hard the Divas work and that though some of them had no wrestling background when they first started, all of them have busted their butts to hone their craft and be better performers. Many of the twitter community chimed in with some good and bad remarks. The interesting thing about this discussion in social media is that the argumentative topic was over an in-house article written by the WWE. Oh how the WWE has come from the earlier days of the Internet.

Ever since the mid-1990s, many wrestling fans started up their own wrestling websites where fans can read the latest news on their favorite wrestler. Just like the rest of the world has experienced, local information was suddenly spread worldwide. E-mails allowed information to be shared instantaneously. As the world advanced in this new form of communication, the veil of professional wrestling slowly was drawn back exposing how scripted their beloved sport really is. Prior to the wide use of the Internet, the secrets of professional wrestling were kept within the community of wrestlers. The illusion of storyline and reality were so blurred that many fans actually thought that what they saw on TV was actually how wrestlers really were in the real world. Countless arguments between fans and non-fans debated on the reality of wrestling. That all disappeared when photos, personal encounters, and inside information were slowly leaked via the Internet. To much of the chagrin of the wrestling industry, they were helpless in keeping the secrets amongst themselves.

To understand the impact, let’s take a look at the evolution of the Internet and social media in the past 10 years. In 2000, less than 50% of the US households were linked to the web. By 2010, that percentage has gone up to more than 75% of the households. In 2002, Friendster started. In 2003, Myspace started. In 2004, Facebook started. In 2005, Youtube started. In 2006, Twitter started. From the early to mid-2000s, due to the advancements in cell phone technology and telephone company plans, SMS text messaging became widely used around the world. This is the situation of life that the wrestling community was in, and because of this, the illusion of wrestling has disappeared. In its place was the acknowledgement of the creativity and athleticism of the wrestlers, but along with that came the criticism and angst toward sub-par shows and performances.

As the Internet became a prevalent way to expose the truth about wrestling, many wrestling companies like the WWE bad-mouthed the spread of inside knowledge by these fans. Many of them criticized the “dirt sheet” the fans would write concerning the behind the scenes actions of the business. To much of their dismay, scripted storylines for up-coming shows were released, which took away much of the “surprise” factor that these companies were trying to portray. Because of their despise of the wrestling fans who would give out spoilers, on the spot decision were made in order to keep the fans guessing as to what will actually happen. The ones who were most angered about these unexpected changes where the company’s creative teams who prepared long program for a particular wrestler but would have all that abruptly scratched because of the spoilers that were leaked on the web. As this scenario plagued the WWE for quite a long time, it’s only recently that the WWE has finally begun to use the Internet for their advantage.

As of the past year or so, the WWE has slowly been encouraging their wrestlers to get more involved with social media, but with caution, for many misconstrued messages can create a negative effect for themselves and the company. One example of who has led the WWE in this new format of promoting himself and the company is Zack Ryder. After much of his popularity died late last year along with receiving less and less airtime, Zack Ryder took it upon himself to launch a Youtube Channel entitled the Z! True Long Island Story. Without any support nor any hindrance from the WWE, Zack Ryder created 5-7 minute humorous videos of himself and his friends in effort to create a fan following and catch the attention of the WWE higher-ups. After releasing a new video every week for 29 weeks which he himself wrote, produced, and edited, the WWE has paid attention to what the fans were cheering for, and as a result, he is getting more airtime as of late. Riding along this wave, WWE.com has been releasing more news articles involving the current on-air storylines (like the Divas of Doom article), which has become the buzz across the Internet and social media. Apparently, what the WWE has come to learn is that instead of fighting the monster called the Internet, they have begun using this monster as their ally in bringing a new dimension to the wrestling experience.

With the in-sync combination of the Internet, Social Media, and on-air storylines, we can expect the WWE to slowly bring the veil back in front of the audience in keeping them guessing as to which is real and which is a storyline. There will always be the smart-alecks on the web with their opinions and their attempts to guess which is a legit story or not. They may be right or they may be not. We will only know after the fact. If we just sit back and relax and let the Internet community do what they do best, the WWE will continue to give us interesting and entertaining shows for all their fans to enjoy.

Wrestling Always Matters Podcast 9/08/11

Wrestling Always Matters Internet Wrestling News Podcast bringing you the news in and out of the wrestling ring that floating around the web. In today's episode we have news regarding: 


- Dave Lagana's interview 
- Kurt Angle Update on His DUI 
- Todd Grisham's replacement 
- Kevin Nash Update on being "Fired"
- Yoshi Tatsu 
- The Rock and Survivor Series 
-Pro Wrestling Guerrilla 
- NWA from Hollywood.


Take a listen and feel free to comment

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Angle and His Alcohol!

The following is an article from the North Virginia Daily News at nvdaily.com


Here are some excerpts from the article:

Impact Wrestling champion Kurt Angle's initial test showed a blood-alcohol concentration of 0.091 percent when he was arrested on a charge of driving under the influence early Sunday morning, according to state police.

The wrestler's first test, conducted at the scene of the traffic stop near Linden, came back above the legal limit of 0.08 percent.

On a second test at the Front Royal police headquarters Sunday morning, Angle blew a 0.06, according to state police.

Trooper C.R. Scally observed the vehicle "weaving and driving down the center line" while following it for about a half mile, according to the police report he filed. Scally pulled the vehicle over just east of the Va. 79 interchange at Exit 13.

The report stated that Scally then asked Angle to exit the vehicle and perform a series of six sobriety tests.

Scally also wrote, "Mr. Angle's eyes were bloodshot and glassy."

Angle agreed to take a preliminary breath test at the scene and according to the report had a blood alcohol level of 0.091. He was then placed under arrest at 2:06 a.m. and taken to the Front Royal police headquarters for the second test.

Angle was released from Warren County Jail on a $2,000 secured bond. His hearing is set for Oct. 4 in Warren County General District Court.

To read the complete article go to:

http://www.nvdaily.com/news/2011/09/wrestlers-initial-bac-result-was-0091-percent.php