Wrestling News & Rumours Thread ***NO CHAT***

LineOfBeauty

J. Marston wrote: »

It's a match they'll build for a weekly special I'd imagine. Can't see them running that angle long enough to get to a ppv. Though not a chance Christian wins the thing.

beakerjoe

Not a hope he is winning. Fans wont accept a 47 year old upper mid carder of the early 2000 WWE winning the title.

And cheers for posting spoilers in here in an attempt to point score.

Im still open to that bet though, seriously....20 quid says he wont win it in the next 3 months.

LineOfBeauty

Necro wrote: »

Why is the Network moving to Peacock? Is it money primarily? I've really been enjoying the old stuff since I resubbed for the Rumble, the functionality has massively improved as well as the show markers. Also when you're on a Raw binge from back in the day the fact it now switches to the next chronological show is great.

I know it isn't changing for us yet but it's a shame. Whatever about their current product the Network continues to be relatively decent value for money imo anyways

It's money. Guaranteed money. You can absolutely make the argument that, for all it's positives of which there are many for fans, from a WWE perspective the Network has been a failure since its launch. They never converted the number of viewers they expected into paying subscribers. They never came close to hitting the targets they'd set for it. Even with the initial push for it (the non stop promos, the announcers telling you you're dumb if you pay for ppv rather than the Network) people just did not move onto it in the numbers they anticipated. Their conversion rate really was pretty awful. Worst still, they killed their PPV business by undercutting themselves. You look at the deal UFC got with ESPN+ and the even better deal they'll almost certainly get when it comes up for renewal, they managed that because they never undercut themselves on PPV. WWE instead decided to give away all of their shows (including the big 4, particularly Wrestlemania) for $10 rather than $60. By the end (the last year basically) they'd more or less given up growing the subscriber base, it wasn't going to happen. They'd spoken on their conference calls last year pre Wrestlemania about selling it, they finally managed to do that with Peacock. Rather than growing, it had completely stalled in and around the 1 million domestic subscribers mark, if anything it'd showed slow signs of decline rather than growth. They've gotten guaranteed money for it from Peacock, the right deal at this stage of the game was to sell it for the guaranteed money but I absolutely believe a strong argument could be made that had they not set up the Network in the first place (or had set it up whereby the big PPVs were valued at their previous level) this deal would have been made for more money.

J. Marston

beakerjoe wrote: »

Not a hope he is winning. Fans wont accept a 47 year old upper mid carder of the early 2000 WWE winning the title.

And cheers for posting spoilers in here in an attempt to point score.

Im still open to that bet though, seriously....20 quid says he wont win it in the next 3 months.

Was the bet he won't win the title or he won't be main event level? You did say TNT title was his ceiling after all.

Apologies for the spoiler.

Necro

Probably for the Network thread but yeah it wasn't great sense financially for the company to begin with.

Was great for us though

Hopefully it takes a while for them to sell the international side of it, currently going through the alliance stuff which is ok, but my word did they sh1t the bed with that too trying to rush it through without the big WCW names.

LineOfBeauty

Necro wrote: »

Probably for the Network thread but yeah it wasn't great sense financially for the company to begin with.

Was great for us though

Hopefully it takes a while for them to sell the international side of it, currently going through the alliance stuff which is ok, but my word did they sh1t the bed with that too trying to rush it through without the big WCW names.

That's the fear for us. It looks inevitable they'll sell it eventually but the longer they don't, the better for us. On top of everything else, they completely underpriced the thing too.

beakerjoe

J. Marston wrote: »

Was the bet he won't win the title or he won't be main event level? You did say TNT title was his ceiling after all.

Apologies for the spoiler.

Winning the TNT is the best he can realistically achieve. Ive no problem with him in a short program with the World champ.

The bet would be that he wont become their top champion.

Its not the worst spoiler, but still. No worries.

Itssoeasy

Necro wrote: »

Probably for the Network thread but yeah it wasn't great sense financially for the company to begin with.

Was great for us though

Hopefully it takes a while for them to sell the international side of it, currently going through the alliance stuff which is ok, but my word did they sh1t the bed with that too trying to rush it through without the big WCW names.

I do feel sorry for the US fans who would presumably were and still are the majority of the subscriptions to it.

Unless peacock becomes available here and anywhere else outside the US then I don’t see them selling the rights anytime soon. Nobody jumps off the page as to who they’d sell them to. Anyway like the carry on film, we’ll carry on regardless.

Necro

Itssoeasy wrote:

Unless peacock becomes available here and anywhere else outside the US then I don’t see them selling the rights anytime soon. Nobody jumps off the page as to who they’d sell them to. Anyway like the carry on film, we’ll carry on regardless.

Hope it's not Disney anyways (unlikely). The app is awful on the PlayStation, no auto play, can't turn off your controller when watching an episode, crashes intermittently...

Anyways getting wildly off topic here!

Itssoeasy

Necro wrote: »

Hope it's not Disney anyways (unlikely). The app is awful on the PlayStation, no auto play, can't turn off your controller when watching an episode, crashes intermittently...

Anyways getting wildly off topic here!

Sorry chief it wasn’t my intention to drag threads off topic.

I think that Christian has a worlds title run in him. Seeing as AEW have a connection to the NWA they could work the fact that he’s a former two time holder of the NWA title and use the “real worlds champion” angle that flair used in his first wwe run. I think something like that could work.

Necro

Itssoeasy wrote:

Sorry chief it wasn’t my intention to drag threads off topic.

Not at all, twas my fault for bringing it up in the first place!

Itssoeasy wrote:

I think that Christian has a worlds title run in him. Seeing as AEW have a connection to the NWA they could work the fact that he’s a former two time holder of the NWA title and use the “real worlds champion†angle that flair used in his first wwe run. I think something like that could work.

I'm not sure about this tbh. I think Christian is a grand signing if they use him similar to how Jericho has been used for the last while but there would be a distinct bang of TNA off it if they put the belt on him imo anyways.

bennyl10

Takeover to be broadcast live on Bt sport..

Could mean a move to BT for everything as opposed to network is in one

Necro

bennyl10 wrote: »

Takeover to be broadcast live on Bt sport..

Could mean a move to BT for everything as opposed to network is in one

Please no I refuse to go back to the PPV model

bennyl10

Necro wrote: »

Please no I refuse to go back to the PPV model

I hope not, but this being on tv entirely..

certainly is a move in 'a direction' by WWE with BT, whether it means they get the network/exclusive PPV rights we'll see.. but it doesn't look great

Particularly here as BT box office is available on sky and nothing else

Itssoeasy

bennyl10 wrote: »

Takeover to be broadcast live on Bt sport..

Could mean a move to BT for everything as opposed to network is in one

Well takeover is a two night event this year so the first night is being shown in its broadcast spot so in the US its on USA network and then on peacock and as that’s BT sport here in Ireland and the uk. I wouldn’t be drawing any conclusions as to the future of the the network rights over here based on a takeover being broadcast on BT sport because that already happens.

beakerjoe

bennyl10 wrote: »

I hope not, but this being on tv entirely..

certainly is a move in 'a direction' by WWE with BT, whether it means they get the network/exclusive PPV rights we'll see.. but it doesn't look great

Particularly here as BT box office is available on sky and nothing else

I dont mind they PPV model if they had less PPVs. 8 year would be fine and Id be happy to shell out 15-20 bucks to watch a decent show.

Problem is there are over 14 main roster PPVs a year, 4-5 NXT PPVs and around half of these shows have content/matches that was thrown together at the last minute.

Im happy with AEWs model thus far. Yes its 20 bucks a PPV and theres less content as a whole. But Im happy to pay for 4 really well organized shows that mean something.

WWE jurns out content for the sake of it.

LineOfBeauty

beakerjoe wrote: »

I dont mind they PPV model if they had less PPVs. 8 year would be fine and Id be happy to shell out 15-20 bucks to watch a decent show.

Problem is there are over 14 main roster PPVs a year, 4-5 NXT PPVs and around half of these shows have content/matches that was thrown together at the last minute.

Im happy with AEWs model thus far. Yes its 20 bucks a PPV and theres less content as a whole. But Im happy to pay for 4 really well organized shows that mean something.

WWE jurns out content for the sake of it.

They're very much at different stages and as a result different plans right now. For WWE, the money is in pumping out content. The more content the better and the quality suffers as a result. For AEW, getting strong ratings in the demo and selling ppvs to a lesser extent is key and so the attention to detail in everything they produce is just at a higher level.

bennyl10

Itssoeasy wrote: »

Well takeover is a two night event this year so the first night is being shown in its broadcast spot so in the US its on USA network and then on peacock and as that’s BT sport here in Ireland and the uk. I wouldn’t be drawing any conclusions as to the future of the the network rights over here based on a takeover being broadcast on BT sport because that already happens.

when has a takeover been broadcast on Bt before?

The 2nd night being on the 'network' on now BT is certainly a change to the norm

Itssoeasy

bennyl10 wrote: »

when has a takeover been broadcast on Bt before?

The 2nd night being on the 'network' on now BT is certainly a change to the norm

When has a takeover been on USA network before ? It hasn’t before but wwe have decided to put it in it regular Wednesday night spot this years event. What night is the nxt takeover on BT mania weekend ? If it’s Wednesday it’s mirroring USA netork.

bennyl10

Itssoeasy wrote: »

When has a takeover been on USA network before ? It hasn’t before but wwe have decided to put it in it regular Wednesday night spot this years event. What night is the nxt takeover on BT mania weekend ? If it’s Wednesday it’s mirroring USA netork.

Bt are showing both nights live

Itssoeasy

bennyl10 wrote: »

Bt are showing both nights live

Not according to the BT sport website I’m looking at right now. It shows NXT on Thursday morning that week at 1am. There smackdown and there’s raw as usual but NXT only has one listing that week on BT sports 1.

bennyl10

Itssoeasy wrote: »

Not according to the BT sport website I’m looking at right now. It shows NXT on Thursday morning that week at 1am. There smackdown and there’s raw as usual but NXT only has one listing that week on BT sports 1.

https://twitter.com/btsportwwe/status/1369944008332615682?s=21


Was going on their tweet this morning

Itssoeasy

bennyl10 wrote: »

https://twitter.com/btsportwwe/status/1369944008332615682?s=21


Was going on their tweet this morning

Well their listings on their website isn’t up to date then.

ThePott

From a fan perspective the Network move is a hindrance. Not having all content, markers and search functionality, yada yada.
From a consumer perspective, it's an absolute win. For less money you get all the content on Peacock too. Honestly, for me I'll take the latter.

Itssoeasy

ThePott wrote: »

From a fan perspective the Network move is a hindrance. Not having all content, markers and search functionality, yada yada.
From a consumer perspective, it's an absolute win. For less money you get all the content on Peacock too. Honestly, for me I'll take the latter.

We can’t get peacock in Ireland though and they’ve said that the network is only shutting down in the US anywhere else. I mean it’s possible that nxt takeovers are shown on BT and the network for a bit. Is there a BT sports app and is it available in Ireland ?

beakerjoe

ThePott wrote: »

From a fan perspective the Network move is a hindrance. Not having all content, markers and search functionality, yada yada.
From a consumer perspective, it's an absolute win. For less money you get all the content on Peacock too. Honestly, for me I'll take the latter.

But all consumers of WWE will be fans and for the extra few quid Id rather the Network Im used to.

Id be happy if WWE kept the historical content separate and send PPVs, new content to Peacock.

Its the historical content I enjoy, the PPVs are just a bonus.

ThePott

Itssoeasy wrote: »

We can’t get peacock in Ireland though and they’ve said that the network is only shutting down in the US anywhere else. I mean it’s possible that nxt takeovers are shown on BT and the network for a bit. Is there a BT sports app and is it available in Ireland ?

That fact it's in America is irrelevant, I'm talking about Peacock and consumers in general. Until a decent streaming alternative emerges for the Network to migrate to, it won't happen and when it comes to streaming services over here we're probably far luckier than the many alternatives in America. Besides some people have spoken about Peacock and I'm using it myself here in Ireland. I don't think any of this means anything for PPVs here for now. ESPN PPVs for UFC haven't changed PPVs over here, they're still free on BT Sport, no? I'm talking purely as a consumer in America, Peacock is a better choice for consumers, IMO.

beakerjoe wrote: »

But all consumers of WWE will be fans and for the extra few quid Id rather the Network Im used to.
Id be happy if WWE kept the historical content separate and send PPVs, new content to Peacock.
Its the historical content I enjoy, the PPVs are just a bonus.

I think we're romanticising the network a bit, it has a fair few issues. The older content is going to be on Peacock eventually so I don't think that's a major loss. Not to mention Peacock is in it's infancy still too and there is some rumour that the functionality of the Network will be transfered over at some point. Maybe I'm the minority but paying half the price for the Network than I do and being offered Peacock's catalogue is a steal. If in the morning they announced that the Network would have a deal with Amazon Prime, Disney, etc. and you paid 6.50 for both, I think people would be pretty happy.

Itssoeasy

ThePott wrote: »

That fact it's in America is irrelevant, I'm talking about Peacock and consumers in general. Until a decent streaming alternative emerges for the Network to migrate to, it won't happen and when it comes to streaming services over here we're probably far luckier than the many alternatives in America. Besides some people have spoken about Peacock and I'm using it myself here in Ireland. I don't think any of this means anything for PPVs here for now. ESPN PPVs for UFC haven't changed PPVs over here, they're still free on BT Sport, no? I'm talking purely as a consumer in America, Peacock is a better choice for consumers, IMO.


I think we're romanticising the network a bit, it has a fair few issues. The older content is going to be on Peacock eventually so I don't think that's a major loss. Not to mention Peacock is in it's infancy still too and there is some rumour that the functionality of the Network will be transfered over at some point. Maybe I'm the minority but paying half the price for the Network than I do and being offered Peacock's catalogue is a steal. If in the morning they announced that the Network would have a deal with Amazon Prime, Disney, etc. and you paid 6.50 for both, I think people would be pretty happy.

Which was my point that unless and until a way for wwe to shut down the international wwe network it’s going to stay up and running and the peacock money in the states could probably fund the network going forward.

I’d be happy out if that happened actually. I’d be all for it but that may not happen. I’ve never looked at what peacock has to offer so its not on my radar.

Itssoeasy

Sad to see that Becky lynch’s father has passed away.

Lovely tribute from her to her dad on Instagram.

[URL]

ThePott

Itssoeasy wrote: »

Which was my point that unless and until a way for wwe to shut down the international wwe network it’s going to stay up and running and the peacock money in the states could probably fund the network going forward.

I’d be happy out if that happened actually. I’d be all for it but that may not happen. I’ve never looked at what peacock has to offer so its not on my radar.

Ah apologies may have misinterpreted your post. Yeah I don't think it's likely to happen anytime soon here. With Paramount Plus launching in America all the major players that want a streaming service have one and they're all hoping for something that will make them worth subscribing to.

Here we're comparably lucky with less streamers and any other major players are unlikely to launch here until existing deals expire and that could be years. I think the network will be safe for quite a bit in most of Europe imo. I don't see your Netflix, Disney or Amazon trying to get it here either.