That Wrestling Podcast Episode 16

That Wrestling Podcast Episode 16 by Dave Hatton on Mixcloud

In this episode Michael and I talk about the potential that a wrestling edition of Big Brother holds. Well, I say we chat about it but that’s not strictly true. I had to spend several minutes selling him on the idea of this hypothetical concept and explaining bits and pieces about Big Brother. But once that’s done and he’s warmed to the idea a little we chat about it. We discuss how the show would work, who we’d put in there and name drop the seemingly forgotten Legends’ House.

Plus there’s a JBL anecdote from Michael! If that doesn’t get you listening I don’t know what will.

 

If WWE got involved with Big Brother it'd be better than this (probably)

Don't Pay, Just View

Stop the presses! The launch of the WWE Network has been put back from its original April 1^st date!

What do you mean you all saw it coming?

The WWE Network is due to launch this year (some time, they promise and they really, really mean it) and there are currently very few shows confirmed for it. We know we'll be treated to Legends' House (WWE's take on the decade old Big Brother format) and various documentary series on subjects ranging from the Monday Night War to the travel schedule of the promotion’s current batch of Divas. There's a good chance Superstars and NXT (if that’s still around when the Network launches) will be aired there too.

So far, so underwhelming.
 
There is interesting news though. WWE is considering moving away from the monthly pay-per-view format they've been using since 1995. Firm details on this decision haven’t yet surfaced but it's been hinted that only the Royal Rumble, WrestleMania, SummerSlam and Survivor Series will be sold as pay-per-view shows when the channel launches, with the rest of the company's PPV offerings moving to the Network as part of its regular, free, programming.

The original rumour was more ludicrous still: WWE planned to give away the Big Four shows and charge for the “filler” pay-per-views. WrestleMania alone routinely gets around one million buys, with the other three approaching that combined. That WWE were considering giving away shows that perform that well for free is distressing.
 
I personally think any change to the company’s pay-per-view product would be a huge mistake until the Network is firmly established. Numbers have been declining on pay-per-view buy rates for several years now, but giving them away free in order to entice people to buy a television channel isn’t the answer. The best approach WWE could take is spending more time preparing for these events and offering matches people want to see. Ironically, part of the reason this doesn’t happen is that so many people within the company are preoccupied with launching a TV channel.

Vanity projects like the WWE Network are not going to help bring in extra cash. The Network will undoubtedly get viewers, but I suspect it will take a long time to attract enough to offset the costs WWE is racking up setting the thing up. It will take even longer if WWE voluntarily cuts its PPV revenue stream. TV ratings are another distraction. They do serve a purpose (indicating what acts are popular, which storylines are working and which aren’t) but WWE seems to have forgotten that RAW and SmackDown primarily exist to provide a platform to sell live event tickets, merchandise and, yes, pay-per-views.

That’s the theory at least.

The plan is likely to offer the “filler” events free to WWE Network subscribers while still charging non-subscribers as normal. That’s a move not properly thought out. Those people likely to buy every show or the majority of shows will be the ones who subscribe to the WWE Network and will end up getting a year’s worth of B level shows for the price of three or four, plus all the other content WWE’s channel will provide. In short: the company needs to come up with a new hook to entice people to sign up, especially those who would not normally consider a WWE-themed channel.

If they’re serious about making the WWE Network a success WWE need to leave tinkering with pay-per-views for a later date. 2013 at the earliest. Their focus at the moment should be on creating some truly exciting original programming for the channel’s launch and making RAW and SmackDown more consistently enjoyable than they currently are. The quality of the programming is what is ultimately going to sell the WWE Network, not money-saving offers on pay-per-views the company clearly doesn’t care about enough to book properly.

Cult of Celebrity

Big Brother has recently returned to British TV on its new home channel of Five. As I was watching all the alleged celebrities entering the house on Thursday evening (what does it say about the word ‘celebrity’ that it now covers some guy from a clothing catalogue?) I thought that being a contestant on the show would have worked perfectly as part of the brief “viral” campaign CM Punk embarked on last month.

Rewind back to Money in the Bank. Punk won the WWE championship by beating John Cena in one of the most anticipated WWE title matches in years. The next night on RAW Punk was nowhere to be seen and it was clear he’d done exactly what he’d said he would all along: he’d left the company with the title. Well, in the storyline at least. For the first time in the company’s history the title was (again, in the storyline) around the waist of someone not under contract to the promotion, and they were free to accept bookings from rival promotions and show up wearing WWE’s top prize. The situation had huge potential to gain WWE publicity, make CM Punk a household name, and shake up the wrestling business as a whole.

Unfortunately WWE got an itchy trigger finger and brought CM Punk back to television on July 25^th, just eight days after his title victory. I get why they did it: they felt they needed Punk, the hottest star in the wrestling business, to help their TV ratings and pay-per-view buys. I can understand their position: why would they invest all that TV time allowing Punk to become so big and re-sign him to a contract only to allow him to go and work for New Japan, Ring of Honor and various US indy promotions just as his new contract kicked in? Those companies and the business as a whole would’ve benefitted from that approach immediately whilst WWE would have had to wait. As any long time fan knows, WWE is good at many things but waiting isn’t one of them.

Bringing Punk back to TV after just eight days away allowed a rematch with John Cena to be set up for SummerSlam. It also meant WWE could finally put a world title on Alberto Del, something they’d been postponing for months. It also meant they could reintroduce Kevin Nash and start whatever storyline he’s going to be a part of over the coming weeks. It was all about cashing in on Punk’s popularity as quickly as possible. It wasn’t the worst thing they could have done, but it was short sighted.

I believe WWE made a mistake bringing Punk back that quickly. Personally I’d have kept him off television until Survivor Series. That would have allowed Cena to become more established as the WWE champion, which would have resulted in the unification match meaning more upon Punk’s return. It also would have created space at the top of the card: WWE would have been forced to elevate some talent to fill the vacuum created by Punk’s hiatus.

While off TV Punk could have continued the “viral” campaign that was hinted at when he made appearances at Comic Con and the July 23^rd All American Wrestling show. I mentioned above that he could have appeared for ROH and NJPW, and that’s just scratching the surface. Punk could have helped the WWE reach new markets by appearing at any public gathering or media event and simply being himself.

The only downside of this proposal is that WWE wouldn’t have benefitted from Punk’s popularity until November, and would have been forced to run the risk of him not generating the attention they were hoping for. A company that is so used to being in control simply couldn’t allow Punk to effectively create his own schedule for a prolonged period of time especially while calling himself the WWE champion.

This brings me back to Big Brother. Punk is probably the least likely wrestling personality to want to appear on a show like that, but that in itself would make great TV. I’m sure the combined forces of WWE management and, more importantly, Colt Cabana could have persuaded him that it would be a good move and he’d have ended up appearing in some fashion, even if it was just a weekend in the house (which Big Brother executives have announced will happen). Having a reigning world champion inside that house (especially one with such strong beliefs as Punk) would have helped attract new viewers to WWE, created media attention in the States (WWE’s primary market remember), and helped Five’s ratings (pretty much every wrestling fan in Britain would have tuned into the show religiously to watch Punk).

The opportunity’s gone and it will be a very long time before anything remotely similar falls into WWE’s hands again. This time they simply weren’t ready to release a bit of creative control and exploit the situation to its maximum potential. Next time I hope they learn from their mistakes.