WWE Network Thread

Reebrock

Watching 2001 WCW on the network last night. 2001 WCW was pretty great in places.

Loughc

Reebrock wrote: »

Watching 2001 WCW on the network last night. 2001 WCW was pretty great in places.

Wasn't 2001 the worst year for wCw?

da_hambo

Im looking forward to watching Nitros and Raws back to back. Not looking forward to seeing Disco Inferno opening the show every week though !

jaykhunter

Stampede was of course. Close and I'll pay you, you've closed, actually I'm not paying, sure reopen again to a fraction of your business, you're done.

When it's known what episodes of Nitro are up please post. I really just wanna know if Final Nitro is going up.

gerrybbadd

jaykhunter wrote: »

Stampede was of course. Close and I'll pay you, you've closed, actually I'm not paying, sure reopen again to a fraction of your business, you're done.

When it's known what episodes of Nitro are up please post. I really just wanna know if Final Nitro is going up.

That's one I wouldn't mind seeing myself. I used to love Nitro when it was on TNT of a Friday evening - would love to catch up on some of the old classics - Benoit vs Booker T Best of 7 Series anyone?

A Rogue Hobo

gerrybbadd wrote: »

That's one I wouldn't mind seeing myself. I used to love Nitro when it was on TNT of a Friday evening - would love to catch up on some of the old classics - Benoit vs Booker T Best of 7 Series anyone?

Next week it's just the first 100 hours of Nitro going up right? Nitro used to only be an hour so that bring somewhere late 96 possibly very early 97 I think.

Reebrock

Loughc wrote: »

Wasn't 2001 the worst year for wCw?

No not at all. With Russo out of the way and Jonny Ace and Eric Bischoff running things they stripped right back and implemented some fine, logical booking. A lot of the bull **** and nonsense was out of the window and it seemed as though they were on a return to form. Talent that had become daft or stale regained focus (Totally Buff for example made Buff and Luger entertaining again for the first time in years). Divisions had clear structure again with focal storylines and wrestlers.

When you factor in the talent due to enter the promotion at that time also, it's easy to understand why I believe the Big Bang PPV not happening is one of wrestling's saddest moments.

shinzon

anyone else experiencing freezing on the network on PC, using hola unblocker and firefox Monday night war is the worst culprit

Shin

Ape Lincoln

da_hambo wrote: »

I thought it was better than the last. Never seen the footage before from Bash at the Beach of the fan getting kicked out of the ring by Hall and Nash! Classic

The version of Bash at the Beach 1996 that is on the Network is the VHS home video and the fan run-in is edited out. I don't understand why they digitised the VHS releases. Maybe they had done it years ago and had intended to release them or maybe they thought there would already be some of the required edits on them.

gerrybbadd

shinzon wrote: »

anyone else experiencing freezing on the network on PC, using hola unblocker and firefox Monday night war is the worst culprit

Shin

Had the same issue with the latest Monday Night War, using a PS4 and Unblock - US. Standard warning would come on, followed by the content warning / TV14 etc, then just a black screen

rovert

2nd episode of Nitro is on WWE Network unlisted so to speak.

http://network.wwe.com/video/v35532255

Machismo Fan

I always liked the Nitro theme song.

rovert

Machismo Fan wrote: »

I always liked the Nitro theme song.

Best thing about the WCW Nitro game for the Playstation. :P

Ape Lincoln

Two more : http://network.wwe.com/video/v35532359 http://network.wwe.com/video/v35532261

Via http://www.reddit.com/r/wwenetwork/comments/2exqht/found_another_nitro_episode/

They are accessible via the website only it seems.

Edit: there are about a dozen Nitros available via the above link. They're not on the schedule nor are they bookmarked so not accessible on PS3 (or I presume any of the Apps).

Ape Lincoln

Been watching a few old shows that the podcasts have been reviewing.

Review-A-Wai recently did WCW Wrestle War 1992. Scott and Rick Steiner vs. Takayuki Iizuka & Tatsumi Fujinami is a bit hard to watch as the former botch a few moves which look like they could have caused serious injury. The crowd absolutely loved the War Games match, super hot. Always thought the War Games were a bit overrated myself as you end up with so many guys in a small space just standing around and it looks a bit silly a la Royal Rumble.

New Generation Era Project/Podcast did In Your House 3. I rented this a lot on VHS. Always thought Bret Hart vs Jean-Pierre Lafitte was really good, a little hidden WWF gem of a match.



Get a load of the Hulkamania Is Dead sign. It was confiscated a few seconds later by a photographer, WWF were very touchy about signs in 1995.

rovert

Did want to bring it up to Pollock but I was surprised given how he loves ranting about concussions and all that jazz did really say anything about how much the Steiners took liberties with Iizuka. Maybe it looks like nothing in 2014 but by it appalled people like Bruce Mitchell who wrote this famous column about it:

"The Steiner Stiffs"
Originally published: June 4, 1992
Pro Wrestling Torch Weekly newsletter #177

"If it ain't stiff, it ain't worth a ****."
-Stiff Records.

"That Steiners match was something, wasn't it?"
-Bill Watts the night of WrestleWar.

As it happens, I was ringside for the Steiners match against Tatsumi Fujinami & Takayuki Iizuka. It certainly was something. In fact, it was quite a spectacle. As stiff as it may have seemed on television, it was absolutely brutal from fifteen feet away. It was one of the most compelling pro wrestling matches I have ever witnessed. It was also a complete and utter disgrace - a total exhibition of the qualities that make the Steiner Brothers one of the most unprofessional acts in the business today.

It started from the beginning of the match. Scott goes for the blockbuster suplex on Fujinami and blows the spot. Iizuka runs to give Scott another chance to hit the move. Steiner does it correctly this time, but he is still a little embarrassed and pissed. So he pops to his feet and levels Fujinami with a clothesline, holding absolutely nothing back. Fujinami was obviously unprepared for the blast and went down hard. He tagged out and was so out of it that he could barely stand up in the corner.

It certainly did not end there. Iizuka was obviously injured after Rick Steiner accidentally screwed up an admittedly innovative double-team move and landed on the man's face. Iizuka was obviously in a great deal of pain and bleeding the hard way from the mouth. It very well could have been a serious injury judging from the fall and the wrestler's reaction to it.

That made no impression on the Steiners. Rick and Scott continued to pull absolutely no punches or kicks as they battered and pummeled both opponents unmercifully. Being talented stud athletes themselves, Iizuka and in particular Fujinami, retaliated with stiff, hard blows. These blows, however, were delivered in a professional manner to opponents who were ready for them, not cheap shots to wrestlers who left themselves open and defenseless. The Steiners did not allow either man to stay on offense for very long and started their out of control punches and kicks as soon as they got the opportunity.

Both of these clowns had no respect for the fact that, like themselves, Fujinami and Iizuka are gifted athletes who make a living night in and night out as professional wrestlers. Both have made every sacrifice in pursuit of excellence in their craft. Tatsumi Fujinami is a legend in the professional wrestling business on a par in his country with a Nick Bockwinkle or a Ric Flair here and yet he received no respect from either brother. Apparently the Steiner Brothers could not have cared less. What did Rick or Scott think would happen to their opponents after they hurt them? The answer is obvious.

The Steiners don't think.

Scott Steiner certainly did not when, in front of this pay-per-view audience, many of them kids who paid twenty-five dollars a pop to watch them, he screamed, "**** this ****!" before powerbombing Iizuka.

Gee, Scott - **** what ****? It was YOUR team that refused to cooperate in wrestling a match that brought the best out of all the participants. It was YOUR brother who kept aiming fists and boots at Iizuka's face even after the injury. It is YOU and your brother who have spent the last six months making guaranteed money and dogging it in the ring.

It has become a familiar sight on WCW television shows to see Rick and Scott amble their way to the ring for a match with their heads down as though they wish they could be anywhere else. If at any particular time they happen to be holding some championship, odds are the brothers are dragging the belts behind them like they smelled bad.

One of two things generally happen during these squash matches. If the jobbers are lucky, Rick will just aimlessly screw around in the ring until the finish. If not, and the Steiners are mad for any reason, someone is likely to get hurt. A poorly trained, out of shape job boy is in real danger if he blows a move during one of these matches.

I am not naive when it comes to this sort of thing. Anyone who has attended television tapings for WCW on a regular basis for the past several years has seen any number of no-name wrestlers get the crap beaten out of them by more established stars. I never saw a live squash match involving Kevin Sullivan, for one, where he did not legitimately beat up his hapless opponent.

In many ways, the destruction of jobbers by someone like Sullivan is understandable. Before the Titan expansion and the existence of newsletters such as this one, the pro wrestling business was essentially closed to outsiders. Anyone wanting to become a wrestler had to get by a stringent set of requirements before they could even become trained. Guys like Billy Robinson or Jack Brisco might take an aspiring lug and twist him into a knot to prove that the candidate had either the guts or the physical prowess necessary to participate in the ring. That level of pride has for the most part been lost in a business where promoters try to take unathletic steroid fed clods and immediately proclaim them "stars".

It has been lost where anyone, no matter how short, or fat, or out of shape, or lacking in wrestling skills, with a few bucks in his pocket can find a school to "train" him. The proliferation of independent promotions has undoubtedly given talented young wrestlers a place to learn their craft, but they have also provided a lot of guys who did nothing more than buy a pair of boots a chance to think that they are actually wrestlers. It must be frustrating for a lot of the old guard in the business to watch this. Someone like Kevin Sullivan, who has to battle to continue to stay in the mainstream, might be expected to feel some bitterness. Sometimes that frustration can spill out into the ring. It is hard to feel very sympathetic when an unprepared, out of shape clod takes an ass whipping in that circumstance.

But what do the Steiners have to feel frustrated about? They couldn't care less about wrestling traditions. They make over a quarter of a million dollars a year in guaranteed money. They are promoted as the top tag team act in the company and never have to do jobs. They seem to have a self-enforced policy of only doing jobs to fellow fan-favorite and pal Sting, a policy that makes no sense for any number of reasons. The matches with Sting & Luger and Sting & Muta showed that the Steiners certainly can have good matches without hurting their opponents, when they feel like it.

At least in the match at WrestleWar they were pumped up and trying. Most of the matches since Scott's bicep injury have seen both brothers at quarter speed or less. The feud with Eaton and Anderson was a flop in large part because of the Steiners' indifferent attitude in the ring, although to be fair it should be pointed out that Eaton and Anderson never clicked as a team and that the television supporting the feud was the usual incoherent mess. Still, this feud should have at least produced a series of good matches. That never happened because of the brothers' unprofessional attitudes and lazy ring work.

Those unprofessional attitudes may manifest themselves in yet another area. David Shults was quoted in several media outlets during the TitanGate scandal to the effect that "you can train, say your prayers, and take all the vitamins you want, but if you want 24 inch arms, you have to take steroids." Scott Steiner is beginning to look like the Toxic Avenger without the green skin. His bicep injury which put him out for several months and cost the company money and momentum, is an injury that occurs more easily to steroid users. Coincidentally, unemployed moron Sid Eudy suffered the same injury at one point.

The Steiner Brothers work for Turner Broadcasting which has an official anti-steroid policy. As employees of that company, they have an obligation to abide by company procedures. There is no real reason for the two of them to look that pumped up. The extra muscle slows them down and makes them more prone to injury. It also makes a lie out of WCW's public service announcements and policy to have them at the top of the card.

It is up to company management, Bill Watts in particular, to handle that problem, one that certainly transcends this act alone. It is the Steiners' ring style that rankles in a personal way. The Steiners can stop potatoing their opponents now. Some fans may look at their brutal style and think that it is proof of the boys' toughness. Those fans are wrong.

The Steiners' potato style is proof of their cowardice. Insiders like to speculate on the authentic toughness of guys like John Tenta, Haku, or Steve Williams. They are least earned that rap outside of the ring in "legitimate" ways. Real toughness and "shooter" reputations are beside the point of professional wrestling.

The idea behind professional wrestling is to produce a legitimate-seeming, entertaining, but ultimately inauthentic fight which the audience can suspend their disbelief during, if only for a while, and enjoy. All the participants have to cooperate in order to produce a good pro wrestling match. A stiff, professional style produces the best kind of matches. When Ric Flair laid in those chops to Ricky Steamboat's chest, no one hit harder or looked more realistic. The difference between that and what the Steiners do is that Steamboat was prepared for those chops and Flair sold his stuff equally as well. It is the height of cowardice to hit someone full force in the face who is leaving himself wide open for what they expect to be a pulled punch. It proves nothing about the Steiners' "toughness". If they wanted to fight Fujinami and Iizuka, great, fight them head up and go to jail or the hospital afterwards. The Steiners for some reason do not seem anxious to do that, though.

Wrestlers have to put an enormous amount of trust in their opponents. The Steiners spit on that trust on this night. If Terry Gordy and Steve Williams end up hurting these guys when they are forced to protect themselves, I for one won't shed a tear.

Itssoeasy

da_hambo wrote: »

I thought it was better than the last. Never seen the footage before from Bash at the Beach of the fan getting kicked out of the ring by Hall and Nash! Classic

Was the fan thing a work or did some poor fecker get legit battered by Nash and hall ?

Ape Lincoln

Itssoeasy wrote: »

Was the fan thing a work or did some poor fecker get legit battered by Nash and hall ?

Legit. Nash looks utterly surprised and the event crew spent a long time afterwards dealing with him. Rule of thumb is that if it doesn't lead to an angle or some way to make money then it's a shoot. If it aids the angle then it's usually a work. Iirc, this run-in wasn't mentioned until this doc.

rovert wrote: »

Did want to bring it up to Pollock but I was surprised given how he loves ranting about concussions and all that jazz did really say anything about how much the Steiners took liberties with Iizuka. Maybe it looks like nothing in 2014 but by it appalled people like Bruce Mitchell who wrote this famous column about it:

Cheers for posting that. I guess Review-A-Wai didn't pick up on how The Steiners were taking liberties. On the face of it it doesn't look like four guys working strong style but there's an awkwardness and definitely some botches - both Scott and Rick nearly decapitate themselves early-on doing fallaway/snap slam moves in addition to the rest of it.

da_hambo

Itssoeasy wrote: »

Was the fan thing a work or did some poor fecker get legit battered by Nash and hall ?

Episode 2 of the Monday Night Wars. Would have been some craic if Nash legit power bombed him!

Seriously though Hall seems to be viciously stamping on his head while Nash is more pushing him out of the ring. Would love to find out who the fan was to see what his motivation was.

Ape Lincoln

da_hambo wrote: »

Episode 2 of the Monday Night Wars. Would have been some craic if Nash legit power bombed him!

Seriously though Hall seems to be viciously stamping on his head while Nash is more pushing him out of the ring. Would love to find out who the fan was to see what his motivation was.

Nash does lay into him after a split second but it looks like a hard punch. Hall's kick however, was brutal and stiff obv.

Afterwards the crew at rinfgside mouthe "he is handicapped". Not sure what to make of that but I am 100% certain that it was not kayfabe.

QikBax

Episode 1 of Nitro is up on the network following raw on Monday.

Itssoeasy

Ape Lincoln wrote: »

Nash does lay into him after a split second but it looks like a hard punch. Hall's kick however, was brutal and stiff obv.

Afterwards the crew at rinfgside mouthe "he is handicapped". Not sure what to make of that but I am 100% certain that it was not kayfabe.

Yeah that's why I wasn't entirely sure as hall stomps on his head and that's why I thought it was a "fan"

Ape Lincoln

The scabby gits took down the Nitros.

Ape Lincoln

Ape Lincoln wrote: »

The scabby gits tool down the Nitros.

???

Ape Lincoln

Deleted User wrote: »

???

A dozen episodes of Nitro appeared last night and are now taken down

http://www.reddit.com/r/wwenetwork/comments/2exqht/found_another_nitro_episode/

Ape Lincoln

Ape Lincoln wrote: »

A dozen episodes of Nitro appeared last night and are now taken down

http://www.reddit.com/r/wwenetwork/comments/2exqht/found_another_nitro_episode/

They will be up soon! Don't worry :P

Ape Lincoln

It will be about the first 60 odd episodes anyway.

Ape Lincoln

Ape Lincoln wrote: »

It will be about the first 60 odd episodes anyway.

Looking at Roverts post a few days ago, the tab was 95 and 96 so expect everyting up to the end of 96.

Ape Lincoln

Gonna be a bit daft if they don't also add the corresponding Monday Night Raw. They're still only at August 6th 1995.

Looks like they've given up adding more ECW Hardcore TV, hasn't been a new upload in a dog's age.

jaykhunter

Ape Lincoln wrote: »

Gonna be a bit daft if they don't also add the corresponding Monday Night Raw.

That'd be a tremendous idea, catch RAW up to speed time-wise and release a month or two of head-to-head RAW & Nitro at the time.

with respect to Hardcore TV, they probably want to fill out the different sections (more selections) before filling them up. I wonder if them cutting costs severely has affected this.