Friday, February 28, 2014

On the First Week of the WWE Network

It's amazing to see the WWE Network come about. It is not a typical Cable TV station, but they have made the transition to what will be the next major transition to Cable TV and on demand TV and that is a streaming TV or online network. They broke through on something that I'm sure every network is planning on doing. Sure there has been content online such as a streaming network such as Netflix or youtube, but having a network is something else and they have been working at this for awhile and with the content they have they could go on for days just with the stuff they had last year and the stuff they are currently working on. However, they have old footage from most of the territories they bought out.

Even though there are complaints with the footage it contains and I even have complaints and I will discuss it in this blog, but I will end on a positive note.

Some complaints I had were that I had some streaming issues. It paused or shut off when I was watching. Either it could be technical on their end or poor internet service on my end, but all I know it has improved since the beginning of the week.

Also, there wasn't a lot of old WCW, NWA, Mid South Wrestling, or AWA footage yet. I was especially a fan of WCW and NWA as I was WWE and they had contributed to wrestling just as much. I feel this material would add to the network instead of playing a lot of replays on material. I'm sure they are putting some stuff together because it's the first week and they want to give the WWE Universe a taste, but eventually they are going to have to add some shows.

Also, I didn't see a Primetime Wrestling, Old WWF Superstars or WWF Challenge recap or even a Saturday Night's Main Event or Clash of the Champions in their list of Pay Per Views. They were just important. And a Raw and Smackdown recap for the week.

However, I'm not going to just critique, it is the first week and they are doing the best they can. They have had old material in the work for awhile that they are finally releasing. They have the entire library of Pay Per Views of WWE, WCW, and ECW. They showed some shows from WCCW and ECW. They showed new shows such as Wrestlemania Rewind, Countdown, and shows featuring the NXT which could eventually become the next major promotion even bigger then TNA and this is a farm system of WWE.

All in all after the first week it hasn't been that bad and it is overwhelming to keep up with. I have to make sometime out of my schedule to watch some of it and I don't have that much time. Other Networks on TV have a lot of material, but don't have that much on there. And I'm sure if they did a network like this it would be overwhelming and I'm sure they are ready for it. And for what they have on it for $9.99 a month it's worth it. Better then what we would pay for some premium stations. And for the material it's a steal. Normally you would buy a pay per view for $50 and old pay per views for $5 or more so that alone it is worth it.

I'm happy that the WWE Network is finally here and I know many are complaining about it, but rest assure they know what they are doing and even if it is the beginning stage. It is impossible to cover everything all at once. I'm sure they are going to do their themes and focus on different stars and all that stuff. So give it some time it's only week one. I'm looking foward to see what they do when they are more established and what kind of programing they come up with and what they will evolve into.

Maybe it will be something for everyone, The old, the new, and something in between. Maybe everyone will enjoy the WWE Network eventually.



Sunday, February 2, 2014

The Wrestler of the Week: Hulk Hogan Part 3



This will wrap up the series of the wrestler of the week on Hulk Hogan. When I last left off I discussed about his last run in WCW. After WCW closed, He came to the WWE as Hollywood Hulk Hogan to be apart of the nWo for the last time. And it was to set up his feud with The Rock for the stage of Wrestlemania. In a great match Hogan lost to The Rock, but he earned his crowd back. Then Hollywood became Hulk again. And he was cheered 20 minutes when he came out on Raw the day after. He later on and beat HHH for the championship and lost it to The Undertaker. He was putting over talent when he came back.

He left and then came back to feud with Vince McMahon where the fought at Wrestlemania. He then later became Mr. America in the feud with Vince before he left. He came back twice more once to team with Shawn Micheals and the fight him and beat him on Summer Slam and another time to feud with Randy Orton and feud with him at Summer Slam.

He then left and resurfaced in TNA where he fought Ric Flair and Sting before retiring from wrestling do to injuries, but he stayed in it as General Manager and he became Immortal. He later feuded with Bully Ray and then Dixie Carter before he left and now his next chapter is up in the air.