I guess it depends on the model, if the model is sell the rights to a Peacock or and ESPN + where they come included with the subscription, Canada will end up having to pay per show unless they sell to Crave.
If it’s literally back to pay per view model then yeah they can just do whatever.
They don’t use the archives properly at all. The app is annoying to use and there’s zero shoulder programming or analysis to any of the historical stuff. If they put any effort into it I think it could be a big draw.
They won’t though, there will be even less motivation to do it now.
Here is why I disagree
The archive is really for hardcore as like us. No one else is pulling up Summerslam 1994 to watch Owen vs Bret that often.
There is simply too much wrestling right now for me to care about old stuff. I can’t keep up with it as it is. Forget AEW which is just two hours a week - NJPW has so many shows and when G1 etc rolls around it takes a lot of time. Add in AEW and NXT and I don’t have anymore time to consume wrestling.
I missed a lot of 94-97 WCW stuff and the first thing I did when I got the Network is go through all that. Then I did the same for that era ECW. But so much still hasn’t been released.
Why not categorize all the shows together - I literally had to go back and forth between Nitro/PPV/Clash etc to figure out if I was watching in order. Same thing with the ECW shows.
If they make those old shows feel special I think people would watch - people watch and revisit old movies all the time. But they just plop them on the network and do nothing.
It takes time, money, etc… to do it and the lack of organization is not why the archives aren’t a huge seller outside us… they aren’t a huge seller because no one who isn’t hardcore gives a shit about it
I don’t know if you guys watch dragons den but it sounded like someone going on the show trying to sell 100 percent of they’re company. He just wants to sell the network to someone else I think
There are only like a million and a half subscribers to the Network. Who knows how many of those are free. The people actually buying the Network are hardcore people. There arent any casual fans who watch RAW every week and think I need to watch more wrestling.
WWE should be super serving anyone who gets the Network but they would rather produce original content crap like Ride Along that no one watches - that is the true waste of time and money.
Interesting I would think archives would be more attractive to lets say “Casual Hardcore Fans” So guys that don’t watch NXT or AEW but are life long WWE fans that would want to go back and watch their favorite old matches or shows. Maybe show them to their kids or friends. Guys that maybe watch RAW and SD weekly but maybe only one or the other, but always watch the PPV shows.
I see those type of guys being more interested than a real hard core wrestling fan who is watching tons of current stuff AEW, NXT, Main Roster, NJPW, NWA, Impact, Indie stuff etc. Wouldn’t have as much time or reason to relive the “glory days”
For those type of guys I think added interviews with competitors etc might be something of interest on older shows.
The top watched stuff almost never has archived stuff on the list. There’s just no evidence the archive draw money.
Archived stuff is never promoted. It’s been basically up to the user to seek it out if you want.
Again, we are talking about current trends vs. best monetizing the archives. There is value to them. So the question is, and this faces almost every IP company - how to best monetize.
what if the answer is that there isn’t a lot of monetary value in the archive?
Maybe that is the answer. Then really they are just a Live events company that loses money running Live events. As for rights fees of those Live events. They have the TV deals in place for now, and maybe sell the tent pole events in a manner UFC did with ESPN+. Sounds like that is the most likely avenue.
Yep I can totally see them just shuttering the archive… maybe we’ll get lucky and they’ll sell it worldwide to Netflix or something but I doubt it.
I’m just not confident that by the end of this year I’ll be able to just fire up a WCW show when the mood strikes… and what this also probably kills is any hope of getting more stuff like the rest of WCW Saturday Night, I have a weird desire to rewatch that shit from 97-98 lol
I mean the question is what is the cost to them to have the archive? It seems like unless it is incredibly expensive to operate there is some price point at which it has value to them and people will buy it.
Bandwidth costs money.
Yeah that price point is probably like 10$… which only idiots like me will pay post PPVs being removed, and there aren’t enough idiots like me
I think it’s the UFC model
They will sell off their PPVs for a set price to an RSPN+ like service and let someone else worry about buys etc
They will keep TV rights money
They will reduce live events to run only profitable ones
There is a big difference between how WCW beat them and now - there isn’t a crop of grade A talent ready to jump. WCW landed Hogan/Savage/Hall/Nash/Piper very quickly.
AEW can land Luke Harper and the Revival types. The real needle movers (ie Ronda/Brock) aren’t going anywhere. The veterans (ie Orton and Edge) are just using AEW to get more money from Vince.
They aren’t really in danger of AEW landing a marquee talent to shift the balance of power. So they are sitting pretty despite these hiccups
I mean the real fact is there is no Marquee Talent in either company
Absolutely no one in wrestling is a genuine star… no one.