On February 28th, the WWE sent shockwaves over the entertainment world by creating a first of its kind, WWE Network. This network was a first of its kind by not only have an on demand library of over 10,000 hours of classic matches and pay per views, but a 24/7 live streaming feed of various shows, historic moments, and live broadcasting.
The WWE network has an abundance of opportunity, and has been around nearly one moth now. Time for some personal critiquing.
I wanted to give the network the benefit of the doubters by not doing this a week in. For the most part, I was beyond excited for its launch for I have been following news bits and rumors mills like crazy since the start of 2012 when this idea was first addressed.
Its first week, or weeks for you XBOX 360 users (including yours truly) the WWE Network faced a plethora of issues. THIS WAS EXPECTED. After all, all things that are new, especially in the technology world, are bound to have bugs to work out. From various freezes, to no library being available, to crashes and a point in which you simply couldn’t log in at all (sorry again XBOX users) the WWE Network stood its ground, continually fed its fan base updates and time tables, and diligently worked out the expected issues.
WWE diligence aside…have you seen this thing yet!? It’s better than I anticipated. Not only, the WWE fan is treated to ever pay per view, ever filmed, for WCW, ECW, and WWE, ever, in existence is available, but so is classic old school programing from all three of the previous mentioned brands, shows of the new system and generation of WWE superstars, quality WWE event programming, and new series’ from the WWE, this Network is remarkable.
My personal favorite things are the new series’, the ability to see NXT, and the Wrestlemania library.
The new series I feel are a huge treat to the Network. WWE Countdown generates a top ten countdown of a various topic from entrances, to finishing moves. Beyond the Ring is a series that brings fantastically done WWE documentaries to live and to the fingertips of the WWE fan at home. My personal favorite, Wrestlemania Rewind is beautifully done. The show will highlight a key match in a past Wrestlemania, one that was done years ago and is still being talked about today. The show provides a documentary esq feel to it as it breaks down the storylines of how the match unfolded. These storylines are full of superstar interviews and inputs towards the match and its build up. Once that’s compete, the entire match is shown, followed by post-match content and superstar reactions.
NXT is the developmental league for the WWE. Here, fans can see the newest faces to the company, and these superstars’ matches are remarkable. High impact, high energy, and high octane are all descriptors of these individuals, whom someday hope to be a part of the full time schedule of WWE Raw and Smackdown.
The Pay per View library is extensive, but personally you cannot beat the Wrestlemania one. How awesome is it that a WWE fan, at any time, on any device, and watch any Wrestlemania in its entirety. The WWE’s greatest story’s and matches are at Wrestlemania, and the capabilities of going and watching any one, is an amazing feature.
After all this hype, I haven’t mentioned its price. Ironically, it’s the networks best feature. The network is costing fans $9.99 a month. With this, you get all the features described above and EVERY live pay per view for the year. If you are not sold yet on the network, r unfamiliar, here’s a financial breakdown. A standard pay per view for a WWE event is $54.99 a show. That’s nearly 6 months of the network. Wrestlemania 30 is literally right around the corner, and that will go for $60 for the show. So ask yourself this…. Spend $60 on Wrestlemania, or $60 on Wrestlemania 30, the following 5 live pay per views, every pay per view from past, new shows, new series, and anything you can think of at your tips….. It’s a no brainer.
One month in, I give the network an A. If I wasn’t a bitter XBOX user, I would make it an A+ but because some of the errors were Microsoft based A- would be too harsh. I will only dip to an A. This network is ridiculous for the average fan, a steal for the hardcore fan that I am. I will continue to hype this network up as much as humanly possible because THIS is what’s best for business.