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Non Network subscribers can find that interview online with a short Google search. I did and it was worth watching for sure. I never knew about some of the injuries (that ear one was gross) and the string of scenes of them trying to make Taker corpse at the end was great. They were pretty honest about the Goldberg match which was surprising.

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I think a lot of it had to do with Austin being the person interviewing him.

Like I don't think Taker would have opened up to just anyone. But with Austin it seems that it naturally just became two guys talking about the old times who saw a lot of the same shit.

I like that Taker admitted he has a hard time saying no and that even Michelle McCool doesn't believe him now when he says he is done

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Oh definitely. They barely touched on the Mankind feud that defined an entire era of his career. I'd love another 2 or 3 hours of this.

Austin is a really good interviewer of pro wrestlers. Everyone seems to relax and open up with him.

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From the new WON

Quote

There were a couple of major changes with the WWE Network this past week. The first is that they launched the free tier on 12/5 with no fanfare. The idea has been to do a three-tiered network, with a free tier, the $9.99 tier and a $14.99 tier (which should be launched early next year and would feature content from Evolve, Progress, wXw and perhaps other promotions) for early next year. The other change is a crackdown on people from other countries who are getting the network in a manner they aren’t supposed to by using a U.S. proxy address. It appears this is aimed at Canada, where WWE has deals in place with the cable providers and fans are going around those deals. The WWE Network in Canada is a cable television station and there aren’t the options and archives like the U.S. version, just the live stream and limited VOD content. So Canadians have been using a VPN address to subscribe and get the full VOD content. They have found a way to crack down on this. What makes this notable is if there are a significant number of Canadians or people from other countries doing this, it would mean a significant drop in U.S. subs by 12/31, a number that was already feared would fall below 1 million for the first time in many years

 

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If they don't watch out all this may lead to an increase in all that sweet VOD content being shared through not-quite-legal means.  But it sounds like they're willing to clamp down on Canadian access VPN at the risk of their subscriber numbers.  I''d be surprised if they fully go through with that because telling investors they're under 1 million will not be pleasant for them.

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Here's the thing: on paper, the WWE Network is objectively a damn good deal. Monthly ppvs that they could be charging $50+ apiece for, thousands and thousands of hours of on demand content, including a ton of classic wrestling, documentaries, and reality TV, and both archival and original content.

This should be a slam dunk deal for wrestling fans. But between the fact they've never tried to promote it to the lapsed fan market (WCW! JCP! UWF/Mid-South! AWA! ECW! WCCW! The Hogan era! The Attitude Era!), how badly the product is driving off current fans, and the Saudi deal causing at least a decent number of people to unsubscribe last year, and they are hemorrhaging subscribers.

They cannibalized their ppv market to make the Network, and now they are driving it into the ground. It's mind-boggling.

And despite all that, they are going to have their best quarter ever.

 

Edit: oh, and I left out the absolute disaster that the new version of the network has been.

Edited by Brian Fowler
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1 hour ago, Brian Fowler said:

But between the fact they've never tried to promote it to the lapsed fan market (WCW! JCP! UWF/Mid-South! AWA! ECW! WCCW! The Hogan era! The Attitude Era!)

Huh? Pretty sure they did promote WCW, ECW, and the Attitude era stuff added when they originally put them on. Are there really that many hungering for those lost days that they would sign up? Seems to me the part of the problem is that there isn't enough of those lapsed fans interested in signing up for older content. 

Edited by Eivion
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It appears this is aimed at Canada, where WWE has deals in place with the cable providers and fans are going around those deals. The WWE Network in Canada is a cable television station and there aren’t the options and archives like the U.S. version, just the live stream and limited VOD content. So Canadians have been using a VPN address to subscribe and get the full VOD content. 

Meltzer's been misinformed. In addition to the television channel, Canadians have access to the exact same archived content as everyone else (with NXT being delayed by a day now, I think). The only difference here is that when you log in, there's an extra step where you also use your cable service's login. The Canadians using VPNs are cord cutters.

Edited by West Newbury Bad Boy
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11 minutes ago, Eivion said:

Huh? Pretty sure they did promote WCW, ECW, and the Attitude era stuff added when they originally put them on. Are there really that many hungering for those lost days that they would sign up? Seems to me the part of the problem is that there isn't enough of those lapsed fans interested in signing up for older content. 

They advertised it to current fans. They've made no effort to advertise to lapsed fans.

They should be doing targeted advertising in markets that had hot wrestling territories they have the library of. Buy some local commercial time in the Carolinas, Louisiana, Dallas, etc. They only ever push the network at people already watching their shows.

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11 minutes ago, Eivion said:

Huh? Pretty sure they did promote WCW, ECW, and the Attitude era stuff added when they originally put them on. Are there really that many hungering for those lost days that they would sign up? Seems to me the part of the problem is that there isn't enough of those lapsed fans interested in signing up for older content. 

I've always said the lapsed fan who only want to watch old stuff spent the same kind of money as current fans who dont wa t to watch it. 

What harm would it do to court them, other than admitting their current product does not appeal to every wrestling fan? 

Heck, they could be doing the same type of podcasts internally that review old shows and would have the benefit of maybe having guest spots with the workers themselves.  

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2 hours ago, West Newbury Bad Boy said:

Meltzer's been misinformed. In addition to the television channel, Canadians have access to the exact same archived content as everyone else (with NXT being delayed by a day now, I think). The only difference here is that when you log in, there's an extra step where you also use your cable service's login. The Canadians using VPNs are cord cutters.

That process works for me on the website...but on the app it won't let me log in thru my cable provider, like the old version of the network did. Do you have the same problem?

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6 minutes ago, Infinit said:

That process works for me on the website...but on the app it won't let me log in thru my cable provider, like the old version of the network did. Do you have the same problem?

Depends on the device for me, and I haven’t bothered with anything other than the website on a browser in a while. Probably not since the update. That situation is definitely one where Canadian subscribers are getting the shaft. 

Edited by West Newbury Bad Boy
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51 minutes ago, Curt McGirt said:

The only question I have from it is why did he hate Scott Hall. Well I mean there are probably a thousand reasons -- Scott Hall even hated Scott Hall then -- but if there's a specific one I'd like to know it. 

Not just because of WCW: Years back at an indy show they had guys videotape well wishes to a child who (IIRC) was terminally ill. Goldberg in particular did one where he was very emotional. Scott Hall was asked to do one and refused unless he was paid. So yeah.

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