WWE considering cruiserweight-exclusive show for WWE network

[Dirty Eddie]

As such I thing having a Cruiser show would be a fun idea. Bring back the "Velocity" name and make it Cruisers only. Maybe three new matches a week, plus a Classic Cruiser match (from anywhere, ECW, WWF, WCW etc...). It's not like they'd have to hire 20 new guys or anything, just use Cara, Kidd, Tatsu and the other smaller B/C-show lot as well as a few new guys or call-ups from FCW.

So it's NXT and Superstars with a From The Vault match, then. It's a decent enough idea, but it's not exactly a revelation, and (unless they stop doing NXT or Superstars, or broadcast the same matches on multiple shows) it makes the tapings a bit of a chore with more nobody-matches to sit through before the decent ones come on.

Well, no, not really.

 

Like I said in response to someone else, they could let them go a bit more "all out" in the ring, so less of the standard WWE style. Also, unlike NXT we wouldn't have to hear fucking awful, boring promos from talentless turds like Darren Young and Titus every week. WWE have dark matches that don't make TV most weeks, just replace a few of them with a 5 minute cruiser match. It's not like it would add an hour to TV tapings or anything.

 

Make it a more wrestling heavy show, with a strong emphasis on speedy, athletic matches. I didn't pimp the idea as some type of "revelation", just as a decent enough idea for a cheap show for their new Network, that might have a bit more appeal than another standard C-Show.

[ItsClobberingTime]

As much as I'd love to see some classic Cruiserweight action, they might run the risk of making their current effort look shit in comparison.

 

I don't know why people say that.

 

WCW had the best cruiserweight wrestlers in the entire world at their disposal in the mid 90's - Liger, Ultimo Dragon, Malenko, Misterio, Eddie Guerrero, Jericho etc - and worked matches that routinely stole the show, but they complimented the main event stars rather than overshadowed them in my opinion.

 

Sure, Piper, Hogan, Nash, Hall, Savage, DDP, Goldberg couldn't 'work' like the cruiserweights but they had the star aura and presence that, say, Malenko or Ultimo Dragon lacked and watching their matches made a nice change to the fast paced cruisers. It's always nice to have a bit of everything on a show I reckon.

 

WWE currently has The Miz, Cena, Orton, Jericho, Ziggler, R-Truth, Punk, Alberto Del Rio, Christian etc and, sure, they're not the name value of the WCW heavyweights I mentioned above but, they all either have the wrestling abilities and/or charisma to be a suitable alternative to any fast-paced flashiness that could be supplied by, say, an Aero Star or a Pac.

 

It's all about how everything's booked.

Why do I say that? Because I don't think WWE are capable of booking cruiserweights properly in this day and age, or at least not interested enough in it.

 

And so I believe regardless of what they decide to put on this show, the output will be poor in comparison to what WCW/ECW etc used to do.

 

That's why I say that.

[Snitsky's back acne]

As much as I'd love to see some classic Cruiserweight action, they might run the risk of making their current effort look shit in comparison.

 

I don't know why people say that.

 

WCW had the best cruiserweight wrestlers in the entire world at their disposal in the mid 90's - Liger, Ultimo Dragon, Malenko, Misterio, Eddie Guerrero, Jericho etc - and worked matches that routinely stole the show, but they complimented the main event stars rather than overshadowed them in my opinion.

 

Sure, Piper, Hogan, Nash, Hall, Savage, DDP, Goldberg couldn't 'work' like the cruiserweights but they had the star aura and presence that, say, Malenko or Ultimo Dragon lacked and watching their matches made a nice change to the fast paced cruisers. It's always nice to have a bit of everything on a show I reckon.

 

WWE currently has The Miz, Cena, Orton, Jericho, Ziggler, R-Truth, Punk, Alberto Del Rio, Christian etc and, sure, they're not the name value of the WCW heavyweights I mentioned above but, they all either have the wrestling abilities and/or charisma to be a suitable alternative to any fast-paced flashiness that could be supplied by, say, an Aero Star or a Pac.

 

It's all about how everything's booked.

Why do I say that? Because I don't think WWE are capable of booking cruiserweights properly in this day and age, or at least not interested enough in it.

 

And so I believe regardless of what they decide to put on this show, the output will be poor in comparison to what WCW/ECW etc used to do.

 

That's why I say that.

 

Fair enough, but that's not what you were saying in the post I referenced.

 

You said the 'classic Cruiserweight action' - implying, to me anyway, that you meant the likes of the WCW stuff when they first introduced it, which was a prominent feature on their shows and well booked [on the whole] but didn't, in my opinion, make the heavyweights look shit.

 

After all, a poorly booked afterthought [which, yes, history shows us it would probably end up being] wouldn't show up the current WWE product as shit, because it too would be shit.

[ItsClobberingTime]

Fair enough, but that's not what you were saying in the post I referenced.

 

You said the 'classic Cruiserweight action' - implying, to me anyway, that you meant the likes of the WCW stuff when they first introduced it, which was a prominent feature on their shows and well booked [on the whole] but didn't, in my opinion, make the heavyweights look shit.

 

After all, a poorly booked afterthought [which, yes, history shows us it would probably end up being] wouldn't show up the current WWE product as shit, because it too would be shit.

What you quoted:

 

As much as I'd love to see some classic Cruiserweight action, they might run the risk of making their current effort look shit in comparison.

 

I have no idea what you're actually trying to pick apart. I said that I believe the classic stuff would make WWE's current cruiserweight efforts look poor in comparison.

 

What exactly are you arguing against?

[Richie Freebird]

Make it a more wrestling heavy show, with a strong emphasis on speedy, athletic matches. I didn't pimp the idea as some type of "revelation", just as a decent enough idea for a cheap show for their new Network, that might have a bit more appeal than another standard C-Show.

 

See it was that idea that brought FCW to my mind earlier in the thread. FCW while it has its promos and story lines is very

[Dirty Eddie]

I think they'd do well to try and cover as many different "types" of wrestling as they can. Anything which might persuade an on-the-fence fan to buy the service is worth doing. They are going to have hours and hours of air-time to fill, it can't all be repeats, vintage stuff and "reality" programming.

 

The Network would also be the perfect place for them to showcase the WWE International shows that they talked about years ago. Get WWE Japan and WWE UK up and running and give them an hour long (English language) show each week. Gives wrestling fans another style to watch, while also allowing for the breakout stars to get called up to the big-time.

[King Pitcos]

I think they'd do well to try and cover as many different "types" of wrestling as they can. Anything which might persuade an on-the-fence fan to buy the service is worth doing. They are going to have hours and hours of air-time to fill, it can't all be repeats, vintage stuff and "reality" programming.

They'll have NXT and Superstars on there as well.

[Dirty Eddie]

I think they'd do well to try and cover as many different "types" of wrestling as they can. Anything which might persuade an on-the-fence fan to buy the service is worth doing. They are going to have hours and hours of air-time to fill, it can't all be repeats, vintage stuff and "reality" programming.

They'll have NXT and Superstars on there as well.

What's your point?

 

NXT and Superstars is exactly the same type of stuff that airs on RAW and SD, just more jobbery.

[Richie Freebird]

I reckon a show like the original version of WWF Live Wire could be good for the channel. Or something like

[Snitsky's back acne]

Fair enough, but that's not what you were saying in the post I referenced.

 

You said the 'classic Cruiserweight action' - implying, to me anyway, that you meant the likes of the WCW stuff when they first introduced it, which was a prominent feature on their shows and well booked [on the whole] but didn't, in my opinion, make the heavyweights look shit.

 

After all, a poorly booked afterthought [which, yes, history shows us it would probably end up being] wouldn't show up the current WWE product as shit, because it too would be shit.

What you quoted:

 

As much as I'd love to see some classic Cruiserweight action, they might run the risk of making their current effort look shit in comparison.

 

I have no idea what you're actually trying to pick apart. I said that I believe the classic stuff would make WWE's current cruiserweight efforts look poor in comparison.

 

What exactly are you arguing against?

 

I'm not trying to pick anything apart.

 

Your initial statement was, at least how I read it, that as much as you would love the 'classic Cruiserweight action' [i.e fast paced, exciting matches that mean something and are booked well] you feel that those kinda matches would make the current WWE product look shit.

 

My counter point to that was that this is not necessarily the case, as a well booked division could compliment the current heavyweight stars, much like I felt they did in WCW, rather than show them up as inferior.

 

You then stated that you do not feel WWE is 'capable of booking cruiserweights properly in this day and age, or at least not interested enough in it.'

I agree with this - however thats not the point I believed you to be making in your initial post.

 

If you were commenting that the current WWE cruiserweights would look inferior to their predecessors, as opposed to a modern crop of international cruiserweights making the WWE product as a whole look shit, then our wires have indeed got crossed.

 

Not intending to argue, merely express an opposing point of view in regards to what my interpretation was of your initial comment.

I agree with you on the second point you made.

[King Pitcos]

A Byte This show would be good, apparently they're going to do a lot more of that kind of content on it. No Jim Smallman hosting though, I hope.

 

I think they'd do well to try and cover as many different "types" of wrestling as they can. Anything which might persuade an on-the-fence fan to buy the service is worth doing. They are going to have hours and hours of air-time to fill, it can't all be repeats, vintage stuff and "reality" programming.

They'll have NXT and Superstars on there as well.

What's your point?

 

NXT and Superstars is exactly the same type of stuff that airs on RAW and SD, just more jobbery.

 

And played at 1.5 x speed (or whatever else these fantasies you have for the thinner wrestlers to be a rip-off of old WCW or indie wrestling are), it still would be. You're saying it can't all be repeats, vintage stuff and reality programming. And chances are, they'll have two hours of new wrestling programming on there anyway, because they already produce two hours of it that nobody wants. But the idea that they'd advertise Tyson Kidd vs Yoshi Tatsu on DELW (Dirty Eddie's Lightweight Wrestling) being different than them having a match on WWE is silly. It implies there's something wrong or at least insufficient with the match they'd have in WWE, which either means there's something wrong with "WWE style" (and again, that's just advertising to the sort of person who is against "WWE style" and won't order a WWE channel), and/or that Yoshi Tatsu and Tyson Kidd aren't much cop at "WWE style."

 

Ultimately, the cruiserweight show is doomed for that very reason. It's either the same NXT/Superstars-level matches we get every week, or they haven't realised that the same people who say things like "they need to go all-out with the cruisers" are going to boycott a channel that features John Cena and Hornswoggle, in which case they're head-dropping thirty years off Trent Baretta's life for no reason. Either way, it's pointless.

[Dirty Eddie]

And played at 1.5 x speed (or whatever else these fantasies you have for the thinner wrestlers to be a rip-off of old WCW or indie wrestling are), it still would be. You're saying it can't all be repeats, vintage stuff and reality programming. And chances are, they'll have two hours of new wrestling programming on there anyway, because they already produce two hours of it that nobody wants. But the idea that they'd advertise Tyson Kidd vs Yoshi Tatsu on DELW (Dirty Eddie's Lightweight Wrestling) being different than them having a match on WWE is silly. It implies there's something wrong or at least insufficient with the match they'd have in WWE, which either means there's something wrong with "WWE style" (and again, that's just advertising to the sort of person who is against "WWE style" and won't order a WWE channel), and/or that Yoshi Tatsu and Tyson Kidd aren't much cop at "WWE style."

 

Ultimately, the cruiserweight show is doomed for that very reason. It's either the same NXT/Superstars-level matches we get every week, or they haven't realised that the same people who say things like "they need to go all-out with the cruisers" are going to boycott a channel that features John Cena and Hornswoggle, in which case they're head-dropping thirty years off Trent Baretta's life for no reason. Either way, it's pointless.

 

There is no way they are going to find programming that every single subscriber is going to watch, so why try to? The more variety they can show, the more chance I think there is of people buying the service.

 

If they are smart they will be making shows that appeal to different sets of fans; there will probably be some behind the scenes stuff with the Divas (for female fans or pervs), reality stuff with old men for the older fans to laugh at, Best Of Hornswoggle Highlight shows for the kids, etc... So why wouldn't they put on some wrestling shows that have a slightly different tone or style of presentation?

 

A Masked Luchadore style show could be great fun (and could be aimed at younger fans while also being of interest to people who enjoy the Mexican style). No-body mentioned matches full of head-drops (well, except you).

 

I think a Byte This type show would be great, though filtering the decent comments/tweets from the wind-up merchants and idiots would be hard work.

 

I'd love to see a show where they send some of their lesser used talent to work in NJPW or somewhere like that. Follow them on tour in the country and show their matches against the Japanese talent.

[King Pitcos]

there will probably be some behind the scenes stuff with the Divas (for female fans or pervs)

Reported for trolling SBA.

[the_mole]

So is this channel subscription based? Can you just get the channel on it's own? I was under the impression that they will be trying to cut deals with the major satellite distributors to carry it and it may be available as part of a Sports package, along with the NFL, MLB, NBA networks etc.

[Big Benny HG]

So is this channel subscription based? Can you just get the channel on it's own? I was under the impression that they will be trying to cut deals with the major satellite distributors to carry it and it may be available as part of a Sports package, along with the NFL, MLB, NBA networks etc.

No, you were right - the idea is that it will be part of a package/tier with existing channels.