Wrestling Channel Miscellany

[bAzTNM#1]

Was there ever an issue in which you broadcast a softcore porn film before the watershed? Might be imagining that.

 

What was the Friendly TV thing all about? What other shows were shown on there that didn't get shown on TWC?

 

Cheers!

[herbie747]

Was there ever an issue in which you broadcast a softcore porn film before the watershed? Might be imagining that.

 

What was the Friendly TV thing all about? What other shows were shown on there that didn't get shown on TWC?

 

Cheers!

No, we didn't show porn during daytime, as far as I recall.

 

Friendly TV were test broadcasts - Dolphin TV wanted to see how these secondary wrestling (i.e. Non-WWF) programmes rated. We ran TNA Xplosion, CZW, FWA and Wrestling Classics. We were aware there was no promotion behind these tests, but Xplosion still did 34,000 viewers - all round it was a success besides a few hiccups with playout. Wrestling Classics did no ratings at all and Todd Okerlund wanted $5000 per episode for it (way more than anyone else), so we didn't end up doing a deal. He didn't realise (and wouldn't accept) that nobody gave a shit about The Spoiler and other old Florida guys in the UK market, and he wouldn't budge on price.

[HarmonicGenerator]

Were they the ones which seemed to feature a bloke called Hard Boiled Haggerty as the sole talking head?

[Sphinx]

Some of the adverts for promotions and wrestlers stick with me. I never knew the words to the 3PW one, but it sounded like "here it comes, here it here it comes, comes. Jumping swinging neckbreaker!"

 

Jushin Liger's was a classic obviously.

[Astro Hollywood]

Some of the adverts for promotions and wrestlers stick with me. I never knew the words to the 3PW one, but it sounded like "here it comes, here it here it comes, comes. Jumping swinging neckbreaker!"

 

It's actually "something wicked this way comes," but that reading of it, which fits perfectly, is incredible.

[Statto]

Wasn't there an RoH show in the Friendly TV tests, Herbie?

 

Seem to recall it featured Low Ki vs. a member of Special K where the Special K guy was visibly a bit stiff on a springboard dropkick, Low Ki got pissed off & Kawada kicked him in the face about 30 times, did the Ki Krusher then put on a vicious looking Dragon Clutch to finish it.

 

Think the other match was a tag team 4-way that definitely included the SAT & the Backseat Boyz, the other two were probably Carnage Crew & a Special K team? Remember thinking the Backseat Boyz "Dream Sequence" was cool as hell.

 

The Xplosion episode, I believe, began with a Simon & Swinger match (they were current NWA tag champs, accompanied by Glen Gilberti dressed as Jim Cornette, complete with tennis racket, and David Young, who in turn was accompanied by Becky Bayless & Allison Danger), had Christopher Daniels vs Chasyn Rance(?) in the middle (Daniels won it with Angels Wings), and AJ Styles in the 'main event' (which he won with a springboard 450 splash). Show ended with an AJ Styles & Sting promo to hype the upcoming weekly PPV, which I think was going to be Sting's first TNA match? 

 

I watched those test shows A LOT.

[Zebra Kid Mark]

 

 

Do you have a list of all the original SuperCard sundays that you showed? How come it didn't vary much from TNA and FWA. Forgive me if I am wrong there?

 

 

2) Here you go. Yes, I believe you're wrong - there was a great mix: http://web.archive.org/web/20050306162545/http://www.thewrestlingchannel.tv/listings/Supercard.html

 

 

 

Woah, I was completely wrong. I can remember watching most of them now. That list reminded me of the awesome Raven vs CM Punk feud. They seemed to wrestle in almost every promotion they were in. All the matches were short and sweet. Might go out my way tonight to find some clips of it now actually.

 

Thanks for answering my questions. Might come back with some more later.

 

p.s. when is TWC going to be on Freeview?

[herbie747]

Wasn't there an RoH show in the Friendly TV tests, Herbie?

 

Seem to recall it featured Low Ki vs. a member of Special K where the Special K guy was visibly a bit stiff on a springboard dropkick, Low Ki got pissed off & Kawada kicked him in the face about 30 times, did the Ki Krusher then put on a vicious looking Dragon Clutch to finish it.

 

Think the other match was a tag team 4-way that definitely included the SAT & the Backseat Boyz, the other two were probably Carnage Crew & a Special K team? Remember thinking the Backseat Boyz "Dream Sequence" was cool as hell.

 

The Xplosion episode, I believe, began with a Simon & Swinger match (they were current NWA tag champs, accompanied by Glen Gilberti dressed as Jim Cornette, complete with tennis racket, and David Young, who in turn was accompanied by Becky Bayless & Allison Danger), had Christopher Daniels vs Chasyn Rance(?) in the middle (Daniels won it with Angels Wings), and AJ Styles in the 'main event' (which he won with a springboard 450 splash). Show ended with an AJ Styles & Sting promo to hype the upcoming weekly PPV, which I think was going to be Sting's first TNA match? 

 

I watched those test shows A LOT.

http://web.archive.org/web/20050306164722/http://www.thewrestlingchannel.tv/listings/Tests.html

[Tommy!]

When did you finish up with TWC? It seemed to barely run for a while before it became the Fight Network. I remember it showing old films and hours and hours of World of Sport towards the end.

 

That one where Bob Monkhouse was a dentist was amazing.

 

I loved the wrestling channel, it introduced me to NOAH, TNA, ROH, CZW as well as all the class tit bits they would show like Memphis. I stopped switching over to it when it felt like it was the same ROH show with Joe vs Necro Butcher in the main or WOS on every time I switched over, but it really was a good run.

[bbabba]

Great thread Herbie, I spent many hours of my teenage years watching TWC with much pleasure, thanks for all the work you did with it.

 

Some questions:

 

1.  What was the purpose of the 30 second or so vignettes of a specific wrestler (usually clips of them with their theme music playing in the background) that aired in between content and adverts?  While I could understand advertising a specific promotion you showed, I never understood the need for these and thought the time would be better used to show more adverts for increased revenue.  The AJ Styles, Raven, and Jushin Liger ones stick out in my mind but I'm sure there were more

 

2.  I assume it varied from timeslot to timeslot and with ratings, but can you give a general idea of how much an average advert would cost for the advertiser?  I remember Jamster (Crazy Frog/ringtone people) advertising on the network so much that I thought it must have cost them next to nothing per advert to make showing so many worthwhile

 

3.  If I remember correctly, Mo Chatra used to introduce each Noah match and announce the winner, but did you consider doing your own full commentary on Japanese and Mexican matches?   

Edited September 19, 2014 by bbabba

[Zebra Kid Mark]

 

3.  If I remember correctly, Mo Chatra used to introduce each Noah match and announce the winner, but did you consider doing your own full commentary on Japanese and Mexican matches?   

Good question. I was going to ask the same.

[Reznor]

I loved the wrestling channel, it introduced me to NOAH, TNA, ROH, CZW as well as all the class tit bits they would show like Memphis.

Absolutely. Even if you wouldn't pay to buy the stuff (although with NOAH, I had been up until around 2002), it was great to see all the diversity that was out there, and finally get to see feds you had mostly just read and heard about.

 

Not being so exposed to it, i didn't even have the kind of venom towards US indies that I do today. I think I even sat through a Whole CZW flipfest supershow, the one with Sonjay Dutt against the boring lad who done the backbreakers. And even today and despite my 'prejudices', I still really like the MLW show from the Hammerstein that I taped. The MLW and 3PW stuff tended to sound better on paper than it did in the ring, but it was still all good. The advert montages were a bit repetitive, mind. They made me almost sick of the sight of AJ Styles and the lass who caved in the students face in that dojo documentary.

 

TV in 2004 was fantastic thanks to the wrestling channel. You had the stuff you were into, which you made a point of tuning in for, but just as good was the ability to switch it on if you were bored and usually find something to keep you amused.

 

Cheers for the lucha reply the other day too, Herbie. Interesting stuff, and so typically CMLL, it raised a smile.

Edited September 19, 2014 by Reznor

[Sweet Clyde]

 

 

 

Some of the adverts for promotions and wrestlers stick with me. I never knew the words to the 3PW one, but it sounded like "here it comes, here it here it comes, comes. Jumping swinging neckbreaker!"

 

It's actually "something wicked this way comes," but that reading of it, which fits perfectly, is incredible.

 

 

 

Jumping swing-ing neck breaker.. I cant get it out of my head now.. Plus, Mr Perfect giving Jerry Lawler an open hand slap between all the extreme wresting type madness is great too.

Edited September 20, 2014 by Sweet Clyde

[scotty_1120]

Brilliant thread this so many memories! I'll always remember taping the test shows on friendly tv I'm sure there was a match with burchill and me thinking he would be the UKs goldberg at the time.

My question is about an obscure ident I seem to recall of someone wearing a dressing gown and running up a hill? What was all that about? I'm sure there was another one with a banana in a blokes mouth or something?

Edited September 20, 2014 by scotty_1120

[herbie747]

Great thread Herbie, I spent many hours of my teenage years watching TWC with much pleasure, thanks for all the work you did with it.

 

Some questions:

 

1.  What was the purpose of the 30 second or so vignettes of a specific wrestler (usually clips of them with their theme music playing in the background) that aired in between content and adverts?  While I could understand advertising a specific promotion you showed, I never understood the need for these and thought the time would be better used to show more adverts for increased revenue.  The AJ Styles, Raven, and Jushin Liger ones stick out in my mind but I'm sure there were more

 

2.  I assume it varied from timeslot to timeslot and with ratings, but can you give a general idea of how much an average advert would cost for the advertiser?  I remember Jamster (Crazy Frog/ringtone people) advertising on the network so much that I thought it must have cost them next to nothing per advert to make showing so many worthwhile

 

3.  If I remember correctly, Mo Chatra used to introduce each Noah match and announce the winner, but did you consider doing your own full commentary on Japanese and Mexican matches?   

1. Just general promos for some of the more popular wrestlers, or ones who appeared on multiple shows. Usually we did have the name of the promotion or promotions you could see them on on-screen too. So AJ Styles would be TNA/ROH/IWA:MS/Wildside, etc.

 

2. No idea - I didn't sell the airtime - I just did the programming. I think ad rates were around £2 per thousand viewers. So 20,000 viewers would cost to £40 per ad - but generally people run campaigns, and not just 1 ad - they buy TVRs.

 

3. Mainly cost, and that we couldn't get tapes that had no commentary on them (well, GAEA already had none). If NOAH or NJPW had to send us tapes with no commentary tracks, it would have cost more. Plus, we were based in Dublin - how would we find 2 good commentators (or even 1) who knew enough about Japanese wrestling & were good commentators too? The studio time, the syncing, the mixing, the fees, the man hours, etc - it was cost prohibitive, especially for a show that didn't even pay for itself. Plus, in the past, bad English commentary has ruined Japanese shows - so we figured we'd tell people who they were & overlay the graphics, and then leave the rest intact.

 

 if you were bored and usually find something to keep you amused.

The exact reason I came up with the idea in early 2002. So there'd always be something interesting on, even when channel surfing.

 

My question is about an obscure ident I seem to recall of someone wearing a dressing gown and running up a hill? What was all that about? I'm sure there was another one with a banana in a blokes mouth or something?

It was a mate of mine's show - The Lovely Show - just some comedy sketches he did. We just ran a few of them as filler for a few months - more so people would say "WTF was that?" Made no sense, I know...

Edited September 20, 2014 by herbie747