WWE Covid-19 shut down - what could they show instead?

[HarmonicGenerator]

Plenty of folks could do stuff from home to fill in time. 

If they’d put the 24/7 title on someone they’ve acknowledged is married or living with another wrestler you could have had a load of skits of them in their house trying to win the belt off each other. Montez and Bianca maybe.

Over on NXT, Adam Cole had been banging on about how he was about to become the longest reigning NXT Champion ever. He could do a segment every week pointing out his reign’s another seven days longer.

Members of obnoxious heel factions on group video calls from across the country (or the world). Rollins chatting to his lackeys the AOP and Murphy but then Owens zoombombs them.

Hell, you could have a few of them do workout tips like Joe Wicks. Fifteen minutes’ Fitness with Flair or something.

Stick a bunch of network doc footage (not full episodes - enough to tease while also enough to satisfy) in between. Highlight a wrestler each hour and show one of their best matches.

If Saturday Night Live doesn’t have to be live you’d have to think the other networks  would relax the rules a bit given the circumstances.

 

[Astro Hollywood]

They should lock JR in a room and make him solve deadly traps while a little puppet Vince rides around on a tricycle.

[simonworden]

14 hours ago, garynysmon said:

In all seriousness, wouldn't some new Steve Austin interviews (held live if absoloutely needs be) satisfy all the requirements while avoiding fake fighting in an empty studio that makes the Impact Zone in 2016 sound like the Pontiac Silverdome?

This was the first thing that popped into my head, doesn't even have to be Steve although that would be great. Surely they could ship all the necessary equipment to make a decent broadcast between two people miles away if they both cant be in the performance center. Have an hour long interview with some highlights of matches thrown in too.

If new content was really a must, although dross, i'd have hauled any old sod who lives nearby in for quick TV matches and done a massive taping of those in one day to insert in as well. 

[Tommy!]

26 minutes ago, Astro Hollywood said:

They should lock JR in a room and make him solve deadly traps while a little puppet Vince rides around on a tricycle.

As long as there's one where he needs to keep a puppy alive in a room full of hammers, give the dirty ol' fecker a challenge. 

[The Gaffer]

1 hour ago, PowerButchi said:

Something like the old WWF Fab Four special would be ace. 

They should chuck Fab Four on the Network. It was one of my favourite Silvervision tapes growing up because it was such a well curated collection of highlights that ran through some of the best of the New Gen era. Would love to see a similar approach for some of the current top stars. Especially because I can't be arsed trawling through any shows from about 2010 on to find that Money in the Bank where those two guys had that one really good match with all the false finishes, and that great sequel they had at Battleground/Extreme Rules or whatever. All that stuff blends together for me way too much. But I'd happily watch it in clip form. 

[King Pitcos]

2 hours ago, Vamp said:

But RAW is 3 fucking hours long.

Exactly. People are suggesting things that entertain them, a hardcore wrestling fan, for ten minutes on YouTube or for the odd hour once or twice a month on the WWE Network. But they'd get sick of it stretched out to three hours every Monday night.

Why would the networks shut the wrestling down now, when they've been allowing it so far? USA, Fox and TNT have all been fine with it for the last month. I expect it would take public outcry to change their minds.

[Cannibal Man]

Carry On Abroad

[Supremo]

I’d love to just have classic matches and then stuff the wrestlers can produce at home as wraparounds. Frankly, no matter what the guys could produce from home, it’d likely still be better at getting them over than what we see on weekly TV, especially with no fans reacting.

It was something that really struck a chord when I watched the end of Wrestlemania followed by that Edge documentary.

Firstly, seeing Drew McIntyre break the fourth wall, looking and reaching directly into the camera after his Title win, I couldn’t believe how powerful of a moment that was. It’s become such an accepted thing in WWE that wrestlers never break the fourth wall that you forget what a massive disservice it is to the characters and stories. I know they think they’re making movies, so looking at or addressing the viewer is a big no-no, but most movies have proper characters that are fleshed out and well-written. In WWE you’ve got cardboard cut-outs, one-note, paper-thin characters shuffling along, handicapped even further by never acknowledging the viewers at home. I’m not saying I want WWE to be Fleabag, but some type of middle ground would be great.

Then the Edge documentary was absolutely incredible. I can’t remember the last time I came out of a WWE-produced show rooting for someone so much. Even the little things, like just seeing Edge and Beth juggle family life and show some proper emotion towards each other that didn’t require them to deliver it in that weird, “(****)!” scripted way. Unbelievably good stuff. I’d much rather see Edge and Beth at home just living their lives for five minutes than anything they could likely script and shoot at the Performance Centre.

Check this out, too. Proper lovely stuff. I can bet you a million quid there’ll be nothing Drew does tonight that’s as endearing as seeing him and Heath just be nice mates to each other.

It’s nothing new to say that WWE’s biggest struggle is their shallow characters and terrible storylines, but it’s compounded massively by not having fans and the answer seems obvious to me. Either spend shit loads on daft mini-movies or just give everyone an email address to send in some videos they shoot at home or on Zoom.

[Sheffbag]

Revive Prime time wrestling and make it a studio show capitalising on current fueds showing matches and throw the occassional classic in. 

OR do what HIGNFY and the darts are doing and have the wrestlers in their own homes throwing the moves via screens and the others have to sell. 

 

[AVM]

Zoom meetings between Bray Wyatt and Matt Hardy.

[Tamura]

On 4/12/2020 at 6:35 PM, Michael_3165 said:

You either can't read or choose to be an idiot, which is it?I said a MIX of current and old school stuff. If you actually look at the WWE viewership it is heavy on 40+ year old males which would actually probably get a kick out of the old footage. 

I read perfectly well thank you. There is quite simply no way the TV networks would want that broadcast. You brought up the German shows not me, just so we're clear. If you put some old school match with German commentary out on USA Network in a prime time slot lots of people will simply change the channel. They might change back 10 minutes later to see if there's something different in the "mix", but they might have found something else while channel hopping and might not change back at all. You're also making a strange assumption that all the 40+ year old males were people that were watching the WWF in the early 1990s, when it's just as, if not more, likely they started wrestling in the mid/late 1990s when wrestling became more adult oriented and not the horrible cartoon wrestling.

While it's certainly true WWE have a wealth of footage to choose from you seem to have picked the most bizarre selection possible. Lots of dark matches, presumably without angles, and matches with German commentary from the 1990s don't scream "ratings".

[BomberPat]

Not to mention that networks are paying huge money for original live content, not archive material.