I’d like to say I thought about writing something regarding the WWE Network after it was announced. After all, writing about WWE is ostensibly what I do and this is major news. But honestly, I didn’t. There’s plenty of other opinions out there which got there before me. And beside that, it doesn’t even launch in February over here, thus I don’t really have one beyond “it looks pretty cool”. Which might explain why I’m maybe the only person on the internet who’s not been speculating ad nauseum about the thing. So rather than theorise over what it’d look like, or what content it’d have or what device to stream it on, I did what I usually do and took interest in the reaction to the news instead. Turns out, there’s been plenty of it.

Backstory: In late 2011, talk of a new WWE Network began to surface.

Surveys were issued, plans were speculated on and dubstep montages were carefully put together. Somewhere along the way though, the Network and it’s hype were quietly phased into the background (which is hard to do with dubstep), presumably in the hopes that people would forget to ask “hey, what happened to that Network thing you started to get us excited about, before deciding it wasn’t ready to be launched yet”. People didn’t. Over time, the idea of a WWE Network became a handy go-to joke, until WWE teased a special announcement, to be made on January 8th, 2014. Numerous professional wrestling journalists gathered in Las Vegas to await the announcement of that thing which they already knew what it was, plus free dinner. And unsurprisingly, after not much speculation, that thing which it was was the thing that it actually is.

After over two years of waiting, the WWE Network was finally announced (for real this time) in a special presentation at the Consumer Electronics Show. If you’ve never heard of the CES, me neither. But I imagine it’s a sort of Q from James Bond scene for people who need new and exciting ways to play video games and watch TV on progressively more massive screens, or progressively more tiny screens, depending on their preference. This wasn’t a device or a thing WWE were selling though. It’s more of a…. well, it’s a…. you know, a one of those, complete with vague hand gesture.

Breakout star of the evening Perkins Miller tried his best to explain this never before seen Netflix type Network, when not starring in a Michael Bay inspired skit with D-Generation X. Oh yeah, they were there. In character. This was a WWE presentation after all. Much as the one-day-hopefully future Raw GM did a good job explaining the Network though, his explanation just lead to more questions. And then more questions. And then even more questions. First from the people at the announcement, of varying relevance and levels of professionalism. Then, from wrestling fans, which at this point could possibly almost fill a 24/7 Q&A network of it’s own.

Hey, that’s a good idea.

 

WWE's most charismatic performer (also pictured, John Cena and Stepphanie McMahon)
WWE’s most charismatic performer (also pictured, John Cena and Stephanie McMahon)

If Perkins Miller hosted his own podcast this would be fine, but sadly The Perkcast has yet to surface. So instead, we’ve had days and days of back and forth speculation between callers and hosts, with the general consensus being that nobody’s quite sure exactly what the Network will be like until the Network actually launches, beyond what we were already told by Perkins. One thing’s for sure, the Network would have all of the stuff Perkins told you about and might have some of the other stuff that wasn’t mentioned, we’ll find out soon.

But that wasn’t enough. People still had questions. The problem is, as well versed in the wrestling part of wrestling wrestling journalists are, technology isn’t neccessarily their thing. Which is fine. After all, we don’t pay them to report on computers, because while lots of things allegedly do pro wrestling better than pro wrestling, the technology business isn’t one of them. Although incidentally, Apple versus Microsoft has drawn more money than Vince Jr. has in years, brother. But by inviting questions (and then more questions) on the Network, suddenly there was a requirement to know things about the Network. Things which hadn’t been announced, or disclosed, or even considered. The result was threefold. One, a disturbing amount of questions about Chris Benoit. Two, lots of questions about whether we’d be able to watch Roy Shire’s territory or The Maritimes or Shotgun Saturday Night from April 4th 1998 on launch day. And three, lots and lots of technical questions directed at people who quite frankly weren’t ready for questions about technology.

The poor show hosts, having to deal with questions about iPods and iPads and iOSes. Let alone knowing if the network could even work on those devices, just knowing what they are. If only there was a website which answered these kinds of questions.

There is?

http://www.wwe.com/help

Oh. How convenient.

All of these questions from eager #RememberTheWrestler types might not have been possible, had F4WOnline.com not launched a new, 24/7 stream of it’s shows mere days before and or after the UFC and WWE launched their 24/7 streaming networks. If you’re unfamiliar with how this works, it’s really very simple. If you’re a subscriber, you have access to a streamed fixed schedule of shows, some of which air live, in addition to the on demand show catalogue. Basically, it’s sort of like how the WWE Network will probably work, except there’s no moving pictures and no Chris Benoit.

Aside from all the Chris Benoit questions.

The coincidentally timed launch of this live stream has allowed more questions on the radio shows, thanks to Twitter. Tweets can be read live on the air and shows can be followed along to on social media, with a show specific hashtag and hang on on a minute, this all sounds a bit familiar doesn’t it? Weren’t we supposed to be annoyed by Twitter becoming a bigger and bigger feature on shows we enjoy?

Either way, this is the first of many positive steps wrestling companies (and companies that cover wrestling) have made and will continue to make in response to the Network. Twitter and live streaming help with correcting and clarifying details on the shows as they happen, which is good. They also help the immediacy of breaking news. Which as we’ve seen with the Daniel Bryan angle and the rumoured Wrestlemania card(s) is very important, because people now want to know exactly what’s going to happen and they want to know right now, even though these things have a tendancy to change in ways non-psychic humans can’t predict on a podcast weeks in advance.

 

Coming to a Roku box near you soon?
Coming to a Roku box near you soon?

The response from other wrestling companies was largely about the same it was among wrestling fans. Along the lines of “that looks cool, who’s getting it?”. However Gabe Sapolsky did issue a statement, touting (but not on Tout) DGUSA and Evolve as the Mom and Pop bread supplier to WWE’s Walmart style high end, low customer care metaphorical bread related services. A fair and accurate stance to take, albeit one which lead to cheap cracks about the reliability of their bread service by unoriginal internet wiseguys such as, uhm, oh, me. Sorry Gabe. It was too easy to pass up.

Gabe’s proactivity is admirable though. Offering HD on WWN iPPVs was probably planned pre-network, but it’s a positive step towards improving customer experience. As the guys at Voices Of Wrestling (http://www.voicesofwrestling.com) gathered from Gabe, the next step looks to be getting their planned WWN Live Roku channel up and running. And at least for the weekend following the HD launch, Gabe had the last laugh by having no streaming problems for his three shows, thanks to his magic new internet router.

Somebody should tell those CES guys about them.

So what does all this mean? One thing’s for sure. Whatever the network might or might not turn out to be and whether we can get it on our Playstation 1s or not, it’s going to change how WWE does business. Which changes how wrestling does business. The network represents a progressive step forward for the company. Which let’s be honest, they haven’t always been reknowned for. And yes, their plugs for social media and such are very aggressive and unsubtle. But that’s WWE for you. It was that way in the days of AOL Keywords and WWF Superstar Lines too. And where WWE leads, like it or not, others will often follow. Because as aggressive as WWE’s marketing is, sometimes they really do have the right idea behind all the bluster. If your favourite indy company hasn’t bragged about trending worldwide (in tailored trends) then count yourself lucky. Sure, we’ve all got our laughs at the expense of the Network and the App and the Twitter plugs in the past, but now we can use our second screens to organise our LOLs by hashtag while In Your House: Beware Of Dog is playing in the background. And that my friends is progress.

As far as the Network itself goes? Assuming it succeeds, WWE will be a part of forward thinking technology. After years of having no competition, suddenly there’s a reason to step up their game. With it, everybody else will be forced to step up theirs. Which is great. And speaking as someone who only saw the Perkins Miller part of the presentation, the Network does look pretty cool.

If only we knew more about it.

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