Au revoir WWE Network – By Wrestle G

Hello everyone in the NoDQ.com universe and Happy Holidays to you all! I am back once again to drop some wrestling musings from my mind and share them all with you on the best wrestling website on god’s green internet.

I really enjoyed the feedback to the MJF column last week, I was surprised there seemed to be a pretty unanimous agreement that the feud has sucked and really hurt both guys. This week’s dynamite was a little better, except I don’t think the picture of Adam Cole did much for him in the eyes of the fans and why was Adam Cole sat down the entire time during the promo on the screen? Anyway, at worlds end hopefully this is all over and we can forget that it ever ever happened.

Let’s go into some other stories over the past week very quickly, before we say goodbye to an old friend.

Saturday Night’s Main Event was a huge success in my eyes. The look of it was amazing, it felt big time right from the start. The old School metal barriers and having the crowd so close to the talent gave an enjoyable claustrophobic feel to the whole show. I thought the matches mostly delivered as well. The main event especially had Kevin Owens once again make the most out of defeat. Given how many big matches he has lost it is a miracle that he isn’t in more of a Dolph Ziggler territory. I look forward to seeing him keep the winged eagle belt alive with his run as the ‘Real’ Worlds Heavyweight champion.

How good was Jesse Ventura on commentary? Given his age and having not watched the product he had clearly done his homework and just hit the right beats. Loved his line about his jacket being made out of Damien the snake. I think what I loved most is the way he championed the heels. This is an art form that most heel commentators just don’t have. Nigel Mcguinnes is the closest to it these days, but Jesse put everyone to shame with how he called the night. Can’t wait to hear him again in January.

Elsewhere the Continental Classic rolls on. Ospreay vs Darby Allin this past Wednesday on Dynamite had me on the edge of my seat and Darby winning clean is a big boost for him. It’s the sort of match which legitimises someone like Darby at the top of the card. Elsewhere in the Classic I think Shelton Benjamin has continued his electric start to his AEW career and as expected The Beast Mortos has eaten most of the falls.

One person I’m worried about though is Ricochet. His segment with the Hurt Business made him seem so far away from them in a presence sense, and he was punked off and just walked off. He then just acted weirdly in front of Swerve (who got such a huge reaction we could hardly hear him) and then done his weird laugh. I just don’t see where this is going and that it is any good for him. If Prince Nana or MVP were doing his talking for him then his in-ring work is as good as anyone. But the more he shows his personality then the less I think audiences will click with him. One to keep an eye on.

Ok let’s get stuck into today’s topic:

WWE Network we hardly knew ye’.

February 24th, 2014, the WWE Network launched in the USA. As a fan based in the UK there was no way I was going to let this opportunity pass. A network dedicated to WWE? With pretty much the full library of shows from its history? And all for the small price of £9.99 per month? Yes please!

I fired up a VPN, created my account and I was away to the races. I couldn’t believe my luck; it was all there. Randomly I fired up the One Night Only PPV from Birmingham UK from 1997. An event that isn’t much talked about and not shown much and this for me was the magic of the network. Suddenly I was transported back to my childhood. It was also the PPV where Shawn Michaels got the finished changed to beat Davy Boy Smith in his home country even though Davy boy had gone on local TV to say he would win it for his sister who was Sick. And it was all there for me to dive into.

Overtime I ate up the content on offer I loved the documentaries that made their way there and to have every PPV/PLE just appear for the price I already paid I was in a wrestling fans heaven. I would and have spent hours trawling through old episodes of Raw, re living the attitude era and the Monday night wars week by week comparing what type of show each was putting up against each other from the time. Seeing just how far ahead of its time Nitro was in terms of production and feel and look on TV. All these things were at my fingertips on the Network.

If you look at all of Vince McMahon and the WWE’s ventures outside of wrestling, they have almost always failed. But the WWE Network is in my opinion the greatest out of ring achievement the WWE has ever had. For 10 years the performance has always held up, the library has been consistently added to and the price has remained pretty much exactly the same.

When Peacock announced it was taking over the PLE’s for the US I was relieved the UK Network remained intact. With the Netflix on Raw news, I was apprehensive what this meant and sadly the bad news was delivered that the Network would no longer continue. For the last 10 years we have been absolutely spoiled as wrestling fans for what we have gotten, and I can only hope Netflix and the WWE Vault Youtube restore most/a lot of what has been on the Network, but it will never be truly replicated.

So almost 11 years on from my decision to watch One Night Only on the Network my choice now is what will be the very last thing that I watch? I must admit at this point I really don’t know. But I know that when the little graphic pops up at the end of it I will be very sad that my access will be gone.

So, as we end todays Column I hand it over to you, what are your things you’re going to miss on the WWE Network? What was the first thing you watched? What will be the last? Let met know in the comments below, or as always you can drop me a follow-on X via @Wrestle_G

A shorter little column today, I will be back around the new years’ time to reflect on 2024 in the wrestling world. But until then have an absolutely amazing festive period however you celebrate or not celebrate, and I wish everyone a happy and healthy one. But I won’t Amble around here much more….

Until next time,

Cheers,

G