WWE: After All This Time, Still Not Using WWE Network to Fullest Extent

It’s been almost five years since the launch of the WWE Network, something fans thought was just a dream. But has the company maximized the streaming service’s full potential?

On February 24, 2014, WWE dramatically changed how fans could consume their product. That was the day the company launched the WWE Network, an over-the-top streaming service. For the low monthly price of, uh, I forget exactly, fans can gain access to every pay per view event and the entire back catalog of WWE, WCW, and ECW PPVs, plus a wide variety of original programming.

That “original programming” includes weekly episodes of NXT and 205 Live, but not much other actual wrestling. Yes, it’s interesting watching Ride Along to hear road conversations. And the WWE 24 documentary series is fantastic. But for fans of in-ring action, there aren’t as many options as one would expect.

Now I’m not claiming to know the economics behind the WWE Network. I’m the kind of guy who only checks his bank statement when it’s time to pay a bill — otherwise, time to whip out the credit card! (Yes, I know that’s stupid, but that’s not the point. Stay with me here.) A live broadcast is expensive, and even airing something on tape delay is pricey.

But I also know that there’s a literal butt ton of money coming in from the new TV deals WWE has negotiated. A billion dollars from FOX will go a long way to paying some bills, right?

Besides monthly pay per views, semi-regular TakeOver events, occasional special events (Mae Young Classic, for example), and weekly NXT/205 Live, it’s well past time for WWE to add to its wrestling catalog. A good start would be to broadcast a handful of live events every year. Obviously, airing every single house show would be overkill. But why not one a month? Or shows held in important arenas, like Madison Square Garden?

In the four and a half years the Network has existed, only two live events have been broadcast. Both of them took place in 2015 — The Beast in the East in July, and a MSG show in October. Each one featured a Brock Lesnar match, as well, but those probably aren’t happening much more in 2018 and beyond.

If the idea of airing house shows on the WWE Network seems strange, there’s an easy fix to make them more meaningful. It’s G1 Climax season for New Japan, so I’m in a tournament kind of mood — let’s bring back the King of the Ring, and make it a Network exclusive show.

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Between WrestleMania and SummerSlam, WWE has this dead zone of programming. Nothing ever happens, except for Money in the Bank. Why not have a KOTR tournament on live events during that time? You could even have the finals at SummerSlam if you really wanted.

Pick one or two matches on a few different live events, and air those matches on, say, Friday nights on the Network. If you’re already doing the matches anyway, you may as well tape it. And most house shows are taped nowadays anyway, never to see the light of day. Why not use the footage?

Of course, WWE likes to do their own versions of other companies’ ideas. Maybe they decide to do their own G1 Climax instead, and use the house shows to tape matches. The “Inoki Invitational” or whatever they’d call it would fill a lot of hours on the Network, and spare the world a couple of episodes of Holy Foley.

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Regardless of how it’s accomplished, it’s time to get more original wrestling program onto the WWE Network. Whether King of the Ring, a G1 rip-off, or even random house shows, some of the programming block should be filled with new wrestling.

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