Regardless of what you think of the current product, the WWE Network is a great deal. Every RAW, SmackDown!, NXT, PPV ever produced by the Big 3 companies plus every single “shows formerly known as PPV’s” for 9.99, doesn’t get much better than that. They will also be producing original content to air exclusively on the network which should be a great added bonus if the quality is good. Not much negative you can say about it but there is 1 big issue I have with it; putting all PPV shows live on the Network. It definitely helps sell subscriptions when you give people for 9.99 what they used to pay 50+ a month for but I believe it creates far more problems than it solves.

Seems the strategy to sell the Network is 1- PPVs, 2-classic content, 3-original content. It could definitely work but it’s more of an uphill climb b/c you don’t have any more PPV revenue and you put more pressure on the new wrestling content to stay great and keep selling the Network. I think they should have had the strategy of 1-original content, 2-classic content, 3- PPVs. Instead of putting the PPV shows on the Network live, I would put them on the Friday after they air. That way you create more areas for profit; people only buying PPVs live, people only watching after the fact on the Network, people that watch both live and on the Network, people only buying for classic content, etc.. Then I would create a wrestling show that airs exclusively on the Network and have big things actually happen on it so that people feel they need to subscribe to the Network to see it but b/c of everything that you get it wouldn’t seem like a money-grab. Kind of how they built up SmackDown, it would have flopped if nothing happened on it but major moments happening established it as a “must-see” show. You could tape it like SmackDown to keep costs low. I just think that creating powerful enemies like the PPV industry and completely changing the landscape of WWE business is a big mistake b/c can they go back to charging 50+ for something people got for 9.99 at the same level if this fails? I highly doubt it.

The goal has to be to create enough original content on the Network to make it worth the $10 subscription, if you can do that then all of the classic content plus almost immediate access to new PPVs is like a bonus and should be more than enough to sustain subscriptions long term. As long as the original Network show was on or close to the same level as Raw & SD! I think you would find a lot of people buying live PPVs and also subscribing to the Network.

One of the biggest problems is that it immediately puts you at odds with the PPV providers. Now I’m not feeling too sorry for the providers as WWE only gets approx. $20 per PPV buy but provide 100% of the content so it’s been a sweet deal for them. But these companies have far reaching influences and it makes no sense to create enemies right off the bat, especially when it’s such a hostile environment for wrestling outside of the business. It just seems counter-productive to eliminate a revenue stream and at the same time give people an axe to grind against you when there are options around it. The big announcement at the launch should have been the new wrestling show plus content as opposed to the every PPV on the Network bombshell plus content. WWE Classics on Demand shows that classic content alone is not enough to make the kind of splash WWE needs to make with the network but robbing Peter to pay Paul only works until Peter comes looking to get even.

I could be wrong and putting the PPVs on the Network will prove to be a smashing success. Hope it is for the business and the wrestlers but I really believe there was a better way. But we’re gonna find out very shortly b/c ready or not, here it comes.