The Network Life

I've been a lifelong wrestling fan, but only recently did I sign up for the WWE Network. Let me tell ya, this is the best money I've spent on hobby related stuff in a while. For ten bucks a month you can lose yourself in the WWE's video archive, and within the first few days I already felt my ties to family and friends slipping away.

First thing I did, after signing up and installing the app on my laptop and PS# and whatnot, was dive into what I fondly remember as my wrestling viewing glory days. With my school chums Matt and Brad I used to watch Raw and Smackdown religiously during the "Brand Extension" era. It was then I became a true mark. I wanted nothing more than to see Booker T or Rob Van Dam knock that blue blood bastard Triple H off the hill on Raw, or watch Los Guerreros lie, cheat, and steal their way to victory on Smackdown.

Y'see, the brand extension was a result of the inflated roster WWF/WWE was burdened with after acquiring the dying WCW promotions talent and pulling folks in from OVW and ECW as well. Without a real rival like WCW Nitro around, the 'E competed against itself, splitting the roster in two and holding a draft lottery every year to determine who would be on which show.

While the roster was split in half, the number of title belts doubled. Paul Heyman's monster Brock Lesnar had secured the main WWE title from The Rock at Summerslam 2002, so Raw General Manager and WCW castaway Eric Bischoff reintroduced the old WCW belt as the World Heavyweight Championship. The title was "awarded" to Triple H who would go on to hold the belt for a long, long while, much to my ire.

Anyway, once I fired up the network I jumped right into a string of 2002/2003 pay-per-views from right around the start of the brand extension initiative. First thing I noticed was how stiff the work was back then as opposed to now. I mean it, the guys (and gals) were really laying their shit in, and blood was present in nearly half the matches on every card in this pre-PG WWE era.

I also witnessed some fueds from that time I'd completely forgotten about. Chris Jericho and Ric Flair. Edge and Kurt Angle. Booker T and Goldust vs. The World. The average age of the guys in the ring at that time was a little higher too, and it shows in the work. Babyfaces and heels alike knew how to work the crowd and work with another. That's not intended as a diss, it's just a side effect of having so many crafty ring veterans in the same promotion at the same time. The current WWE is a younger, and unfortunately greener, place.

And UFC wasn't quite a thing back then either . . .

Tonight I'll be taking advantage of what is possibly the best feature on the WWE Network: live streaming each new pay-per-view as it drops. Tonight I'll be able to watch TLC from Boston live, and it won't cost a damn thing. When I think of how I used to spend fifty or more dollars on each monthly pay-per-view, I want to travel back in time and kick myself. Not to mention, thirty bucks for each of those dvd sets I used to gobble up.

The only issue I have with the service is that sometimes it doesn't work too well on my PS3, but that may be a problem on my end. The video will randomly skip ahead or scroll back without my control. Does anyone else have this problem? It works fine on my laptop, so I'll make due. First world problems.

I'll be knocking back beers and live tweeting during the TLC event tonight. If you want to join in on the fun, look for @ChrisBComics on Twitter!