Lessons from the Network: No Way Out 2003

Historical Context

When WWE acquired both ECW and WCW in the early 2000’s, they were flush with talent from all 3 of the major companies, though in some cases, “talent” is a word I use relatively loosely.  As time went on, the invasion angle faded away and only a handful of stars from Atlanta or Philadelphia remained, having been fully incorporated into WWE storylines.
No Way Out 2003 was the table-setter leading up to Wrestlemania XIX, famous for McMahon vs. Hogan and infamous for the botched shooting star press from Brock Lesnar.

Rather than give you the traditional 5 lessons today, we will instead focus on a single one from this era, using No Way Out 2003 as an example.

Lesson: The Post-Invasion WWE had the greatest collection of wrestling talent ever.

Lessons from the Network: Degeneration X - In Your House

                                       Historical Context

When I began watching wrestling in the early 1990’s, there were four WWF Pay-Per-Views a year; Wrestlemania, SummerSlam, Survivor Series and Royal Rumble.  That’s it.  Now to some new wrestling fans that might seem insane.  To some, it might border on sacrilege.  To others, it might seem like a very good idea, considering the Battleground hate I’ve read on Twitter this last week, but I’ll save that for a separate column.

In 1993, Vince McMahon expanded by adding King of the Ring, the 5th “major”, as it were.  In the years that followed, whether it was in response to the growing popularity of the competition in WCW or just as an experiment to try to earn more money, Vince added “In Your House”.  Originally designed as a shorter, cheaper PPV, the In Your House series would be the ‘minor’ spectacles to fill the monthly gaps                                                             between larger events.

For our next Lessons from the Network, we take a trip to the IYH event from December of 1997.  WCW has taken over the lead in the Monday Night Wars, and at this point, WWE is on the ropes.  This is also the first PPV after Survivor Series ‘97, also known as the Montreal Screwjob.  On the cusp of the Attitude Era, we now sit under the learning tree known as Degeneration X: In Your House.

Lesson 1:  Proper planning prevents poor performance.

Lessons From the Network: Battlebowl 1993

Historical Context

Back in the early 1990's, wrestling companies were looking for ways to make their Pay-Per-Views stand out.  For the World Wrestling Federation, there were unique events like Survivor Series and Royal Rumble. (At one point, class, all of the SS matches were elimination tags, and the Royal Rumble was always. . . ALWAYS. . . the last match of the night).

WCW had begun to head down a similar road.  (The very first “War Games”, basically a Survivor Series match held in a steel cage, also took place in 1993.)  In November of that month, they designed an entire PPV around another concept they had done twice before, this one called Battlebowl.  As WWE Network explains, "Stars are forced to randomly team up through a Lethal Lottery. Winning teams advance to the enormous Battlebowl Battle Royal main event."

The winner of Battlebowl was awarded with a ring (In WCW at the time, there was a push for more legitimacy, hence the use of rings after winning a “Bowl”) and all but guaranteeing themselves a title shot at a future date.  For those with a more modern view, consider this a grandfather to Money in the Bank.

It should be noted that this was the only time Battlebowl was a separate Pay-Per-View.  The reason why is our first lesson.

Lesson #1:  Too much of anything is no good.

Lessons from the WWE Network: A Syllabus

Wrestling 101: Lessons from the WWE Network

Class Syllabus

Instructor:  The Teacher

Description:  This course involves a thorough examination of the 466 (and growing) list of Pay-Per-View events currently listed on the WWE Network, exploring the history of the NWA / WCW, ECW, and WWE.  This course is designed for the subscriber overwhelmed by the sheer enormity of the content in front of them, though an experienced PPV viewer may also find the review helpful. 

Objectives: 

- To explore the history of professional wrestling, be it the good, the bad or the absolutely dreadful.

- To highlight events, characters and matches that may have been lost to the sands of time.

- To foster broader appreciation for the current WWE product through study of lessons from the past.