Update on "controversial footage" on WWE Network.

[Tired]

The WWE Network is due to be launched in less than 3 weeks, and there have been questions about what content will actually be available. On the list are WWF Over The Edge 1999, as well as several pay-per-views which featured Chris Benoit in big matches, and from the Attitude Era.

WWF Over The Edge 1999 was the show in which Owen Hart died. Since then, Owen's widow has not allowed the WWE to use any footage or images of Owen in any way. Owen was due to compete for the Intercontinental Championship as his Blue Blazer character. He was due to make his entrance by lowering himself from the ceiling with the same harness setup that Sting used in WCW. Something went wrong and the quick release mechanism opened too early. Owen plummeted to the ring below and died soon after due to his injuries. Paramedics tended to Owen in the ring. The fall happened while a video promo for the match aired, and Vince McMahon ordered all cameras to be turned away from the ring until Owen was taken backstage. The controversy came when the WWE decided to continue with the remaining matches on the show.

Vince McMahon ordered all footage of Chris Benoit to be destroyed after the details of his final days emerged. All references to Benoit would be removed from all WWE products for the next several years. However, we are constantly learning that not everything was erased. McMahon has been asked outright if Benoit's matches would be available on the Network. While he has yet to give a straight answer, he has said that "full" pay-per-view events, including ones in which Benoit performed, would be made available. So there is a chance that Benoit may be on the new Network.

With the current product being PG, there was concern that Attitude Era and original Extreme Championship Wrestling footage would be heavily edited. But the Network is essentially a pay-per-view channel. So it is up to the WWE if they want to show footage with higher ratings. It has been suggest by McMahon that unedited footage will be made available. However, the old WWF logos and references to the "World Wrestling Federation" or "WWF" will be censored.

<div class='spoiler_toggle'>Full List Of Pay-Per-Views</div><div class="spoiler" style="display:none;">

ECW Anarchy Rulz (1999 & 2000)
ECW Barely Legal
ECW Guilty As Charged (1999 - 2001)
ECW Hardcore Heaven (1997, 1999 & 20000
ECW Heatwave (1998 - 2000)
ECW Living Dangerously (1998 - 2000)
ECW Massacre on 34th St.
ECW November To Remember (1997 - 2000)
ECW Wrestlepalooza
WCW Bash At The Beach (All)
WCW BattleBowl
WCW Beach Blast (1992 & 1993)
WCW Bunkhouse Stampede
WCW Capital Combat
WCW Chi-Town Rumble
WCW Fall Brawl (All)
WCW The Great American Bash (All)
WCW Greed
WCW Hallowe'en Havoc (All)
WCW Hog Wild
WCW Mayhem (1999 & 2000)
WCW New Blood Rising
WCW Road Wild (1997 - 1999)
WCW Sin
WCW Slamboree (All)
WCW Souled Out (All)
WCW Spring Stampede (All)
WCW Starrcade (All)
WCW SuperBrawl (All, Revenge)
WCW Uncensored (All)
WCW World War 3 (All)
WCW WrestleWar (All)
WWE Armageddon (1999, 2000, 2002 - 2008)
WWE Badd Blood (2003 & 2004)
WWE BackLash (2000 - 2009)
WWE The Bash
WWE Battleground
WWE The Big Event (1986)
WWE Bragging Rights (2009 - 2010)
WWE Breaking Point
WWE Capitol Punishment
WWE Cyber Sunday (2006 - 2008)
WWE Elimination Chamber pay-per-views (All)
WWE Extreme Rules (All)
WWE Fatal 4-Way pay-per-view
WWE Fully Loaded (1999 & 2000)
WWE The Great American Bash (2004 - 2008)
WWE Hell In A Cell pay-per-views (All)
WWE In Your House (#1 - #16, Ground Zero, One Night Only, Badd Blood, DeGeneration X, No Way Out, Unforgiven, Over The Edge, Fully Loaded, Break Down, Judgment Day, Rock Bottom, St. Valentine's Day Massacre and Backlash)
WWE InVasion
WWE Judgment Day (2000 - 2009)
WWE King Of The Ring pay-per-views (1993 - 2012)
WWE Money In The Bank pay-per-views (All)
WWE New Year's Revolution (2005 - 2007)
WWE Night Of Champions (All)
WWE No Mercy (1999 - 2008)
WWE No Way Out (2000 - 2002, 2004 - 2009, 2012)
WWE One Night Stand (2007 & 2008)
WWE Over The Edge 1999
WWE Over The Limit (2010 - 2012)
WWE Payback
WWE Royal Rumble (All, including 2014)
WWE SummerSlam (All)
WWE Survivor Series (All)
WWE Taboo Tuesday (2004 & 2005)
WWE This Tuesday In Texas (1991)
WWE TLC - Tables, Ladders and Chairs pay-per-views (All)
WWE UK: Capitol Carnage
WWE UK: Insurrexion (1999 - 2003)
WWE UK: No Mercy
WWE UK: One Night Only
WWE UK: Rebellion (1999 - 2002)
WWE Unforgiven (1999 - 2008)
WWE Vengeance (2001 - 2006, Night Of Champions, 2011)
WWE WrestleMania (All)
WWE The Wrestling Classic (1985)
</div>

 

[Deleted User]

He didn't order Benoit footage to be destroyed, he just said they'll never advertise him, again. This is a common urban myth.

Concerning Over The Edge and the Benoit footage, it's a smart move. WWE understands that Youtube already has all the media they could ever hope to cover up. So they simply aren't going to, and in doing that they'll be able to present this kind of controversial footage on an endorsed platform like the WWE Network, instead of 4horsemanfan420blazeitfaggot's crappy youtube channel full of footage ripped strait from a potato.

Just saying'.

This shouldn't offend anybody. WWE is making the logical decision here.

 

[TheDoctor]

This is the second time today, I have read a reference to a potato on a wrestling forum.

A friend of mine said he used to use a potato to mod then switched to photoshop..................

 

[Tired]

Personally, I think they made the wrong call about OTE '99. But I agree about the Benoit stuff. Vince McMahon himself said that erasing him from wrestling would be like erasing O.J. Simpson from American football. Regardless of whatever they did in one weekend, they still were the very best in their respective sports.

That said, I still wish Owen's widow would think about his legacy. Too many fans know who he is, but will never know just how good he was. Owen rarely had a bad match.

 

[Deleted User]

And with the WWE network, those fans who didn't know how good he was and will be able to see him, again. It's great for fans. Hell, they'll even get to grieve.

people are going to want to see that footage, it isn't disrespectful. It's posterity. Kind of like of Hitler footage or the Zapruder film. Might as well give them the best quality that they can, and keep it in the WWE Universe.

 

[Tired]

Owen will NOT be on the Network. They couldn't reach a deal with Martha.

 

[Deleted User]

Yes he will, every Raw ever, uncut, unedited. Every WWE PPV, uncut, unedited. I don't know where this rumor about Owen's WWE footage not being able to be distributed, because I just bought a copy of Wrestlemania X that had him in it. Shit, he's even on their official page RIGHT NOW:

http://www.wwe.com/videos/bret-hart-vs-owen-hart-wrestlemania-10-full-length-match-26039516

Trust me, we're getting a ton of Owen footage.

edit a ton more Owen footage on their website, someone is giving you very bad info:

http://search.wwe.com/search/all/owen hart

 

[Tired]

How new is that? I thought that that was one of the ones Martha sued over. They released a bunch of DVDs with Owen matches on them, and then they had to stop distributing them because Martha filed a lawsuit. It was far too late to recall any copies.

 

[Deleted User]

Martha sued over using his likeness for marketing rights, such as action figures, DVD releases, etc. He can still be shown in archive footage.

Always has been. I got a ton of DVD's with Owen in them.

edit: For instance, the Hart Family DVD was okay, because it wasn't an Owen Hart DVD.

Same with the cage match DVD set.

 

[The NekoMancer]

I got a ton of DVD's with Owen in them.

Me too.

 

[Warrior]

The logo and WWF name getting censored is bad news :/

When I watch DVDs or play the recent games, I hate hearing WW-

 

[Deleted User]

But, it isn't being censored, anymore.

Seriously, it isn't. Go check their webpage, even. See the WWF logo in all it's attitude era glory.

This thread is getting filled with misinformation.

 

[Warrior]

But, it isn't being censored, anymore.

Seriously, it isn't. Go check their webpage, even. See the WWF logo in all it's attitude era glory.

This thread is getting filled with misinformation.

Oh okay. Tends to happen when we have no sources.

 

[Deleted User]

Sorry, didn't mean to come off so harsh. I just thought it was common knowledge, its been that way since early 2003, I believe.

 

[Tired]

No man. The DVDs are the merchandise that Martha sued over. While WWE owns the footage, Martha owns the right to his name and image. Releasing new DVDs with Owen on them breached the agreement with Martha. They stopped making Hart Family, Best Of Raw (2 different versions), Greatest Cage Matches, the first Bret Hart DVD and few others because Martha put out a cease and desist. The agreement was the Martha would be heavily compensated for those DVDs, but Owen's image would not be used again.

As for that comment about the WWF logo, that must be very new. They had to stop using the "scratch WWF" logo, and remove all references to WWF after World Wildlife Fund sued. The original WWF logo and the ones that just look like 2 Ws were fine. They hired people specifically to blur/silence all references to the "F" and old scratch logo for the last 10 years. Then they hired a bunch more to speed up the process so the footage could be made High Definition digital for the Network. There was a Rock and Edge DVD sets a few years back that received a lot of criticism because there was just so much censoring.

Why would they continue to take these measures if they had reached agreements with Martha or the World Wildlife Fund?

 

[Champion_Gamer]

<blockquote class='quote\\_blockquote'><dl><dt>Quote:</dt><dd> </dd></dl><div>We noted before that WWE will now be able to use the old WWF scratch logo on DVD releases after some kind of settlement with the World Wildlife Fund. WWEDVDNews.com reports that the logo will begin showing up with the new Brock Lesnar: Here Comes The Pain set that comes out on October 30th. The standard WWE logo still is displayed in the bottom corner of the screen at all times but the WWF logo is not blurred out at various places like the ring apron.
http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2012/1011/557058/#6RxwW23FT6ZIDrIL.99[/quote]



<blockquote class='quote\\_blockquote'><dl><dt>Quote:</dt><dd> </dd></dl><div>Why The "WWF" Logo is Now Allowed

According to PWInsider.com, WWE has settled all of its litigation with the World Wildlife Fund, which is why archival WWE footage does not have to blur out the old WWF logo anymore.
http://www.wrestlezone.com/news/259...llowed-jericho-to-miss-more-wwe-time-in-march[/quote]

off topic but my mate over in England told me a lot of the silvervision dvds where unedited before the agreement is there any truth to that ?

 

[CalvTheHedgehog]

I was just linking the WWF logo thing. No blurry logos. We're okay!

 

[Robb420]

I use to have WWE classics onDemand through my cable company. They've been showing the WWF logo forever now. They were showing the history of the mondaynight wars. I saw Owen all the time. Not so much of Chris Benoit on Nitro though(Like...none at all). He was in WCW through 97 & 98 right? Those were the only years of Monday Night war they showed before they cancelled Classics onDemand & announced the WWE Network.

 

[Deleted User]

I'm gonna need citations on the lawsuit thing.