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Richard Craig

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Craig wrote to me:...when I set up my e-mail, I honestly thought I would get an aol.co.uk address, but NO, aol.com it is... so that's that. ;-)

UK ONLY PPVs: Do they have a realistic future?

BACKGROUND:

In 1997, BSkyB (British Sky Broadcasting, the monopolistic satellite broadcaster that shows EVERYTHING first and exclusively, from ER and Friends, through the Simpsons, Futurama, South Park and The X-Files, as well as the good old WWF here in Blighty) had barely introduced the foreign concept that you know to be Pay-Per-View. Up to this point, the station had literally broadcast two or three boxing PPVs, notably Frank Bruno gettin' his ass whooped by Tyson. However, they were keen to break into other areas, such as soccer, live concerts, and indeed, the World Wrestling Federation. Sky were actually no strangers to screening 'live and exclusive" WWF events here in Britain. Summerslam 92, the "UK Rampage" tours of 1992 and 1993 were covered live on Sky Sports, and the TV taping in Berlin in February 97 which covered the finals of the European Championship tournament were aired later that evening exclusively on Sky Sports as a device with which to "catch us up" to the US transmission pattern following the UK's [long-awaited] return to same-week, live PPV coverage.

On July 26, 1997, Sky Sports 2 aired the four-hour special known as "Fab Four", which featured the announcement that the WWF would be returning to the UK for its only appearance of the year at "One Night Only" (ONO). A few weeks later, once the arena had sold out, the announcement was made: ONO was to be the maiden (I thought that sounded better than 'virgin'!!) attempt by the WWF to exploit the UK PPV market whilst in its infancy.

ONE NIGHT ONLY

Prior to this event, angles were executed and promos were cut on Raw is War (notably the attack on the Bulldog by HBK, HHH and Rude prior to his triple threat match on the episode airing 09/08/97* and Michaels's "Grand Slam" interview with J.R.)

*I have expressed all dates as they would be in US form, hence 09/08/97 equals September 8... [Note from CRZ: Makes perfect sense, since all MY dates are in the UK format ;-)]

Some wicked promos were screened across the Sky network on behalf of the PPV, complete with the WWF's regular voice-over artist. A postponed public appearance by Davey Boy (due the ridiculous hysteria of "emotion" following Princess Diana's death a few weeks previously) was rescheduled for the Thursday prior to the event. Shawn Michaels was added to this promotional appearance and non-wrestling fans were drawn to the event by the fact that one of the UK's infamous "Page 3" topless tabloid 'models', Jo Guest was to host. The event was moved to the pub/club/entertainment heartland of Birmingham City Centre, Brindley Place and was deemed to be success. The British Bulldog appeared the next evening on Sky's very own "Live Six Show" to shill for the weekend's PPV.

Publicly, everything was progressing nicely, however things were not so rosy on the political side of things...

A reported failure to agree a consensus on the price that cable operators were willing to pay Sky to sell the event to its customers meant that a raft of cable operators throughout the UK refused to carry the event on their systems. This severely limited the penetration of the event, and ultimately was responsible for the event's commercial failure.

Critically, the event is an unqualified success, and with the benefit of hindsight, can easily be considered to be a "proper" PPV, something neither sequel is able to boast of. I witnessed the event live and in person, and simply, the buzz you get from seeing the "One World Leader" intro trail play on the TitanTron for the first time is AMAZING!!!

During the MSG Raw (09/22/97) ONO (which had been offered on delay to fans in Canada after the WWF realised the event was going to bomb financially in the UK) is referenced throughout the broadcast, by way of stills of the Euro Championship match and Shawn's in-arena interview hyping his impending Hell in a Cell engagement with the Undertaker.

By jobbing out the Bulldog to this totally arrogant heel HBK, Titan had all but assured that their sophomore effort, Mayhem in Manchester (MinM), scheduled for April 4 at the world-class Nynex Arena, would draw another sell-out crowd, plus increased PPV buys (subject to the dispute between Sky and the cable operators being ironed out) from those eager to see the (reportedly already booked) rematch where Davey Boy would regain the Euro Strap in his [not-worked] hometown.

THE DOUBLE CROSS

The fallout from Montreal allegedly saw the Bulldog's (by that stage of the evening) UN-braced knee injured during the aftermath of the Vince-Bret lockerroom brawl. Smith soon obtained a contract release, following Bret south to Atlanta.

With the main selling 'plank' of MinM destroyed, allied to the commercial failure of ONO, the decision was taken to downgrade MinM to (an admittedly good-quality: I was there) house-show. Meanwhile, the Euro belt was stripped of it remaining dignity following the "match" between HHH and HBK on the episode of Raw airing 12/22/97.

CAPITAL CARNAGE

15 months after ONO, Sky and the WWF decided to offer their 2nd UK-only PPV. Promos are less-advanced than for ONO, are borrow heavily from movie-of-the-moment, "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels". Indeed, "Lock, Stock..." star, and former soccer "hardman" Vinnie Jones is recruited by both parties to act as enforcer to Steve Austin and buy-rate bumper-upper. The pre-publicity is scaled back in comparison to ONO, although Vince's address to Oxford University Students' Union and D-Lo's tour of London's landmarks are notable exceptions. The event somehow manages to get a plug in the Financial Times (the British equivalent of the Wall Street Journal, I guess) which I find amazing.

The event itself (in keeping with the tradition with "regular" PPVs) is moved to a Sunday evening, and Sky prevent under 18s from ordering the event (they could order ONO with their parent/guardian's permission), reflecting the edgier material of the "Attitude" era. Indeed, the event is best remembered for Jacqueline's explicit "puppy parade" at the hands of Sable, whilst sitting atop "Blind" Tim White's shoulders. (I was merely four rows directly behind the King and JR's announce position, and was fully opposite Jackie when the shirt came off. I know that you expect/like this level of detail, CRZ!)

The event drew approximately 100, 000 buys easily twice those of ONO, but suffered critically on several counts:

    1. The highly anticipated WWF Championship match between HHH and The Rock was changed to X-Pac V The Rock, leaving HHH to roll over Jarrett (w/Debra). Furthermore, the one match which had actually been built up over the previous few weeks (X-Pac defending the Euro title against Blackpool grappler, Steven Regal) was shelved after the latter admitted to/ was discovered to having a prescription drug problem. This deprived the WWF of the man they were surely going to push as Bulldog's replacement as their UK drawing card.

    2. The event could spring no "surprises" for it was governed by the continuity established by the (previously-taped) Raw is War set to air the following evening (12/07/08).
UK fans, thanks to the huge commercial success of CC, would discover that, in 1999, the WWF would undertake their most extensive tour of the country since 1994's "Hart Attack" tour, playing (ultimately) FIVE dates across the next twelve months:

Attitude Adjustment Tour (Newcastle, Sheffield-shows which had been cancelled in 98- and Birmingham, the No Mercy PPV and the upcoming Rebellion PPV in Birmingham)

NO MERCY

Again suffering from the handicap of preceding a taped Raw, this event marked the lowest ebb in the WWF's efforts to present PPVs in the United Kingdom. Clocking in at merely 2hrs 15mins and packed from bell to bell with the jobber-end of the WWF roster, this event simply sucked massively. The damage caused by the absence of The Rock, Shamrock, Vince, (Well It's the) Big Show, Roaddogg, Owen and Jeff and the rest of the WWF midcard, who were working a house show in Richmond that evening, was sorely evident throughout the evening.

Ironically, from the pre-publicity (which was undoubtedly the best of ALL the PPVs) things looked like they would be a huge success. Chyna appeared on network television and web-chats to promote the event, there was a fantastic series of promos on Sky to promote the PPV. The highlight of these was the entire roster reciting the poem "If" by Rudyard Kipling, each reading the verse that could best be tied into their persona or gimmick. The show itself was really terrible and I really felt for those who had chosen to attend in person. To those who bought the event on PPV, or on home video, I guess we should have known better!!

WWF REBELLION (10/02/99)

This will be the first time that the WWF have promoted more than one PPV in the same calendar year (although it will actually be the THIRD to be promoted inside only TEN months). What are the chances for Rebellion to succeed? I believe that it is a HUGE step in the right direction to return the event to an 8pm start time (No Mercy started at 7, leaving the WWF only ONE post-watershed hour in which to do the more racy, "hardcore" stuff associated with the "Attitude" era) on a SATURDAY evening, as opposed to a Sunday. Furthermore, with Raw is War becoming a LIVE show every week from August 23, the flexibility to change the minor championships, last enjoyed at ONO, is restored.

The overdubs by JR heard on recent Raw episodes in the UK stating that this was set to be the "greatest WWF extravaganza seen in the UK" in addition to the early confirmation of the involvement of The Rock, TBS and Triple H are either admissions on the part of the WWF that they seriously erred with their offering at No Mercy, or more shameless shilling that is so much ingrained in the nature of the business today. Only time will tell.

If armchair fans (the event had no problem selling out, naturally) can put the memory of No Mercy out of their heads and the WWF can put together (and, importantly, DELIVER) a strong card, then "Rebellion" JUST MIGHT save the phenomenon of UK PPVs from going the same way as "Superastros": an interesting, but ultimately fruitless, experiment.

But make no mistake about it, if another "No Mercy" is served up, that will definitely be it as far as UK WWF PPVs are concerned, IMODO.

Footnote: I have had to shelve my plans to fulfil a dream and visit NYC and take in a WWF PPV at MSG for the time being (boy was *I* pissed when it was announced that the Royal Rumble was being held there) so I will be attending "Rebellion" in a few weeks.

I will be happy to give all of the readers of [slash] wrestling the verdict on the show, given that it will neatly conclude the thrust of this piece.

Richard Craig
Aberdeenshire, Scotland, UK
[slash] wrestling


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Guest column text copyright (C) 1999 by the individual author and used with permission