WWE 24/7 Classics

Infobox TV channel
name= WWE 24/7 Classics
logosize=13
logofile=WWE247logo.gif
launch=November 2, 2004
share=
share as of=
share source=
owner= World Wrestling Entertainment
web= [http://www.wwe.com/shows/wwe247/ WWE.com] |

WWE 24/7 Classics is a subscription video on demand television service provided by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). It features footage from WWE's vast archive of wrestling footage, including classic WWE, World Championship Wrestling (WCW), Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) and more. It offers around 40 hours of rotating programming per month, arranged into four (previously six) "programming buckets", often centered on a specific theme.

Currently, WWE 24/7 Classics is available only on digital cable. Among the services carrying it are Comcast, Mediacom, Charter Communications, Cox Communications, Rogers Cable, Cogeco, Armstrong, Cablevision and Sky Italia. Some of its programming was packaged as "Madison Square Garden Classics" and began airing on MSG Network in the summer of 2006. As of November 2007 the service has around 115,000 subscribers. [cite web |url=http://www.lordsofpain.net/news/2007_/articles/1195163613.php |title=Current Number Of WWE 24/7 Subscribers Worldwide, Ric Flair Finance, More |accessdate=2007-11-16 |publisher=Lords of Pain]

Programming buckets and programs

*WWE Legends - focuses on "narrative, retrospective and thematic programs" dealing with "legendary" wrestlers.
**"Hall of Fame": "Mean Gene" Okerlund hosts an original profile of a specific WWE Hall of Famer. Throughout the rest of the month a rotating selection of matches featuring that star are featured, usually changing every two weeks.
**"Legends of Wrestling": A round table discussion.
**"The Film Room with Gordon Solie": Jim Ross introduces classic footage documenting the career of a specific wrestler or tracing a specific event as called by and featuring interviewed with Gordon Solie.
**This section also contains DVD and video releases with an emphasis on other legendary wrestlers.
* The Big Ones - vintage pay-per-views and "super show" events
**Also featured are recorded house shows, usually from Madison Square Garden or Boston Garden
***Every month three "Big One" events for the next months theme are offered up to be voted on at WWE's [http://www.wwe.com/shows/wwe247/pickyourbigone/ 24/7 subsite] , with the winning event offered for viewing amongst the next months selections.
* TV Classics - the history of professional wrestling is shown through re-airings of wrestling television shows.
**Extreme Championship Wrestling - hosted by Tazz and Joey Styles
**Championship Wrestling from Florida - hosted by Mike Graham
**World Class Championship Wrestling - hosted by Michael "P. S." Hayes and Kevin Von Erich
**National Wrestling Alliance/World Championship Wrestling (without a host)
**"The Monday Night Wars" - hosted by Michael Cole, re-airings of the week to week competition between WWF Monday Night Raw" and "WCW Monday Nitro".::"Was originally presented as one program containing both" Raw" and" Nitro", but was separated into two separate options in January 2008."
**Additional programming, sometimes but not always related to the months theme, is also put into this section.
*Shorties
**Matches and/or memorable moments centered on the month's theme are hosted by a particular superstar ("e.g." moments or matches involving food for Thanksgiving).

Previous buckets

When the service debuted it did so with six, more specialized, buckets. Around April 4 2007 they were combined and pruned into the current, more broad, four. This was done, according to the free "Month Preview" show hosted by Jack Korpela to make things easier for 24/7 viewers.

The original six buckets and their programming were:

*Hall of Fame - Featuring only the Okerlund hosted biography and matches of a particular Hall of Famer.
*Big Ones - Past pay-per-views
*Specials - Home video releases and network specials
*ECW - The "History of ECW" show (then hosted by Tazz alone)
*Prime Time - Any past wrestling programming that would have originally aired in or around "prime time," including the "Monday Night Wars" series
*Old School - Recorded house shows

Over time the "ECW" bucket was expanded to "Territories - ECW" and began to incorporate shows from the "territorial days" of the business. Later still the name was changed to its current "TV Classics" when it started housing the programming found in the "Prime Time" bucket, which was removed altogether. The "Old School" and "Big Ones" buckets were combined, keeping the "Big Ones" name, and becoming a bucket for any and all larger shows. "Hall of Fame" was renamed to the less restrictive "WWE Legends" and began to house material from the "Specials" bucket, which was also removed.

Legends of Wrestling

"Legends of Wrestling" is an original series made specifically for the 24/7 service. [cite web |url=http://corporate.wwe.com/news/2006/2006_11_13a.jsp |title= “Legends of Wrestling” Program Debuts on WWE 24/7 On Demand |accessdate=2007-11-21 |publisher=WWE Corporate] The program features various "legends" of the business, both for their work in and out of the ring, having a round table discussion about specific topics, persons, or occurrences in the history of wrestling. The show is usually hosted by WWE commentator Jim Ross, with the exception of a few episodes for which Gene Okerlund filled in for him. [cite web |url=http://www.jrsbarbq.com/2008/03/15/jrs-qa-9/ |title=March 15, 2008|accessdate=2008-03-19 |publisher=JR's Bar B Q |work=J.R.'s Q & A |first=Jim |last=Ross |authorlink=Jim Ross]

The series has been divided into unofficial "seasons" of hour long episodes (each with a short intermission) featuring the same panels.

Panelists:

Extra material

*Before some selections begin there are short "promos" and clips shown featuring either memorable moments in the history of wrestling or a selection of highlights of a particular superstar before that star announces "You're watching WWE 24/7".
*Early in the service's existence, it included an on-screen crawl during some content detailing historical moments—title changes, important matches, birthdays—in the history of wrestling for the month. The crawl was later changed to only featuring title changes.
*Other times a lower third will appear on screen to provide supplemental information to what's going on on screen. Often it is tied into the month's theme.

WWE Video Library

The WWE Video Library has the largest professional wrestling tape library anywhere in the world, with well over 80,000 hours of content. It not only consists of World Wrestling Entertainment footage (dating back to 1970), but WWE has aggressively purchased regional and national competitors, through time amassing a gargantuan library of television programs, pay-per-view recordings, video productions, and recordings of wrestling matches dating back to the 1950s and representing a very significant portion of the visual history of modern professional wrestling and sports entertainment.

Technical problems

As the service has grown, some have reported difficulty in receiving all of the scheduled programs. WWE.com placed a disclaimer on their monthly schedule (before removing the week by week calendar schedule altogether) that "programs and air dates vary by cable provider" and have set up an email address on the 24/7 subsite to report "missing" content.

Other problems have included tapes in no condition to air at times when they regularly would ("e.g." for an episode of "Monday Night Wars") [cite episode |series=The Monday Night Wars |title=June 9, 1997|network=WWE 24/7] or alternating between "watchable" but not pristine and normal condition. In the case of the former the programs host makes an announcement explaining the situation and, if possible, showing highlights of the show in questions action, while for the latter the screen will note that the quality of the video has been recognized and will return to normal as soon as possible. [cite episode |series=WCCW |title=March 5, 1983 |network=WWE 24/7]

Editing

Since World Wrestling Entertainment is no longer allowed to use the "WWF" initialism or their 1998–2002 logo except for "specified circumstances", [cite press release |title=World Wrestling Federation Entertainment Drops The "F" To Emphasize the "E" for Entertainment |publisher=corporate.wwe.com |date=2002-05-06 |url=http://corporate.wwe.com/news/2002/2002_05_06.jsp |format= |accessdate=2007-09-09] instances of both are edited and/or removed from pertinent programming. In addition, previously licensed music to which the rights have expired are removed or replaced with alternate songs. Ring announcer Michael Buffer is also edited out of programs he took part in for World Championship Wrestling and replaced with a different announcer. Additionally, some formerly live events are censored for language or nudity.

Some "Big One" events are edited for length. This is generally indicated by having a "WWE 24/7 Fast Forward" graphic appear on screen while the sound of a sped up audio tape plays where the excised portion would normally be.

In the wake of the Chris Benoit double murder-suicide a number of wrestling websites reported that the likeness of and references to both Chris and Nancy Benoit were being removed from pertinent programming. [cite web |url=http://www.pwpix.net/headlines/185532428.php |title=Benoit Edited Off Of WWE 24/7, Heated Warrior Interview, Lance Storm |accessdate=2007-07-08 |publisher=PWPix.net] [cite web |url=http://rajah.com/base/node/8452 |title=Possible WrestleMania 25 Sites, Benoit Match On WWE 24/7, Raw Rating Delayed |accessdate=2007-07-08 |publisher=Rajah.com] Nearly a year later they began reappearing on some programming, though any wrestling was still removed from episodes of "WCW Monday Nitro".

Production and management team

*Steven Lazas - Director, Broadcast Operations
*Steve Finkelstein - Producer cite press release |title=World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. Announces Management Team for WWE 24/7 |publisher=WWE |date=May 25 2004 |url=http://www.shareholder.com/wwe/ReleaseDetail.cfm?ReleaseID=135985 |accessdate=2007-11-02]
*Shannon Skemp - Director, Business Operations and Development
*Jill Andrews - Director, Affiliate Marketing

References

External links

* [http://www.wwe.com/shows/wwe247/ WWE 24/7 at WWE.com]
* [http://www.wwe.com/shows/wwe247/247schedule/ Weekly programming schedule at WWE.com]
* [http://www.sunflowerbroadband.com/cable/ondemand/upcoming/?network=wwe Programming Schedule at Sunflower Broadband]