– Suburban Commando starring Hulk Hogan and the Undertaker is set to be re-released as a digital download on June 1st. Plot: “An intergalactic warrior, stranded on Earth, poses as a “foreigner” to his landlord, before having to save his new friends – and the universe – from bounty hunters”.
– Ring of Honor’s next IPPV will be Border Wars and will take place on May 12th through ROHwrestling.com. It is priced at $14.95 and if you’re a Ringside Member, you will also get your 15% discount on the purchase as well! In addition, both days of Showdown in the Sun are available for immediate purchase at a discounted rate of $9.95. The show is headlined by Davey Richards vs “Wrestling’s Worst Nightmare” Kevin Steen for the ROH championship. ROH doesn’t look to be using GFL.tv for their live PPV’s anymore but now doing them in house much like the WWE & TNA.
– In other Ring of Honor digital news, ROHwrestling.com can now be watched on “IOS” devices whether that be iPads, iPhones or iPods.
– In some Dragon Gate news, EVOLVE Wrestling Presents EVOLVE 12 on May 11th, 2012 with a start time of 8pm and they have a new pricing structure for the show – $9.99 for live show only, $14.99 for live show and on demand access, or $24.99 for both and a DVD of the event. Evolve 12 features AR Fox vs. Sami Callihan and Fit Finlay vs. Jon Davis. The following night, Evolve 13 takes place with the main event Open The Freedom Gate Title Match. Both these shows can be seen OnDemand and live through WWNLive.com.
Top 3 Downloads
Best of RAW & Smackdown 2011 – I’m taking a different approach this week, since we are in the post-Wrestlemania lull. WWE have finally released the Best of RAW & Smackdown 2011 for digital download. Normally I only give my top 3 downloads, but since this title technically is 4 separate downloads, I thought I would merge them all into one.
The Good: There are some really enjoyable moments on these volumes including CM Punk’s fantastic promo that saw him leapfrog John Cena into becoming the top baby face of the company by simply speaking the truth and Edge’s farewell special from Smackdown. But there are some great matches also included on here such as the Miz vs. John Morrison Falls Count Anywhere match for the WWE title (a year later and they couldn’t be any further away from the title), Randy Orton vs. Christian for the World Title as well as some maybe less remembered matches such as Rey Mysterio vs. John Cena and the mask vs. mask match from Mexico featuring Sin Cara vs. Sin Cara. Other mentionable matches that I enjoyed included Air Boom vs. The New Nexus for the tag titles and Alberto Del Rio vs. Rey Mysterio. 2011 was a funny year for the WWE as they needed new stars to break out but instead went to veterans like Mark Henry and Christian to tide them through.
The Bad: One of the things I didn’t quite get was why they didn’t wait a few more weeks before releasing the set to include some footage from December to give a complete rundown of 2011. A major drawback to downloading the Best of RAW & Smackdown 2011 is the price, since it works out at nearly double the cost of the DVD set. If you’re interested in the watching the best of 2011, wait until the DVD drops in price, watch the clips for free on WWE.com or wait to see if this video goes on Netflix where it won’t cost a packet. This type of release shows how WWE in my view haven’t fully understood the digital market and priced this inline with the DVD.
Top 3 WWEGreatestMatches.com
With WWE Greatest Matches updating their service with a selection of Extreme Rules matches as well as some fantastic high flying action, I’ve picked me top 3 recommendations and best of all, they’re completely free to watch.
1) Alberto Del Rio vs. Christian – Extreme Rules 2011
After Edge retired from the WWE, the World Heavyweight Championship was declared vacant. Would Alberto Del Rio fulfil his destiny? Would Christian finally win the big one? In this ladder match from Extreme Rules 2011, we get a fantastic singles ladder match where a new champion would be crowned. This has to be the biggest night in Christian’s career and one of my favourite matches from last year. Watch Here
2) Batista vs. John Cena – Extreme Rules 2010
Over the years, many have doubted John Cena’s position as the poster boy for the WWE, but he has pulled off some fantastic battles and this one from 2 years ago saw Cena take on the Animal Batista in a full on brawl that sees two of the biggest stars of this generation battle over the WWE championship with Last Man Standing stipulations. Batista cashed in his rematch clause and this is a very different bout to their Wrestlemania contest but it’s fun and as I said, Cena once again pulled off an excellent match. Watch Here
3) Brian Kendrick vs. Paul London
Leaving the world of Extreme Rules behind, this next match is part of the “high flying” theme for May with a match from Velocity. I’ve picked Brian Kendrick vs. Paul London from 2005. There are lots of old and new classic’s available on WWE Greatest Matches but while some of the big matches are remembered, this one was a simple almost throw away match on Velocity that sees one of the best tag teams of that era in singles competition against one another. You just don’t see this type of match in the WWE at the moment and while neither man may have set the wrestling world alight, it’s a fun little match. Watch Here
Top 3 TNAondemand.com
With TNAondemand.com updating with some new Pay Per View’s from 2012, it’s only right that these new videos are included in this edition of Digital Digest.
1) Genesis 2012
The first PPV of the year kicked off with some solid singles battles between Kurt Angle & James Storm, Abyss & Bully Ray and Robert Roode defending the title against Jeff Hardy. Genesis 2012 seemed like the type of show where everything is in cruise control with very little development other than trying to establish Robert Roode as the dominate heel and a real main eventer, which is probably the right thing to do overall as TNA needs fresh new main event talent rather than just using old WWE names. The opening contest involving the X Division championship is also a entertaining affair that bulks up this event into a solid show that is worth checking out.
2) Against All Odds 2012
Much like with Genesis, TNA seems to be treading water and trying to slowly build Robert Roode as their top heel while trying to stretch out a proper singles match involving the former members of Beer Money, whilst Sting is involved in the world title scene. One of the most memorable moments from this show (& not in a good way) came in the opening contest as Jesse Sorensen gets KO’d with a nasty looking knee to the head which has taken him out for months. Another memorable moment was when Samoa Joe and Magnus won the tag team titles from Crimson & Morgan, but in the process shows how weak the tag team division is within TNA with these two makeshift teams. There is also a fantastic singles contest involving Austin Aries and Alex Shelley for the X Division championship that is 1000 times better than anything involving Garrett Bischoff.
3) The Asylum Years – Volume 1
With 2 new 2012 PPV’s available this month, the third recommendation is a trip down memory lane as this video is a best of collection from those very early days of TNA which saw events taking place in a fairground in Tennessee. This video brings together some of the best action and matches from those early days but also we hear from some of the names behind TNA such as Jeff Jarrett and Dixie Carter. If you’re a new fan of TNA and maybe want to learn a little about the history of the company, this is a great starting point.
Feedback on this column? Leave a comment below or tweet via @PWondemand.
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I wish the WWE would let Netflix add the PPVs on streaming, as for Classics On Demand I love that love that subscription channel I remember calling Comcast every month I saw an add in the WWE magazine in 04 before finally getting it in the Summer of 06
I really enjoy WWE Classics On Demand. Its been around since 2002, or 2003. Something like that. I’ve had it for only a couple of years. I so wish I got it when it first came out….I don’t want it to end. I love watching those classics shows whenever I want. I cannot wait for the month of June because I think the theme is called “WCW Invasion”.
I wish Classics on Demand would go away. If they can’t be bothered to fix the picture (the framerate problem), what’s the point of having it? No big surprise that it’s the only part of the company where revenues have continued to drop for the last couple of years. Fix it or get rid of it!
Finally someone else acknowledging the videos having a framerate issue and looking “movie like” on wwe classics od. Its been like that for almost 2 years now. previously the video looked normal (although I used to have a ton of freezing and pixelation problems when cablevision first started carrying the service in 07 that no longer happen). Must be a compression issue or something. if you notice-any old tv shows streaming on say netflix shot on “video” instead of film all have that same “movie” framerate watching them on the service. It annoys me a bit though I guess I have gotten used to it. I wish it never did that because I’d rather watch (and maybe record to dvd as I have done a ton of since getting classics) the old shows as they originally looked.
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Love Classics on demand. This month is pretty good for ppvs; they’re airing Bash at the Beach 2000 and Living Dangerously 2000, both fun shows.
The longer they push the network launch the better for classics staying on-air.
lol, I know. I want the WWE Network to start, but at the same time I was happy it was pushed back until November 2012.
How about that Graveyard match from Bash at the beach 2000? lol. They should have saved that for Halloween Havoc instead.
Actually, Classics on Demand’s Hall of Famer for the month is The Original Sheik. Not The Iron Sheik.
Sorry…. my mistake…
Fixed 🙂
🙂
I wish the WWE would let Netflix add the PPVs on streaming, as for Classics On Demand I love that love that subscription channel I remember calling Comcast every month I saw an add in the WWE magazine in 04 before finally getting it in the Summer of 06
Suburban Commando huh?
“I WAS FROZEN, TODAY!”
ROH’s next iPPV, Border Wars, looks fantastic so far. Can’t wait!
I really enjoy WWE Classics On Demand. Its been around since 2002, or 2003. Something like that. I’ve had it for only a couple of years. I so wish I got it when it first came out….I don’t want it to end. I love watching those classics shows whenever I want. I cannot wait for the month of June because I think the theme is called “WCW Invasion”.
I wish Classics on Demand would go away. If they can’t be bothered to fix the picture (the framerate problem), what’s the point of having it? No big surprise that it’s the only part of the company where revenues have continued to drop for the last couple of years. Fix it or get rid of it!
I don’t even know what you’re talking about, dude.
Are you familiar with watching PAL converts on an NTSC TV? If so, you have a very good idea of what I’m talking about.
Finally someone else acknowledging the videos having a framerate issue and looking “movie like” on wwe classics od. Its been like that for almost 2 years now. previously the video looked normal (although I used to have a ton of freezing and pixelation problems when cablevision first started carrying the service in 07 that no longer happen). Must be a compression issue or something. if you notice-any old tv shows streaming on say netflix shot on “video” instead of film all have that same “movie” framerate watching them on the service. It annoys me a bit though I guess I have gotten used to it. I wish it never did that because I’d rather watch (and maybe record to dvd as I have done a ton of since getting classics) the old shows as they originally looked.