We can confirm that the Blu-ray edition of the Seth Rollins compilation, due for release in May 2017, has now been cancelled, in what looks to be a last minute decision by the company.
Both DVD and Blu-ray versions had appeared on an internal schedule we access in the running of WrestlingDVDNetwork.com, however plans changed between now and this time last week when the first pre-orders went live. As for the reason why, WWE Home Video UK has offered some insight into the change of direction in replies to fans on social media:
We made the mistake of advertising the Seth [Rollins] title on [Blu-ray] a bit prematurely there.
They went on to reveal that the decision stems from under-performance of certain Blu-ray titles as of late and appear to suggest that WWE is now looking at each Home Video title on a case-by-case basis in determining their release strategy:
Some past titles have been slow sellers on [Blu-ray] so we’re considering each title and whether [they are] commercially viable on both formats.
We’ve often heard that for WWE Home Video it is still the DVD format that is dominating sales — this was reiterated again in the series of tweets:
Unfortunately when it comes down to one or [the] other, DVD is still the most popular format by a wide margin.
For those wondering, the cancellation does apply to fans in the United States too:
Sorry to disappoint on this one guys. We’re following WWE’s lead on this (DVD only in US).
We would like to clarify that “Seth Rollins – Building The Architect” is still on the way but instead as a DVD-only offering. The upcoming “WrestleMania Monday” and DDP titles (on the schedule in front of Rollins) are unaffected by the change and will still be produced on Blu-ray format.
The news of halted WWE Blu-rays reminds us of the situation in Australia with Madman.com.au not having Blu-ray versions available since mid- to late-2016, even for some of the bigger releases.
However, there has now been some movement on this. The Australian distributor have confirmed plans to release “short-run” (or limited edition) Blu-rays for titles they predict will have sufficient demand. We hear that this will begin with “Diamond Dallas Page – Positively Living”.
On the PPV side of things, Survivor Series 2016 was just released this week in the United Kingdom – and that includes a Blu-ray! You can grab it here on Amazon.co.uk.
Watch a clip of Cesaro clearing house in the 10-on-10 Tag Team Elimination Match:
Next up is Roadblock: End of the Line, out this coming Tuesday in the United States! The extra is confirmed to be the opening Kickoff Show match between Big Cass and Rusev.
Following that, this Sunday’s Royal Rumble 2017 will land on Home Video worldwide in March.
And yes, there will be a Blu-ray!
Heads up – this weekend WWEShop.com is giving you 30% off your next order AND $5.00 shipping (no matter how many items you buy) when using promo code “RUMBLE”.
If you’re not feeling too “Blu” about the earlier news, look out for all these goodies going cheap on eBay over the weekend, one of which comes “outta nowhere”. Happy bidding!
Dvd’s will be extinct soon. Most people only buy blu ray now anyway. What the hell is WWE thinking? Get all blu rays going again. Forget dvd all together.
Last dvd I got before Best PPV Matches of 2016 was its predecessor. I love Rollins, first he gets injured then his own dvd gets cancelled, like that’s screwed up.
I think the last WWE DVD I got was Owen Hart’s, because a) all his matches are in SD and b) the whole packaging presentation was so insanely good that I wanted to have it. I loved the use of reflective gold and the cool pictures of Owen done in the same way on the inside.
It’s a bummer that BRs don’t sell that great for WWE releases. That’s probably why they don’t go all out on the packaging for them like they do for DVDs. All I know is Seth’s entire WWE run, including NXT, was shot in hi-def, and watching all of that with interview footage in SD doesn’t sound too great.
A large majority of WWE’s main audience is poor trailer trash so DVD only is no surprise to me. However, I cannot believe DVDs are still made in the year 2017. Blu Ray is the least they could do…really we are in the age of 4K as far as physical media goes. It’s like WWE is going in reverse…what’s next? VHS tapes from Coliseum Video? (I would rather buy those than a damn DVD in the year 2017)
Lol, the logic isn’t correct. Trailer trash tend to buy the latest technology, yet let their children go without nourishment. The priorities of trailer trash are usually all out of whack, so ironically they probably buy Blu-Rays.
I guess I buy that argument to a degree. They are selling a lot of DVDs to somebody right? Or they would not be so dead set on making them over blu ray. Also, I guess pre-HD stuff may be harder and more costly to upscale.
Unfortunately Corey is right…WWE is baffling at times…as far as the first quarter goes this is by far the worst…nothing of remote interest until the DDP release drops…
Pretty much twice as many people buy DVD’s over Blu Ray’s. DVD’s are still very much popular. Blu Ray’s never really caught on in the first place. So the real question is…who the f**k are the small minority of people that rarely buy Blu Ray’s! If Blu Ray was so “amazing” it would have outsold DVD’s years ago, but it hasn’t and never will!
If you do a little research you’ll see that blu-rays do outsell DVDs when it comes to most movies. Especially blockbusters. Wrestling on the other hand has never really caught on with blu-ray, for many reasons. One of the reasons, as noted elsewhere in this thread, is that some people just refuse to change with the times and still record shows on VHS in 2017. We’ve gone from Betamax to VHS to laserdisc to DVD to blu-ray and now to 4K. Every time I go to Best Buy I notice the 4K section is always growing, but how long that will last is unknown.
The underlying factor in all of this is the emergence of digital HD over the last 5 years or so. With the changes in technology, such as people no longer buying CDs, and now buying songs off iTunes, the same is holding true for video. You can buy and own videos in full HD on sites like Amazon, Vudu, etc. There’s always gonna be a niche group of people that still cling to things like vinyl records or VHS tapes, that is far and away a very small minority. Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, HBO Go, WWE Network and a bunch of other streaming services have changed the culture of how we watch television. Owning physical media is more of a cult hobby now for hardcore collectors. Owning or renting videos digitally, in HD to boot, is much more convenient for most people and production companies are becoming more and more aware of that.
I don’t mean to be all doom and gloom, but I’m just acknowledging how things are and where technology is taking us. My view has always been to keep up with the times or get left behind.
It really is a shame that wrestling companies shot their old events on tape, and not on film. Because had they done that, the quality of 80s wrestling on blu-ray would have been so much better. I own lots of older movies on blu-ray, and many of them look absolutely stunning on this format. I have read, that tape was expensive in the 70s and 80s. I can only imagine film was even more expensive. And maybe also required some different cameras.
With 80s wrestling, the quality of DVD vs blu-ray is not that big. With footage from 2008 until now, it is a different story. I definitely think it’s worth paying a bit more for a blu-ray. Often the blu-ray exclusives include some unreleased stuff.
I have the network, but I still buy DVDs and blu-rays. I like owning physical releases.
I feel the same way about music. I stream music on my phone and once in a while at home. But I still buy CDs and vinyl records. It sounds way better.
But I know the way it’s going with DVDs and blu-rays. Eventually they will disappear.
The bluray exclusives nowadays haven’t been very good since 2013 or 2014. WWE have been half assing it, which I why I prefer to pick up the DVD instead on sets like The Kliq, Straight Outta Dudleyville & The History of the Hardcore Championship.
Well, we’re talking about wrestling, so the stats for movie sales irrelevant. And what you said about people still recording on to VHS can’t be right for many; surely it’s just that they’re happy with DVD.
Not irrelevant at all. In a lot of cases, WWE’s blu-rays are actually cheaper in price than most new movies that come out. I was responding to Raw Attitude who made a general statement that blu-rays don’t sell as well as DVDs. He never specified wrestling blu-rays specifically.
Actually if you do a little research you’ll see that DVD outsells Blu-ray for 90%+ of ALL releases, movies or otherwise, often by up to 10 times as many!! (at least in the UK)
I haven’t bought a DVD in a long time. So if blu-rays are slowly being phased out then I will continue to buy the HD digital releases. Which I’ve been doing with PPVs for a while. And to mention what someone else said, yes, physical media, especially when it comes to WWE, is a dying breed. Between the WWE Network and HD digital releases, physical media is becoming obsolete.
Look at WWE’s quarterly earnings. Home video sales are down every quarter, year over year. And that also includes DVDs. Its just that DVDs still sell better than blu-rays. Whereas in the past before, the Network, lets say for example DVDs sold 100,000 and blu-rays solds 60,000, now DVDs are selling 50,000 and blu-rays are selling 28,000. Again, using those numbers as an example. But you can look up the actual numbers in WWE’s reports.
Good I can get this at Walmart and not have to order it online. I can get it for under 25 bucks. Ordering online gets too be expensive. I am dealing with this enomic situation like everyone else. I am glad when the cheap alternative is the only choice. I mean it’ll still be an awesome set. Whether it’s 2 or 3 discs,hopefully the latter,just looking forward to being able to buy this without blowing alot of cash.
Lol, I just knew this would get under the skin of WDN’s BluRay brigade. I’m actually glad every time they do this as I’ve started to enjoy reading the rants, lol.
So basically you enjoy being a troll. Every time there’s an article about a home video not coming out on blu-ray, I notice you have to always make some kind of snarky comment.
No, I enjoy seeing the trolls squirm. I am NOT the troll. The comment is because I’m sick of reading multiple pages of ranting about the lack of Blu-Rays when it should be no surprise; everybody on here knows that it is standard practice for WWE to not release many Blu-Rays.
No, you are definitely trolling. Saying that you enjoy reading the comments and seeing people be upset, and then add snarky comments, is the definition of a troll.
I don’t see how merely reading other people’s comments and then commenting with my own opinion on the subject makes me a troll. If I was telling somebody they’re ugly or telling them to go and die then I would agree with you. But if you can’t take reading my opinion that I’m not personally bothered about BluRay, that’s your problem.
You didn’t say that. You laughed and said you enjoy seeing people who buy blu-rays get upset. Being happy at other people being upset is more than just stating your opinion. That’s baiting people in for an argument. Which in internet terms is called trolling. And I’m done with this.
Alot of times the blu rays don’t have that impressive of extras and aren’t worth the extra that’s the fault of wwe for not making the blu rays worth the extra money
This is getting ridiculous it’s 2017 for goodness sake. WWE shoot all of there footage with HD cameras. This puts me off of buying wwe physical media altogether.
No i won’t i have not got a wwe dvd in a long time. If they release a blu ray i buy it but if not i don’t. Yet i find it funny you find the need to put a reply like that just because you don’t like my stance on technology. And i stand by my statement it’s 2017 and a hd world so why would i want an inferior product. Thanks for taking the time to reply. Good day to you
The problem is that the WWE probably sees that DVDs sell better than Blu Rays. That problem with that mainly, is that Blu Rays are more expensive than DVDs, and in Canada, our Walmart stores only carry WWE DVDs, and not the WWE Blu Rays.
Thats how Walmart in my town is now with WWE. The last WWE Blu Rays my towns Walmart sold ( that I know of) was WrestleMania 31 & the last non-Mania Blu-Ray that they sold was ECW Unreleased Vol 2.
Then it’s basically the fault of the public for not buying enough BluRays. Or it just proves that a fairly minimal improvement in picture quality (in comparison to the more considerable jump from VHS to DVD), just isn’t worth the extra money to the average physical media purchaser. WWE ain’t gonna make it if their market research tells them they won’t sell enough.
I think the Seth Rollins release will end up be a Superstars alike release, similar to the red covered releases from a some years back with Cena, Orton, Rey, Zack Ryder I think too, maybe few others.
Around 90 minutes releases if I remember correct. Feels a bit odd to have a multiple discs release on Seth before the new poster-boy Reigns, especially since The Shield release was only 2 years ago it was released.
Then again.. WWE does have some strange prioraties from time to time..
I’m surprised at the news. I’ll still buy the dvd. I’m not afraid to buy dvds in the future if it comes to it. I’m just disappointed that blu rays may be limited in the future.
This sucks. All Rollins matches are available in HD, a shame they will not see a blu-ray release.
I’m curious to see the future of PPVs on blu-ray. I know that the Fastlane & Elimination Chamber will not be released on blu-ray. I fear only the big four PPVs will see a blu-ray release in Europe.
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Dvd’s will be extinct soon. Most people only buy blu ray now anyway. What the hell is WWE thinking? Get all blu rays going again. Forget dvd all together.
Last dvd I got before Best PPV Matches of 2016 was its predecessor. I love Rollins, first he gets injured then his own dvd gets cancelled, like that’s screwed up.
Weird choice since Rollins material was shot in HD. I usually buy the Bluray version but even I have to admit DVD has the more beautiful packaging.
I think the last WWE DVD I got was Owen Hart’s, because a) all his matches are in SD and b) the whole packaging presentation was so insanely good that I wanted to have it. I loved the use of reflective gold and the cool pictures of Owen done in the same way on the inside.
It’s a bummer that BRs don’t sell that great for WWE releases. That’s probably why they don’t go all out on the packaging for them like they do for DVDs. All I know is Seth’s entire WWE run, including NXT, was shot in hi-def, and watching all of that with interview footage in SD doesn’t sound too great.
And let the crying of no bluray begin … 🙂
Recieved my roadblock end of the line dvd early this week a week before release from walmart.com!
Congrats; it was an awesome PPV. 😉
Same here. I always pre-order from walmart
No point it buying it now. I’m not paying for crap dvd quality.
I think Disney only sells blu-ray combo packs.
A large majority of WWE’s main audience is poor trailer trash so DVD only is no surprise to me. However, I cannot believe DVDs are still made in the year 2017. Blu Ray is the least they could do…really we are in the age of 4K as far as physical media goes. It’s like WWE is going in reverse…what’s next? VHS tapes from Coliseum Video? (I would rather buy those than a damn DVD in the year 2017)
RCS1988 actually transfers his DVD collection to VHS.
Lol
Only stuff that was recorded from TV or came off of YouTube.
Couldn’t have said it better myself
Lol, the logic isn’t correct. Trailer trash tend to buy the latest technology, yet let their children go without nourishment. The priorities of trailer trash are usually all out of whack, so ironically they probably buy Blu-Rays.
I guess I buy that argument to a degree. They are selling a lot of DVDs to somebody right? Or they would not be so dead set on making them over blu ray. Also, I guess pre-HD stuff may be harder and more costly to upscale.
Unfortunately Corey is right…WWE is baffling at times…as far as the first quarter goes this is by far the worst…nothing of remote interest until the DDP release drops…
Who the f**k keeps buying DVDs… STOP IT. Get your ass out of the early 2000s and buy yourself a damn Blu-Ray player.
Pretty much twice as many people buy DVD’s over Blu Ray’s. DVD’s are still very much popular. Blu Ray’s never really caught on in the first place. So the real question is…who the f**k are the small minority of people that rarely buy Blu Ray’s! If Blu Ray was so “amazing” it would have outsold DVD’s years ago, but it hasn’t and never will!
If you do a little research you’ll see that blu-rays do outsell DVDs when it comes to most movies. Especially blockbusters. Wrestling on the other hand has never really caught on with blu-ray, for many reasons. One of the reasons, as noted elsewhere in this thread, is that some people just refuse to change with the times and still record shows on VHS in 2017. We’ve gone from Betamax to VHS to laserdisc to DVD to blu-ray and now to 4K. Every time I go to Best Buy I notice the 4K section is always growing, but how long that will last is unknown.
The underlying factor in all of this is the emergence of digital HD over the last 5 years or so. With the changes in technology, such as people no longer buying CDs, and now buying songs off iTunes, the same is holding true for video. You can buy and own videos in full HD on sites like Amazon, Vudu, etc. There’s always gonna be a niche group of people that still cling to things like vinyl records or VHS tapes, that is far and away a very small minority. Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, HBO Go, WWE Network and a bunch of other streaming services have changed the culture of how we watch television. Owning physical media is more of a cult hobby now for hardcore collectors. Owning or renting videos digitally, in HD to boot, is much more convenient for most people and production companies are becoming more and more aware of that.
I don’t mean to be all doom and gloom, but I’m just acknowledging how things are and where technology is taking us. My view has always been to keep up with the times or get left behind.
It really is a shame that wrestling companies shot their old events on tape, and not on film. Because had they done that, the quality of 80s wrestling on blu-ray would have been so much better. I own lots of older movies on blu-ray, and many of them look absolutely stunning on this format. I have read, that tape was expensive in the 70s and 80s. I can only imagine film was even more expensive. And maybe also required some different cameras.
With 80s wrestling, the quality of DVD vs blu-ray is not that big. With footage from 2008 until now, it is a different story. I definitely think it’s worth paying a bit more for a blu-ray. Often the blu-ray exclusives include some unreleased stuff.
I have the network, but I still buy DVDs and blu-rays. I like owning physical releases.
I feel the same way about music. I stream music on my phone and once in a while at home. But I still buy CDs and vinyl records. It sounds way better.
But I know the way it’s going with DVDs and blu-rays. Eventually they will disappear.
The bluray exclusives nowadays haven’t been very good since 2013 or 2014. WWE have been half assing it, which I why I prefer to pick up the DVD instead on sets like The Kliq, Straight Outta Dudleyville & The History of the Hardcore Championship.
Well, we’re talking about wrestling, so the stats for movie sales irrelevant. And what you said about people still recording on to VHS can’t be right for many; surely it’s just that they’re happy with DVD.
Not irrelevant at all. In a lot of cases, WWE’s blu-rays are actually cheaper in price than most new movies that come out. I was responding to Raw Attitude who made a general statement that blu-rays don’t sell as well as DVDs. He never specified wrestling blu-rays specifically.
Actually if you do a little research you’ll see that DVD outsells Blu-ray for 90%+ of ALL releases, movies or otherwise, often by up to 10 times as many!! (at least in the UK)
I buy DVDs. I don’t own a Blu Ray player and not going out of my way to get one.
Here, here!
Blu Ray is very unpopular and will never catch on like DVD has and will never have the following that DVD’s continues to have.
Yeah and if he wants a match that is only a blu-ray exclusive and can’t get it anywhere else, he just finds a person to put it on a DVD.
Conor, it’s up to individuals what they do. You don’t get to dictate peoples’ life you choice, you arrogant phewl.
life-choices *
Well get your lazy asses out of the early 2000s. Blu-ray players are as less than $90.00 nowadays.
I will say it again: no thanks, because you don’t dictate what I do.
Buy me and the cheapskates one, then we’ll do what Jericho said, “Shut the hell up!”
I haven’t bought a DVD in a long time. So if blu-rays are slowly being phased out then I will continue to buy the HD digital releases. Which I’ve been doing with PPVs for a while. And to mention what someone else said, yes, physical media, especially when it comes to WWE, is a dying breed. Between the WWE Network and HD digital releases, physical media is becoming obsolete.
Look at WWE’s quarterly earnings. Home video sales are down every quarter, year over year. And that also includes DVDs. Its just that DVDs still sell better than blu-rays. Whereas in the past before, the Network, lets say for example DVDs sold 100,000 and blu-rays solds 60,000, now DVDs are selling 50,000 and blu-rays are selling 28,000. Again, using those numbers as an example. But you can look up the actual numbers in WWE’s reports.
Good I can get this at Walmart and not have to order it online. I can get it for under 25 bucks. Ordering online gets too be expensive. I am dealing with this enomic situation like everyone else. I am glad when the cheap alternative is the only choice. I mean it’ll still be an awesome set. Whether it’s 2 or 3 discs,hopefully the latter,just looking forward to being able to buy this without blowing alot of cash.
Buy*
Oh my God, no Blu-Ray release?! What are we going to do? I know what I’m going to do…but it anyway, just like the rest of you.
Lol, I just knew this would get under the skin of WDN’s BluRay brigade. I’m actually glad every time they do this as I’ve started to enjoy reading the rants, lol.
So basically you enjoy being a troll. Every time there’s an article about a home video not coming out on blu-ray, I notice you have to always make some kind of snarky comment.
No, I enjoy seeing the trolls squirm. I am NOT the troll. The comment is because I’m sick of reading multiple pages of ranting about the lack of Blu-Rays when it should be no surprise; everybody on here knows that it is standard practice for WWE to not release many Blu-Rays.
No, you are definitely trolling. Saying that you enjoy reading the comments and seeing people be upset, and then add snarky comments, is the definition of a troll.
I don’t see how merely reading other people’s comments and then commenting with my own opinion on the subject makes me a troll. If I was telling somebody they’re ugly or telling them to go and die then I would agree with you. But if you can’t take reading my opinion that I’m not personally bothered about BluRay, that’s your problem.
You didn’t say that. You laughed and said you enjoy seeing people who buy blu-rays get upset. Being happy at other people being upset is more than just stating your opinion. That’s baiting people in for an argument. Which in internet terms is called trolling. And I’m done with this.
Alot of times the blu rays don’t have that impressive of extras and aren’t worth the extra that’s the fault of wwe for not making the blu rays worth the extra money
I was about to say the same thing. It’s been a while since I saw Blu-Ray extras that made me want to out of my way to get it.
This is getting ridiculous it’s 2017 for goodness sake. WWE shoot all of there footage with HD cameras. This puts me off of buying wwe physical media altogether.
And yet you still will.
No i won’t i have not got a wwe dvd in a long time. If they release a blu ray i buy it but if not i don’t. Yet i find it funny you find the need to put a reply like that just because you don’t like my stance on technology. And i stand by my statement it’s 2017 and a hd world so why would i want an inferior product. Thanks for taking the time to reply. Good day to you
You said “physical media altogether”. I was saying you still will but physical media. Then you admitted you still buy Blu-Rays, proving me right.
The problem is that the WWE probably sees that DVDs sell better than Blu Rays. That problem with that mainly, is that Blu Rays are more expensive than DVDs, and in Canada, our Walmart stores only carry WWE DVDs, and not the WWE Blu Rays.
Thats how Walmart in my town is now with WWE. The last WWE Blu Rays my towns Walmart sold ( that I know of) was WrestleMania 31 & the last non-Mania Blu-Ray that they sold was ECW Unreleased Vol 2.
Then it’s basically the fault of the public for not buying enough BluRays. Or it just proves that a fairly minimal improvement in picture quality (in comparison to the more considerable jump from VHS to DVD), just isn’t worth the extra money to the average physical media purchaser. WWE ain’t gonna make it if their market research tells them they won’t sell enough.
Beginning of the End of physical media..
I think the Seth Rollins release will end up be a Superstars alike release, similar to the red covered releases from a some years back with Cena, Orton, Rey, Zack Ryder I think too, maybe few others.
Around 90 minutes releases if I remember correct. Feels a bit odd to have a multiple discs release on Seth before the new poster-boy Reigns, especially since The Shield release was only 2 years ago it was released.
Then again.. WWE does have some strange prioraties from time to time..
Not really the end of physical media if anything we are going backward to DVD only
I’m surprised at the news. I’ll still buy the dvd. I’m not afraid to buy dvds in the future if it comes to it. I’m just disappointed that blu rays may be limited in the future.
This sucks. All Rollins matches are available in HD, a shame they will not see a blu-ray release.
I’m curious to see the future of PPVs on blu-ray. I know that the Fastlane & Elimination Chamber will not be released on blu-ray. I fear only the big four PPVs will see a blu-ray release in Europe.