WWE 24/7 Revisited

In the spirit of giving the people what they want, I'll revisit WWE 24/7 since a lot of the feedback that we get are questions about old school wrestling and the channel.

So, with that in mind, I will answer one favorite question right off the bat: yes, it is worth it if you are an old school fan that doesn't bother with the product today, you'll remember why you were a wrestling fan in a hurry when you see the channel.

Also, I must admit that at times it does get a bit sad when you're watching a match and you figure out that only the referee is still alive today and that sort of thing. Once in a while that reality hits me and I'll turn it off. But if you can get past that, it is definitely worth the nine bucks a month.

Here are a couple of "for instances" that illustrate my point about the channel itself.

WWE 24/7 has a (almost) monthly feature called Legends Roundtable. Jim Ross is the host and he is flanked by such wrestling luminaries as Jerry Lawler; Dusty Rhodes; Michael PS Hayes; Mike Graham; Eric Bischoff; and Mick Foley. It's an engaging and fun show that generally runs over an hour and trust me, passes by very quickly. It's really just a bunch of guys who can tell stories dishing on and about their own careers and their peers. The show is a peek behind the curtain of the kayfabe era and is a can't-miss.

The best of these shows aired in August, which was a Legends Roundtable about the famed Monday Night Wars. Eric Bischoff was on the panel with guys who were on the opposite end of the wars during the time: JR; Lawler; Foley; and Hayes. Just amazing stuff.

The WWE guys essentially turned the roundtable into a grilling session where they ask all sorts of questions about the WCW end of the war. Hayes, for one, seems willing to give Bischoff his proper credit for what WCW achieved during the era. Jim Ross still has an ax to grind with how he was let go from the Turner company by his old boss Eric but he counters that with unique insight from his position as head of talent for the WWE during the time.

There are two off-the-charts segments in the show. The first is when the boys are discussing the Montreal situation with Bret Hart and Vince McMahon where Lawler wonders out loud whether or not the whole thing was orchestrated by Bret and Vince as a way to get publicity for both and a huge contract from WCW for Bret. To me, this part of the show is a quick-yet-fascinating glimpse into the world of wrestling--a world where no one can fully trust anyone else nor the company for which you are employed. The surprising thing is that the rest of the panel seems to agree with him that it is a possibility; save Bischoff. Those prone to conspiracy theories may believe that Eric Bischoff says a lot by saying nothing at all.

The other segment of actual tension is when the panel discusses the famous time where Bischoff allegedly had his TV announcer Tony Schiavone degrade the fact that Mick Foley was winning the WWF title on an episode of RAW that was taped a week prior while Nitro was live.

Foley obviously feels done wrong by and he and the guys essentially confront Bischoff about the condescending tone Schiavone may or may not been asked to employ in an effort to devalue the fact that a non-traditional talent like Foley was going to be wearing WWF gold. To his end, Bischoff tries to deflect any accusations that it was a personal attack and while I think at times he is credible in his assertion, it's pretty clear that the WWE guys aren't buying it. The segment is, however full of real emotion in a business that traffics in manipulation to elicit crowd response.

Speaking of real emotion, another feature of the channel is that they replay entire TV shows from other promotions from back in the day. And for real emotion, you're hard-pressed to beat the original angle between the Fabulous Freebirds and the Von Erich family from World Class Championship Wrestling in the early 1980s. Back then, the good guys and bad guys were clear cut and when someone turned on someone else, it meant something because the audience had made an emotional investment in the characters and trust me, when Terry Gordy slammed the cage door on Kerry Von Erich's head, the crowd was ready to explode and the angle carried WCCW to a new level that the promotion had never been able to reach previously.

Let me back up and explain the angle for those who don't know.

For months in 1982, NWA World Champion Ric Flair had a long series of matches defending his title against Kerry Von Erich. After several of the matches ended in controversy with the champion retaining the belt by all sorts of illegal shenanigans, WCCW booked a rematch between the two in a steel cage for their big show of the year, Star Wars on Christmas night, 1982. The promotion also announced a write-in poll in which fans could vote for the wrestler they wanted to serve as special referee for the match and the fans legitimately chose Michael Hayes of the Freebirds to be the ref since Hayes had been aligned as a good buddy of David Von Erich's for months beforehand. In fact, just before that, David had helped the Freebirds win the new Six-Man tag team championship by filling in (and gaining the deciding pinfall) for Freebird Buddy Roberts, who missed the match due to (ahem) transportation problems.

The fans who voted in Hayes as the special referee were alarmed by Hayes' over-zealous refereeing as the Freebirds' spiritual leader was getting physical while trying to break up Kerry and Flair whenever either one of the wrestlers were not listening to him for rope breaks and stuff like that. Finally, after too much protesting by Flair, Hayes turned and punked him, knocking the champion out. Hayes tried to get Kerry to pin Flair to take the title but Kerry, as the consummate babyface of the time, refused to do so. Finally, an angry Hayes manhandled Von Erich and both men were shouting at each other. Flair, ever the opportunist, kneed Von Erich is the back and his momentum knocked Hayes out the cage door to the floor. This enraged Hayes' Freebird brother, Terry Gordy, who then slammed the cage door on Kerry's head. Von Erich was knocked silly and eventually was pinned by the champion as second referee David Manning made the count.

This brought out the other Von Erich brothers. David, after checking on Kerry, grabbed a house mike and said something to the effect that it was on and that now he knew what the Freebirds had given his family for Christmas. Announcer Bill Mercer, while speculating that Kerry must have suffered a concussion from the door slam, could have really said nothing and allowed the crowd to vent and set the mood for what would happen for the next two or three years in Dallas.

The best wrestling angles are reliant upon manipulation of the audience and the participants--who have to buy into the creativity for optimum effect. This entire angle deserves to be one of the most legendary in wrestling history because the whole thing was so well-orchestrated and built to a crescendo when Gordy smacked Kerry in the head. It was kicked up higher with David Von Erich's angry rebuttal over the PA. World Class, Dallas wrestling, and the rivalry of the Von Erichs and Freebirds would never be better because the whole scenario was built upon and built upon for months as they established a friendship and a brotherhood amongst the Freebirds and Von Erichs before delivering the payoff that literally changed the fortunes of everyone involved. There isn't much gold like this in today's WWE product because the company (and their TV partners) do not believe that the audience is "willing" to sit and let angles play out to natural conclusions at a reasonable pace. For that reason alone--to re-live some of the industry's best history--it's worth ordering the channel.