Hi Keith,
I think I sent you something about this a while ago. But here's a good reason not to subscribe to 24/7...
- WWE Classics 24/7 On Demand has now started editing any match with blood in it, as the match turns to black and white when blood appears. [Credit: PWInsider]
I don't think I even have to state why this is stupid.
Hey Scott,
Did you hear what the WWF is doing with the classics channel now? Whenever there is blood in a match, they change the output to black and white. I noticed it this weekend and I thought something was wrong with my cable or TV, but I just read that this is their way of being "PG".
There are so many things with with this. First of all, how many little kids can buy the Classics channel? Even if their parents were willing to buy something like this for their kid, would kids really be so interested in a classics channel? And then after all this, is it really so bad to show blood? I am not really a huge fan of blood, but it has always been a part of wrestling.
I can tell you this, I don't buy the channel for editing. I pay to see the shows in their original format.
It is just annoying to me. Why do they always have to find ways of ruining things. Sigh.
Clearly you’re both crazy. WWE is always committed to the most accurate representation of history possible. If they say that the screen went to black and white whenever someone had the slightest trickle of blood, then I BELIEVE them. I know they have my best interests at heart and if they think it will damage my well-being if I see blood, then by god I want them to edit it out so my brain isn’t hurt.
Now please, no more of this talk about WWE not being 100% right at all times.
If this ends up extending to DVDs, I’m done with WWE. Period.
Yep. I got my first dose of this when I was watching Bash ‘89 on 24/7 earlier in the week. They used the B&W effect during the Flair/Funk match. I was kinda excited to watch this b/c it’s the entire show and not the home video version. The black & white was kinda deflating to see, but I’ll live.
It has nothing to do with “PG” or family-friendly. It’s because in an old episode of WCW Worldwide when Terra Ryzing was busted open he started bleeding GREEN blood. Now all blood is shown as being grey.
No, it was GREY SWEAT! (MOOOOOOOOOOOORTAL KOMBAAAAAAAAAAAT)
P.S. I wonder when the Batman “POWs” and “WHAMs” from Canadian telecasts make their return? Or the infamous ESPN “turn to the crowd” (or in this case, Universe) when a weapon shot happens?
/The Red “Censored” X would be cool, admittedly…
This really isn’t a big deal to me and it shouldn’t be a big deal to anybody over..maybe 17? Seeing blood isn’t really the bees knees to me as much as it would have been 10 years ago. Besides, it’s only in black in white. It isn’t like you can’t see where they are bleeding from or what the blood looks like. I’ll give you a hint.. it’s red. There.. I solved the uproar.
If I can switch gears for a second, I’m *really* thankful that 24/7 uploaded Bash ‘89. I have been a subscriber since January of last year, and one of the reasons why I signed up was the chance to see this ppv for the first time. It did not disappoint..except when it got to the black and white footage.. what the heck was up with that shit?
Whatever happened to “shades of gray”?
And don’t forget…it was ALWAYS called WWE. And everyone in every promotion used nondescript Jim Johnston music. And Rey Mysterio never competed without his trusty mask. And Gorilla and Vince really did talk to themselves on commentary from 1985-1990, as did JR and Tony in WCW from 1992-1994. And Michael Buffer never worked in sports-entertainment! And all these smart marks are crazy…there never was any short, charasmatically-challenged Canadian SPORTS ENTERTAINER who, um, entertained in Japan, ECW (wait, that might be a figment of our imagination too, there never was any TV-14-and-up sports entertainment), WCW, and WWE. That must be like the IWC’s Santa Claus or something. We all know that “Triple H and Shawn Michaels were in the main event of WrestleMania XX, but neither walked out with the World Heavyweight Title.” I bet someone who used to work for WCW sent somebody to steal it, as they were ALWAYS out to put WWE out of business. Whereas WWE never hurt the little guy. People WANTED to see WWE on TBS on so-called “Black Saturday.” Ted Turner just didn’t get it, as usual. And drugs? Pish-posh! How dare you doubt their Flawless Wellness Policy????
Seriously, let me repeat my comments from elsewhere…
I knew they did this for some time [NOTE: And yes it has trickled into the DVDs...remember SK's Greatest Stars of the '90s review?], but I thought they left most of the old school stuff alone (only censoring Attitude-ish and up). And hey, don’t they put a disclaimer and leave classic ECW intact? (Or I am guessing that will soon become extinct on CoD, as it seems to be with the DVD inclusions)
[NOTE: As per the WrestleCrap boards, they DO decolor ECW now too! But the DVD thing doesn't add up just yet...Savage's DVD was PG, but the WM8 match was not decolorized despite Flair's blading. Or did they just not care because it was Savage?]
As much as I appreciate WWE using DVDs and CoD to keep the old footage alive, I must say that outside of releases where these issues aren’t TOO intrusive, I think this will finally turn me towards wanting to look for the original broadcasts on iOffer, eBay, and whatnot permanently. This is the straw that broke the camel’s back. Music clearance issues, the WWF logos thing…even the whole Benoit issue, I understood those. And I understand why they want to be PG now (ironically, the ghost of Benoit looms over that decision too, I think) and don’t begrudge them for the need to give the younger viewers today an accessible product. Hey I was a younger viewer at one time, of course. But there are easier ways to get around this blood issue; see: said ECW treatment, if they still indeed do this. [NOTE: Which they don't...]
You know, I don’t mind if the current product isn’t that great to me, so long as I can enjoy the product I remember fondly. But this is just like what George Lucas did to Star Wars fans. Hate the prequels? Well at least you have the original movies…except they’re gonna be the Special Editions…and he’ll keep on changing even THOSE depending on how he feels.
So yeah, I can’t suggest enough for all of you to write to WWE about this. And if “they don’t care,” that’s the point of writing. You MAKE THEM.
I might add that their classic footage was the only thing that kept me from totally being estranged from WWE. I guess now I can say that the company will finally be dead to me.
Also, FREE THE NWA, WCW, FLORIDA, WCCW, ECW, SMW, AWA, and MACW LIBRARIES!
How are they going to have a “Hell in a Cell” themed PPV with no blood and make it seem believable?? Especially when the vast majority of fans are old enough to remember when guys bled quite often on PPV.
The blood stuff is ridiculous because they only go b/w sometimes, usually on closeups, but its never consistent. So you get this annoying effect of it going from color to b/w to color to b/w….its f’in annoying. They did the same thing to the WM 17 main event (which had the added annoyance of blurred out everything).
I don’t see the point in having a channel for hardcore, old-school wrestling fans….and then pissing off hardcore, old-school wrestling fans.
And I don’t see how Ric Flair bleeding isn’t kid-friendly but Ricky Steamboat wearing out Lex Luger with a steel chair is.
This is only a theory, and most likely a dumb one.. but maybe in Steamboats case it was different because he was hitting Luger in the back rather than the face/head?
I don’t know,Bignast.. just an idea. .
Vince’s excuse in an interview he gave after Hunter’s sledgehammer rampage through Orton’s house is that the WWE has fantasy violence with things you can’t find in a house and then he mentioned a steel folding chair.
I just don’t understand why they don’t put up the graphic that they do before the ECW on 24/7 that says “this is for adults, there’s blood, viewer discretion, etc.” I may be wrong but I don’t think the ECW shows have been censored on 24/7. It’s not like every show has blood, usually just the big PPVs…so put the disclaimer up and leave the show alone.
Even with the dumb censoring, this is still the best on-demand service ever. Where else can I watch multiple PPV’s, old school cards, NWA, Nitros, RAWS, ECW, WCCW, and all of the other stuff they show for a measly $8 a month. It’s a bargain. I’m beginning to feel that wrestling “fans” just like to hear the sound of their own voice.
I just want my classic footage to be as true to the original as possible. And there are better ways to solve the PG issue than what they’re doing, IMO. Which is why I still propose a mass letter/email campaign.
Like I said, it’s like hating the SW prequels and all you have most frequently for a return to what you fondly remembered are the Special Edition versions of the OT movies.
It’s a deal and a half! I only have 2 problems with it, and only one involves the wwe: The lack of the pay off ppv being uploaded after weeks of buildup on NWA worldwide (or whatever it is),Primetime Wrestling, and the monday night wars really sucks. It has gotten slightly better with Primetime and WM 4 just about synching up.. but the rest of the time they are months apart from being shown.
My other beef is with my cable company. I have Comcast, which is a pretty big cable company and I feel like I’m the only subscriber to 24/7. I have not been getting the PYBO’s uploaded for the last 2 months. I call to complain and they almost make it a point to tell me that they don’t care.
I have Comcast as well, and they are TERRIBLE with the updates. If you go to the Classics website on WWE.com, if you email them the missing titles, they will get them added within a day. No one should be focused to miss out on Road Wild 98 with the in-ring debut of the wrestling god, Jay Leno.
The blood thing is stupid in my opinon, but outside of emailing the E, my two options are to get through it and watch the channel or drop it
Also glad they added free UFC content on demand, I can see some blood there not in black and white
While we’re on the subject of Classic WWE, Scott, did you happen to catch WWE Vintage Collection on TheScore this past Saturday?
P.S. if you accept WWE’s history, then who did you write your latest book about?
For those bemoaning the decolorization of blood on WWE CoD, be thankful they haven’t started completely digitizing the faces of bleeding wrestlers ala Legends of World Class Championship Wrestling on ESPN (circa late 80’s).
I am with jmfabianorpl on this none. The only way they will listen is if there is enough of an uproar from people who PAYING customers. Believe me. There aren’t that many of them right now. They would have raised the price from $7.99 a LONG time ago. They are taking their hardcore base of fans for granted with this incessant editing, and the only way they will blink an eye is an uproar from people who can hurt their bottom line.
This is the best contact email I could find on the main site: https://secure.wwe.com/forms/help/show.php. I already wrote them an email.
They do not have one specifically for Classics on Demand, which shows where they prioritize this service, but it can’t hurt to let them know how you feel. I have been a loyal subscriber for over 2 years, and still enjoy it, but I am very close to canceling.
Um, can I get a “right on”?
And tell other people outside of this site to do the same too.
This is where I sent my complaint, from the WWE Classics on Demand page.
https://secure.wwe.com/forms/help/24-7.php
Thanks, bignast. I hit them up there too.
The only problem with e-mailing them and complaining is that you only recieve a form letter as a response from them. I’m not saying that I’m terribly shocked by it, but I do wish that they would listen to what the people who pay for the service have to say.
Is there anything on there now in which I can see this happen?
This week’s ECW was also edited b/w for blood during a Gangstas match….first time that’s happened and I don’t think there was a “viewer discretion” screen before the show.
I also couldn’t help but laugh that the PrimeTime episode that’s up from 1988 got a TV-14 rating.
I’ve only seen the first 10 mins, but they put the viewer discretion screen back up for this week’s ECW show. Taz is still on there too with brand new attire, so my guess is he will be on there for a few more shows.
Are they doing this on the online subscription service also?
They’ve been editing the ECW tv episodes for the last two months. This almost makes me want to stop subscribing, coupled with the fact that they just haven’t had much good stuff since May. Latino Legends month was great.
It’s not like people won’t still see the blood when they go to the shows
I’m guessing they won’t be running Funk/Foley from Japan anytime soon.