Monday’s Rude Awakening includes the battle between Charter and NBC, free New Japan content, and a look back at a classic Sting moment.
We publish a whole lot of content here at Cageside Seats. We’re also [looks around and whispers so the bosses can’t hear] not the only place producing wrestling content on the internet. So, as a service to you on the weekdays, we’ll be producing a wrestling newsletter, "Rude Awakening." Well, it will be a newsletter eventually: for now, it’ll just be part of your experience here at Cageside, collecting the news, recaps, and social moments from the greater wrestling universe daily so you won’t fall behind, with a newsletter format to come.
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Love WWE? Well, you’re here, so there’s a good chance you do. That also means it’s likely you watch RAW and SmackDown weekly on USA Network. And if you watch RAW and SmackDown weekly on USA Network, there is a chance that you do so through a cable company that is owned by Charter Communications. Charter Communications just so happens to be embroiled in a fight with NBCUniversal, who has the current television rights to WWE programming as well as ownership of networks like Bravo, Oxygen, Esquire, and the former home of SmackDown, SyFy. If Charter won’t pay NBCUniversal the price for these channels, then Charter subscribers hoping to watch RAW and SmackDown are going to be out of luck.
They could catch them the next day on Hulu, sure, but the live, full experience is on USA Network, and it won’t be available if negotiations end with Charter or NBCUniversal walking away. The contract already expired on January 1, but talks were extended for an undisclosed length of time. So, if you’re one of the 16 million customers of Charter Communications, you can watch RAW and SmackDown this week, but no one knows about next week, or the week after that.
I happen to be one of those 16 million Americans whose cable is provided by Charter, and also (as you could have figured out) am a wrestling fan. So, there will be a phone call made to Time Warner/Spectrum to discuss what happens with my cable bill when the networks my household watches the most — USA for wrestling, Bravo for Top Chef and the 24/7 reality programming, SyFy for The Expanse and whatever goofy movie is on — are no longer available. Most of the non-Netflix viewing in my household comes from NBCU channels, and if they aren’t available, well, Charter isn’t for us anymore. The only way they’ll think NBCU’s price makes sense is if they’ll lose more money elsewhere with a drop in subscribers, so remember that if you’re a wrestling fan who would like to continue watching RAW and SmackDown live every week. Pick up the phone and help yourself.
- Here’s what to watch this week in wrestling, since you still can.
- The first Rumor Roundup of 2017 includes Undertaker, Batista, and more.
- New Orleans has reportedly been awarded WrestleMania 34, and I like to think it was them over Minneapolis solely because the latter cheered Brock Lesnar too much during the initial Goldberg story.
- Ronda Rousey lost her latest UFC bout, and her future is now up in the air. Should it include a run in WWE? Not everyone thinks so.
- Here’s the best and worst of the April 7, 1997 WCW Nitro, i.e. the one where Sting drops from the rafters to help out Diamond Dallas Page.
- Dolph Ziggler and Baron Corbin were two of the three members of a triple threat WWE World Championship match last week on SmackDown, and this week, they’ll take each other on one-on-one.
- We’ve got three matches lined up for the 2017 Royal Rumble, and that includes (obviously) the Royal Rumble match itself.
- WWE is embracing multiculturalism at a time when the rest of the world keeps getting faker.
- Star ratings are arbitrary and irrelevant according to one Cagesider. How do you feel about Dave Meltzer’s favorite rating system?
- Squared Circle Sirens are writing up their end-of-year features, and that includes a look at the up-and-coming Rachael Ellering.
- You can currently watch all of New Japan’s title matches for free on their streaming service, so whether you’re acquainted or not, this is a good time for you.
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