WWE News: WWE Network set to launch four new shows next week
What's the story?
The WWE Network has been steadily pumping out all kinds of new content in order to keep fans entertained. Aside from the PPVs and wrestling shows like 205 Live and the NXT brands, we've also seen things like Swerved, Ride Along, and Camp WWE pop up over the years. Now, the WWE will be adding even more original content.
In case you didn't know...
Back in September, it was revealed that the WWE had sent out a survey to WWE Network subscribers. The survey was used to see what fans would want to get out of the subscription service. The proposed shows are seen below:
- WWE Now LIVE! – Daily morning show featuring news
- History of FCW – Documentary style series looking at Florida Championship Wrestling
- Superstar/Superfan – Superstars discuss how they became fans of wrestling and their journey to the WWE
- Xavier’s Arcade Challenge – Xavier Woods travels the country, challenging the WWE Universe in one-on-one competition in various Bars/Arcades. Pilot material has already been filmed.
- Cheat Day with Becky Lynch – See what stars eat on their cheat day.
- Fashion Police: Unsolved Mysteries – Tyler Breeze & Fandango attempt to solve unsolved WWE mysteries (GTV, who attacked Hideo Itami, etc).
It was unknown if the WWE would actually give any of these shows a chance or if they were simply testing their fans to see what kind of content they'd like to see. However, it looks like the company has decided to go with some of these options while adding a few new ones to the Network next week.
The heart of the matter
The Wrestling News Observer revealed today that the Network will be adding four new shows in the coming week. If you look at the WWE Network's schedule for the next week, you'll see the following, along with the days and times they premier:
- Fashion Files: Cold Case Unit - December 24th, 11:00 p.m. EST
- Xavier's Arcade Challenge - December 25th, 7:30 p.m. EST
- WWE Kitchen SmackDown w/Bo Dallas - December 27th, 7:00 p.m. EST
- Botch Club - December 28th, 7:00 p.m. EST
While the Fashion Files and Xavier's Arcade Challenge have basically stayed the same from their initial conception back on the survey, WWE Kitchen SmackDown and Botch Club are entirely new ideas.
WWE Kitchen SmackDown will be hosted by Bo Dallas and will be the WWE Network's own Iron Chef cook-off show. Enes Kanter, Noelle Foley, and Mark Henry will act as the judges, at least for this episode.
Botch Club is the WWE's take on botch compilation videos that you can find on YouTube, similar to Botchamania. However, the twist is that The Club's Gallows and Anderson will host the show, watching the videos along with the audience.
It's quite similar to an old WWE YouTube channel show called "Are You Serious?" where Road Dogg and former WWE/current Impact announcer Josh Mathews looked at terrible gimmicks, promos, etc from wrestling's past.
What's next?
The WWE has been working on expanding the Network for quite some time now. The first step would involve bringing new exciting content to the service. However, there have also been talks of making the Network a tiered service in which subscribers could pay more or less for their service depending on what they want to watch and if they wanted commercials or not.