.

[.]

.

[Mike Powers]

It'd definitely work, if they went the Hulu route of releasing 1 episode per week.

[Chris Shields]

It'd definitely work, if they went the Hulu route of releasing 1 episode per week.

This would be the kicker. I think wrestling works better in a weekly format rather than an all at once format. You need to build those storylines and feuds, and just having it all there at once makes it difficult. Part of what makes wrestling fun is that you can sit there and wonder what's gonna happen for an entire week or month. The build, that anticipation, it gets a little bit lost when you can just go and find out what the payoff is by skipping straight to the finale.

[Mike Powers]

Lucha Underground doesn't have a big spoiler problem.

[Chris Shields]

Wouldn't there be issues of people getting spoilers out early? My thought with releasing the episodes like Netflix is that everyone would binge it and then it would become a big discussion topic like Making A Murderer or when a new season of Orange is the New Black comes out.


EDIT: Regarding skipping to the finale...couldn't you do that with any of the successful Netflix shows?

Wrestling is a different thing though. On a regular show, you could have new characters introduced in episode 8 that play a big part in the final episode. With wrestling most of your feuds and storylines would be set by the 5th episode and then it's just about building to the match on episode 10.

[Fnord]

Lucha Underground doesn't have a big spoiler problem.

Yeah, Lucha could get a deal with Netflix and work. Or a company comparable to Lucha.

[Drama Queen]

As far as binge watching, I'm not sure it would be that different than say, Game of Thrones (I made the mistake of binge-watching last season, and it really does dull some of the major impacts when your brain is fried)

Either way Netflix or Hulu would be a great medium, I think it would have been perfect for Wrestling Society X.

[Adam Wrong]

Netflix release new shows weekly though so there is no reason they couldn't do this with a wrestling show

[BamBamBunglow]

TNA/WWE style wrestling show? Personally don't think it would work.

A wrestling show like Lucha Underground? Yes. It's wtritten, shot and presented as a TV show. It has an overarching plot, dealt with in very TV-esque vignettes, with the sub plots and rivalries all dealt with in-ring, but still connected to the overarching story. It's not a "tune in next week to see Wrestler X vs. Wrestler Y", it's a "Tune in next week to see why this girl has beef with Dario Cueto's brother". It's bingewatchable, there's very few spoilers released (as most of the crowd is asked nicely, and really buy into the secretive idea).

I'd love to see a British company get a deal like this, if I'm honest. ICW, maybe?

[Drama Queen]

Netflix release new shows weekly though so there is no reason they couldn't do this with a wrestling show

I'm usually late arriving to the party for shows, so I couldn't say, but I could have sworn the whole first season of Jessica Jones came overnight out of nowhere. (I'll find out for sure when they show the second season of Daredevil).

Is Netflix universal, or do they do things different for Europe than for the US?

[Duckman]

Netflix usually release the entire series on the same day.  Then you can watch it at your own pace.  Which is one of the main plus points of Netflix over regular TV networks.  I sometimes like to do two episodes in a night, sometimes I wait weeks before going back to a show.

ICW already do a TV show on their online network.  They do 'TV tapings' a couple of times a month at the Garage in Glasgow and then that's available for subscribers to watch on a regular basis.  I do believe they release them weekly (as opposed to in one go like Netflix).

I don't see why this couldn't work with WWE or TNA.  They couldn't do the usual 3 hours of utter boring, repetitive crap like RAW.  Or even the 2 hours of IMPACT.  Both of which haven't changed their look or format in over a decade.

Maybe you could do a more documentary style show, with Breaking Ground being successful, or something like a rejigged version of Wrestling Road Diaries.  These shows though need to also build to a big finale, like a major show or a big match, but you could easily work a show around that.

Lucha Underground would be primed for it, because it's not really a weekly wrestling show in the traditional format.  It's got much stronger influences from sci-fi and other genres added to the mix, with wrestling being the base.  LU has a created it's own universe which they 'kayfabe' in their own way and therefore it works logically within their world.  It wouldn't play in the traditional sense like RAW does, but that's a really good thing.

I think anything that changes the way pro wrestling is presented would be a good thing.  If it would or could work is another thing but given the success of other Netflix shows, I can't see why a reformatted and more cutting edge style of wrestling show couldn't work.