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Somewhat lost in the big moments and great matches of WrestleMania last night was a commercial announcing new original programming on WWE Network.
It's wide variety of shows, obviously designed to add value to the streaming service as something more than a wrestling archive. The good news is that WWE has put themselves in a financial position, and convinced customers & investors that the over-the-top model is the way to go, so that they can invest in original programming again after scrapping plans that were announced or hinted at last Spring and Summer.
The less good news is that I personally don't see a show here that will convince anyone to get or keep the Network unless they were interested in it as a wrestling archive.
In addition to the live Chris Jericho podcast covered in our Rumor Roundup today, with Y2J getting the post-Raw spot that Stone Cold Steve Austin has had twice in the past for a sitdown with new United States champion John Cena, four series were hyped in a spot that ran multiple times during last night's broadcast from Santa Clara.
They are:
Camp WWE. Announced last fall, this is an animated series in the vein of Slam City with a little Muppet Babies thrown in the mix. WWE Superstars will be portrayed as kids that were kicked out of school for being too unruly. Their frustrated parents send them to a reform camp run by the strict disciplinarian head counselor, Mr. McMahon. As anyone who's spent much time on this site can probably guess, this is the new show I am most excited for...and it's not even close.
Swerved. Really just a name and a creator attached so far, as this is from the director and co-creator of Jackass (with Johnny Knoxville and Spike Jonze) Jeff Tremaine. Based on the name and Tremaine's current MTV work (a lot of Rob Dyrdeck shows), I'm guessing Punk'd for the wrestling set.
Too Hot for TV. Continuing their partnership with Jerry Springer that brought you the award-winning Bella family intervention of 2015, details on this were likewise sparse - only stating that Jerry will be bringing you moments that are..."too hot for TV". If these will just be from WWE wrestling shows, backstage, etc. was not revealed. Probably cause it was "TOO HOT".
Diva Search. Not exactly what we meant when we said to give them a chance, this was described as a cross between Real Housewives and America's Next Top Model. This 'reality' competition was a staple of WWE programming in the aughts and produced a number of female on-screen talents like Christy Hemme, Michelle McCool, Eve Torres, Maria Kanellis, Layla, Maryse, Ashley Massaro and others.
No premiere dates were given. It was reported by Variety writer Marc Graser over the weekend that today's subscriber announcement will also feature four additional new shows and word that Tough Enough will return on USA Network.
We'll have more on that when it's announced, Cagesiders. In the meantime, anything here get you excited to spend more time watching WWE Network?