Ring Ka King vs WWE Network

[Jordan]

This thread is about two concepts that the two successful wrestling promotions in the U.S have conceived to rise to the next level of awareness with wrestling fans. For the WWE they have already announced and retracted an opening date for WWE Network, an attempt to run historical and new WWE programming 2/47 to a membership audience. Ever dreamed of watching WWE 24/7? What wrestling fan hasn't, well now it's your chance. WWE has the largest library in wrestling history claiming ownership over every major promotion since the invention of TV, except Mid-South/UWF. As well as the history of the business we all spend so much time studying and enjoying, WWE will offer new programming that will bring current stories to a new level with Sports Center style recap shows, individual Superstar specialty show's that could bring a specific person to a new level of fame, as well as reality shows that could be the best Trash TV in the world for a wrestling fan. Now this is all supposed to start by the end of the year, and thank God. Thank God WWE didn't pull the trigger on this monster too early, as nobody who supports WWE wants to see the Network fail, as it would surely (don't call me...) be a big step back for the company in a number of ways, financial being one of them.


That brings us to Ring Ka King, a creation of TNA and masterminded by Jeff Jarrett who is working with Dutch Mantell, Dave Lagana, Sonjay Dutt, and Jeremy Borash on the creative side. The company is funded by Endemol a gigantic international television distribution company. For assured success Ring Ka King has it's own Indian wrestlers who have been trained by Savio Vega at Ohio Valley Wrestling. The promotion has two hours a week of original programming in a 13 or 14 week season. One hour long episode airs on Saturday, and another on Sunday. Over half of the stars of the promotion are recognizable as former/current WWE/TNA Superstars. The interesting thing about the promotion is that India seems to have little to no exposure to the wrestling business therefore guys like Harry Smith and Chavo Guerrero, or Scott Stiener and Sonjay Dutt have no ground to be compared too. The Indian people are for the most part not familiar with their prior work. So they are not bringing in talent on name value, just talent and character, many of which are much different than what you know from WWE. For instance Bulldog Hart (DH Smith) and Chavo Guerrero have formed a tag team based on the thought that they belong to the two greatest wrestling families in history, and will team up to take the Ring Ka King Tag Team Tournament, become the first Tag Champs.

The most interesting thing that stands out to me about Ring Ka King is the ratings they have drawn... the first episode did a 2.2, that's more than TNA draws in the U.S and just a bit less than WWE for Smackdown or Raw. What's even more impressive is that a 2.2 in India is an estimated 14 million viewers. In comparison WWE did 4.62 million viewers in the U.S last week for Raw. Due to the huge ratings Colors TV have put Ring Ka King on an after school time slot in 30 minute episodes Monday - Thursday. It is worth note that the second week of episode's drew a smaller 1.71 rating.

WWE plans to use a Cruiserweight style show on their WWE Network, as well as promises of more live wrestling each week. Perhaps they could air FCW tapings, or new tapings with WWE superstars. They will also build superstars to another level with entertainment based tv shows that go beyond the ring. They will have a forum to air WWE Film's projects that no longer make significant money in rentals or DVD sales, as well as 24/7 promotion of Raw/Smackdown and PPV's.

Ring Ka King is building a business in a gigantic market that seems to be hungry for wrestling. The style is basic, the characters are stereotypical and simple, but with their ad's and huge ratings are surely (...hey what did I say) making some big money. In addition to creating a new market for wrestling, they are giving opportunities for deserving and unused talent to make money, evolve, and entertain. TNA can send younger more inexperienced talent to Ring Ka King to develop their character or skills in less demanding environment as far as work rate and complex characters go. They can work on the basics.

I hope you watch Ring Ka King a few times, it's not going to blow you away with amazing Artistic Combat, but it's easy to follow and different. Kind of like stepping back in time. And I await as do the rest of you to day where we can watch WWE network to see Roddy Piper juggling coconuts and Mean Gene smoking cigar's, followed by some Cruiserweight action, with an evening of AWA to follow.

[itsmeJD]

I believe Ra Ka King will be dependent on whether TNA brass decide to stick to it. If they stick to it like they do their face/heel turns, then Ra Ka King isn't long for this world. I chose WWE because of this.

[Taker it Easy]

Well, I have picked WWE Network. Ring Ka King could prove to be a better investment yet I am uncertain of TNA's commitment at this time.

The network has a chance to seek a wider audience but can not really replace local shows and booking. That will likely be a factor in any success that Ring Ka King has. RKK has been a joy to watch so far. The past two episodes have featured classic wrestling and characters. The theme music for their wrestlers is top notch and they also have the Mumbai Cats.

If TNA stays the course and the ratings they have earned are held steady as at least an average then there is great success for RKK. A big open market that wants wrestling.

I am surpirsed in a way how much other parts of the world want professional wrestling such as Indian and UK. This shows that there is plenty of room in the world for another large scale promotion, international promotion. The Network can likely not fill this void as it is more akin to the Rock videoing it in rather than showing up to the live show. People want live experience.

For me, RKK has been a great success. An unexpected success. It hosts pure wrestling with a lot of fun atmosphere. It is great to see people that the WWE did not use get a second chance. A real chance. The market needs more places for wrestlers to work outside of WWE and RKK has a chance of filling a massive void in the wrestling world. The Indian atmosphere is ludicrous in good way. Hopefully the native talent gets up to speed quickly as some are lacking in skills at this time. But that highlights how well the American imports are doing, the TNA and ex WWE guys are doing well. RKK also is amazing because they use just enough english vocabulary so that you can understand perfectly what is going on. Hopefully a fansubber will start subbing the episodes but it really is not needed. They are investing in their new talent pool and it is exciting because we get to see wrestlers have a new chance. A friend of mine pointed out that RKK is selling these wrestlers based on their talent and not any past names or characters they have had, TNA talent excluded of course.

It is hard to speculate on The Network because it is not yet here. Hopefully they will project just the right mixture of content. Personally I wish they run seasons of past promotions in chronological order, such as AWA and Stampede.

The Network has potential to change everything but will it kill international business or overseas desire for wrestling promotions? Probably not but it might be a doorway into those markets for WWE.

[Emperor Smeat]

Went with the WWE Network.

At least if the reality shows fail, the WWE still has a ton of wrestling footage they can show off on the channel and just expand their original WWE 24/7 (WWE On Demand) idea into a full channel.

TNA is a bit more unpredictable considering how they've been mismanaged almost from the start and haven't really grown considering all the funding and names they keep bringing in. Ring Ka King could end up being a lot more successful than TNA itself which could lead to potential issues in the future.

[Droford]

Getting 14 million to watch out of 1.2 billion people isn't doing as well as 6 million out of 300 million people.

[Asmo]

Any popular weekend TV show in India rates between 1.5 to 2.5 TVRs here in India. However, the reach (estimated 14 million) is a bit of an overpull. The leading TV audience measurement firm in India (TAM - Television Audience Measurement) doesn't really have the comprehensive reach that a Nielsen does in the US. So the industry does take the numbers at face value, especially since ratings aren't really indicative of the time spent by viewers on a particular time slot.

That being said, Ring Ka King is slowly gaining in popularity, at least that's the thumb impression. It's still not as popular as the WWE is, tho. I believe TEN Sports (that has rights to WWE programming in India) draws in more viewers than Colors does, although i do not at the moment have numbers to back that claim up.

As far as a business opportunity, i'd like to know who owns the format. Is it Endemol, TNA, or a combination of the two along with a third party? If it's a format that can be licensed and sold to other networks, then i would say that in the long run, this could prove to be a better business investment. Each country that craves pro-wrestling needs a localised wrestling promotion, and a RKK-styled, TNA driven one could claim to be the answer. At the end of the day, it'll be like licensing any TV show.

To make it a full fledged promotion, however, would seriously take a LOT of investment. It holds good only as an seasonal TV show.

Interestingly, the WWE has set up shop in India, though the plan right now is to secure merchandising and licensing contracts. If the success of RKK is any indication, a live WWE show would do brilliantly.

[DLVH84]

Ring Ka King. I'd love to see how Indian style of wrestling is like, since I've seen the American, Canadian, Mexican, Puerto Rican, European, Japanese, and Australasian (Australia and New Zealand) styles.

[itsmeJD]

Originally Posted by DLVH84 Ring Ka King. I'd love to see how Indian style of wrestling is like, since I've seen the American, Canadian, Mexican, Puerto Rican, European, Japanese, and Australasian (Australia and New Zealand) styles.

Well from what I've seen most of the wrestlers are American, so I'd assume the Indian style you speak of will look pretty damn familiar.

[MoFo]

Ring Ka King, because its actually happened.

[Tom Guycott]

I say Ring ka King.

One drawback of WWE Network is in the concept itself: 24/7.

Even with the libraries of just about every majory influencial promotions in the US of over the last 50 years, 168 hours is a LOT of time to fill with ENTERTAINING watching. There's going to be some brilliant stuff, and potential for interesting tidbits. However, realistically, there are going to be huge voids of utter shit. Just counting actual wrestling programming, for every "Steamboat/Flair time limit draw", there's going to be about 28* or so matches of "Ted Knight** vs. Brooklyn Brawler" or some WCW Women's Cruiserweight title match on your TV. Then, we get into the "reality shows" and the other mostly nonsensical filler that is sure to come. Also likely is some format of "movie of the week" where they're showing things like "No Holds Barred", and "Ready to Rumble". Now ask yourself again, how much are you really looking foward to this?

Ring ka King, while associated with TNA, is so far not really making the mistake of being DIRECTLY associated with TNA. They're doing there own thing, which is a good thing. It's kind of like how the brand split was supposed to work in the 'E. I can see them doing some annual/semi-annual "Global Impact" down the line when there are established foreign guys that people will know from RKK vs people we know from TNA. It could also add some flavor to that World Cup or whatever thing they do every few years with "teams" from different areas of the world.

But that's wishful thinking and speculation. As it stands, it still remains to be seen if RKK lives up to it's potiential, but so far, it's doing a good job. WWETV has a lot to live up to from it's own hype and potential, and is set up to fail a lot easier upon its arrival.



*Not based on actual math.
** For some reason, I remember that name from a Saturday afternoon All-American wrestling episode from when I was little. I don't remember him in any detail per-se, just the fact that he was generic enough to personify "random local indy jobber" (even before I knew what that meant, I knew he was going to lose), and back then, he was the guy was merely there to be squashed. Even by curtain jerkers or lower-midcard guys. Honestly, I think he actually had a match with Hercules that morning, but it doesn't matter in the long run. Plus I was playing with G.I. Joes at the time. Multitasking!