WWE Network additions are something we pay attention to often, but it is rare we see Network removal. In what may be the most notable instance of content removal since the 12 Days of Attitude and Black History Month fiascoes in early 2015, Hulk Hogan’s Rock n Wrestling was removed from the WWE Network at the discovery of his incident. While that had a fair share of fan criticism and insider criticism, there was at least a reason people could understand even if they disagreed with it. However, recently the WWE Network has removed something else from the service with little information surrounding it.
The content removed is Mick Foley’s comedy special, Cheap Pops. His stand up show was very well received when it aired months ago, and many are disappointed at it being missing. We don’t know why it is gone either. People have speculated a number of reasons, some suggesting licensing issues while others thinking Mick’s recent outspokenness towards the company led them to taking it down as some kind of stab at him. Personally, I have my doubts to both possible reasons as neither seem incredibly likely however there may be something to the licensing issue. An email we’ve had forwarded to us states the following:
“Thank you for contacting WWE Network Support. We are in receipt of your concern and would like it to be resolved as soon as possible. Please be advised that this asset was removed by the WWE in October.”
The end of October would mark six months for the program’s run on the WWE Network. That definitely seems like a time frame something would be licensed for. Still, it seems unlikely WWE would randomly practice licensing on one item. Beyond that, several users have claimed they accessed the content as recently as the end of November. On the other hand, people suggesting they took it down as some sort of punishment seem incorrect too as his highlight special that preceded it in the hour before hand,”Have A Nice Night”, is still available.
It should be noted that for some devices, Cheap Pops can be found in the search menu, however when trying to view the video you will get the following message:
“MEDIA ERROR
An error occurred while attempting to play this video. Please try again later. If the problem persists, please visit wwe.com/help.”
So what’s the story? We don’t have an answer. Fans have been asking the WWE Network support and Mick Foley and we’ve yet to have a solid answer, but I personally hope it is just some kind of bug that wasn’t fixed and we see it again soon. What do you think? Is there an excuse for content to be taken down? Will you miss it? Take the poll and let us know in the comments section!
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