One complaint I’ve seen going around lately is that the latest edition of WWE Tribute to the Troops has yet to be added to the WWE Network. This episode aired on December 23rd on the USA Network during “WWE Week”. The event was headlined by a sixteen man tag team match along with Rusev and Jack Swagger having a fun Boot Camp match.
To those somehow unaware, Tribute to the Troops are shows that were originally done overseas to help lift the spirits of those at war. It has recently become done in the United States. Still, the show is a yearly special that many become excited about and usually features at least one really fun match.
Last year, the Tribute To The Troops event raised a lot of questions. It was the first special to air on TV since the WWE Network launched and the question being asked was whether or not we would see it on the service. And if so, when would we? Well, the answer was yes, we would see it, and quickly. Instead of the 30 day wait many expected that come with RAW and Smackdown, it was up within a few weeks.
Obviously, this set the precedent and it was expected the same would occur this year. After two weeks, however, it looked as if maybe we were waiting the entire thirty days. Now, however, over six weeks later we still have no Tribute To The Troops. It is easy to ignore this if you aren’t a fan of the show. It is easy to dismiss it as a special that really means nothing in the grand scheme of things.
However this represents a bigger issue with the WWE Network and the service’s philosophy towards how it is run. They simply can’t keep much of a schedule nor can they seem to commit to very much. Now granted, a new network of any kind is going to have growing pains. With that said, they could really use some organization. We all know how sporadic archived content is. We all know how weird the release of original content seems to be. Even their own schedule is a bit of a mess, especially when we rarely have more than a week advance for content.
It all comes across as very last minute and not well thought out. Add in situations where we have shows that are supposed to debut or be added that don’t, such as Divas Search or Saturday Morning Slam. We have shows that debut with only an episode or two like WWE Playlist (which is apparently not even on the service anymore) or Music Countdown 10. Content disappears or is discontinued regularly, a lot of which seemed to be successful.
I’m not listing this issues to tear down the service. I simply believe that they need better organization and to be more open with the viewers over the content they have, the content they intend to add, and perhaps as important if not more, the content they remove.
So what do you think? Do you want to see this added to the service? Do you see issues in how they add or remove content? How would you suggest they make things better? Be sure to sound off in the comments section and let us know!
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