WWE Network Suggestions for Wrestling Beginners

I've never watched wrestling before, but the Powerbombcast has gotten me interested. The WWE Network has a free November thing going, so what's the best stuff for a WWE beginner to watch? Can be any era.

When they gave away a free week awhile back, I was completely lost. There's a ton of shit on there, and no way to tell what's good and what's not so good.

Thanks for any help you can provide!

Wrestlemania X-Seven is pretty dang great, so you should watch that. I mainly say that for the kickass Tables, Ladders and Chairs match, but the rest of it is pretty good, too I guess.

@ajayraz: Sponsored by Snickers Cruncher! No way it can be bad!

Wrestlemania XXX is really good and happened this year, so almost everyone involved is still active (probably injured, but still active)

NXT Takeover 2 is really, really great.

• Monday Night Wars - Under Shows/Originals. Gives a pretty good overview of the NWO and Attitude era throughout the 90s.
• NXT Specials - Under Shows/In-Ring. Arrival (2/27), Takeover (5/29), and Takeover Fatal 4-Way (9/11) should give you a good sampling of some of the best of what NXT has to offer. This might be the developmental league, but a lot of people (myself included) feel like this delivers a better and more consistent product on a weekly basis than the main roster.
• Some PPV Suggestions:
  • Wrestlemania X7, 28, 30
  • Summerslam 92, 98, 2002
  • Money in the Bank 2011
  • Extreme Rules 2012

I only watched wrestling from Wrestlemania VI thru Wrestlemania IX (which would've turned just about anybody off of wrestling for good), but man, the one PPV I still get excited about when I think back was the 1992 Royal Rumble where the WWF title was on the line. Granted, I was 12 at the time, but I don't think I'd ever enjoyed anything more in my life than that PPV. No clue if it holds up though.

I don't know what the WWE network has to offer but Im gonna go old school and say that if they have anything Ric Flair and his run with The Four Horsemen...Also anything WCCW related. If it's wwe related then anything from the attitude era. As far as WCW then pretty much the beginning of NWO.

The Wrestlemania XXV/XXVI matches between HBK and The Undertaker.

@freddiefiasco: I'm gonna go against everyone picking there favorite ppv's. You need to build a foundation of knowledge to truly appreciate wrestling. That's why I'm suggesting you watch all of Saturdays Night Main Event. There only usely 1 hour long and usually don't have to many a year. So it shouldn't take to much time to watch all of them and it will give you what I think it's the most complete appreciation of the eras with out watching all the ppvs.

Besides Wrestlemania is overrated, imo it's usually not even the best ppv of the year. It's just that one really big event that they try to please everyone, to many celebrities which is also a waste of time.

@agentboolen: Wow, does WWE Network really have all the old Saturday Night Main Events? Jesus, I might have to sign up for that thing if that's the case.

Thanks, guys. This is all really helpful. If you know anything great that hasn't been mentioned yet, please let me know.

@kevin_cogneto They do have Saturday Night's Main Event. First one on there is May '85. Well, it's '85 to '92 and then '06 to '08. Not sure if that means some are missing.

This is a really important point. Thankfully, there's a lot of supplementary content that can do a lot of the work for you. The Monday Night Wars mini-series is a nice way to catch up on a lot of what gave the mid-late/late 90's the gravity it had, though it might bias your tastes a little. Some of the beyond the ring content can be solid, too. But you kind of have to know what you're looking for.

For real, though. Wrestlemania X7 is pretty special. Don't rush into it. Watch the, like, two year run of PPVs that lead to it first.

This is a pretty great group of content right here, I second all of this.

Check out some of the documentaries on the network or on Netflix. They're a great way to get into wrestling without having to sit through hours of it especially when so much of it can be pretty bad. Some of their other original programming, like Countdown or Monday Night Wars, is really good and can get you into wrestling.

I would start somewhere in 2013 with one of the PPVs, probably one later in the year. Just start there and maybe watch a Raw or two and then move onto the next PPV. WWE does a good job of keeping going over story lines and major developments for each PPV match so you won't feel left out when it comes to motivation or development. Eventually you should watch up to Wrestlemania 30 from earlier this year. Even without knowing all the behind the scenes goings on, like CM Punk leaving the company, you can enjoy the matches. Not only was there good wrestling happening but the story wasn't half bad.

From there I'd say just choose a year and watch the PPVs in order. Don't be afraid to skip matches. For a long time women's matches have been terrible, until recently, and tag team matches from more recent years are very hit or miss.

You can also look up Youtube clips and see some crazy moments, then go and find the show they were on in the network and watch the whole thing.

One of my favorite things to do is to try to follow a wrestler's career from the beginning. Wikipedia can be a big help here, I usually use it to read through the pay-per-view chronology and follow along with the important feuds.

Also, this is a pretty good site to check out: http://wwenetworkplaylists.com/

I'd start with Royal Rumble 2000 and go from there. 2000 was one of the better years for the WWF except the major PPVs were kind of poor. It's too bad you can't watch any of the Raws that go with those PPVs.

If you want to try and get into wrestling, start at with 2012 or 2013 and just watch everything.

If you want to make sure you never want to watch wrestling again start in 2014 after Wrestlemania and watch everything.

Do they have that candid Bret v Michaels interview / doc on the network?

That is a PERFECT look into the weird political 4th wall breaking improv performance that goes into pro wrestling and its more interesting storylines. It def got me to understand the business more, and look at it in a different way. I could imagine it having the same effect on a newcomer, especially someone who knows nothing about it beyond that "it's fake" surface.

@roomrunner: Yeah. That is on there. The Bret Hart episode of Monday Night War also covers that Michaels beef and Montreal Screwjob stuff.

This is, honestly, the single most glaring gap in the Network's offering right now. I can imagine it would be a ridiculous, Herculean task to get all of that content up on the service. But hopping from PPV to PPV without the connective tissue in between stunts the impact of their storytelling.

You guys are giving out way too much on just going to specific shows. I would say you need to watch some Monday Nitros and Raw and the PPVs that lead to them. Raw before 1995 did not do that good of a job of building up PPVs. But what I would do is watch the 4 Raws before WrestleMania X then watch WMX.

I would then watch Monday Nitro, starting with the last one of May 1996 up until the Bash at the Beach PPV.

countdown is the best thing on the network.

That five minute spell in the rumble where Warrior and Hogan square off. Warlord ruined it. :(