World Championship Wrestling's annual pay-per-view event, Halloween Havoc, aired Sunday night. The show was going well and was one of the best pay-per-view events WCW has had in a long time. When it came time for the Hulk Hogan/Warrior to begin, (the next to the last match) several cable and satellite systems all across the country suddenly cut the show off the air.
How could such a disaster happen? The event was set to air only three hours and ended up lasting about three and a half hours. The service providers set up their systems so that after three hours, their customer's service would end for the event. People who ordered the show live were cut off at the beginning of the Hogan/Warrior match and when people ordered the rebroadcast, its started off with that match. And of course, the rebroadcast of the show cut off as soon as that match began.
The cable and satellite companies had no control over this mistake and caught a lot of hell from their customers. Neither party was at fault. Much of the blame laid on the service providers that the cable and satellite companies work through.
When WCW found out about the mistake, they had to determine what appropriate actions to take to please all of their viewers. The decided to re-air the main event (Goldberg v. Diamond Dallas Page) at 9 p.m. in its entirety during WCW Monday Nitro. They felt it was the best solution to ease the pain of a lot of wrestling fans whose hearts were broken. They did not however, re-air the Hogan/Warrior match. They felt the match was too inappropriate to show on cable. (e.g. one of the wrestlers poured lighter fluid all over the Warrior and attempted to light him on fire.)
The service providers will prove to be the biggest losers when all is said and done. They offered refunds ($29.95) to everyone who purchased the show and are rebroadcasting it again at a later time. Unfortunately, if you want to see it again, you will have to pay $29.95. Few people are going to pay that much just so they can see the last two matches of the show. Besides, many people saw the main event on Nitro and just missed out on the Hogan/Warrior match.
What are the plans to prepare for this in the future? I talked with a local cable company and they said that they will set up their systems so that all events will run in their entirety and the rebroadcast would immediately follow the conclusion instead of beginning at a specific hour of the day.
By the way, if you would like to know who won, just scroll down and view the results!
1. Raven v. Chris Jericho for the T.V. Title -- JERICHO
2. Meng v. Wrath -- WRATH
3. Disco Inferno v. Juventude Guerrera -- DISCO INFERNO
4. Fit Finley v. Alex Wright -- ALEX WRIGHT
5. Lodi v. Saturn -- Lodi. Just kidding! -- SATURN
6. Disco Inferno v. Kidman for the Cuiserweight Title -- KIDMAN
7. Rick Steiner/Buff Bagwell v. Scott Steiner/Giant for Tag Team Title -- RICK
STEINER/BUFF BAGWELL
8. Rick Steiner v. Scott Steiner -- RICK STEINER
9. Scott Hall v. Kevin Nash -- SCOTT HALL (Nash walked away from the ring after
beating him up)
10. Sting v. Brett Hart for the U.S. Title -- BRETT HART
11. Hollywood Hogan v. Warrior -- HOLLYWOOD HOGAN
12. Diamond Dallas Page v. Goldberg for the Heavyweight Title -- GOLDBERG
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Name:JD Comments:
meng is the best wrestler ever, he should be pushed more than those other losers
Comments:
WCW Rules!
Name: Brian Reinertsen Comments:
Excuse me for one second. Let me speak on this. Tonya, you are entitled to your opinion, yes. However, I think that you would agree that if you spent your hard-earned money on something that you were looking forward to, that you would want to get what you paid for. No one is asking you to like wrestling, but without respect for others concerns, you make yourself seem very childish in manner and language. In my opinion, when dealing with people, you don't need to agree with another's opinion, but not downgrade them for having one that you do not agree with.
Comments:
First off, lots of people enjoy wrestling and,YES, it was the cable providers fault. They set up the service to begin at 8 and shut off at 11. They didn't plan for the event to go over three hours. And its not a matter of missing one show. Customers paid $29.95 for something they didn't see. Thats a lot of money for some people, especially if they didn't get all of what they paid for.
Name:Tonya Major: Corp & Prof Comm Comments:
who cares? it's wrestling -- it's not like it's the answer to world peace.
sure, people got ripped off, but it was the lazy cable providers' faults.
and there's enough "wrasslin" on t.v. as it is. i'm sure missing one or two matches isn't going to heartbreak anyone.
Name: Brian Reinertsen Major: Social Work Comments:
I think that the service providers definitely put the cable companies and dish providers in a very bad position. As a consumer who frequently uses the Pay-Per-View option, I feel that when something goes wrong with a service, that I should go to the cable company and find out what the problem was. One of the main things that I am concerned about is that in the event that this occurs in the future, I want to have some sort of reassurance that some compensation will be provided. I was impressed by the manner in which WCW re-aired the title match between Goldberg and Diamond Dallas Page. I know that I will continue to enjoy the PPV service here in Radford and know that the cable company here in town will do whatever it needs to for the best service possible. The bottom line is that I think that the cable companies get the front line of an attack when something goes wrong with a service. I would recommend to people that they take the steps needed to find out the root of the problem and then inquire how your needs will be met. Find the true source of the conflict and then try to address it.
Comments:
Goldberg Kicks Serious Ass!
Name:Richard Cranium Major: V. I. Comments:
Loved it man! Banged yer old lady while chanting "Goldberg....Goldberg!"
Name:Jack Vasvary Comments:
I want to clarify that the cable and satellite companies were not at fault. The companies that the cable and satellite companies worked though were at fault.
