WWE Classics On Demand was an American subscription

video on demand Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos without a traditional video playback device and the constraints of a typical static broadcasting schedule. In the 20th century, broadcasting in the form of ...

television service provided by WWE. It featured footage from WWE's vast archive of wrestling footage, including classic WWE,

World Championship Wrestling World Championship Wrestling, Inc. (WCW) was an American professional wrestling promotion founded by Ted Turner in 1988, after Turner Broadcasting System, through a subsidiary named Universal Wrestling Corporation, purchased the assets of Nati ...

(WCW),

Extreme Championship Wrestling HHG Corporation, doing business as Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW), was a professional wrestling promotion and media company that was based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The promotion was founded in 1992 by Tod Gordon as National Wrest ...

(ECW) and more. It offered around 40 hours of rotating programming per month, arranged into four (previously six) "programming buckets", often centered on a specific theme. It was originally called WWE 24/7 On Demand. In September 2008, it was changed to WWE 24/7 Classics on Demand. In April 2009, it was changed again to WWE Classics On Demand. WWE Classics was presented only on

digital cable Digital cable is the distribution of cable television using digital data and video compression. The technology was first developed by General Instrument. By 2000, most cable companies offered digital features, eventually replacing their previ ...

. Among the services carrying it were

Comcast Comcast Corporation (formerly known as American Cable Systems and Comcast Holdings),Before the AT&T merger in 2001, the parent company was Comcast Holdings Corporation. Comcast Holdings Corporation now refers to a subsidiary of Comcast Corpora ...

AT&T U-Verse U-verse TV is a DirecTV brand of IPTV service. Launched on June 26, 2006, U-verse included broadband Internet (now AT&T Internet or AT&T Fiber), IP telephone (now AT&T Phone), and IPTV (U-verse TV) services in 48 states.Verizon FiOS,

Mediacom Mediacom Communications Corporation is the United States' fifth largest cable television provider based on the number of video subscribers, and among the leading cable operators focused on serving smaller cities and towns. The company has a s ...

Charter Communications Charter Communications, Inc., is an American telecommunications and mass media company with services branded as Spectrum. With over 32 million customers in 41 states, it is the second-largest cable operator in the United States by subscribe ...

Cox Communications Cox Communications, Inc. (also known as Cox Cable and formerly Cox Broadcasting Corporation, Dimension Cable Services and Times-Mirror Cable) is an American digital cable television provider, telecommunications and home automation services. It i ...

Rogers Cable Rogers Cable Inc. is Canada's largest cable television service provider with about 2.25 million television customers, and over 930,000 Internet subscribers, primarily in Southern & Eastern Ontario, New Brunswick and Newfoundland and Labrador. R ...

, EastLink, Seaside Communications,

Cogeco Cogeco Inc. is a Canadian telecommunications and media company. Its corporate offices are located at 1 Place Ville-Marie in Montreal, Quebec. The company is structured into three strategic business units (SBU); Cogeco Connexion, Breezelin ...

Armstrong Armstrong may refer to: Places * Armstrong Creek (disambiguation), various places Antarctica * Armstrong Reef, Biscoe Islands Argentina * Armstrong, Santa Fe Australia * Armstrong, Victoria Canada * Armstrong, British Columbia * Armstrong, ...

Cablevision Cablevision Systems Corporation was an American cable television company with systems serving areas surrounding New York City. It was the fifth-largest cable provider and ninth-largest television provider in the United States. Throughout its e ...

Sky Italia Sky Italia S.r.l. is an Italian satellite television platform owned by the American media conglomerate Comcast. Sky Italia also broadcasts three national free-to-air television channels: TV8, Cielo and Sky TG24. As of 2018, following an agre ...

and not long ago,

Astro Astro may refer to: Entertainment and media * Astro (South Korean band), a South Korean boy band * Astro (UB40) (1957–2021), member of the British reggae band UB40 * Astro (Chilean band), a Chilean indie rock band * Astro (Japanese band), ...

. Some of its programming was packaged as ''Madison Square Garden Classics'' and began airing on

MSG Network The MSG Network (MSG) is an American regional cable and satellite television network, and radio service owned by MSG Entertainment, Inc.—a spin-off of the main Madison Square Garden Company operation (itself a spin-off of local cable prov ...

in the summer of 2006. In November 2007, the service had around 115,000 subscribers. The service closed on January 31, 2014 to make way for their new video-streaming and subscription service

WWE Network WWE Network is a subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and digital television Digital television (DTV) is the transmission of television signals using digital encoding, in contrast to the earlier analog television t ...

Programming buckets and programs

The programming buckets and the programs which usually or occasionally appear on them: * WWE Legends–focuses on "narrative, retrospective and thematic programs" dealing with "legendary" wrestlers. ** ''

Hall of Fame A hall, wall, or walk of fame is a list of individuals, achievements, or other entities, usually chosen by a group of electors, to mark their excellence or fame in their field. In some cases, these halls of fame consist of actual halls or muse ...

''– "Mean Gene" Okerlund hosts an original profile of a specific WWE Hall of Famer. *** Throughout the rest of the month a selection of matches featuring that star are featured, changing every two weeks. ** ''WWE Old School'' - Archival house shows from the 1970s to the 1990s. These shows mostly took place in New York, Boston, Toronto, and Philadelphia. ** '' Legends of Wrestling''–A round table discussion. An occasional program. ** ''The Film Room with Gordon Solie''–

Jim Ross James William Ross (born January 3, 1952) is an American professional wrestling commentator currently signed with All Elite Wrestling (AEW) as a commentator, analyst, and senior advisor. Ross is best known for a long and distinguished career a ...

introduces classic footage documenting the career of a specific wrestler or tracing a specific event/feud as called by and featuring interviews with

Gordon Solie Gordon Solie (born Francis Jonard Labiak, later Jonard Pierre Sjoblom, January 26, 1929July 27, 2000), was an American Florida-based professional wrestling play-by-play announcer working for Georgia Championship Wrestling, Championship Wrestlin ...

. An occasional program. ** This section also contains DVD and video releases. * The Big Events ** Vintage pay-per-views and "super show" events from WWF/WWE, WCW, NWA, and AWA. These events could be a few months to years old. ** ''WWE U-Choose'' (formerly ''Pick Your Big One'') - Every month three "Big One" events, based on the next months theme, are offered up to be voted on at WWE'
Classics subsite
with the winning event offered for viewing amongst the next months "Big Ones" selections. ** Usually, a WWE pay-per-view that aired about a few months prior will be shown. This is shown in its entirety, but had also been broken down match by match as an additional option. * TV Classics–The

history of professional wrestling The history of professional wrestling, as a performing art, started in the early 20th century, with predecessors in funfair and variety strongman and wrestling performances (which often involved match fixing) in the 19th century. Professional w ...

is shown through re-airings of wrestling television shows. **

- Hosted by

Joey Styles Joseph Carmine Bonsignore (born July 14, 1971) better known by his ring name Joey Styles, is an American former professional wrestling commentator. He is best known for his time with ECW and WWE. Before working for WWE, Styles was a full-time ...

, Tazz was the original host of the show until he left WWE in April 2009.

Tommy Dreamer Thomas James Laughlin (born February 13, 1971), is an American professional wrestler and promoter better known by the ring name Tommy Dreamer. He is signed to Impact Wrestling and is the owner and promoter of the House of Hardcore (HOH) prom ...

took over for Tazz as co-host until he left WWE in January 2010. **

WWF Championship Wrestling ''WWF Championship Wrestling'' is a professional wrestling television program produced by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE). It aired from 1971 to August 30, 1986 and was the original television show of the WWF. Originally produced u ...

- Without a Host **

AWA All-Star Wrestling ''AWA All-Star Wrestling'' was a Broadcast syndication, syndicated television series featuring wrestling matches as promoted by the American Wrestling Association (AWA). ''All-Star Wrestling'' footage (and AWA footage as a whole) is now owned by Wo ...

- without a host **

AWA Championship Wrestling ''AWA Championship Wrestling'' is a professional wrestling television series that aired on cable sports network ESPN from 1985 to 1990. It was a continuation of the earlier ESPN program ''Pro Wrestling USA'', the co-operative venture between the Am ...

- Hosted by Larry Nelson **

Championship Wrestling from Florida Championship Wrestling from Florida (CWF) was the corporate and brand name of the Tampa, Florida wrestling office existing from 1961, when Eddie Graham first bought into the promotion, until 1987, when it closed down. It is also referred to as ...

- Hosted by Mike Graham (discontinued in 2008) **

Smoky Mountain Wrestling Smoky Mountain Wrestling was a professional wrestling promotion that held events in the Appalachian area of the United States from October 1991 to December 1995, when it was run by Jim Cornette. The promotion was based in Knoxville, Tennessee, wit ...

- without a host **

World Class Championship Wrestling World Class Championship Wrestling (WCCW), later known as the World Class Wrestling Association (WCWA) (1986–1991) was an American professional wrestling promotion headquartered in Dallas and Fort Worth, Texas. Originally owned by promoter Ed ...

- Hosted by Michael "P. S." Hayes and

Kevin Von Erich Kevin Ross Adkisson (born May 15, 1957) is an American retired professional wrestler, better known by his ring name, Kevin Von Erich. A member of the Von Erich family, Von Erich is best known for his appearances with his father's World Class C ...

Jimmy Garvin James Williams (born September 25, 1952) is an United States of America, American retired professional wrestling, professional wrestler, better known by his ring names "Gorgeous Jimmy" Garvin and Jimmy "Jam" Garvin. A member of The Fabulous Freeb ...

fills in for Von Erich from time to time. **

- without a host **

Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling Jim Crockett Promotions Inc. is a family-owned professional wrestling promotion headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, United States, restarted by Jim Crockett's son and Jim Crockett Jr's brother, David Crockett. Founded in 1931, the promoti ...

- without a host ** ''

WWF Prime Time Wrestling ''WWF Prime Time Wrestling'' is a professional wrestling television program that was produced by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). It aired on the USA Network from January 1, 1985, to January 4, 1993. A precursor to ''Monday Night Raw'', ''Pr ...

'' - without a host *** Originally alternated with ''

Tuesday Night Titans ''Tuesday Night Titans'' (abbreviated ''TNT'') was a professional wrestling talk show produced by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). It aired on the USA Network from May 29, 1984 to September 24, 1986. The two-hour show began airing on Tuesday ...

'' in the programming schedule until the final ''TNT'' aired in February 2009. ** ''The Monday Night War'' - Hosted by

, formerly hosted by Michael Cole, chronological re-airings of the week to week competition between ''

WWF Monday Night Raw ''WWE Raw'', also known as ''Monday Night Raw'' or simply ''Raw'', is an American professional wrestling television program produced by WWE that currently airs live every Monday at 8 p.m. ET on the USA Network in the United States. The show fe ...

'' and ''

WCW Monday Nitro ''WCW Monday Nitro'', also known as ''WCW Nitro'' or simply ''Nitro'', is an American professional wrestling television program that was produced by World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and broadcast weekly every Monday night on TNT in the Unite ...

''. Airs as two separate programs. It originally aired as one program until January 2008. ** ''Monday Night War: The Beginning'' - Hosted by Michael Cole, alternating with the "original" ''Monday Night War'' programs, ''The Beginning'' focuses on the start of the "war" in 1995. It airs as one program like the "original" show did. When this show debuted, Michael Cole was seen sitting behind the RAW announce position inside an empty arena explaining the programming change. This lasted a few episodes until the show began airing without the interlude. ** Additional programming, sometimes but not always, related to the months theme, is also put into this section. * Shorties ** Matches and/or memorable moments centered on the month's theme are hosted by a particular superstar (''e.g.'' moments or matches involving food for Thanksgiving).

Previous buckets

When the service debuted it did so with six, more specialized, buckets. Around April 4, 2007 they were combined and pruned into a more broad set of four. This was done, according to the free "Month Preview" show hosted by Jack Korpela to make things easier for Classics viewers. The original six buckets and their programming were: * Hall of Fame - Featuring only the Okerlund hosted biography and matches of a particular Hall of Famer. * Big Ones - Past pay-per-views * Specials - Home video releases and network specials * ECW - The ''History of ECW'' show (then hosted by Tazz alone) * Prime Time - Any past wrestling programming that would have originally aired in or around "

prime time Prime time or the peak time is the block of broadcast programming taking place during the middle of the evening for a television show. It is mostly targeted towards adults (and sometimes families). It is used by the major television networks to ...

," including ''Monday Night Wars'', which aired as one program. * Old School - Recorded house shows Over time the "ECW" bucket was expanded to "Territories - ECW" and began to incorporate shows from the "territorial days" of the business. Later still the name was changed to its current "TV Classics" when it started housing the programming found in the "Prime Time" bucket, which was removed altogether. The "Old School" and "Big Ones" buckets were combined, keeping the "Big Ones" name, and becoming a bucket for any and all larger shows. "Hall of Fame" was renamed to the less restrictive "WWE Legends" and began to house material from the "Specials" bucket, which was also removed.

Legends of Wrestling

''Legends of Wrestling'' is an original series made specifically for the Classics service. The program features various "legends" of the business, for their work in and out of the ring, having a roundtable discussion about specific topics, persons, or occurrences in the history of wrestling. The show was originally hosted by WWE commentator

–with former interviewer

Gene Okerlund Eugene Arthur Okerlund (December 19, 1942 – January 2, 2019), better known by his ring name "Mean Gene" Okerlund, was an American professional wrestling interviewer, announcer and television host. He was best known for his work in the World Wre ...

filling in for him on a few occasions–until Okerlund took over hosting duties completely with the shows fourth panel. The series was divided into unofficial "seasons" of hour-long episodes (each with a short intermission) featuring the same panels. In January 2009, a DVD box set of three episodes: Sgt. Slaughter/Ric Flair,

Jerry Lawler Jerry O'Neil Lawler (born November 29, 1949), better known as Jerry "The King" Lawler, is an American color commentator and professional wrestler. He is currently signed to WWE, although he has not performed as a full-time commentator since Ap ...

/the

Junkyard Dog Sylvester Ritter (December 13, 1952 – June 1, 1998) was an American professional wrestler and college football player, best known for his work in Mid-South Wrestling and the World Wrestling Federation as the Junkyard Dog (or JYD), a nickname ...

, and "Heatseekers"—about wrestlers who have a reputation of "causing trouble" backstage—along with bonus matches involving the stars.

Best Buy Best Buy Co. Inc. is an American multinational consumer electronics retailer headquartered in Richfield, Minnesota. Originally founded by Richard M. Schulze and James Wheeler in 1966 as an audio specialty store called Sound of Music, it was rebra ...

exclusives episodes

Bob Backlund Robert Louis Backlund (born August 14, 1949) is an American retired amateur and professional wrestler. He is best known for his appearances in the World Wide Wrestling Federation/ World Wrestling Federation from 1976 to 1984 and in the 1990s, whe ...

Hulk Hogan Terry Eugene Bollea (; born August 11, 1953), better known by his ring name Hulk Hogan, is an American retired professional wrestler. He is widely regarded as the most recognized wrestling star worldwide and the most popular wrestler of the 19 ...

The Iron Sheik Hossein Khosrow Ali Vaziri ( fa, حسین خسرو علی وزیری, romanized: Hossein Xosrô 'Ali Vaziri; born March 15, 1942), better known by his ring name the Iron Sheik, is an Iranian retired professional wrestler, amateur wrestler and ...

André the Giant André René Roussimoff (; 19 May 1946 – 28 January 1993), better known by his ring name André the Giant, was a French professional wrestler and actor. Roussimoff was known for his great size, which was a result of gigantism caused by excess ...

, and

"Rowdy" Roddy Piper Roderick George Toombs (April 17, 1954 – July 31, 2015), better known as "Rowdy" Roddy Piper, was a Canadian professional wrestler, amateur wrestler, and actor. In professional wrestling, Piper was best known to international audiences for his ...

Terry Funk Terrence Funk (born June 30, 1944) is an American retired professional wrestler, rapper, disc jockey and actor. Funk is known for the longevity of his career – which spanned more than 50 years and included multiple short-lived retirements – ...

were also released. The episodes come from the first season, with the exception of "Heatseekers", which is a second-season episode.

Extra material

* Before some selections begin there are short "promos" and clips shown featuring either memorable moments in the history of wrestling or a selection of highlights of a particular superstar before that star announces "You're watching WWE 24/7". * Early in the service's existence, it included an on-screen crawl during some content detailing historical moments—title changes, important matches, birthdays—in the history of wrestling for the month. The crawl was later changed to only featuring title changes. * Other times a

lower third In the television industry, a lower third is a graphic overlay placed in the title-safe lower area of the screen, though not necessarily the entire lower third of it, as the name suggests. In its simplest form, a lower third can just be text ...

will appear on screen to provide supplemental information to what's going on on screen. Often it is tied into the month's theme. * On Monday Night Wars, an occasional segment called "War Stories" follows a key moment in the Monday Night War, where stars involved in the moment discuss the immediate reactions to the segment, but can also give insights into why a particular segment happened.

WWE Video Library

The WWE Video Library is the largest professional wrestling tape library anywhere in the world, with well over 100,000 hours of content. It not only consists of World Wrestling Entertainment footage (dating back to 1970), but WWE has aggressively purchased regional and national competitors, through time amassing a gargantuan library of television programs, pay-per-view recordings, video productions, and recordings of wrestling matches dating back to the 1950s and representing a very significant portion of the visual history of modern

professional wrestling Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring or ...

and

sports entertainment Sports entertainment is a type of spectacle which presents an ostensibly competitive event using a high level of theatrical flourish and extravagant presentation, with the purpose of entertaining an audience. Unlike typical sports and games, whi ...

Editing

Since World Wrestling Entertainment is no longer allowed to use the "WWF" initialism or their 1998–2002 logo except for "specified circumstances", instances of both were edited and/or removed from pertinent programming. In late July 2012, WWE reached a settlement with the World Wide Fund for Nature which once again allows them to use the "WWF" initials and scratch logo on archive footage. Unedited footage first appeared on the 1000th episode of ''Monday Night Raw'' and since then has appeared in full length matches shown on the WWE website and on Classics on Demand. In addition, previously licensed music to which the rights have expired are removed or replaced with alternate songs. Additionally, some formerly live events are censored for language and/or nudity. Ring announcer

Michael Buffer Michael Buffer (born November 2, 1944) is an American ring announcer (or " MC") for boxing, professional wrestling, and National Football League matches. He is known for his trademarked catchphrase: "Let's get ready to rumble!" Early life Bu ...

is also edited out of any programming due to his trademarked phrase, "Let's Get Ready to Rumble". In the wake of the

Chris Benoit Christopher Michael Benoit (; May 21, 1967 – June 24, 2007) was a Canadian professional wrestler. He worked for various pro-wrestling promotions during his 22-year career including most notably the World Wrestling Federation/World Wrestlin ...

double murder-suicide a number of wrestling websites reported that the likeness of and references to both Chris and

Nancy Benoit Nancy Elizabeth Benoit (formerly Daus, Sullivan, née Toffoloni; May 17, 1964 – June 22, 2007) was an American professional wrestling manager and model. She was best known for her appearances with Extreme Championship Wrestling and World Champi ...

were being removed from pertinent programming. Eventually Nancy's image was allowed to return to programming, though over six years later Benoit's continued to be excised. Most notably both his wrestling and mention of his name was removed from episodes of ''Monday Night Wars'' airings of ''WCW Monday Nitro'', as well as match segments from other shows, though he is occasionally mentioned and shown in brief non-wrestling roles. His image eventually returned in a wrestling role during a rebroadcast of World War 3 from 1997. In early January 2014, WWE issued a memo stating that footage involving Chris Benoit would air on the WWE Network with the following advisory: "The following program is presented in its original form. It may contain some content that does not reflect WWE's corporate views and may not be suitable for all viewers. WWE characters are fictitious and do not reflect the personal lives of the actors portraying them. Viewer discretion is advised."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wwe Classics On Demand 2004 establishments in Connecticut 2014 disestablishments in Connecticut Internet properties disestablished in 2014 Internet properties established in 2004 Internet television channels Subscription video on demand services Professional wrestling streaming services WWE