10 Things Still Missing From WWE Network

In fairness to WWE, there’s only so much World Class Championship Wrestling they can conceivably add at the moment. They only own the tape library up until 1988, when WCCW was purchased by Jarrett Promotions, which means they’re missing close to two years of action before the company’s 1990 death. Still, WWE should have more than enough footage from the company’s peak years (1981-85) to produce a comprehensive archive.

World Class was hugely successful in the ‘80s, and shattered numerous attendance records for wrestling in and around the Texas area. Originally owned by Fritz Von Erich, WCCW’s bookers centered the action around the hugely popular Von Erich family fighting a wide cast of devious villainous, and placed a strong emphasis on storytelling.

From the Von Erichs to the Fabulous Freebirds, WCCW promoted some of the biggest stars in the business, and they changed the game in more ways than one. They broke the mould with state of the art television production that eschewed squash matches (which were the norm for the era) in favour of genuine main event-level match-ups. Furthermore, they were the first company to use multiple hand-held cameras to shoot the action, giving their shows a more up-close, urgent feel.

There are currently 29 episodes of WCCW television to be found on the WWE Network, and that’s disappointing. Going back to older footage isn’t always easy, but it feels like an important part of wrestling history is grossly under represented on the Network at the moment.