WWE: Is Their Overhauled YouTube Channel a Success or Failure so Far?

When WWE launched their revamped and expanded YouTube channel last month, per their new deal with the video-sharing giant, many fans and critics looked on with keen interest.

You see, far from being merely an extra perk that would make the company a decent amount of cash on the side, the improved channel and its wide array of fresh and original content was also, in many ways, a trial run for the official WWE Network (which is apparently being launched some time later this year, although even that may be in doubt now with the company facing serious issues in gaining widespread clearance for the channel). 

Fresh shows such as Santino's Foreign Exchange, Superstar Toyz and Are You Serious? would give us a tantalizing and much-needed insight into what we could expect when the network launched in the fall (or whenever). 

It also served as a crucial test for the promotion. After all, if they couldn't churn out competently made, entertaining skits of around roughly five minutes (the average length of a new WWE YouTube show), what hope did they have of providing hours and hours of fresh and suitable content on a network? 

So, has the new channel been a success? Eh, the jury is still out on that one.

Undoubtedly, from a purely production aspect, WWE have been aided by the YT channel and it has provided a nice trial run for the eventual network. With the multitude of new shows, Kevin Dunn and company have likely been afforded the opportunity to smooth out rougher aspects of their content, working with a small budget, and discover what is and isn't working.

So from a production standpoint, the channel is fine. It looks like a decent amount of effort has gone into it and the company, rather than just throwing hastily-made shows out there for the quick web hits, are taking the entire venture very seriously.

The actual content of these shows, on the other hand, is a decidedly mixed bag. Indeed, some of these programmers have such laughable premises it's difficult to see how they could turn most of them into longer content that the company would feel fine with putting on the network's programming schedule.

It would be unfair to dismiss all of their new content. Indeed, Are You Serious?, a MST3K-inspired show which sees Josh Matthews and Road Dogg being imprisoned in the basement of Titan Towers and forced to watch terrible wrestling footage, is a genuinely funny show which could have legs as longer programming.

Interestingly, most of the awful footage and lame storylines Matthews and Road Dogg make fun of is from WCW rather than WWF/E. A mere coincidence, I'm sure.

Backstage Fallout, a hand-held documentary-like show which offers candid, on-the-spot interviews from stars after episodes of Raw and Smackdown has its touches of greatness too. At a time when cheesy, melodramatic storylines taint the entire product (the Ryder/Eve/Cena storyline, anyone?), it's nice to see WWE churn out something so realistic and gritty. 

Alas, the rest of new shows do not hold up so well. Santino's Foriegn Exchange, which sees Santino interview various WWE stars and get into the occasional wacky adventure, is simply not funny and, even at its short time length, still manages to drag. 

Dolph Ziggler tries with This Download, a show which sees the wrestler mock a variety of embarrassing YouTube videos, but something is missing. An in-character Ziggler making fun of geeks on YouTube should be hilarious, but it's not.

The entire thing feels so flat and we've seen the former US Champion be a lot funnier on various episodes of Raw and SmackDown. Indeed, the sole highlight of This Download seems to Ziggler getting to show off his (admittedly impressive) array of Miami Vice-style dinner jackets.

WWE Inbox, which sees various wrestlers answer questions, isn't up to much either. It would help if the (viewer submitted) queries were remotely interesting, rather than just your run-of-the-mill celebrity nonsense (typical weighty question: "Who is your favourite superhero?"). 

Superstar Toyz and Outside the Ring are decent ideas, but I strongly suspect haven't got enough to keep a large audience gripped (so far, we've been cooking the Usos, buying shoes with Natalya and following Alberto Del Rio around as a he buys a fancy car, none of which managed to be nearly as fun as they sound).

Sure, they might be fine as throwaway website videos, but actually trying to get a one hour show on the network out of these things? Yeah...good luck with that, Vince.

Summarily, it would be wrong to entirely dismiss the new and revamped YouTube channel. It is making the company money and garnering them a decent amount of hits. As a side project, it is fine, if not particularly impressive. No doubt it will help gain exposure for some of the lower-card guys and divas (many of whom get used for these skits/segments, presumably because the bigger stars all have something better to do.) 

However, if some of the cheaply-filmed content really is an indication of what is going to be on the network when (or rather if) it launches, this is not at all encouraging.

I mean, come on. Is Santino's Foreign Exchange going to be something you can put on in prime-time? You fill up a network with mindless stuff like this and the whole thing is going to be a giant flop. 

Not that this should be surprising. These days all the signs point to the struggling WWE Network being in big trouble.