14h07 PDT 03/25/2021
in
James Hibberd
As the WWE Network’s 17,000 hours of transition from wrestling programming to Peacock, fans noticed that some scenes are missing.
Some classic WWE episodes are being revised in his move to Peacock.
Racist moments in the history of the wrestling franchise are being quietly excluded from the archive as the huge programming library gradually transitions from the WWE Network.
According to sources familiar with the situation, NBCUniversal’s proprietary streaming service is reviewing all 17,000 hours of WWE content to ensure it is in line with Peacock standards and practices. WWE is also being informed of any changes made.
One of the changes was at WrestleMania 6 in 1990, which featured a fight between Roddy Piper and Bad News Brown that included Piper (a white fighter) painting half of his face black while facing Brown (a black fighter). “I hear Bad News Brown, how he’s talking about Harlem, and how proud he is to be from Harlem …” Piper said during the pre-match interview. “Now I can stay here and I can be black! I can be white! Don’t make any difference to me … that’s what’s inside.”
As first reported by PW Insider, the match is no longer included in the episode. In a 2020 interview, Brown reflected on Blackface’s feat. “I thought it was the stupidest thing I’ve ever seen,” he said, “and I thought, ‘Let him do that … and one of those times he’ll regret it.'”
Another excluded moment was from the 2005 Survivor Series 19. In a notorious part, WWE CEO Vince McMahon (acting in his corporate villain persona on camera) said the word with N to a shocked John Cena and then passed by a stunned Booker T, says, “Tell me he didn’t just say This one. “At the time, a WWE spokesman defended McMahon for TMZ, calling him” a bizarre and satirical skit involving fictional characters, similar to that of many television shows and scripted films. “
Many other moments have also caused controversy over the years.
WWE Network began moving to Peacock on March 18. The WWE Network cost $ 9.99 a month, but Peacock costs just $ 4.99 a month, so the move was seen as a good deal for fans.
Peacock has a dedicated WWE section where fans can browse and access all PPV events over the past year; episodes from the current or most recent season of the original WWE series The Broken Skull Sessions by Steve Austin, WWE Chronicle, and WWE icons along with new weekly episodes of NXT the day after the air. Peacock is continually adding content from the WWE Network and will eventually include all the WWE, WCW and ECW PPV events in history.
The company’s goal is to have all classic content reviewed and available for streaming on demand before SummerSlam In August.