WWE Классика по запросу: Архив рестлинга

WWE subscription television program

WWE Classics On Demand was an American subscription video on demand television service provided by WWE. It featured footage from WWE's vast archive of wrestling footage, including classic WWE, World Championship Wrestling (WCW), Extreme Championship Wrestling (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. Among the services carrying it were Comcast, AT&T U Verse (discontinued in 2012), Verizon FiOS, Mediacom, Charter Communications, Cox Communications, Rogers Cable, EastLink, Seaside Communications, Cogeco, Armstrong, Cablevision, Sky Italia and not long ago, Astro. Some of its programming was packaged as Madison Square Garden Classics and began airing on MSG Network 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.

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 Jim Ross–with former interviewer Gene Okerlund 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/the Junkyard Dog, and "Heatseekers"—about wrestlers who have a reputation of "causing trouble" backstage—along with bonus matches involving the stars. Best Buy exclusives episodes Bob Backlund/Hulk Hogan, The Iron Sheik/André the Giant, and "Rowdy" Roddy Piper/Terry Funk were also released. The episodes come from the first season, with the exception of "Heatseekers", which is a second season episode.

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 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.

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 and sports entertainment.