List of former WWE television programming

The following is a list of former WWE television programming. It also includes programming produced under the Capitol Wrestling Corporation (CWC), World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF), and World Wrestling Federation (WWF) banners.

1950s

Heavyweight Wrestling (1950s–1971)

The very first programming produced by the Capitol Wrestling Corporation, the WWWF's immediate predecessor, was Heavyweight Wrestling. The show involved wrestlers of low card to main event status. Following an episode's final match, the ring announcers informed viewers about next week's matches. Most of the events were held in District of Columbia's National Arena. Ray Morgan did the commentary for the show and "Friendly" Bob Freed and "Smiling" Sam Morgan served as ring announcers. Usually the main events involved WWWF Champion Bruno Sammartino retaining his title. The show ended In September 1971 and was replaced by All-Star Wrestling.

1970s

All-Star Wrestling (1971–1986)

All-Star Wrestling consisted of top-tier or mid-card talent defeating enhancement talent (jobbers), jobbers vs. jobber matches, and at times a feature match between main WWF talent. The show was taped at the Hamburg Fieldhouse in Hamburg, Pennsylvania. The show replaced Heavyweight Wrestling from Washington DC. All-Star Wrestling ran from October 2, 1971 through August 30, 1986, when it was replaced by the new program Wrestling Challenge. Challenge was the "B" show of the WWF's syndicated programming, behind Superstars. Typically, the show comprised matches with play-by-play from Vince McMahon, with occasional assistance from Lord Alfred Hayes and Pat Patterson; it was later hosted by Gorilla Monsoon and Jesse Ventura. From 1984 to 1986, the theme of All-Star Wrestling was David Bowie's "Modern Love".

Championship Wrestling (1972–1986)

Championship Wrestling is one of the original TV shows of the World Wrestling Federation. It included all the stars of the WWF, interviews and championship matches. The show lasted from 1972 until August 1986 and was the flagship of the WWF's programming until it was replaced by Superstars of Wrestling. In 1984, the show used "Thriller" by Michael Jackson as its opening theme. The host and announcer was Vince McMahon, often joined by a co-host.

1980s

All American Wrestling (1983–1994)

WWF All American Wrestling is a cable television program that was a predecessor to Tuesday Night Titans and Saturday Night's Main Event, originally filling the 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time slot on Sundays vacated by the cancellation of Southwest Championship Wrestling. The show ran from September 4, 1983 to October 16, 1994 on the USA Network. After it was canceled in 1994, it was replaced by Action Zone.

World Championship Wrestling (1984–1985)

World Championship Wrestling is a television program that was produced by WWF that aired on Superstation WTBS from 1984 to 1985. The show took over the time slot of Georgia Championship Wrestling's World Championship Wrestling program that had been broadcasting on WTBS for 12 years; the WWF had purchased a majority interest in GCW. Poor fan response to the use of match footage already broadcast elsewhere instead of new matches and the style of WWF programming led Turner to give other time slots to competing promotions, leading to strained relations between TBS and the WWF. The time slot and program name was eventually sold to Jim Crockett Promotions, who continued to use the World Championship Wrestling for the show name until 1988, when TBS itself bought the assets of JCP and used the name for the promotion World Championship Wrestling.

Maple Leaf Wrestling (1984–1986)

Maple Leaf Wrestling is a television program that was produced by WWF that aired exclusively in Canada. The show came into creation after the WWF's takeover of the independent Maple Leaf Wrestling promotion. The show was discontinued in 1986 and was replaced by various WWF syndicated programming.

Tuesday Night Titans (1984–1986)

Tuesday Night Titans (abbreviated TNT[1]) aired on the USA Network from 1984 to 1986 and was promoted as a variety show.

Prime Time Wrestling (1985–1993)

WWF Prime Time Wrestling aired on the USA Network from 1985 to 1993. A precursor to Monday Night Raw, Prime Time Wrestling was a two-hour-long, weekly program that included stars of the World Wrestling Federation. The program comprised wrestling matches (most of which were compiled from the WWF's syndicated programs of the era, combined with "house show" matches from venues such as Madison Square Garden), interviews, promos by wrestlers, updates of current feuds and announcements of upcoming local and pay-per-view events.

Hulk Hogan's Rock 'n' Wrestling (1985–1987)

Hulk Hogan's Rock 'n' Wrestling is an animated television series produced by the WWF and aired on CBS from September 14, 1985 to October 18, 1986, with reruns airing until June 27, 1987[2] The series was based on Hulk Hogan and various other WWF wrestlers.

Saturday Night's Main Event (1985–2008)

Saturday Night's Main Event aired occasionally from 1985 to 1992, under the World Wrestling Federation banner on NBC in place of Saturday Night Live. The show was relaunched in 2006 and continued to air until 2008. During its second run, it was also broadcast on ESPN Radio. At the time of the original airing it was a rare example of professional wrestling being broadcast on an over-the-air commercial Free television network after the 1950s. It coincided with and contributed to the apogee of the "second golden age" of professional wrestling in the United States. In a time when weekly programming consisted primarily of established stars dominating enhancement talent, Saturday Night's Main Event was made up entirely of star vs. star matches. After leaving NBC in 1991, it aired twice on Fox in 1992 before disappearing. Saturday Night's Main Event was revived in 2006 as a "special series" to air on occasion on NBC as part of a deal between WWE and NBCUniversal.

Wrestling Spotlight (1986–1995)

WWF Wrestling Spotlight is syndicated from 1986 to 1995.[3] The show was hosted by various personalities generally from a studio or control room and consisted primarily of matches from other WWF programming.[3]

Wrestling Challenge (1986–1996)

WWF Wrestling Challenge aired from 1986 to August 1995 and was syndicated weekly.[3] The show premiered as WWF Wrestling Challenge and became simply known as WWF Challenge in 1995. The show comprised matches, pre-match interviews, enhancement talent matches, and occasionally, summarized weekly events in WWF programming. As with other syndicated WWF programming, the show promoted WWF event dates and house shows in local media markets.

Superstars of Wrestling (1986–2001)

WWF Superstars of Wrestling is a professional wrestling program that debuted on September 6, 1986 in syndication aired until 2001, by that time having moved to cable. Superstars, as it would later be known, was the flagship of the WWF's programming from its inception until being eclipsed by Monday Night Raw in 1993.

The Main Event (1988–1991)

WWF The Main Event is a spin-off of the show WWF Saturday Night's Main Event and occasionally aired on NBC on Friday nights. Only the first three The Main Event episodes were shown live on NBC. The final two were taped and then shown on NBC at a later date. Alongside Saturday Night's Main Event, it usually comprised "talent vs. talent" matches, which were uncommon for the time as most WWF programming aired "talent vs. jobber" matches.

1990s

Sunday Night Slam (1994–1995)

WWF Sunday Night Slam is a program by the WWF that aired Sunday nights on the USA Network.

Action Zone (1994–1996)

WWF Action Zone is a program that aired on the USA Network from 1994 to 1996 and was hosted by Todd Pettengill and Dok Hendrix. Originally the show comprised matches with top WWF talent but by the end of 1995, Action Zone became a Sunday morning highlights show highlighting both Monday Night RAW and Superstars of Wrestling. In 1996, Action Zone was canceled and replaced by Superstars which had moved to USA Network from syndication.

Mania (1993–1996)

WWF Mania is a WWF Saturday morning television program that aired on the USA Network between 1993 and 1996. The show recapped events that happened during the week in the WWF at the time and, in its earlier years, usually included an exclusive match.

Friday Night's Main Event (1997)

WWF Friday Night's Main Event aired on the USA Network when Raw was preempted on the weeks of August 29 and September 5 in 1997, due to USA's coverage of the US Open. This program averaged a low 1.5 rating.

Shotgun Saturday Night (1997–1999)

WWF Shotgun Saturday Night aired between 1997 and 1999 and was a syndicated show that comprised matches with lower card wrestlers. Shotgun Saturday Night was replaced by WWF Jakked in 1999. As a notation, there were various versions of this show that floated around in different markets such as WWF Shotgun and WWF Shotgun Challenge, which were basically the same content just rearranged with different commentary (Shotgun Challenge being specific to the New York market). There were also three other shows with basically the same content, although camera angles, commentary, and local promos were different. Those being Canadian Superstars (hosted By Tom Prichard, Ray Rougeau and - briefly - Gorilla Monsoon), WWF New York (hosted by Vince Russo among others), and WWF 11:Alive.

Super Astros (1998–1999)

WWF Super Astros (English: WWF Superstars) is a Spanish-language television program produced by the WWF from 1998 to 1999. The show featured lower-card WWF superstars as well as competitors from Mexico and Japan.

LiveWire (1996–2001)

WWF LiveWire is a WWF television program that aired Saturday mornings on the USA Network from 1996 to 2000 and on TNN from 2000 to 2001.

Jakked/Metal (1999–2002)

WWF Jakked and WWF Metal are television programs that were produced by the WWF. Both shows aired syndicated weekly from 1999 until 2002 and replaced Shotgun Saturday Night.

Heat (1998–2008)

Heat (formerly known as Sunday Night Heat) aired on USA Network, MTV and Spike TV in the United States, Channel 4 and Sky1 in the United Kingdom and CTV Sportsnet in Canada. It was most recently streamed on WWE.com on Friday afternoons for North American viewers. However, the show was still televised internationally and showed in the United Kingdom on Sky Sports 3, Australia on Fox8, India on TEN Sports, Germany on Premiere Sport Portal, France on Action, Spain on Sportmania and C+ Deportes -both channels from Digital +, the Middle East on ShowSports4, the Philippines on Jack TV, and Japan on J SPORTS. The final episode was uploaded to WWE.com on May 30, 2008.[4] The show was replaced internationally with WWE Vintage Collection, a program showing classic WWE matches.[5]

2000s

Excess (2001–2002)

Excess is a wrestling talk (originally call-in) show that featured WWF guest superstars and divas.[6] It ran from August 25, 2001 through May 18, 2002. It was originally hosted by Jonathan Coachman and Trish Stratus. Stratus, however, was replaced in late 2001 by Terri Runnels.[7] The program showed classic matches from the WWF's archives, many of which were often taken from viewer suggestions. Starting on the April 6, 2002 episode, the first hour of the show stayed under the Excess name, and was hosted by Michael Cole and Marc Lloyd, who presented an hour of SmackDown highlights and news. The second hour was renamed Late Night Excess and was presented by Coachman and Raven. That show featured Raw highlights, though it lasted only over a month as it was replaced by WWE Velocity and WWE Confidential later in 2002.

Attitude (2001–2002)

Attitude is a magazine/highlight show that aired in Saturday prime time on The WB 100+ Station Group, designed to appeal to smaller towns ranked below the top 100 television markets in the United States.[8] The series debuted September 8, 2001 and ran through May 2002.

Confidential (2002–2004)

WWE Confidential is a program that focused more on various behind-the-scenes things in the company. The program aired on TNN late Saturday nights, following Velocity, from 2002 to 2004 and was hosted by Gene Okerlund.[6]

Velocity (2002–2006)

Premiering in 2002, Velocity became to the SmackDown brand what Heat was to the Raw brand. Velocity aired Saturday nights on Spike TV until 2005 and continued (like Heat) as a webcast on WWE.com and continued airing on international broadcasters. Velocity ended its run in 2006.

MSG Classics (2006–2009)

WWE Madison Square Garden Classics is a professional wrestling television program for World Wrestling Entertainment that aired on the MSG Network featuring most WWE matches from house shows, pay-per-views, and WWE Raw broadcasts that took place at Madison Square Garden.[6] It debuted on July 12, 2006 and ran for three seasons until the last new episode aired on September 17, 2008. The MSG Network showed reruns of eight episodes from season three in 2009.

ECW (2006–2010)

ECW is a professional wrestling television program for WWE, based on the Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) promotion that lasted from 1992 to 2001. The show's name also referred to the ECW brand, in which WWE employees were assigned to work and perform, complementary to WWE's other brands, Raw and SmackDown. It debuted on June 13, 2006 on Sci Fi Channel in the United States and ran for close to four years until it aired its final episode on February 16, 2010 on the rebranded Syfy.

Legends of Wrestling (2006–2012)

Legends of Wrestling is an original series made specifically for WWE Classics on Demand service.[9] 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.

FCW (2008–2012)

FCW is a professional wrestling television program for World Wrestling Entertainment and the flagship show of WWE's developmental territory Florida Championship Wrestling. The program debuted on October 5, 2008[10] on the Bright House Sports Network and ran for nearly four years before airing it final episode on July 15, 2012.[11]

2010s

Saturday Morning Slam (2012–2013)

WWE Saturday Morning Slam is a professional wrestling television program by WWE that was catered to the children's demographic. Saturday Morning Slam aired on The CW Vortexx programming block on Saturday mornings, and was rated TV-G. As a result, moves that targeted the head or neck were banned. It was cancelled in 2013, airing its final episode on May 11, 2013.

Slam City (2014)

WWE Slam City is an animated program by WWE that aired on Nicktoons and the WWE Network in the United States. The program aired in 2014 and involved various toyetic versions of WWE wrestlers.

Superstars (2009–2016)

WWE Superstars is a professional wrestling television program that was produced by WWE, that originally aired on WGN America in the United States and later broadcast on the WWE Network. It debuted on April 16, 2009 and ended its domestic broadcasting after 398 episodes on November 25, 2016.

Raw Sunday Dhamaal (2015–2017)

Raw Sunday Dhamaal is a professional wrestling recap show that was produced by WWE. Available in both Hindi and English, the program aired exclusively in India and the Arab world. It was replaced in 2017 by WWE Sunday Dhamaal.

See also

References

  1. ↑ TNT Show: Tuesday Night Titans (TNT) was the WWF's answer to the Sonny & Cher variety hour, as superstars danced, told jokes, and basically made asses of themselves.
  2. ↑ "Hulk Hogan's Rock N' Wrestling Episode Guide -DiC Ent | Big Cartoon DataBase". Bcdb.com. Retrieved September 17, 2016.
  3. 1 2 3 Shields, Brian; Sullivan, Kevin (2009). WWE Encyclopedia. DK. p. 96. ISBN 978-0-7566-4190-0.
  4. ↑ Josh Mathews blog confirming final episode of Heat Archived 2008-06-02 at the Wayback Machine.
  5. ↑ WWE.com UK television schedule
  6. 1 2 3 Shields, Brian; Sullivan, Kevin (2009). WWE Encyclopedia. DK. p. 97. ISBN 978-0-7566-4190-0.
  7. ↑ Mooneyham, Mike (2008-11-30). "Wrestling diva a woman for all seasons". The Post and Courier. Archived from the original on 2008-12-04. Retrieved 2008-12-25.
  8. ↑ "WWF spreads its `Attitude' | TVWeek". www.tvweek.com. Retrieved 2017-11-28.
  9. ↑ ""Legends of Wrestling" Program Debuts on WWE 24/7 On Demand". WWE Corporate. Archived from the original on January 7, 2007. Retrieved 2007-11-21.
  10. ↑ "FCW TV #1". Cagematch.net. Retrieved 2012-11-14.
  11. ↑ "FCW TV #197". Cagematch.net. Retrieved 2012-11-14.
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