WWE scores big on new TV Deals

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Submitted by Critical Blast Staff on Mon, 05/21/2018 - 14:07

Once again, it is I, The Masked Ace, Critical Blast's resident wrestling expert!

Last week, it was announced that Universal/NBC had decided to keep Raw on the USA Network, reportedly tripling what they were paying the WWE. Smackdown would no longer be on USA, and WWE had been shopping it around. The frontrunners included Fox, Facebook, and Amazon.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, Fox will be the anticipated home of WWE SMACKDOWN LIVE in a massive new five-year deal worth more than $1 billion. The new deal, which is nearing completion and is worth $205 million annually, is expected to begin in October 2019. There is also talk on moving SMACKDOWN LIVE to Friday.

Not only is the money huge, but the WWE returning to actual broadcast TV on a regular basis in huge news.  One of the things that got me into wrestling back with I was just Pequeño Masked Ace Jr was watching The Main Event and Saturday Night’s Main Event on NBC.  Sure, the TV industry has changed a lot since then, but I still think by putting it on Fox, Smackdown in a lot of ways could become WWE’s flagship show.

I wonder what kind of impact moving it to Friday will have on their house shows (which traditionally run on Fridays and Saturdays)…though I guess they can still run Raw-branded house shows on Friday.

I have it on good authority that my gringo counterpart Mike "Ace" Maillaro will be discussing this in more detail with Ryback on this week's CONVERSATION WITH THE BIG GUY which should be posted in the next day or two.