Tag: FOX

Kofi Kingston To Defend WWE Championship Against Brock Lesnar On The Fox Debut Of SmackDown

“The Beast” Brock Lesnar will face-off against Kofi Kingston for the WWE Championship next month during the first episode of Friday Night SmackDown on FOX.

Lesnar and his advocate Paul Heyman made their presence felt during tonight’s episode of SmackDown Live after a six-man tag match in which Kofi and New Day were victorious.

Brock and Heyman then walked to the ring and challenged Kofi to a title match on October 4.

Kofi said he made a promise to be a fighting champion after winning the title, therefore he was accepting Lesnar’s challenge. His acceptance was met with a swift F5 before Brock left the ring.

Lesnar vs. Kingston for the WWE Title is the only match announced for the big SmackDown Fox premiere as of this writing. This will be Lesnar’s first SmackDown match in over 15 years, since 2004. Lesnar has not worked a match on weekly WWE television since returning to the company in 2012.

Fox To Air WWE SmackDown Special Before October 4

The first WWE programming on Fox is scheduled to air on Friday, September 27 at 8pm ET.

The one-hour “SmackDown’s Greatest Hits” special is scheduled to air at 8pm ET that Friday night, on the main Fox channel, according to PWInsider.

The September 27 special is designed to be a preview for WWE coming to Fox. We noted earlier this summer that a preview special was being planned as a way to show non-WWE fans what to expect, as a way to introduce them to Superstars and the brand in general.

As noted, SmackDown will premiere on Fox Friday nights beginning with the October 4 episode. The show will then air live each Friday night from 8-10pm ET. The October 4 premiere will air live from the Staples Center in Los Angeles, and will be the SmackDown 20th Anniversary special.

The final SmackDown USA Network episode is scheduled to air on Tuesday, September 24 in the regular time slot, which means there will be more than 7 days in between regular blue brand episodes. This September 27 special will make it so that there will be at least some SmackDown content on TV before the October 4 premiere.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

WWE’s First Episode On Fox Will Celebrate 20th Anniversary Of SmackDown

WWE will celebrate the 20th anniversary of SmackDown in October during the company’s premiere episode on Fox — and the show will be loaded with legends.

The press release for SmackDown’s 20th anniversary celebration explains:

The 20th anniversary celebration will mark the premiere of SmackDown on FOX broadcast network at 8 pm ET and take place at Staples Center in Los Angeles on Friday, October 4, 2019. Tickets are available starting this Friday, August 16 at 10 am PT via the Staples Center box office, www.AXS.com or by calling 1-888-929-7849.

WWE Superstars past and present will be on hand at Staples Center to celebrate the occasion including Kurt Angle, Lita, Mick Foley, Booker T, Hulk Hogan, Trish Stratus, Goldberg, Jerry Lawler, Mark Henry, Ric Flair and Sting.

“SmackDown has been delivering action-packed, family-friendly programming for two decades, and we look forward to entertaining generations to come as we begin this next chapter on FOX,” said Vince McMahon, WWE Chairman & CEO.

“Since we announced our five-year agreement last June, we have been eagerly counting down the days to the launch of SmackDown Live on FOX Sports,” said Eric Shanks, Chief Executive Officer and Executive Producer of FOX Sports. “We couldn’t be more excited and are pulling out all of the stops to commemorate SmackDown’s 20th anniversary celebration.”

In addition to these names, WWE is reportedly working on booking The Rock for the show as well. The Undertaker is featured on a graphic for the event, seen above.

Source: Pro Wrestling Sheet

FOX Hoping To Make AEW Look Inferior With WWE SmackDown Debut?, News On AEW Start Date And Time Slot

AEW is expected to start on Turner during the first week of October, which is the same week that WWE SmackDown will being airing on Friday nights on FOX. The news was first reported by MMA insider @fightoracle, who first broke the story that Turner Sports would be presenting AEW at their upfronts last month. As noted, AEW applied for the trademark “Wednesday Night Dynamite” earlier this month.

With the television show seemingly airing on Wednesday nights, the premiere date will be October 2nd. Dave Meltzer reported in the latest edition of The Wrestling Observer Newsletter that while there are still meetings occurring regarding the show, strategies, and other ideas from the TNT side, the plan is for the show to air on Wednesdays, with 8-10 p.m. being the most likely time slot.

WWE SmackDown will make its much anticipated debut two nights later at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, CA. It was reported in The Observer that FOX will be testing out two new cameras for the debut. FOX is also looking to invite a lot of celebrities and give the show the feel of a major event, which is a reason that it’s being held in Los Angeles. It was noted that the idea is to make WWE look as major league as possible, which in turn would make AEW look minor league from the start.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

Backstage News On Fox Wanting Jerry “The King” Lawler To Work On Their WWE FS1 Studio Show

WWE Hall of Famer Jerry “The King” Lawler could be one of the hosts of the WWE studio show that is scheduled to begin airing on FS1 later this year, according to a new report from @Wrestlevotes.

The report noted that Fox officials have floated the idea of Lawler being a main part of the show to WWE. The feeling is that Lawler’s image and voice will be familiar to fans, something Fox is looking for, likely to help bring viewers back to the product.

There’s no word yet on who might work with Lawler to host the show, but it was recently reported that Renee Young was “highly likely” to land the role of host.

WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross recently revealed that a Fox executive wanted to bring him in as a host of the FS1 show, but that was before he parted ways with the company and signed with AEW.

Triple H revealed back in April that the weekly WWE studio show will air on Fox Sports 1 on Tuesday nights, beginning in the fall. This will be the second WWE-Fox show as SmackDown begins airing Friday nights on the Fox broadcast network on October 4.

The studio show on FS1 will feature discussions on the various WWE happenings, plus appearances by familiar faces from the past and present, according to Triple H. He also said this is something he’s wanted to do for a long time. Below is the clip from April where he revealed the show:

Source: Wrestling Inc.

WWE Co-President On What Fans Can Expect From New FS1 Studio Show, Third Hour Of SmackDown

In addition to SmackDown’s move to FOX this fall, WWE will also be getting an additional hour of programming. A WWE-themed studio show will air on FS1 and WWE Co-President George Barrios spoke more about it during a fireside chat at the 47th Annual J.P. Morgan Global Technology, Media and Communications Conference in Boston.

“We’re thrilled. We’ve seen around the world the value of these…clip shows, magazine shows, highlight shows. We’ve seen the value of shows like that to continue to drive engagement, not dissimilar to what we do on social platforms. We’re continuing the storytelling and try to do it 24/7 although Vince keeps reminding us we’re missing 10 minutes here and there,” stated Barrios.

“I think the FS1 show will be something similar where we will continue the excitement. I think people are gonna love it and FOX is gonna do an amazing job with it as obviously they have a lot of expertise doing shows like that. I think it’s gonna be great for fans.”

That FS1 show is expected to be in addition to the six hours of live programming that WWE already does every week. With three hours of Raw and two hours of SmackDown, currently that sixth hour is devoted to 205 Live.

Barrios was asked about WWE’s priorities when it comes to allocating content for that sixth hour.

“To your point, for a long, long time we have created live in-ring content across six hours on Monday and Tuesday. It used to be that Raw and SmackDown were two hours and the other two hours went to either ECW, the precursor to the current NXT, Main Event, WWE Superstars. So, this is not something new as we’ve done it forever,” said Barrios.

“Last year, to your point, it was primarily 205 Live, Mixed Match Challenge on Facebook for 20 weeks. So for us, when you say ‘What’s the focus?’ Our content is always one of three things: we’re trying to drive engagement, trying to drive some level of direct monetization or drive some level of indirect monetization as a promotional platform. That doesn’t change so we’re thinking for that sixth hour, across those three parameters what’s the best structure for the content? It’s not a new thing and is something we’re always working through.

“Right now it’s 205 Live… but we’ll see where we come out on that.”

Source: Wrestling Inc.

WWE Co-President On If SmackDown Will Be Hurt By Airing On Fridays, West Coast Being Affected

It was widely expected but finally confirmed this week when it was announced that SmackDown Live will be a part of FOX’s Friday TV lineup. It will debut on October 4 and occupy the same time slot as it does currently on Tuesdays on USA Network.

Fridays are typically the worst days for TV ratings, but WWE President George Barrios attempted to put a positive spin on the move during a fireside chat this week at the 47th Annual J.P. Morgan Global Technology, Media and Communications Conference in Boston.

“It’s hard to compare,” Barrios said referencing when SmackDown aired on Fridays from 2005-2015. “We have been on Friday nights before but we’ve never been live. We think it’s a net positive, generally. Having a few days between [Raw and SmackDown] is helpful to some degree. But ultimately, we’ll see how the fans react. But we think it’s a generally positive thing happening.”

SmackDown started out on Thursdays before moving to Fridays. It then moved back to Thursdays briefly before moving to Tuesdays in 2016.

As Barrios mentioned, this will be the first time the show will air live on Fridays. In regards to if SmackDown will air on a tape delay on the West Coast, Barrios deferred to FOX.

“Our partners are still working through that. If you look at today, depending on who the provider is, even with USA, in terms of live on satellite is different than on cable. So, I think FOX will work through that themselves as well. I don’t think they’ve announced it, so we’re not gonna announce it,” stated Barrios.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

Bully Ray Discusses Why WWE Should Put Paul Heyman In Charge Of SmackDown With FOX Move

While still five months away from a premiere, WWE’s new deal with FOX has already generated a great deal of buzz.

There has been a lot of speculation regarding SmackDown’s move to Friday’s on FOX this October. With ratings reaching all time lows this month, there has been a lot of pressure for WWE to perform right out of the gate. WWE Hall of Famer Bully Ray gave his thoughts on Busted Open Radio on one way that WWE could make the show successful.

“I find myself confused what is going to happen with the whole Friday night thing and I get what you’re saying about real-time as a wrestling fan what is going to get me to watch wrestling on a Friday night?” asked Bully and then answered his own question with, “From a creative point of view, I would hand Paul Heyman the pencil and say ‘go get em’. Because he is probably the only proven one that comes out to make SmackDown special.”

Heyman, the former head of ECW has been head of SmackDown creative previously, from the summer of 2002 to the spring of 2003. That time is often argued as one of the greatest in SmackDown’s history, a point that was not lost on Bully.

“I think just the fact that people know Heyman is in creative control and that’s not something WWE is going to let out and I don’t think that is something that should be announced. Like ‘Hey Paul Heyman is in charge of SmackDown creative'”, explained Bully. “What I’m saying is that is what I would do. If there is one person that would make SmackDown successful and has a proven track record of making SmackDown a definitively better show than Raw, it was Paul Heyman. Probably what in 2003-2004? We know he can get the job done. I would put the pencil in his hand and say, ‘hey what can you do with this?’ I think his creativity with that show and the way that he knows how to use Characters and gel them with storylines would work.”

Heyman has not been seen on WWE television since WrestleMania. Currently, Brock Lesnar is scheduled to appear at the next WWE event in Saudi Arabia on June 7th.

You can listen to Bully’s comments below:

Source: Wrestling Inc.

WWE SmackDown Live Moving To Three Hours Appears To Be Likely

There may be more changes to WWE programming this fall once SmackDown moves to Friday nights on FOX starting October 4th.

During WWE’s earnings call, WWE Co-President George Barrios was asked about the direction that they would be going with SmackDown. Barrios stated that the company has been used to monetizing six hours of content for a long time, however now the sixth hour is being used on the Network (presumably referring to 205 Live). He said that they will decide in the next several months how to use the sixth hour, which could mean a third hour of SmackDown.

“We’ve been monetizing some way, shape or form six hours of content for a long time,” Barrios said. “Today, that sixth hour is primarily being used on the network and we’ll figure out here over the next several months, what we think the best use of, nothing to update now.”

There have been rumors of SmackDown moving to three hours when it moves to FOX, with the first two hours on the FOX network and the third on FS1. The show would not be able to be three hours on FOX alone due to scheduling conflicts with local news.

Earlier this week, JPMorgan analyst David Karnovsky raised his target price on WWE stock from $95 to $105. Karnovsky estimated that in addition to WWE’s current deal with FOX and USA Network, they will generate an additional $25 million per year in 2020 from a third hour of SmackDown on FS1. WWE currently will pull in an estimated $205 million per year with the FOX deal ($102.5 million per hour of SmackDown), as well as $265 million per year with their new deal for RAW with NBC Universal (about $88.3 million per hour of RAW).

RAW and SmackDown domestic ratings declined 14% and 13%, respectively, for the first quarter of 2019 from the prior year quarter while the ratings for the top 25 cable networks were only down 5% during that same period. Vince McMahon blamed talent absences due to injury and illness for the drop and said that all of their talent is back now.  Wrestling Inc. noted on Twitter, ratings are down even more since the talent have returned. While RAW was down 14% in the first quarter, the audience is down 28% so far this month from the same period in 2018. Regardless, McMahon feels that the company will have “a whole new beginning” this fall.

“In coming latter part of September, we’re going to have, it’s almost like, it’s not quite a metamorphosis, but we’re going to have a whole new beginning,” McMahon said. “The promotional value alone notwithstanding rights fees and what have you, promotional value alone in terms of Fox, in terms of commitments from NBCU is something we’ve never seen before, not even close, it’s extraordinary. It’s going to kick us into again an element we’ve never seen before in terms of promotion with everything, WWE talent, story lines, you name it! So it’s a rising tide situation that we’re really looking forward to and having that carry on throughout the year.”

Barrios added, “As Vince mentioned, we remain excited about the debut of SmackDown live on Fox on October 4. The debut will mark the first time WWE will be available live 52 weeks a year on a 120 million homes on a premier broadcast platform. Finally, as we said before, in addition to absolute performance, we believe relative performance is critically important as it illuminates the value of WWE within the PayTV ecosystem. In Q1, when excluding NASCAR’s premier event the Daytona 500, WWE delivered greater average viewership then any professional sports league, other than the NFL.”

While WWE stock hit $100 earlier this week, it dropped 13.35%  following the earnings call, closing at $85.38 per share.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

News On SmackDown’s Touring Schedule Following Move To FOX

There will be various changes to WWE when the FOX deal goes through in this fall. This is especially true when it comes to touring.

According to the latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter, SmackDown talent will be doing a Thursday through Sunday road schedule once it starts on FOX. The second night of the road schedule will be live TV. The four-show per week road schedule has been a WWE tradition for years.

SmackDown currently tours from Saturday through Tuesday, while RAW tours from Friday to Monday with both tours ending with their respective television tapings.

The first Friday night episode of SmackDown Live on FOX will take place on October 4th from the Staples Center in Los Angeles. The next shows will be October 11th in Denver, CO, October 18th in Columbus, OH and October 25th in Kansas City, MO.

There are already reports that SmackDown could move to three hours when it moves to FOX, with the third hour airing on FS1 following the two-hour show on Fox. MKM Partners analyst Eric Handler recently raised his target price on WWE stock to $110 from $95 a share based on “the relaunch of the WWE Network, monetization from a third hour of media time for Smackdown, and added revenue from three more television networks.”

Raw’s schedule will not change, as they will continue to do Friday through Monday. SmackDown has been a part of WWE programming since 1999, starting on UPN. It has since been shown on the CW, MyNetworkTV, SyFy and most recently, the USA Network.

SmackDown Live will debut on FOX on Friday, October 4th, 2019.

Source: Wrestling Inc.