WWE Saturday Night's Main Event
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Saturday Night's Main Event is a professional wrestling TV show that occasionally aired from 1985 to 1991, under the World Wrestling Federation banner on NBC in place of Saturday Night Live. It returned to the air on March 18, 2006, in a 8-10 p.m. EST timeslot.
At the time it was a rare example of professional wrestling being broadcast on an over-the-air commercial TV network after the 1950s. It coincided with and contributed to, the apogee of the most recent "golden era" of professional wrestling in the United States. It aired twice the following year (1992) on Fox before disappearing for over a decade.
When WWE's flagship show, Monday Night RAW returned to the USA Network in 2005 after five years on Spike TV, Saturday Night's Main Event was revived in 2006 as a special series to air "occasionally" on NBC as part of the new deal between WWE and NBC Universal. Both the RAW and SmackDown! rosters (and eventually ECW) are featured on the new show.
Original run
For much of its history, Saturday Night's Main Event was hosted by Vince McMahon and Jesse "The Body" Ventura. In 1990, "Rowdy" Roddy Piper replaced Ventura as McMahon's broadcast partner when Ventura exited the WWF. On the two episodes that aired on Fox, Bobby Heenan was McMahon's partner.The opening theme song for the original version was "Obsession" by Animotion with the closing theme being "Take Me Home" by Phil Collins.
In 1988, both songs were replaced by generic instrumental music.
Revived run
The announce team for the first show of the 2006 return consisted of Jim Ross on play-by-play, with Jerry "The King" Lawler, and Tazz as color commentators with "Boom" by P.O.D. being used as the theme song. The July 15, 2006 event had Jerry Lawler and Jim Ross (from RAW), Michael Cole and JBL (from SmackDown!), and Joey Styles and Tazz (from ECW), and would commentate on their respective brand's matches.Trivia
- The Main Event, which aired on February 5, 1988, was considered a spin-off from Saturday Night's Main Event.
- Hulk Hogan has never lost a match on Saturday Night's Main Event by pinfall or submission, only by count-out, and has the best win loss record at 22-2 (with losses to The Genius and King Kong Bundy). Randy Savage has the second best at 14-2 (with losses to Ted DiBiase and Brutus Beefcake).
- Shawn Michaels was the only competitor to have had a match during both the original run of the show and the revived version in 2006. The Undertaker and Hulk Hogan have also appeared on both the new and old versions, but were not in any matches in the new editions.
- The July 15, 2006 edition garnered the lowest rating in the history of the show, scoring just a 2.7.
- The March 18, 2006 episode featured the very first time that the WWE Champion and World Heavyweight Champion were in the same match (Triple H & John Cena vs. Kurt Angle, Randy Orton & Rey Mysterio).
- The March 18, 2006 episode also featured the very first time that the RAW WrestleMania main event, and the SmackDown! WrestleMania main event faced each other.
- While the March 18, 2006 edition was held in Detroit, ironically the event was not shown on Detroit's NBC affiliate WDIV 4, due to a prior commitment to air the Pistons/Bobcats game. The broadcast was instead seen on the market's WB affiliate WMYD 20.
- Due to NBC's placement of their bug on a television screen, the WWE bug was relocated to the top right-hand corner of the screen.
- The new version implements all white ring ropes and red ring posts; a first for WWE.
- The February 5, 1988 edition (The Main Event) featuring a WrestleMania III re-match between André the Giant and Hulk Hogan drew 33 million viewers.
- The July 15, 2006 edition marked the first time in 14 years the WWE Championship was defended on SNME.
See also
External links
- [WWE.com - Saturday Night's Main Event]
- (1985 version)
- (2006 version)
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