We’ve heard for a while that WWE’s television deal with Fox would include more than just Friday night SmackDown LIVE. Much of the talk focused on programming for the broadcaster’s FS1 cable network, which has lots of hours it used to dedicate to UFC to fill now that he MMA giant is gone to ESPN.
On FS1’s First Things First morning show today (April 5), WWE executive vice-president Paul “Triple H” Levesque announced the first show the company will air on the network - a studio show dedicated to approaching WWE the way NFL Gameday or Inside The NBA discusses and analyzes non-scripted sports like football and basketball.
.@TripleH announces the launch of an all new weekly WWE studio show on FS1 this fall:
— First Things First (@FTFonFS1) April 5, 2019
“To take people deeper into what goes on behind the scenes to being a WWE superstar... I can’t wait for this. If you're a WWE fan, across the board, this is the show that will be a can't miss." pic.twitter.com/81wBHkOG09
The show would presumably begin airing in October after SmackDown moves to Fox. The current plan is for it to air on Tuesdays.
What will it be? First Things First host Nick Wright seems excited the studio show will talk about things “people on message boards” discuss but now with “professional, official analysis”. That sounds like a podcast to me, and I can picture a sports journalist fan (someone like CBS’ Brian Campbell) and a charismatic veteran or two (while I’m fantasy booking, get Steve Austin, Edge & Christian in there as your Charles Barkley, Shaquille O’Neal & Kenny Smith “buddies who rib each other” trio) breaking down match psychology, angles and booking decisions... aka another nail in kayfabe’s coffin. Whether that’s what it turns out to be is to be determined, and whether it would be good, bad or besides the point since kayfabe’s already dead will continue to be debated.
Levesque, on the other hand, really wanted to focus on the behind-the-scenes stories of the wrestler journey, which sounds a lot what his branch of the company is already doing with the WWEPC YouTube channel.
Together, those things could make for an interesting show. Will it be “can’t miss”? We’ll find out this fall.
No mention was made of other programming heading to FS1. NXT in particular has been rumored as a possibility for the cable network since the SmackDown deal was announced.
Stay tuned, and let us know what you think of the studio show idea below.