WWE SMACKDOWN TO APPEAR ON USA NETWORK

 A five-year deal between WWE and NBCUniversal will see Friday Night SmackDown air on USA Network starting in October 2024. This was revealed by WWE on Thursday.

WWE said in a press statement (h/t Felix Upton of Ringside News) that starting with the 2024–25 broadcast season, it will also produce four annual primetime specials that will air on NBC.

The agreement puts an end to SmackDown's Fox run, which started in 2019. Prior to that, SyFy from 2010 to 2015 and USA Network from 2016 until 2019 both carried SmackDown.

Nick Khan, president of WWE, expressed enthusiasm on SmackDown's upcoming transfer to USA Network, saying:

For many years, NBCUniversal has been a fantastic partner of WWE. With the addition of SmackDown to USA Network on Friday evenings, we are thrilled to continue our long-standing partnership. We also anticipate the yearly launch of several WWE special events on NBC.

From 1993 through 2000, Monday Night Raw aired on the USA Network. After a stay on TNN/Spike TV, Raw returned to USA in 2005, and has since broadcast on USA Network.

Additionally, NXT has been broadcast on USA Network since 2019, although significant changes are apparently coming to both Raw and NXT.

When SmackDown debuts the next year, it is anticipated that Raw and NXT will stop broadcasting on USA, according to Alex Weprin of The Hollywood Reporter.

Weprin was informed by a source with knowledge of the talks that WWE is looking to sell the rights to its flagship show, Raw, and that there is a "extremely active" market of potential buyers, including streaming services, television networks, and "unexpected players."

The home of WWE premium live events and other programming since 2021 has been NBC's Peacock streaming service, in addition to WWE's long-standing deal with NBCUniversal about Monday Night Raw.

With the launch of Saturday Night's Main Event in 1985, WWE and NBC first collaborated.

29 editions of Saturday Night's Main Event were broadcast on NBC from 1985 to 1991, giving the WWE some of its all-time highest ratings. NBC also broadcast five spin-off specials titled The Main Event from 1988 to 1991.

With a 15.2 Nielsen rating and 33 million viewers, the The Main Event episode from February 5, 1988, in which Andre the Giant controversially defeated Hulk Hogan for the WWE Championship, continues to hold the record for most viewers of any wrestling program.

In 2006, WWE and NBC brought back Saturday Night's Main Event, and five additional specials were broadcast through 2008.

The $1 billion SmackDown contract between WWE and Fox now in effect states that a new agreement with NBCUniversal is anticipated, according to a report on Thursday by Joe Flint of the Wall Street Journal.