Saturday Night's Main Event
Saturday Night's Main Event is a professional wrestling television show that is aired as a special by WWE. First airing from 1985 to 1992, with WWE then known as the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), Saturday Night's Main Event was a tremendous ratings success for NBC during its heyday, most notably on the March 14, 1987 show, which drew an 11.6 rating, which to this day remains the highest rating any show has ever done in that time slot. That show was headlined by a battle royal featuring Hulk Hogan and André the Giant, who were slated to face each other at WrestleMania III. As Hogan rarely wrestled on the WWF syndicated and cable television shows, Saturday Night's Main Event was the program on free television where most viewers were able to see him in action.[2] 31 episodes were made during this time.[3]
| Saturday Night's Main Event | |
|---|---|
 Saturday Night's Main Event Logo (2006–2008) | |
| Genre | Professional wrestling |
| Created by | Vince McMahon |
| Presented by |
|
| Starring | WWE roster |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| No. of episodes | 36 (as of August 2, 2008) |
| Production | |
| Executive producers | Dick Ebersol Paul Levesque Lee Fitting |
| Producer | Vince McMahon |
| Running time | 60 minutes (1985–1991, 2006–2008) 120 minutes (2024–present) |
| Production companies | Titan Sports Inc. (1985–1992) Once a Month Productions, Inc. (1985–1991) WWE (2006–2008, 2024–present) |
| Original release | |
| Network | NBC |
| Release | May 11, 1985 – April 27, 1991 |
| Network | Fox |
| Release | February 8 – November 14, 1992 |
| Network | NBC |
| Release | March 18, 2006 – August 2, 2008 |
| Network | NBC Peacock |
| Release | December 14, 2024 – present |
| Related | |
| WWE Raw WWE NXT WWE SmackDown WWE Main Event | |
Saturday Night's Main Event was brought back by WWE on March 18, 2006.[4] Five episodes were made, with the last one airing on August 2, 2008.[5] In 2022, WWE started using the Saturday Night's Main Event name for their house shows that took place on Saturdays.[6] On September 17, 2024. WWE announced that it would bring back Saturday Night's Main Event as a TV show, with its return episode set to air on December 14 on NBC and also to stream live on Peacock.[7]
The Main Event
changeThe success of Saturday Night's Main Event led to several Friday night prime time specials, known as The Main Event. The first of these, on February 5, 1988 featured a WrestleMania III rematch between Hogan and André and drew 33 million viewers and a 15.2 rating, which is still the highest-rated television show in professional wrestling history. This event was shown live. The late night shows however were always taped 1–2 weeks before airing.[8]
References
change- ↑ "Greg Gagne Thinks WWE Will Use Jesse Ventura For NBC Saturday Night Shows". 411MANIA. Retrieved 2024-09-19.
- ↑ Radio, Eric Cohen Eric Cohen is a sports writer focused on pro wrestling He is a featured guest in wrestling discussions on BBC; Radio, Sirius Hardcore Sports. "The 2016 Class of the WWE Hall of Fame". ThoughtCo.
- ↑ "Results links". WWE. Retrieved November 20, 2024.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ↑ "2006". The History of WWE. Archived from the original on October 6, 2020. Retrieved May 17, 2015.
- ↑ "WWE Saturday Night's Main Event #36 « Events Database « CAGEMATCH - The Internet Wrestling Database". www.cagematch.net. Archived from the original on October 5, 2020. Retrieved 2019-09-17.
- ↑ "WWE REBRANDING MORE LIVE EVENTS | PWInsider.com". www.pwinsider.com. Archived from the original on September 27, 2022. Retrieved 2022-09-04.
- ↑ Otterson, Joe (2024-09-17). "WWE Sets 'Saturday Night's Main Event' Return Date on NBC, Peacock (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Retrieved 2024-10-24.
- ↑ "Saturday Night's Main Event". www.prowrestlinghistory.com.