WWE News: WWE Announces ‘Raw’ Staying On USA Network With New Deal, Details ‘SmackDown Live’ On Fox Sports
When it was announced that Fox had come through with a major deal with WWE to bring in SmackDown Live, many fans wondered about the future of Monday Night Raw. Despite the fact that Vince McMahon is taking Team Blue and moving them to Fox Sports, it doesn’t seem as if its flagship show is going anywhere anytime soon. It was announced on Tuesday that WWE has come to terms on a new deal with USA Network to keep airing Raw for a long time.
PW Mania announced that the USA Network and WWE revealed that a five-year extension has been agreed upon for Monday Night Raw. The extension will begin in October of 2019 and continue the nearly three-decade-long relationship the two companies have enjoyed with one another.
Chris McCumber is the president of Entertainment Networks for NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment and they could not be happier with the new deal.
“Monday Night Raw and USA Network have dominated Monday nights during a truly historic run. Our partnership with WWE is one of the strongest and most successful in the business, and together we’ll take Raw to even greater heights.”
Monday Night Raw just celebrated its 25th year on the air earlier in January, and it looks as if it will do the same on the USA Network for its 30th.
Vince McMahon was more than happy to tout the extension of WWE’s partnership with the USA Network.
“We look forward to continuing our long-standing partnership with NBCUniversal and USA Network. Monday Night Raw has been synonymous with USA Network and we are excited about what the future holds for WWE’s flagship program.”
On the same day that the tension with NBCUniversal was announced, WWE also issued a press release regarding the move of SmackDown Live to Fox Sports. Fox bid an insane amount to get the second-biggest TV show that WWE offers and they ended up capturing it, but it will include a move during the week.
No longer will SmackDown Live air on Tuesday nights once it moves off of the USA Network. As reported by Wrestling Inc., Team Blue will be moving to Friday nights beginning Oct. 4, 2019, when it moves over to Fox Sports for the first time ever.
Vince McMahon was also thrilled about this move and said that he believes SmackDown Live on Fox Sports will “expand the reach of our flagship programming.” Eric Shanks is the president, COO, and executive producer of Fox Sports and they are ready for wrestling to join the family.
“At FOX we are thrilled to welcome WWE to the FOX Sports family and bring SmackDown Live to broadcast television. We are huge fans and know that together FOX Sports will be the leader in live events for the foreseeable future.”
With Monday Night Raw and SmackDown Live signing these new deals with NBCUniversal and Fox respectively, WWE isn’t being taken off of television anytime soon. There had been speculation that Vince McMahon would move all shows to the WWE Network in time, but these new deals completely squash that idea. The USA Network and Fox Sports have two of the most watched TV shows each week and have deals that will last for quite a while.
