Another Suitor. ESPN Turned Down SmackDown Live. Here’s What Held It Back.

It’s nice to be wanted. We are less than five months away from SmackDown Live’s huge move over to the FOX network, thereby putting WWE programming on network television for the first time in a very long time. It’s a huge move for WWE and something that has already proven very lucrative. However, it turns out that FOX wasn’t the only big time suitor for the show.

According to The Wrap, ESPN was considering adding SmackDown Live to its schedule but could not make things work out in the end. Part of the problem was ESPN having too much programming in the first place, meaning that they did not have room for a two hour program every Friday night. It was also noted that AEW did not have any such discussions with ESPN.

WWE has worked with ESPN before. Check out a look at the network’s awesome Ric Flair documentary:

Opinion: The fact that WWE had this much interest from a major mainstream sports network is a positive sign for SmackDown Live and WWE as it shows how far wrestling has come. There was a time, not very long ago actually, where WWE would not get a second look from a place like ESPN and now they were considering adding the programming to their schedule. I don’t know how serious the discussions were, but having them at all is a nice compliment.

Do you think WWE will ever be on ESPN? Will they be a success on FOX? Let us know in the comments below.

Thomas Hall has been a wrestling fan for over thirty years and has seen over 50,000 wrestling matches. He has also been a wrestling reviewer since 2009 with over 5,000 full shows covered. You can find his work at kbwrestlingreviews.com, or check out his Amazon author page with 28 wrestling books. His latest book is the the Complete 2000 Monday Nitro and Thunder Reviews Part 1.

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