WWE All Over Mainstream Sports TV Next Week

That’s some good publicity. The sports world is in a very strange place at the moment as almost all sports around the world have been suspended for the moment. This has left sports networks a lot of time to fill in on their airwaves and a lot of that can be filled in by older material. There are several options to pick from, and one of them is something that has rarely been touched before.

Wrestling has a long history on television, as it has long since been seen as an easy source of programming which can be put on the air at a moment’s notice. Most wrestling is self sustained so airing the show is little more than playing a tape that the wrestling company sends to the network. With so little footage available, sports networks are looking towards wrestling to fill in some time, which will be the case over the next week.

WWE programming will be airing on multiple major sports networks over the next eight days. First, WrestleManias 32 and 35 both airing on ESPN on Sunday March 29 and Sunday April 5 respectively, with WrestleMania 35 leading directly into WrestleMania 36 later that night. Then, the 2020 Royal Rumble will air on Fox Sports 1 on Tuesday March 31, followed by a remote episode of WWE Backstage. The two shows will then air back to back immediately thereafter. Finally, Fox Sports 2 will air the 2020 Royal Rumble, the March 27 SmackDown and the March 31 Backstage on Thursday April 2.

Here’s a schedule with show times (all times in Eastern Standard Time):

March 29 (ESPN)
30 For 30: Nature Boy (Ric Flair documentary) – 5:30pm – 7pm
WrestleMania 32 – 7pm-11pm

March 31 (Fox Sports 1)
2020 Royal Rumble – – 7pm-11pm
Backstage – 11pm – 12am
2020 Royal Rumble – 12am – 4am
Backstage – 4am – 5am

April 2 (Fox Sports 2)
2020 Royal Rumble – 6pm – 10pm
March 27 SmackDown – 10pm – 12am
March 31 Backstage – 12am – 1am

April 5 (ESPN)
WrestleMania 35 – 3pm – 7pm

These are some big shows. Check out a look at some of them:

Opinion: This is something that I hope to see more of for as long as we are in this situation. WWE has more footage than they know what to do with and getting to see it airing on a major sports network is a great thing to see. It’s pre-made and only requires a quick introduction (if that). ESPN and Fox Sports have a lot of time to fill at the moment so maybe WWE can help them out a little bit and get their product out there to a lot more people.

Do you like mainstream networks carrying WWE? Which shows would you like to see air? 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 30 wrestling books. Get the latest and greatest in professional wrestling news by signing up for our daily email newsletter. Just look below for “GET EXCLUSIVE UPDATES” to sign up. Thank you for reading!