''WWE Main Event'' is an American

professional wrestling Professional wrestling, often shortened to either pro wrestling or wrestling,The term "wrestling" is most often widely used to specifically refer to modern scripted professional wrestling, though it is also used to refer to Real life, real- ...

streaming television program produced by

WWE World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) is an American professional wrestling promotion. It is owned and operated by TKO Group Holdings, a majority-owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. A global integrated media and entertainment company, ...

. Premiering on October 3, 2012, the hour-long program features mid-to-low-card wrestlers from WWE's Raw brand and

SmackDown brand SmackDown is a WWE brand extension, brand of the American professional wrestling promotion WWE that was established on March 25, 2002. Brands are divisions of WWE's roster where wrestlers are assigned to perform on a weekly basis when a brand ex ...

, while also occasionally featuring wrestlers from the NXT developmental brand. ''Main Event'' is taped on Monday nights prior to ''

WWE Raw ''WWE Raw'', also known as ''Monday Night Raw'' or simply ''Raw'', is an American professional wrestling television program produced by WWE. It currently airs Live television, live every Monday at 8 p.m. Eastern Time (ET) on Netflix. The show fe ...

''. Episodes generally feature two matches (typically one men's match and one women's match). In the United States, ''Main Event'' streams new episodes on Peacock on Saturdays; it was initially carried by

Ion Television Ion Television (referred to on-air as simply Ion) is an American broadcast television network and FAST television channel owned by the Scripps Networks subsidiary of the E. W. Scripps Company. The network first began broadcasting on August ...

as well until April 2014. It is also carried by WWE's international television partners.

History

The series first aired in the United States on

, originally premiering October 3, 2012 and airing on Wednesday nights. WWE considered the show to be a spiritual replacement for '' WWE Superstars'' (which previously aired on

WGN America WGN America was an American subscription television network that operated from November 9, 1978 to February 28, 2021. The service was originally uplinked to satellite by United Video Inc. as a national feed of Chicago independent station WGN-T ...

until 2011, and transitioned to WWE's digital platforms in the United States afterward).

Hulu Hulu (, ) is an American Subscription business model, subscription streaming media service owned by Disney Streaming, a subsidiary of the Disney Entertainment segment of the Walt Disney Company. It was launched on October 29, 2007, initially as ...

acquired rights to the series as well, as part of a larger pact that included video on-demand rights for WWE's main weekly programs. Ion Television dropped the series in April 2014; following the cancellation, WWE

stream A stream is a continuous body of water, body of surface water Current (stream), flowing within the stream bed, bed and bank (geography), banks of a channel (geography), channel. Depending on its location or certain characteristics, a strea ...

ed a live episode of ''Main Event'' from

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

on its then-new subscription service

WWE Network WWE Network is a subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and digital television network owned by the American professional wrestling promotion WWE, a division of TKO Group Holdings. The service relied on technology develo ...

. It was reported to be a

stress test Stress testing is a form of deliberately intense or thorough testing, used to determine the stability of a given system, critical infrastructure or entity. It involves testing beyond normal operational capacity, often to a breaking point, in orde ...

for live events on the service in preparation for

WrestleMania XXX WrestleMania XXX was a 2014 professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) and livestreaming event produced by WWE. It was the 30th annual WrestleMania and took place on April 6, 2014, at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana. This ...

. Prior to November 28, 2016, ''Main Event'' was taped prior to '' SmackDown.'' Its tapings were then moved to ''Raw'' after the premiere of

's '' 205 Live'', which was broadcast live after ''SmackDown'' from the same venue. ''Main Event'' was initially positioned as a non-branded show, featuring performers from both the Raw and SmackDown rosters. Following the 2016 WWE Draft, the program became exclusive to SmackDown. After the cancellation of ''WWE Superstars'', ''Main Event'' became exclusive to Raw. In late-2022, under changes made by

Triple H Paul Michael Levesque (; born July 27, 1969), also known by the ring name Triple H, is an American business executive and former professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE, where he serves as its chief content officer. Levesque began his wres ...

after being promoted to WWE's chief content officer, NXT wrestlers began to increasingly appear on ''Main Event'' to evaluate their performance and audience reception when performing with members of the main roster.

Episodes

Notes

References

External links

* * * {{Navboxes, , list1= {{Professional wrestling in the United States 2010s American sports television series 2020s American sports television series 2012 American television series debuts 2014 web series debuts American English-language television shows

Main Event In sports, a card lists the matches taking place in a title match combat-sport event. Cards include a main event match and the undercard listing the rest of the matches. The undercard may be divided into a midcard and a lower card, according to ...

WWE webcasts American non-fiction web series

WWE Raw WWE SmackDown Ion Television original programming Hulu original programming

History

Episodes

See also

Notes

References

External links