WWE Superstars
Genre
Created byVince McMahon
Opening theme"New Day Coming" by CFO$ feat. Pilot Speed[1]
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons8
No. of episodes398[2]
Production
Camera setupMulticamera setup
Running time60 minutes (inc. commercials)
Original release
Network
ReleaseApril 16, 2009 (2009-04-16) –
November 25, 2016 (2016-11-25)
Related

WWE Superstars, or simply Superstars, is an American professional wrestling television program that was produced by WWE that originally aired on WGN America in the United States and later broadcast on the WWE Network. It debuted on April 16, 2009 and ended its domestic broadcasting on April 7, 2011. After the final domestic television broadcast, the show moved to an Internet broadcast format while maintaining a traditional television broadcast in international markets. The show featured mid-to-low card WWE Superstars in a format similar to the former shows Heat and Velocity which served the same purpose. "Enhancement talent" bouts also happened often. Big names such as John Cena, Randy Orton, The Undertaker, and Triple H appeared on the show at its beginning.

On December 19, 2008, WWE and WGN America announced an agreement to create a new weekly, one-hour prime time series entitled WWE Superstars that was to debut in April 2009 (the show was based on 1 to 4 matches occurring where superstars from both WWE SmackDown, WWE Raw and formerly WWE ECW (2006–2010) compete in matches to determine who is the best for the WWE audience's entertainment).[3] Until early 2010, the replay also aired on WGN-TV. However, it was removed, hence eliminating distribution of the show from the Canadian fanbase.[4] Superstars had its debut show on April 16, 2009.[5]

On March 17, 2011, WGN America announced that they would not renew their domestic broadcasts rights to WWE Superstars, and the last episode they would air would be shown on April 7, 2011. Online reports stated that the network did not renew the series because it didn't live up to its expectations. WWE.com aired the show from April 14 to September 22, 2011 and again from October 6, 2011 to September 13, 2012. The show continued to be produced for international broadcasting until November 25, 2016.

On November 28, 2016, it was announced that Superstars had been canceled by WWE and would be replaced on the WWE Network by 205 Live. WWE Main Event would serve as the complementary show featuring Raw and SmackDown talents (and would later replace WWE Superstars for international markets).[2]

Select episodes are viewable on the WWE Network, and episodes from September 17, 2009, until September 20, 2012, are available to watch on WWE's official YouTube channel.

Production

WWE Superstars' version of the universal WWE HD set used from April 16, 2009 – July 19, 2012

The last theme song for WWE Superstars was "New Day Coming" by CFO$ featuring Todd Clark, which replaced "Invincible" by Adelitas Way on May 17, 2013.[1] The final commentators were Tom Phillips and Corey Graves, and JoJo was the last ring announcer.

Matches featured on Superstars were taped earlier in the week, during the Raw events on Monday nights.[6] The program aired on Thursdays until January 2015 when SmackDown moved to same night. Superstars was then moved to Fridays on WWE Network, with its first Friday night airing on January 16.

Commentators

CommentatorsDates
Raw brand
Michael Cole and Jerry Lawler April 16, 2009 – October 26, 2010
Scott Stanford and Jerry Lawler October 7, 2010
October 28, 2010 – November 11, 2010
November 25, 2010
December 23, 2010
Michael Cole and Josh Mathews November 11, 2010
Scott Stanford and CM Punk November 18, 2010
December 2, 2010 – December 16, 2010
Scott Stanford and Josh Mathews December 30, 2010 – October 25, 2012
Josh Mathews and Matt Striker November 10, 2011
Scott Stanford and Matt Striker March 29, 2012
April 26, 2012 – May 3, 2012
Tom Phillips and Corey Graves July 29, 2016 – November 25, 2016
Tom Phillips and Byron Saxton September 2, 2016
SmackDown brand
Todd Grisham and Jim Ross April 16, 2009 – October 29, 2009
Todd Grisham and Matt Striker November 5, 2009 – December 2, 2010
Jack Korpela and Matt Striker December 9, 2010 – May 26, 2011
June 9, 2011 – November 3, 2011
Jack Korpela and Booker T June 2, 2011
Josh Mathews and Matt Striker November 10, 2011 – October 25, 2012
Michael Cole and Matt Striker April 26, 2012
ECW brand
Josh Mathews and Matt Striker April 16, 2009 – October 22, 2009
Josh Mathews and Byron Saxton October 27, 2009 – February 11, 2010
Full roster
Scott Stanford and Matt Striker August 23, 2012
November 2, 2012 – January 11, 2013
Tony Dawson and Matt Striker January 18, 2013 – June 21, 2013
Tony Dawson and Alex Riley June 28, 2013 – September 20, 2013
Josh Mathews and Tom Phillips September 27, 2013
Josh Mathews and Alex Riley November 15, 2013
Tom Phillips and Alex Riley October 4, 2013 – January 24, 2014
Tom Phillips and Byron Saxton January 31, 2014 – June 26, 2014
January 16, 2015 – January 23, 2015
May 6, 2016 – June 10, 2016
Tom Phillips and Renee Young July 3, 2014 – January 9, 2015
Tom Phillips January 30, 2015
Rich Brennan and Byron Saxton February 6, 2015 – March 27, 2015
April 24, 2015 – May 29, 2015
October 23, 2015 – April 29, 2016
Rich Brennan and Tom Phillips April 3, 2015 – April 10, 2015
Michael Cole and Byron Saxton April 17, 2015
Rich Brennan, Byron Saxton, and Jimmy Uso June 5, 2015 – August 21, 2015
Rich Brennan and Xavier Woods August 28, 2015 – October 16, 2015
Kyle Edwards December 25, 2015
Rich Brennan and The Miz January 8, 2016
Tom Phillips, Dolph Ziggler, and David Otunga June 17, 2016
July 1, 2016
July 22, 2016
Tom Phillips and David Otunga June 24, 2016 – July 15, 2016

Ring announcers

Ring announcersDates
Raw brand
Lilian Garcia April 16, 2009 – September 24, 2009
Justin Roberts October 1, 2009 – May 5, 2011
July 14, 2011 – July 21, 2011
November 10, 2011
December 29, 2011 – October 25, 2012
JoJo July 29, 2016 – November 25, 2016
SmackDown brand
Justin Roberts April 16, 2009 – September 24, 2009
Tony Chimel October 1, 2009 – May 5, 2011
July 21, 2011
December 29, 2011 – October 25, 2012
Savannah May 6, 2010 – June 17, 2010
Jamie Keyes August 12, 2010 – August 31, 2010
Eden Stiles July 14, 2011
November 10, 2011
ECW brand
Tony Chimel April 30, 2009
Lauren Mayhew October 8, 2009 – November 19, 2009
Savannah December 17, 2009 – February 11, 2010
Full roster
Ashley Valence November 25, 2010 – December 9, 2010
Justin Roberts March 10, 2011
2014
Eden Stiles May 12, 2011 – December 22, 2011
January 9, 2015
April 17, 2015 – May 29, 2015
October 16, 2015
November 6, 2015
Tony Chimel November 2, 2012 – 2014
January 1, 2016
Lilian Garcia October 23, 2014 – February 26, 2016
Greg Hamilton March 4, 2016 – July 22, 2016

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "WWE: New Day Coming (WWE Superstars Official Theme Song) [feat. Todd Clark] - Single". iTunes. May 17, 2013. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved May 17, 2013.
  2. 1 2 Johnson, Mike (November 28, 2016). "WWE Superstars is no more". Pro Wrestling Insider. Archived from the original on November 29, 2016. Retrieved November 28, 2016.
  3. ↑ "WWE Superstars Thu. Feb. 11, 2010". WWE / YouTube.com. Archived from the original on November 23, 2023. Retrieved May 5, 2010.
  4. ↑ "WGN America enters WWE ring with "WWE Superstars"". WWE. January 5, 2009. Archived from the original on March 30, 2019. Retrieved April 14, 2009.
  5. ↑ Mackinder, Matt. "WWE Superstars: Debut show a dud". SLAM! Sports - Wrestling. Canadian Online Explorer. Archived from the original on July 28, 2012. Retrieved April 18, 2009.
  6. ↑ Caldwell, James (April 16, 2009). "Caldwell's WWE Superstars Report 4/16: Ongoing "virtual time" coverage of debut edition on WGN". PW Torch. Archived from the original on April 13, 2016. Retrieved June 26, 2009.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.