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WWE is getting into the studio programming game with FS1 show

By Brad Berreman

AUSTIN, TX - MARCH 09: Paul Michael Levesque aka 'Triple H' speaks onstage at Featured Session: The Women?s Evolution in WWE and Beyond during the 2019 SXSW Conference and Festivals at Austin Convention Center on March 9, 2019 in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Samantha Burkardt/Getty Images for SXSW)
AUSTIN, TX - MARCH 09: Paul Michael Levesque aka 'Triple H' speaks onstage at Featured Session: The Women?s Evolution in WWE and Beyond during the 2019 SXSW Conference and Festivals at Austin Convention Center on March 9, 2019 in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Samantha Burkardt/Getty Images for SXSW) /
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With the looming move of SmackDown to Fox, and a competitor coming, WWE is making a move into studio programming.

On October 4, WWE SmackDown will move from USA and make its debut on FOX. In concert with that move from cable to broadcast television, WWE executive Paul Levesque, best-known as Triple H, appeared on First Things First Friday morning to announce a weekly studio show coming to FS1 in the fall.

Moving to a broadcast network should be a nice boost for SmackDown, and the WWE brand as a whole as it tries to get footing in the mainstream sports conversation.

The show will air on Tuesday nights, and it would seem to fit as a pregame show of sorts for SmackDown and a post-show analysis of Monday Night Raw at first glance. There aren’t a lot of details about the content of the show, or what Fox talent will be on it, but Triple H did point to melding the sports and entertainment aspects obviously inherent in pro wrestling.

Per Brandon Stroud of Uproxx, Triple H said:

"Because of the sports-entertainment aspect of it, it’s an analyst show where you’re talking about the athletic component of it, it’s also an entertainment … where you’re talking about where things are going and the storylines and the characters and all of it. This is going to be one of those shows that if you are a WWE fan, across the board, this is the show that will be can’t miss, because it’s going to talk about everything you love in a way you can’t get any place else."

Since the demise of WCW, WWE has been on its own as a top pro wrestling circuit. There is some competition coming though, with the AEW (All Elite Wrestling) moving toward a broad launch with the Khan family that owns the Jacksonville Jaguars backing it and Chris Jericho and Jim Ross attached to the brand.

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It’s hard to know if wrestling will lend itself well to analysis (deep or otherwise) and debate over the length of a studio show, be it a half-hour or a full hour. But WWE has made a solid business move in teaming with Fox, and one of their cable network extensions provides a nice platform for giving a studio show a try.

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