- When your choice is either MyNetworkTV or Superstation WGN to host your
television show you tend to choose the one that sucks the least. WWE
announced that Smackdown! will be moving to MyNetworkTV starting September
2008, a decade after the show made its debut on UPN who later changed its
name to The CW Network. The announcement was jointly made by MyNetworkTV
President Greg Meidel and WWE Chairman Vince McMahon. No details have been
released except for the fact that the show will be keeping its two hour
format. This is certainly a big win for MyNetworkTV, which is considered the
lowest rated network in the United States. The ratings and recognition that
WWE brings along will no doubt help the network flex some of its muscles. On
the other hand, for WWE, they went from bad to worse.
- WWE has signed a deal with 20th Century Fox for regular movie distribution
which will start in 2009. As part of the deal, WWE Films will be having one
theatrical release and four straight-to- DVD movies each year. The first
movie under the new deal will be John Cena's '12 Rounds' which started
filming this week. 20th Century Fox also released Cena's first movie 'The
Marine', which was the most successful among the other WWE Films releases
'See No Evil' with Kane and 'The Condemned' with Steve Austin. Each
theatrical release will cost up the $20 million and DVD releases will go in
the range of $3 to $5 million.
- WWE announced today that it has signed a new multi-year agreement with
Make-A-Wish Foundation during a joint press conference at the US Airways
Center. The partnership' s first act under the new sponsorship commitment
will be to hold WWE's biggest wish-granting event ever at WrestleMania XXIV
on March 30th in Orlando. More than 50 children during the course of the
next few weeks will be meeting their favorite WWE Superstars and have fun at
the Universal Orlando Resort. Then on the day of WrestleMania, they will be
officially inducted into the WWE Make-A-Wish "Circle of Champions" at the
annual Bacon, Bagels and Biceps brunch. The Make-A-Wish Foundation also
recognized John Cena with an award to celebrate his 100th wish granted to a
Make-A-Wish child. WWE is one of the longest partners of Make-A-Wish and in
2004 the Foundation paid tribute to WWE with its Chris Greicius Celebrity
Award, which recognizes organizations and individuals from the entertainment
and sports worlds for their inspirational wish-granting activities. Over the
past years, Jesse Ventura, Hulk Hogan, The Rock and the person in charge for
organizing these events, WWE's Sue Aitchison also received the Chris
Greicius Celebrity Award.
- Raw on Tuesday night scored hours of 3.38 and 3.56 for a 3.47 composite cable rating, with a tad over 5 million viewers.
