WWE Superstars | |
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Genre | |
Created by | Vince McMahon |
Opening theme | "New Day Coming" by CFO$ feat. Pilot Speed[1] |
Country of origin | United States |
Original language | English |
No. of seasons | 8 |
No. of episodes | 398[2] |
Production | |
Camera setup | Multicamera setup |
Running time | 60 minutes (inc. commercials) |
Original release | |
Network |
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Release | April 16, 2009 November 25, 2016 | –
Related | |
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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, 2008WGN 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]
, WWE andOn March 17, 2011April 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 .
, 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 fromOn 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
[edit]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
[edit]Commentators | Dates |
---|---|
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 June 9, 2011 – November 3, 2011 | – May 26, 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 January 16, 2015 – January 23, 2015 May 6, 2016 – June 10, 2016 | – June 26, 2014
Tom Phillips and Renee Young | July 3, 2014 | – January 9, 2015
Tom Phillips | January 30, 2015 |
Rich Brennan and Byron Saxton | February 6, 2015 April 24, 2015 – May 29, 2015 October 23, 2015 – April 29, 2016 | – March 27, 2015
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
[edit]Ring announcers | Dates |
---|---|
Raw brand | |
Lilian Garcia | April 16, 2009 | – September 24, 2009
Justin Roberts | October 1, 2009 July 14, 2011 – July 21, 2011 November 10, 2011 December 29, 2011 – October 25, 2012 | – May 5, 2011
JoJo | July 29, 2016 | – November 25, 2016
SmackDown brand | |
Justin Roberts | April 16, 2009 | – September 24, 2009
Tony Chimel | October 1, 2009 July 21, 2011 December 29, 2011 – October 25, 2012 | – May 5, 2011
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 January 9, 2015 April 17, 2015 – May 29, 2015 October 16, 2015 November 6, 2015 | – December 22, 2011
Tony Chimel | November 2, 2012 January 1, 2016 | – 2014
Lilian Garcia | October 23, 2014 | – February 26, 2016
Greg Hamilton | March 4, 2016 | – July 22, 2016
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ a b "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.
- ^ a b 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.
- ^ "WWE Superstars Thu. Feb. 11, 2010". WWE / YouTube.com. Archived from the original on November 23, 2023. Retrieved May 5, 2010.
- ^ "WGN America enters WWE ring with "WWE Superstars"". WWE. January 5, 2009. Archived from the original on March 30, 2019. Retrieved April 14, 2009.
- ^ 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.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - ^ 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.
External links
[edit]- Official website
- WWE Superstars on Facebook
- WWE Superstars show on YouTube
- WWE Superstars at IMDb