Jonas James Pate (born January 15, 1970) is an American screenwriter , director and producer . He wrote and directed The Grave , Deceiver , The Take , and directed Shrink .
136-917: Pate also co-created the USA Network series Good vs Evil , the NBC series Surface , and the Netflix series Outer Banks . Jonas Pate was born in Winston-Salem, North Carolina , and is the twin brother of fellow filmmaker Josh Pate . Pate's parents divorced when he was young, and the siblings were raised through elementary school with their mother and step-father in Atlanta, Georgia, and through high school with their father and step-mother in Raeford, NC. He studied philosophy at Princeton University , and graduated in 1992. In 1996, Pate started his career by writing and directing
272-402: A Notre Dame Fighting Irish football game was scheduled for USA Network due to NBC's commitments to the 2020 U.S. Open . Coverage of a primetime game against Clemson on November 7, 2020 , was also briefly moved from NBC to USA Network due to NBC News coverage of a victory speech by president-elect Joe Biden . With the shutdown of NBCSN at the end of 2021, USA Network once again became
408-500: A 24-hour schedule, programming its new daytime block with the British soap opera Coronation Street , a health-oriented show named Alive and Well , and an afternoon movie. In fall 1982, the channel began running a mix of 1960s and 1970s Hanna-Barbera cartoons each weekday evening from 6:00 to 7:00 p.m. as part of the new USA Cartoon Express block, with sports programming airing after 7:00 p.m., which were rebroadcast during
544-531: A Baby . The tradition of game show reruns continued into the 1990s with the $ 25,000 and $ 100,000 Pyramids , the early 1990s revivals of The Joker's Wild and Tic-Tac-Dough , and other well-known shows such as Scrabble , Sale of the Century , Talk About , and Caesars Challenge . Additionally, two more original game shows were added in June 1994; these were Free 4 All and Quicksilver. In September 1991,
680-479: A Canadian version of USA Network on January 1, 2025. The channel will be a relaunch of Bell's Discovery Channel , following that company's loss of rights to the former Discovery, Inc. channel brands to Rogers Media. This iteration of USA Network will still be maintained by CTV Specialty Television, which is a joint venture of Bell Media and ESPN Inc. , stemming from its ownership of The Sports Network (TSN). WWE World Wrestling Entertainment ( WWE )
816-417: A deal with Endeavor Group Holdings, under which it would merge with Zuffa , the parent company of mixed martial arts promotion Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) to form TKO Group Holdings, a new public company majority-owned by Endeavor, with McMahon serving as executive chairman of the new entity, and Nick Khan becoming president. The merger was completed on September 12, 2023. In 2024, McMahon, who
952-582: A deal with UPN, McMahon shut down the XFL. WWE maintained control of the XFL trademark before McMahon reclaimed the XFL brand, this time under a separate shell company from WWE, in 2017 with intent to relaunch the XFL in 2020 . On June 24, 2002, episode of Raw , Vince McMahon officially referred to the start of the next era, called the "Ruthless Aggression" era. On May 6, 2002, the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) changed both its company name and
1088-575: A later date, when Shaw instead offered to carry the channel on the digital cable tiers of its Shaw Cable systems. In spite of this, the CRTC has since rejected the restructured proposal on the basis that USA's programming would be competitive with Mystery TV. Many of USA's original programs currently air on either Showcase or CTV Drama Channel . WWE programming that airs on USA also airs on Rogers Media -owned Sportsnet 360 . On October 17, 2024, NBCUniversal announced an agreement with Bell Canada to launch
1224-522: A legal dispute with the World Wildlife Fund , the WWF was renamed World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). In 2011, the promotion ceased branding itself as World Wrestling Entertainment and began solely branding itself with the initials WWE . Prior to September 2023, the company's majority owner was its executive chairman, third-generation wrestling promoter Vince McMahon , who retained a 38.6% ownership of
1360-553: A long-established partnership with WWF/ WWE and, for many years, limited sports programming. USA would increase its sports coverage significantly in 2022, after the shutdown of NBCSN , and now serves as the main cable component of NBC Sports . As of November 2023 , USA Network is available to approximately 70,000,000 pay television households in the United States-down from its 2011 peak of 100,000,000 households. USA Network originally launched on September 22, 1977, as
1496-596: A monopoly on the world title. In a now infamous situation, the NWA sent former five-time world champion and legitimate wrestler Lou Thesz to Toronto to face Rogers on January 24, 1963. Thesz recalls this was not planned and prior to the match remembered telling Buddy "we can do this the easy way or the hard way." Rogers agreed to lose the fall and title in a one fall match versus the traditional two out of three fall matchup that most world title matches were defended. Once word reached back to Mondt and McMahon, at first they simply ignored
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#17328761610991632-465: A multibillion-dollar purchase, renaming the merged company NBC Universal . GE retained an 80% ownership stake in the new company, while Vivendi retained a 20% stake. NBC Universal officially took over as owner of USA and its sibling cable channels (except for Newsworld International) in 2004. That year, USA premiered the sci-fi series The 4400 . In 2005, USA Network introduced a new logo and associated marketing campaign, "Characters Welcome". The slogan
1768-578: A pay cut, and the company has also suspended construction on its new headquarters for at least six months. The firings caused significant backlash by fans; with Business Insider calling them "livid." Both fans and several media outlets pointed out that while WWE claimed that these actions were "necessary due to the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic", the WWE also claimed to have "substantial financial resources. Available cash and debt capacity currently total approximately $ 0.5 billion". DeSantis's claimed WWE
1904-401: A pre-recorded format. NXT continued to air from Full Sail University, but under similar restrictions. Live broadcasts returned on April 13, with the existing arrangements continuing; WWE stated to ESPN.com that "we believe it is now more important than ever to provide people with a diversion from these hard times", and that the company's programming "bring[s] families together and deliver
2040-403: A programming block from Black Entertainment Television (which would eventually launch as its own network three years later, but now owned by Paramount as of 2001) and carried C-SPAN during the day. In 1981, ownership of the network changed. First, Time Inc. agreed to buy UA-Columbia's share of the network contingent upon Madison Square Garden owner Gulf + Western transferring its share of
2176-706: A publicly traded company, trading on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) with the issuance of stock then valued at $ 172.5 million. The company is traded on the NYSE under ticker symbol WWE. By the fall of 1999, the Attitude Era had turned the tide of the Monday Night War into WWF's favor. After Time Warner merged with America Online (AOL), Ted Turner 's control over WCW was considerably reduced. The newly merged company lacked interest in professional wrestling as
2312-555: A revival of the mid-1970s game show Jackpot ; two more original game shows, Love Me, Love Me Not , and a revival of the short-lived 1980 series Chain Reaction , were added in September 1986. More shows were progressively added soon afterward such as The Joker's Wild , Tic-Tac-Dough , Press Your Luck , High Rollers , and Hollywood Squares (with John Davidson as its "Square-Master", or host), along with Wipeout , Face
2448-496: A sense of hope, determination and perseverance". It was subsequently reported that Florida Governor Ron DeSantis had deemed WWE a business critical to the state's economy, and had added an exception under the state's stay-at-home order for employees of a "professional sports and media production" that is closed to the public and has a national audience. The decision was met with criticism from media outlets, with several media outlets pointing out that DeSantis's actions happened on
2584-691: A teen drama that premiered on April 15, 2020. Pate currently lives with his wife, Jennifer, and two young adult children, Lilah and Cooper, in Wilmington, North Carolina . In 2020, he was appointed by Governor Roy Cooper to the Governor’s Advisory Council on Film, Television, and Digital Streaming. His daughter, Lilah, has made several cameos on Outer Banks and several other Netflix and Amazon Prime Video series; such as The Summer I Turned Pretty . Film Television Music video USA Network USA Network (or simply USA )
2720-473: A third brand on May 26, 2006. Two years later, WWE adapted a more family-friendly format and their programming received a TV-PG rating . The final ECW program aired on February 16, 2010, after which it was replaced with NXT . During this time many new and young wrestlers would join the company, many which would become household names for the next years to come such as John Cena , Randy Orton , Brock Lesnar , and Batista . On April 7, 2011, WWE, via
2856-407: A time of record low revenues. This helped drive many WWF wrestlers over to rival promotion World Championship Wrestling (WCW), including 1980s babyface hero Hulk Hogan. During this period, the WWF promoted wrestlers of a younger age comprising "The New Generation", featuring Bret Hart , Shawn Michaels , Diesel , Razor Ramon and The Undertaker among others in an effort to promote new talent into
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#17328761610992992-574: A time, the block also included the 1989–1994 episodes of the Bob Saget run of America's Funniest Home Videos . "USAM" was discontinued in 2002; by that point, the only sitcoms airing on USA were daytime and late night reruns of Martin and overnight airings of Living Single , Cheers and Wings , with drama series and movies populating much of the channel's daytime and primetime schedule. In 2000, USA Networks bought Canadian media company North American Television, Inc. (a joint partnership between
3128-583: A viewership foothold with its original programming; this began in the 1990s with initial hits such as Silk Stalkings , Duckman and La Femme Nikita , which were gradually followed in the following two decades by series such as Monk , Psych , Shooter , White Collar , Mr. Robot , Suits , Burn Notice and Royal Pains . In addition to its original productions, the network airs syndicated reruns of current and former network series such as Law & Order: Special Victims Unit , Chicago P.D. , Law & Order: Criminal Intent (which spent
3264-506: A whole and decided to sell WCW in its entirety. Although Eric Bischoff , whom Time Warner fired as WCW president in October 1999, was nearing a deal to purchase the company, in March 2001 McMahon acquired the rights to WCW's trademarks, tape library, contracts, and other properties from AOL Time Warner for a number reported to be around $ 7 million. Shortly after WrestleMania X-Seven , the WWF launched
3400-532: A wrestling supercard was nothing new in North America; the NWA had begun running Starrcade a few years prior. In McMahon's eyes, however, what separated WrestleMania from other supercards was that it was intended to be accessible to those who did not watch wrestling. He invited celebrities such as Mr. T , Muhammad Ali , and Cyndi Lauper to participate in the event, as well as securing a deal with MTV to provide coverage. The event and hype surrounding it led to
3536-415: Is also the home of the professional wrestling company WWE . WWE (formerly WWF) has had a longstanding relationship with USA Network going back to 1977 when broadcasts of Madison Square Garden events would air on USA Network. The first weekly WWE show on USA Network debuted on September 4, 1983, with WWF All American Wrestling . WWF Prime Time Wrestling broadcast on USA Network from 1985 to 1993 until it
3672-489: Is an American basic cable television channel owned by the NBCUniversal Media Group division of Comcast 's NBCUniversal . It was originally launched in 1977 as Madison Square Garden Sports Network , one of the first national sports cable television channels. It was relaunched under its current name on April 9, 1980, and in the years since then, USA steadily gained popularity through its original programming,
3808-505: 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, WWE has also branched out into fields outside of wrestling, including film , football , and various other business ventures . The company is additionally involved in licensing its intellectual property to other companies to produce video games and action figures . The promotion
3944-618: Is located in Stamford, Connecticut , with offices in New York, Los Angeles, Mexico City, Mumbai, Shanghai, Singapore, Dubai, and Munich. As in other professional wrestling promotions, WWE shows are not true contests but entertainment-based performance theater, featuring storyline -driven, scripted , and partially choreographed matches; however, matches often include moves that can put performers at risk of injury, even death, if not performed correctly. The pre-determined aspect of professional wrestling
4080-527: Is targeted at career and athletic development for the company's wrestlers. Full Sail is also home base to WWE's NXT brand, which served as a developmental territory for WWE. On February 24, 2014, WWE launched WWE Network , an over-the-top streaming service that would feature archive content from WWE and its predecessors, all pay-per-views, (which would continue to be sold through television providers as well), and original programming. Beginning in 2015 WWE started to push Roman Reigns as their face of
4216-528: The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and Power Corporation of Canada ), owner of cable television channels Trio and Newsworld International (the CBC continued to handle programming responsibilities for NWI until 2005, when eventual USA owner Vivendi sold the channel to a group led by Al Gore , who relaunched it as Current TV ). One major shock happened when USA lost the broadcasting rights of
Jonas Pate - Misplaced Pages Continue
4352-748: The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), to carry the USA Network in Canada as a foreign service that would be eligible for carriage by domestic cable and satellite providers (and to automatically allow all English-language general interest cable networks from the United States into Canada). However, because of programming rights issues with other Canadian specialty channels , certain programs would be subjected to blackout restrictions, including WWE Raw . In September 2007,
4488-514: The Madison Square Garden Network . The network carried Major League Baseball games on Thursday nights from 1979 to 1983, and the NHL on USA ran from 1979 to 1985. College Football on USA ran from 1980 to 1986, and its telecast of the 1981 Liberty Bowl was the first college bowl game to be exclusively broadcast on cable television. The NBA on USA also aired from 1979 to 1984,
4624-578: The Tennis Channel in 2009. The PGA Tour on USA covered the opening two rounds of the Masters Tournament from 1982 to 2007, Ryder Cup matches from 1989 to 2010, and various other events. The USA Network aired most games of the NFL-run World League of American Football (later NFL Europe/Europa) in its first two seasons of operation in 1991 and 1992; one innovation introduced for
4760-681: The WWWF World Heavyweight Championship was created, with the promotion claiming that inaugural champion Rogers had won a tournament in Rio de Janeiro on April 25, 1963, defeating long time Capitol favorite Antonino Rocca in the finals. In reality, Rocca was no longer in the area, as he was working for Jim Crockett Sr. in the Carolinas. Rogers also had already suffered what would later be a career ending heart attack on April 18 in Akron, Ohio, and
4896-467: The XFL , a new professional football league that debuted in 2001. The league had high ratings for the first few weeks, but initial interest waned and its ratings plunged to dismally low levels (one of its games was the lowest-rated prime-time show in the history of American television). NBC walked out on the venture after only one season, but McMahon intended to continue alone. However, after being unable to reach
5032-461: The science fiction series Surface , which aired until 2006. As his filmography was already fleshing out, he took on several directing jobs on television series like Battlestar Galactica (2005), Bionic Woman (2007), Friday Night Lights (2007-2010), Chuck (2008), The Philanthropist (2009), Caprica (2010), Undercovers (2010), The Event (2010-2011), and Prime Suspect (2011). He continued his film career by writing
5168-482: The screenplay for The Take (2007). In 2009, he directed the independent film Shrink . Pate is the director and executive producer on the Battlestar Galactica prequel entitled Blood & Chrome . He has also signed on to direct the independent crime drama film Way Down South , written by himself and his brother. Pate is the co-creator and executive producer of Outer Banks for Netflix ,
5304-538: The thriller film called The Grave with his brother Josh . After a screening at the Sundance Film Festival , it received a wide range of positive reviews. The following year, they collaborated on the movie Deceiver . He subsequently co-created the fantasy action television show Good vs Evil (1999) alongside his brother. From 2003 to 2004, he served as co-executive producer on L.A. Dragnet , for which he also wrote an episode. In 2005, he co-created
5440-407: The "Characters Welcome" tagline in the lead-up to the rebranding, whose associated programming shift was led by the premieres of Mr. Robot and Colony . Variety reported that the new programming strategy was designed to appeal to themes of "authenticity, resiliency, bravery and innovation". The Washington Post felt that the re-branding symbolically marked the end of USA's "blue sky" era, as
5576-432: The 1985–1986 season, the channel had four hours of original and exclusive shows. One original series from the 1985–1986 season was the comedy Check It Out! . USA, wanting to become the flagship cable channel and compete directly with the broadcast networks, committed to 26 half-hours of part exclusive off-broadcast network and part original programming for the 1986–1987 season at an increase of $ 30 million. In one case,
Jonas Pate - Misplaced Pages Continue
5712-593: The 2015–16 season. USA also participates in NBC Sports' broader effort of carrying all ten Survival Sunday matches across its numerous channels during the final matchday of the Premier League season. Starting in 2015, USA Network was similarly incorporated into NBC's coverage of the Stanley Cup Playoffs . In 2016, USA aired three NASCAR races as overflow during the 2016 Summer Olympics . In September 2020 ,
5848-484: The ANC connection, USA also aired the financial news program First Business (then produced by CONUS) at 6:30am weekday mornings for a time (the network had previously carried Wall Street Journal -produced financial news updates and a late-night report in the 1980s ). The ANC-produced updates continued through 2000 (ANC was suffering heavily around this time due to competition with other cable news channels such as CNN and
5984-490: The CRTC refused Shaw's request to carry USA Network in Canada on the basis that the channel carried too much programming that overlapped with the English language digital cable specialty channel Mystery TV (which is then owned by Canwest – later Shaw Media – and formerly, Groupe TVA ). However, on September 20, the CRTC stated that it would reconsider their denial of the eligible foreign carriage proposal for USA Network at
6120-470: The IDs showed people in the control room, while a studio that was being set-up by a crew was the backdrop for the "Tonight" menu that displayed the evening's schedule. Opening sequences leading into movie telecasts showed people running through the "USA Studios Film Vault". The new look coincided with a shift in focus, more towards off-network reruns and original programming; game shows and court shows were dropped from
6256-529: The Invasion storyline, integrating the incoming talent roster from WCW and Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW). With this purchase, WWF now became by far the sole largest wrestling promotion in North America and in the world. The assets of ECW, which had folded after filing for bankruptcy protection in April 2001, were purchased by WWE in 2003. In 2000, the WWF, in collaboration with television network NBC , launched
6392-658: The Madison Square Garden Sports Network (not to be confused with the New York City -area regional sports network of the same name now simply known as the MSG Network). The network was founded by cable provider UA-Columbia Cablevision and the Madison Square Garden Corp. From its beginning (and for the next two decades) the network was run by chairwoman and CEO Kay Koplovitz . The channel
6528-506: The Montreal Screwjob, which took place at the 1997 Survivor Series , former WCW talent were being hired by the WWF, including Stone Cold Steve Austin , Mankind , and Vader . Austin was slowly brought in as the new face of the company despite being promoted as an antihero , starting with his " Austin 3:16 " speech shortly after defeating Jake Roberts in the tournament finals at the King of
6664-670: The Music , and Name That Tune . In June 1987, the channel debuted another original game show, Bumper Stumpers (all four USA original game shows in this era were taped in Canada). When it began, the game-show block ran for an hour, but it expanded significantly the following year. By 1989, the network ran game shows Monday through Fridays from 12:00 to 5:00 p.m. eastern. USA also aired late night reruns of Procter & Gamble soap operas The Edge Of Night from August 5, 1985, to January 19, 1989, along with Search For Tomorrow from 1987 until
6800-731: The Performance Center in a similar setup dubbed the Capitol Wrestling Center. It had many of the same features as the ThunderDome, but with a small crowd of select live fans included, in addition to the virtual fans. The name is also an homage to WWE's predecessor, the Capitol Wrestling Corporation. On May 21 WWE brought back fans full time, beginning with a 25-city tour, thus ending the ThunderDome residency. The July 16 episode of SmackDown started WWE's return to
6936-481: The Performance Center with paying fans, thus being WWE's last event to have ticketed fans in attendance before the pandemic took full effect. WrestleMania 36 was scheduled to take place on April 5 at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa but on March 16, was moved to Orlando to be held behind closed doors. WrestleMania, as well as Raw and SmackDown for a period before and after WrestleMania, shifted from live broadcasts to
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#17328761610997072-611: The Ring pay-per-view in 1996. On April 29, 1999, the WWF made its return to terrestrial television , airing a special program known as SmackDown! on the fledgling UPN network. The Thursday night show became a weekly series on August 26, 1999 – competing directly with WCW's Thursday night program titled Thunder on TBS . In the summer of 1999, Titan Sports, Inc. was renamed World Wrestling Federation Entertainment, Inc. On October 19, 1999, World Wrestling Federation Entertainment, Inc. launched an initial public offering as
7208-516: The Sci-Fi Channel to Seagram for $ 1.7 billion. In turn, Seagram sold a controlling interest in the networks to Barry Diller – who was previously head of Paramount Pictures when the company owned part of the network in the early 1980s and who was also credited with putting together the 1981 agreement which resulted in joint Paramount-Time-MCA ownership of the network – in February 1998, which led to
7344-491: The WWE Corporate website, the company ceased using the full name World Wrestling Entertainment and henceforth referred to itself solely as WWE, making the latter an orphan initialism . This was said to reflect WWE's global entertainment expansion away from the ring with the ultimate goal of acquiring entertainment companies and putting a focus on television, live events, and film production. WWE noted that their new company model
7480-464: The WWF to Viacom in June 2000; Raw (which had been retitled Raw is War ) was moved to TNN in September of that year. In May 2002, USA Networks sold its non-shopping television and film assets (including USA Network, the Sci-Fi Channel, Trio, USA Films (which was rechristened as Focus Features ) and Studios USA ) to Vivendi Universal for $ 10.3 billion. USA and the other channels were folded into Vivendi's Universal Television Group. In July 2002,
7616-492: The WWF were former AWA or NWA talent. The WWF would tour nationally in a venture that would require a huge capital investment, one that placed the WWF on the verge of financial collapse. The future of McMahon's experiment came down to the success or failure of McMahon's groundbreaking concept, WrestleMania . WrestleMania was a major success and was (and still is) marketed as the Super Bowl of professional wrestling. The concept of
7752-664: The WrestleMania III main event between WWF champion Hulk Hogan and André the Giant took place on The Main Event I in 1988 and was seen by 33 million people, the most-watched wrestling match in North American television history. In 1983, Titan moved its offices to Stamford, Connecticut . Subsequently, a new Titan Sports, Inc. (originally WWF, Inc.) was established in Delaware in 1987 and
7888-477: The aforementioned MSG Network). The network quickly added a mix of college and less well-known professional sports held at other venues, similar to those found during the early years of ESPN . In 1978, children's programming was also added to the lineup. On April 9, 1980, the channel changed its name to USA Network. It also added a children's program called Calliope to its schedule and some talk shows in an effort to appeal to women. The new network also offered
8024-685: The aforementioned draft), and airs live instead of the previous pre-recorded format. Due to the return of the brand split, a new World Championship , called the WWE Universal Championship was introduced at the August 21, 2016 SummerSlam event with Finn Bálor defeating Seth Rollins to become the inaugural WWE Universal Champion. On November 29, 2016, WWE introduced a new program specifically for their cruiserweight division (wrestlers 205 lbs. and under) called WWE 205 Live . The program focuses exclusively on those wrestlers who qualify for
8160-439: The block was reduced to three hours, from 2:00 to 5:00 p.m. Eastern. However, an additional hour was added in March 1993. In November 1994, the game show block was cut back to only two hours, from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. On September 24, 1992, USA launched a sister network, the Sci-Fi Channel (now Syfy ), focusing on science fiction series and films. In January 1993, the channel began showing WWF Monday Night Raw , which
8296-490: The business news channel Bloomberg Information TV Monday thru Saturday from 5:00 to 7:00 a.m. Eastern; in 2004, the Bloomberg simulcast moved to E! , where it ran until 2007 (USA was actually the second television network to simulcast Bloomberg's programming, the now-defunct American Independent Network also carried a simulcast of the channel during the mid-1990s). Bloomberg purchased the airtime from USA. In October 1995,
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#17328761610998432-647: The channel debuted Monk , a comedy-drama police procedural that starred Tony Shalhoub as Adrian Monk , a former San Francisco police inspector-turned-consultant who suffers from various obsessive-compulsive behaviors that include the ability to pay attention to detail when solving crimes. It became one of USA Network's first breakout hit series, and ran for eight seasons until it ended on December 4, 2009. In 2003, General Electric (GE) agreed to merge NBC and its sibling companies with Vivendi Universal 's North American-based filmed entertainment assets, including Universal Pictures and Universal Television Group in
8568-497: The channel had been increasingly producing more "intense" series with darker themes. NBCUniversal marketing executive Alexandra Shapiro explained that the "Characters Welcome" campaign and associated programming was reflective of the "weirdly optimistic" mood of the network's key demographic at the time. In August 2016, NBCUniversal acquired the television rights to the Harry Potter film franchise from 2018 through 2025, including
8704-431: The channel picked up Airwolf for 58 off-network episodes, while commissioning 24 new episodes without the original cast. One tradition on USA was an afternoon lineup of game show reruns mixed in with several original low-budget productions that aired over the years. It began in October 1984 with reruns of The Gong Show and Make Me Laugh . In September 1985, the network began airing its first original game show,
8840-523: The company since having him win the 2015 Royal rumble match , amidst mixed reception . By 2017 Roman Reigns became their highest merchandise seller. On May 25, 2016, WWE relaunched the brand split, billed as the "New Era". Subsequently, Raw and SmackDown have each featured their unique rosters, announcers, championships and ring sets/ropes. A draft took place to determine which wrestlers would appear on what show. SmackDown also moved from Thursdays to Tuesday nights, which began on July 19 (the night of
8976-577: The company's outstanding stock and 81.1% of the voting power. The current entity, which was originally named Titan Sports, Inc. , was incorporated on February 21, 1980, in South Yarmouth, Massachusetts , but reincorporated under Delaware General Corporation Law in 1987. It acquired Capitol Wrestling Corporation Ltd., the holding company for the WWF, in 1982. Titan was renamed World Wrestling Federation Entertainment, Inc. in 1999, and then World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. in 2002. In 2023, its legal name
9112-446: The company. The actual date of sale is still unknown but the generally accepted date is June 6, 1982; however, this was likely only the date the deal was struck but not finalized. On WWF television, Capitol Wrestling Corporation maintained copyrights and ownership past the June 1982 date. The World Wrestling Federation was not solely owned by Vincent J. McMahon but also by Gorilla Monsoon , Arnold Skaaland and Phil Zacko. The deal between
9248-481: The creation of USA Networks, Inc. ; the company also merged the cable channels with Diller's existing television properties including the Home Shopping Network and its broadcasting unit Silver King Broadcasting (which was restructured as USA Broadcasting , and eventually sold its stations to Univision Communications in 2001 to form the nucleus of Telefutura/UniMás ). In July 1995, USA began simulcasting
9384-500: The deal was valued around $ 250 million over the length of the agreement, making it one of the highest-valued film franchise deals. To launch the new rights, Syfy and USA both aired Harry Potter marathons over the July 13–15, 2018 weekend, airing all eight films (including directors' cuts of the first six) with limited commercial interruption. Amid the growth of streaming services (including NBCUniversal's newly launched Peacock ) and
9520-434: The decline of traditional cable television, USA Network began to cut back on scripted programming, in favor of reality shows, television events (including scripted miniseries ), and live programming—the latter including WWE programs and sporting events. In 2020, the network cancelled Dare Me , The Purge , The Sinner , and Treadstone . With the announcement that NBCSN would shut down on December 31, 2021, it
9656-627: The division. The cruiserweights – who first became a fixture in WWE with the Cruiserweight Classic tournament – were originally exclusive to the Raw brand before landing their own brand . On December 15, 2016, WWE established a new WWE United Kingdom Championship , with the inaugural champion being decided by a 16-man tournament to air on WWE Network featuring wrestlers from the UK and Ireland during January 2017. WWE executive Paul "Triple H" Levesque said
9792-474: The drama's seventh season in the fall of 2007; episodes would then be re-aired later in the season on NBC, most likely to shore up any programming holes created by the cancellation of a failed new series. Although this is not the first time a broadcast series has moved to cable (USA had acquired first-run rights to the revival of Alfred Hitchcock Presents from NBC in 1987 , while The Paper Chase had moved beforehand from CBS to Showtime in 1983), it marked
9928-456: The eventual plan with the new title and tournament was to establish a UK-based brand with its own weekly television show. WWE subsequently launched its UK-based brand as an offshoot of NXT, NXT UK , in June 2018, with Johnny Saint serving as inaugural general manager. Starting in September 2019, NXT had a weekly, live, two-hour show Wednesday nights on the USA Network and WWE began promoting NXT as their "third brand". However, in 2021 NXT
10064-428: The film Rocky III . McMahon signed Roddy Piper as Hogan's rival, and then shortly afterward Jesse Ventura as an announcer. Other wrestlers joined the roster, such as The Iron Sheik , Nikolai Volkoff , Junkyard Dog , Paul Orndorff , Greg Valentine , and Ricky Steamboat , joining existing stars such as Jimmy Snuka , Don Muraco , Sgt. Slaughter and André the Giant . Many of the wrestlers who would later join
10200-603: The final four seasons of its run as a first-run program on USA) and NCIS . The network also broadcasts a variety of films from the Universal Pictures library and select films from other movie studios (such as Sony Pictures Entertainment , Paramount Pictures , Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures and Warner Bros. Entertainment ), airing primarily as part of its overnight and weekend schedule, and occasionally during primetime on nights when original programming or marathons of its acquired programs are not scheduled. USA Network
10336-455: The first time that a series which moved its first-run episodes from broadcast to cable television would continue to air episodes on a broadcast network while it was still a first-run program. On December 7, 2007, it was announced that USA Network would continue broadcasting first-run episodes of Raw through at least 2010. The June 1, 2008, premiere of In Plain Sight , starring Mary McCormack ,
10472-544: The first time that professional wrestling had been broadcast on network television since the 1950s when the now-defunct DuMont Television Network broadcast matches of Vincent J. McMahon's Capitol Wrestling Corporation. The 1980s "Wrestling Boom" peaked with the WrestleMania III pay-per-view at the Pontiac Silverdome in 1987, which set an attendance record of 93,173 for the WWF for 29 years until 2016 . A rematch of
10608-500: The first time that the NBA had a cable television partner. For 17 years from 1981 to 1998, USA aired a weekly boxing show, USA Tuesday Night Fights , which showcased bouts featuring up-and-coming boxers. Tennis on USA aired professional tournaments in the United States from 1984 to 2008, and was the longtime cable home of the US Open before its cable television rights moved to ESPN2 and
10744-610: The first-run teen sitcom USA High and reruns of Saved by the Bell: The New Class from 1997 to 2001, USA has not aired children's programming since that time), and replaced it with a block called "USAM", which advertised itself as "Primetime Comedy in the Morning". The block mainly featured sitcoms originally aired on network television that were cancelled before making it to 100 episodes (such as The Jeff Foxworthy Show , Hearts Afire and Something So Right ); however, for
10880-566: The founder of the CWC was. Some sources state that it was Vincent J. McMahon , while other sources cite McMahon's father Jess McMahon as founder of CWC. The CWC later joined the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) and famous New York promoter Toots Mondt soon joined the promotion. Vincent J. McMahon and Toots Mondt were very successful and soon controlled approximately 70% of the NWA's booking power, largely due to their dominance in
11016-405: The four major sports leagues closed locker rooms to the media as a precautionary measure. As other sports cancellations and postponements were being introduced, WWE began to film its weekly programs at the Performance Center without spectators and with only essential staff present, beginning with the March 13 episode of SmackDown – the March 11 episode of NXT had been recorded at
11152-565: The heavily populated Northeastern United States . In 1963, McMahon and Mondt had a dispute with the NWA over "Nature Boy" Buddy Rogers being booked to hold the NWA World Heavyweight Championship . Mondt and McMahon were not only promoters but also acted as his manager and were accused by other NWA promoters of withholding Rogers making defenses in their cities versus only defending in Mondt and McMahon's own cities thus maintaining
11288-526: The inaugural season of the revived USFL , and is one of the broadcast partners of the SuperMotocross World Championship and its Supercross and Motocross feeder series. High-definition simulcasts of USA Network sports coverage, and reruns of original programs produced in the format, were originally carried by Universal HD . In 2007, USA Network launched a HD feed. In February 2007, Shaw Communications submitted an application to
11424-463: The introduction of a new logo (incorporating a star ridged into the "U" of the now-serifed "USA" logotype, replacing the Futura-typeface logo that had been in use since the network's start under the USA Network name in 1980), and a three-note jingle. Network IDs, feature presentation intros for movies and promo graphics were based around a behind-the-scenes look at the fictional "USA Studios"; some of
11560-453: The latter of whom had replaced original co-host Caroline Schlitt in 1991. Though this program was discontinued on March 7, 1998, late-night movie telecasts on USA continued to be branded under the "Up All Night" banner until 2002. Short news updates, branded as USA Updates, were broadcast early on, from 1989 until 2000. These segments were first produced out of KYW-TV in Philadelphia , as
11696-668: The longest world title reign in the WWE since Hulk Hogan from 1984 to 1988. WWE remained at the Amway Center up through early December before relocating the ThunderDome to Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida . The ThunderDome relocated to Yuengling Center , located on the campus of the University of South Florida in Tampa, beginning with the April 12, 2021, episode of Raw . In October 2020, NXT events were relocated from Full Sail University to
11832-500: The main cable outlet of NBC Sports in 2022, with sports properties such as the Premier League, NASCAR, and the Olympics (including U.S. Olympic trials) moving to USA at this time. The U.S. Open , U.S. Women's Open , The Open Championship , and the Women's Open would move their early-round telecasts from Golf Channel to USA beginning in 2022. USA Network also carried eight games as part of
11968-604: The main film series and their spin-offs (with the first, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them , to have its cable premiere in 2019), and other content. On cable, the films are to primarily be aired by USA Network and Syfy, and the deal also includes the ability for Universal Parks & Resorts to offer "exclusive content and events" related to the franchise (Universal Parks had already been involved in The Wizarding World of Harry Potter attractions). The deal succeeded one with Freeform ; The Wall Street Journal reported
12104-609: The name of its wrestling promotion to World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) after the company lost a lawsuit initiated by the World Wildlife Fund over the WWF trademark. Although mainly caused by an unfavorable ruling in its dispute with the World Wildlife Fund regarding the "WWF" initialism, the company noted it provided an opportunity to emphasize its focus on entertainment. In March 2002, WWE decided to create two separate rosters, with each group of wrestlers appearing on one of their main programs, Raw and SmackDown! , due to
12240-415: The network dropped the entire game show block; it was replaced with a block called USA Live , which carried reruns of Love Connection and The People's Court , with live hosted wraparound segments between shows; that block was dropped by 1997 (some of the game shows that USA had aired can still be seen on GSN and Buzzr ). On June 17, 1996, the network unveiled a new on-air appearance, which included
12376-507: The network to its Paramount Pictures division. Shortly thereafter MCA Inc. also bought into the network with the three companies all owning equal shares. The three partners had a non-compete clause that would prevent them from owning other basic cable networks independently from the USA joint venture; however, it was acknowledged that Time also owned powerful USA Network rival Home Box Office . The said clause would cause Time Inc. to drop out of
12512-612: The network's WLAF telecasts was the in-helmet camera. Upon the 2004 purchase of Vivendi Universal by NBC, USA's sports division was immediately merged into NBC Sports . Since 2004 , the network has broadcast select events from the Olympic Games , as part of an expansion of NBCUniversal's broadcast rights to the Summer and Winter Olympics that allowed several of the company's cable channels rights to telecast Olympic events live (some of which are later re-aired on tape delay on NBC as part of
12648-524: The network's primetime and late night Olympic coverage). USA Network also carried games from the International Ice Hockey Federation in 2006 and 2010. During the 2014 Winter Olympics , USA aired Premier League soccer matches in lieu of sister channel NBCSN , due to that channel's full devotion to carrying coverage of Olympic events. After ratings success with those matches, USA began to air mid-afternoon Saturday games weekly during
12784-519: The organization. McMahon also worked to get WWF programming on syndicated television all across the United States. This angered other promoters and disrupted the well-established boundaries of the different wrestling promotions, eventually ending the territory system, which was in use since the founding of the NWA in the 1940s. In addition, the company used income generated by advertising, television deals, and tape sales to secure talent from rival promoters. In an interview with Sports Illustrated , McMahon
12920-441: The other were available for wrestlers from any show to compete for; the "Supershow" format would mark the end of the brand split, as all programming and live events (until July 2016) featured the full WWE roster. In 2013, the company built the sports medicine and training facility WWE Performance Center in the east Orange County, Florida in partnership with Full Sail University from Winter Park, Florida . The training facility
13056-482: The overabundance of talent left over from the Invasion storyline and the ensuing absorption of WCW and ECW contracts. This was dubbed as the " brand extension ". Beginning in 2002 a draft lottery was held nearly every year to set the rosters, with the first draft to determine the inaugural split rosters, and subsequent drafts designed to refresh the rosters of each show. WWE expanded the brand split by relaunching ECW as
13192-544: The overnight hours. Weekends featured a mix of movies, some older drama series and talk shows during the morning hours, and sports during the afternoons and evenings. Overnights consisted of old low-budget films and film shorts, and music videos as part of a show called Night Flight . Between 1984 and 1986, USA's programming focus began shifting away from sports, and shifted towards general entertainment programs not found on broadcast stations, including some less common network drama series, situation comedies and cartoons. For
13328-563: The pandemic to have ticketed fans in attendance with a maximum of 25,000 spectators for each night with COVID-19 protocols in place. Also around this time, the WWE Network in the United States became exclusively distributed by Peacock on March 18, 2021 (ahead of Fastlane and WrestleMania 37). The merger of the WWE Network and Peacock did not affect the service outside of the United States. The move to Peacock received some criticisms from fans particularly due to Peacock's heavy censorship policy,
13464-482: The pandemic, including releasing a number of performers ( Karl Anderson , Kurt Angle , Aiden English , EC3 , Epico , Luke Gallows , Curt Hawkins , No Way Jose , Sarah Logan , Mike Kanellis , Maria Kanellis , Primo , Erick Rowan , Rusev , Lio Rush , Zack Ryder , Heath Slater , and Eric Young ), three producers ( Dave Finlay , Shane Helms and Lance Storm ), referee Mike Chioda , and multiple NXT/Performance Center trainees and staff. WWE executives also took
13600-510: The past few years. In April 2015, it was announced that WWE SmackDown would move to USA from sister network Syfy . In April 2016, USA Network unveiled a new branding campaign and slogan, "We the Bold". The campaign was designed to reflect the channel's current focus on "rich, captivating stories about unlikely heroes who defy the status quo, push boundaries and are willing to risk everything for what they believe in". USA had quietly discontinued
13736-502: The rights for SmackDown to Fox beginning in October 2019. In August 2019, WWE announced that its tertiary weekly program WWE NXT would return to USA Network on September 18, 2019, airing on Wednesday nights in a two-hour live format. From 1984 to 2016, USA Network was the longtime home of the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show . USA Network has a longstanding history with sports, dating back to its existence as
13872-587: The road, taking place at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas. In January 2021, WWE moved WrestleMania 37 , which was originally to be held in Inglewood, California on March 28, to Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida – WrestleMania 36's original location – as a two-night event on April 10 and 11, with fans in attendance, though to a limited capacity. This marked WWE's first event during
14008-512: The same day a pro- Donald Trump political action committee led by Linda McMahon , who was previously a part of Trump's cabinet, pledged to spend $ 18.5 million in advertising in Florida, and that, also on the same day, Vince McMahon was named part of an advisory group created by Trump to devise a strategy in re-launching the US economy. On April 15, WWE started a series of cuts and layoffs in response to
14144-529: The schedule, while cartoons were phased out. USA Studios also became the branding for USA-produced programming at this point. This logo was replaced in July 1999 in favor of a 'USA flag'-styled logo (whose design was slightly modified in 2002). In September 1996, USA replaced the USA Cartoon Express with the action-oriented children's block, USA Action Extreme Team ; the channel discontinued its animation block outright in September 1998 (other than airing
14280-422: The spotlight. In January 1993, the WWF debuted its flagship cable program Monday Night Raw . WCW countered in September 1995 with its own Monday night program, Monday Nitro , which aired in the same time slot as Raw . The two programs would trade wins in the ensuing ratings competition (known as the " Monday Night War ") until mid-1996. At that point, Nitro began a nearly two-year ratings domination that
14416-615: The station had already produced a number of syndicated news services (including the Group W Newsfeed) and Steve Bell , the former newsreader on Good Morning America , was employed as a primary anchor at the station. By 1993, production of USA Updates had been taken over by the All News Channel (operated as a joint venture of Hubbard Broadcasting 's and Viacom 's CONUS Communications); Bell had left KYW in 1992, when KYW's news operations were heavily revamped in response to falling ratings. Via
14552-439: The summer of 1989. In January 1989, USA debuted USA Up All Night , a showcase of low-budget feature films that aired as part of its weekend overnight schedule. Up All Night became a cult favorite among viewers for the comedic wraparound segments that were usually shown during breaks leading into (and sometimes, out of) commercials and between films that were hosted by comedian Gilbert Gottfried and model/actress Rhonda Shear ,
14688-407: The term Rock 'n' Wrestling Connection , due to the cross-promotion of popular culture and professional wrestling. The WWF business expanded significantly on the shoulders of McMahon and his babyface hero Hulk Hogan for the next several years after defeating The Iron Sheik at Madison Square Garden on January 23, 1984. The introduction of Saturday Night's Main Event on NBC in 1985 marked
14824-546: The then-similarly formatted Headline News , and ended up shutting down in 2002); USA Network has not carried any news programming since the news updates were removed. USA was the first basic cable channel to pre-empt the syndicated television market by purchasing a package of 26 films from Disney 's Touchstone Pictures library in October 1989. To obtain the package, it spent an estimated $ 50 million to $ 60 million, with films including such box office hits as Dead Poets Society , Good Morning, Vietnam , and Three Men and
14960-466: The three business partners receiving roughly $ 815,000 among them and Vincent J. McMahon receiving roughly $ 185,000. Seeking to make the WWF the premier wrestling promotion in the country, and eventually, the world, he began an expansion process that fundamentally changed the wrestling business. At the annual meeting of the NWA in 1983, the McMahons and former Capitol employee Jim Barnett all withdrew from
15096-708: The title change. From January until April 1963, Rogers was promoted as the NWA World Champion, or simply the World Heavyweight Champion, in their area. The World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF) was not an immediate creation after Rogers's one fall loss to Thesz. Mondt and McMahon both eventually left the NWA in protest and formed the WWWF in the process. They brought along with them Willie Gilzenberg , long time boxing and wrestling promoter in New Jersey. In April 1963,
15232-419: The two McMahons was a monthly payment basis, in which if a single payment was missed, ownership would revert to the elder McMahon and his business partners. Looking to seal the deal quickly, McMahon took several loans and deals with other promoters and the business partners (including the promise of a job for life) in order to take full ownership by May or June 1983 for an estimated total of roughly $ 1 million with
15368-414: The venture in 1987, as the company attempted (but failed) to buy CNN from Ted Turner and run it independently from USA. MCA and Paramount subsequently became the sole owners of the channel (being a 50/50 joint venture between the two companies). C-SPAN finally stopped sharing satellite space with USA on April 1, 1982, after having launched its own 24-hour feed two months earlier. USA began operating on
15504-461: The wrestlers' entrances on a level similar to that of pay-per-view productions pre-pandemic. Nearly 1,000 LED boards were installed to allow for rows and rows of virtual fans. It was free of charge for fans to virtually attend the events, though they had to reserve their virtual seat ahead of time. During this time, Roman Reigns began his historic world title reign with the WWE Universal Championship , which would eventually surpass 1,000 days; being
15640-420: Was "essential", which meant that the company's revenues loss would be limited. In August 2020, WWE relocated from the Performance Center to Orlando's Amway Center for a long-term residency, broadcasting episodes of Raw , SmackDown , and pay-per-views through a virtual fan viewing experience called WWE ThunderDome . Inside the ThunderDome, drones, lasers, pyro, smoke, and projections were utilized to enhance
15776-638: Was USA's highest-rated series premiere since the 2006 debut of Psych , with 5.3 million viewers. In early 2009, USA Network acquired the network television rights for 24 recent and upcoming Universal Pictures films, including Duplicity , Funny People , Frost/Nixon , Land of the Lost , Milk , and State of Play . In 2011, control and majority ownership of then-parent NBC Universal passed from General Electric to Comcast . Comcast would buy out GE's remaining ownership in NBCU two years later. USA Network
15912-405: Was by now no longer the majority WWE stockholder, ended his ties with the company amid a sex trafficking scandal . Mid 20th Century 1970s and 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s and 2020s WWE's origins can be traced back as far as the 1950s when on January 7, 1953, the first show under the Capitol Wrestling Corporation (CWC) was produced. There is uncertainty as to whom
16048-527: Was changed to World Wrestling Entertainment, LLC . WWE is the largest wrestling promotion in the world. Its main roster is divided into two touring brands , Raw and SmackDown . Its developmental brand , NXT , is based at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida . Overall, WWE programming is available in more than one billion homes worldwide in 30 languages. The company's global headquarters
16184-562: Was considered the key piece of the NBC-Comcast merger; Wunderlich Securities analyst Matthew Harrigan projected that USA contributed $ 9.5 billion to NBCUniversal's $ 44.8 billion value, with NBC contributing only $ 408 million. In 2014, the channel had dropped 18% in viewership and out of first place among the major cable channels. USA has been a key NBCUniversal asset accounting for one-third of advertising revenue for NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment Group and $ 1 billion in annual earnings over
16320-488: Was consolidated with the Massachusetts entity in February 1988. The WWF was hit with allegations of steroid abuse and distribution in 1992. This was followed by allegations of sexual harassment by WWF employees the following year. McMahon was eventually exonerated, but the allegations brought bad public relations for the WWF, and an overall bad reputation. The steroid trial cost the company an estimated $ 5 million at
16456-404: Was designed to help emphasize the wide range of programming the network offered, and to help USA Network establish itself more prominently as a brand. The launch of the campaign featured promos themed around the daily lives of characters from the network's programs. To contrast itself from the "grittier" offerings of other mainstream cable networks, USA Network's original programming during this era
16592-627: Was founded in 1953 as the Capitol Wrestling Corporation (CWC), a Northeastern territory of the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA). Following a dispute, CWC left the NWA and became the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF) in April 1963. After rejoining the NWA in 1971, the WWWF was renamed the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) in 1979 before the promotion left the NWA for good in 1983. In 2002, following
16728-445: Was in an Ohio hospital during the time the alleged tournament took place. Rogers lost the championship to Bruno Sammartino a month later on May 17, with the promotion beginning to be built around Sammartino shortly after. In June 1963, Gilzenberg was named the first president of the WWWF. Mondt left the promotion in the late 1960s and although the WWWF had previously withdrawn from the NWA, McMahon quietly re-joined in 1971. The WWWF
16864-622: Was largely fueled by the introduction of the New World Order (nWo), a stable led by former WWF performers Hulk Hogan, Scott Hall (the former Razor Ramon), and Kevin Nash (the former Diesel). As the Monday Night War continued between Raw Is War and WCW's Nitro , the WWF would transform itself from a family-friendly product into a more adult-oriented product, known as the Attitude Era . The era
17000-560: Was marked by a focus on comedic and "optimistic" action and drama series, referred to as a "blue sky" approach. Notable examples of this programming strategy included Psych (2006), Burn Notice (2007), and Royal Pains (2009). In October 2005, Raw returned to USA Network after Viacom did not renew its broadcasting agreement with the WWE. On May 13, 2007 (in advance of NBC's 2007–08 fall upfronts presentation), NBC Universal announced that new episodes of Law & Order: Criminal Intent would be moved to USA Network beginning with
17136-562: Was moved to Tuesday nights, having conceded the Wednesday Night Wars to rival promotion All Elite Wrestling (AEW), and in September of that year was reinstated to its original function as the developmental brand for the main roster (Raw and SmackDown), under the name "NXT 2.0". In March 2020, WWE began to be impacted by the American onset of the COVID-19 pandemic . In mid-March, three of
17272-429: Was one of the first national cable television channels, utilizing satellite delivery as opposed to the then-industry standard microwave relay to distribute its programming to cable systems. Unlike other cable networks at the time, it also was the first to rely greatly on advertising revenue. At launch the network mostly broadcast sporting events from Madison Square Garden to a national audience (sharing programming with
17408-503: Was publicly acknowledged by WWE's then-owner Vince McMahon in 1989 in order to avoid taxes from athletic commissions. WWE markets its product as sports entertainment , acknowledging professional wrestling's roots in competitive sport and dramatic theater. In 2023, WWE began to explore a potential sale of the company, amidst an employee misconduct scandal involving McMahon that had prompted him to step down as chairman and CEO, although he returned as executive chairman. In April 2023, WWE made
17544-652: Was put into effect with the relaunch of Tough Enough , being a non-scripted program (contrary to the scripted nature of professional wrestling) and with the launch of the WWE Network (at the time scheduled to launch in 2012; later pushed back to 2014). However, the legal name of the company still remains as World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. Beginning with the August 29, 2011, episode, Raw - referred to as Raw Supershow - featured talent from both Raw and SmackDown (the "Supershow" epithet would be dropped on July 23, 2012). Championships previously exclusive to one show or
17680-637: Was quoted as saying: "In the old days, there were wrestling fiefdoms all over the country, each with its own little lord in charge. Each little lord respected the rights of his neighboring little lord. No takeovers or raids were allowed. There were maybe 30 of these tiny kingdoms in the U.S. and if I hadn't bought out my dad, there would still be 30 of them, fragmented and struggling. I, of course, had no allegiance to those little lords." McMahon gained significant traction when he hired American Wrestling Association (AWA) talent Hulk Hogan , who had achieved popularity outside of wrestling, notably for his appearance in
17816-618: Was renamed the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) in 1979. Vincent J. McMahon's son, Vincent K. McMahon , and his wife Linda , established Titan Sports, Inc., in 1980 in South Yarmouth, Massachusetts and applied trademarks for the initials "WWF". The company was incorporated on February 21, 1980, in the Cape Cod Coliseum offices, then moved to the building on Holly Hill Lane in Greenwich, Connecticut . The younger McMahon bought Capitol from his father in 1982, effectively seizing control of
17952-463: Was sold to the original iteration of Viacom ; the following year, MCA was acquired by Seagram . In April 1996, Viacom, which also owned MTV Networks , launched a new classic television network called TV Land . MCA subsequently sued Viacom for breach of contract , claiming that it had violated the non-compete clause in its joint venture agreement with MCA. A judge presiding over the case sided with MCA, and Viacom subsequently sold its stake in USA and
18088-485: Was spearheaded by WWF VP Shane McMahon (son of owner Vince McMahon) and head writer Vince Russo . 1997 ended with McMahon facing real-life controversy following Bret Hart 's controversial departure from the company, dubbed as the Montreal Screwjob . This proved to be one of several founding factors in the launch of the Attitude Era as well as the creation of McMahon's on-screen character, " Mr. McMahon ". Before
18224-429: Was subsequently revealed that USA and Peacock would collectively assume its remaining sports broadcasts. In December 2023, Deadline Hollywood reported that USA Network was considering a return to original scripted series in the vein of the "blue sky" era, citing the recent resurgence in the popularity of Suits (which concluded in 2019) after the series was acquired by Netflix that year. USA Network has achieved
18360-597: Was superseded by WWE's flagship cable program Raw . The series originally aired on USA Network from its debut in January 1993 (when the promotion was known as the World Wrestling Federation) until the series moved to TNN in September 2000, before returning to USA Network in October 2005. On January 7, 2016, WWE's second flagship program SmackDown moved to USA Network from Syfy . In 2018, USA Network renewed its rights to Raw for five additional years, but lost
18496-445: Was the first weekly WWF program on USA to air in front of a live audience. In September 1993, USA adopted a new on-air look centering on the slogan "The Remote Stops Here", with flat graphics suggesting a television camera's in-lens symbols and music consisting of electric guitar and synthesized noises, though the movie presentation openers were retained from the previous design. In 1994, Paramount Pictures parent Paramount Communications
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