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29-466: The WRHL was the creation of promoter David McLane . WRHL games were played with a puck on an outdoor rink with a SportCourt surface at Disney-MGM Studios in Orlando, Florida [1] . 1993 was a pivotal year in the sport of Roller in-line hockey as inline skates were just coming into use in the sport. Previous roller hockey had been played using quad roller skates. In line skates were faster, changing

58-567: A Friday night time slot. In the mid-1990s, Superstars was then moved to a Sunday morning time slot. For most of it original run in the United Kingdom Gorilla Monsoon was the play-by-play commentator with various color commentators throughout its history. Beginning with the April 18, 1992 episode, the program was renamed to WWF Superstars , due to a successful lawsuit by another promoter, Albert Patterson, who had claimed prior rights to

87-519: A multi-year distribution agreement for WOW. For McLane this historic and exclusive media rights deal gives WOW the biggest distribution opportunities for the U.S. and abroad in the history of women's professional wrestling. In 2003, McLane developed another new venture with ESPN, the Triple Crown of Polo (TCP). The championship series was broadcast domestically on ESPN2 during weekends and internationally to 196 markets in twelve different languages by

116-633: A teenager he launched the Dick the Bruiser Fan Club, selling photographs of the wrestling star and other local professional wrestlers through mail order. Bruiser brought McLane in to work in the office of Bruiser's Indianapolis-based wrestling promotion World Wrestling Association (WWA) . There he learned the ropes of promotion and marketing, eventually became the ring announcer and match commentator. McLane attended Park Tudor School (class of 1979) and Indiana University in 1980. While continuing to work for

145-807: Is an American businessman, known primarily as a wrestling promoter and television producer . He was the creator of the GLOW- Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling and WOW-Women Of Wrestling (recognized as WOW! and WOW), both nationally syndicated series. He also created the ESPN series of the World Roller Hockey League , Pro Beach Hockey and the Triple Crown of Polo . All of these programs are termed "properties" under his company banner David McLane Enterprises, Inc. McLane grew up watching professional wrestling on television with his older brothers and attended live events in his hometown of Indianapolis. As

174-472: Is better because you can't stand still." Memorabilia from WRHL is housed in the Roller Hockey Hall of Fame. Following its initial season, McLance merged WRHL with Roller Hockey International . The Express captured the only WRHL title in a best-of-three final. This inline hockey related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . David McLane David B. McLane

203-592: Is patent pending and was endorsed by NBC's The Biggest Loser 3rd season runner-up Kai Hibbard. WWF Superstars of Wrestling WWF Superstars of Wrestling (later shortened to WWF Superstars and to Sunday Morning Superstars ), also referred to as Maple Leaf Wrestling in Canada, was an American professional wrestling television program that was produced by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE). It debuted on September 6, 1986, as

232-590: Is the New Black creator Jenji Kohan launched on June 23, 2017. Netflix's second season of GLOW was released for streaming on June 29, 2018. After selling GLOW, McLane partnered with ESPN for the creation of the World Roller Hockey League (WRHL) in 1992; the first made-for-television roller hockey league in the United States. He arranged for these events to be sponsored by Franklin Sports and Walt Disney World where

261-730: The ESPN International network through 2009. Marketing partnerships with high end sponsors Tiffany & Co. and Lexus helped propel the TCP to one of the most prestigious tournaments within the "Sport of Kings." In 2019, the Aspen Valley Polo Club hosted Team Audi defeating Team Flexjet to win the TCP season-finale. In the last weekend of August 2021, fans attending the Aspen Valley Polo Club witnessed Team TonKawa headed by Jeff Hidebrand, Marc Ganzi , Gonzalito Pieres and Juan Bollini defeat Team NetJets by 9-8 in overtime to take

290-640: The WWF 's syndicated Superstars series, which launched at the same time and was frequently shown in adjacent timeslots on the same stations. Shot in a showroom at the Riviera Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas , the show garnered a cult following. McLane served as the ring announcer, solo play by play announcer and owner of the company. The strong cult following led Netflix to produce GLOW (TV series) based on McLane's original creation. The series, produced by Orange

319-497: The angles began and at times ended and on which the majority of title changes took place if not at a pay-per-view event (e.g. WrestleMania or SummerSlam ). Matches primarily saw top-tier and mid-level talent vs. Jobbers; pre-taped interviews with the WWF's roster of superstars; and promos featuring the wrestlers. At times, there was a "feature" match between main WWF talent. As with all syndicated WWF programming, another major aspect of

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348-596: The Aspen leg of the World Polo League Triple Crown of Polo. With his history of taking products from concept to market, in 2008, McLane was retained by a start-up non-pharmaceutical/nutraceutical products company to manage its start up. Following the completion of clinical trials, McLane oversaw the entry of three products into the U.S. market through direct-response TV, online, and print media. The company's cornerstone product, an appetite suppressant, named Livea

377-547: The Belasco Theater in Los Angeles for distribution on the company's [WOWE.com] website. On April 20, 2017, MGM Television Studios, headed by Mark Burnett formed a partnership with McLane and Buss to produce and distribute new content across a number of media platforms. On June 18, 2018, The Hollywood Reporter announced McLane and his business partners Jeanie Buss and Mark Burnett contracted with Mark Cuban 's AXS TV for

406-543: The Internet was popularized, the previous title holder sometimes defended his title at house shows as though he were still the champion until the title change was aired on television. The commentary team on Superstars underwent many changes as the years passed. The hosts of Superstars are listed below in chronological order along with their debut episode. WWE abandoned the Superstars of Wrestling trademark when they changed

435-674: The WWA, McLane started his own promotional company to promote live events and concerts throughout the Midwest, including the stadium presentation of the Budweiser Country Concert Tour and marketing of such groups as New Edition in select markets. McLane began the first-ever all women's wrestling television program in 1986, the Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling (GLOW). GLOW was a syndication ratings success, achieving superior ratings to

464-616: The broadcast of WOW live events commencing in early 2019. In summer of 2019 AXS TV CEO Andrew Simon announced in a live broadcast Women of Wrestling scored the highest ratings and social media engagement of any program in the 17 year history of the cable network. On October 6, 2021, on top of the Circa Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, ViacomCBS Global Distribution President Dan Cohen, alongside McLane and WOW Executive Producers Jeanie Buss and AJ Mendez announced ViacomCBS had entered into

493-545: The events at a beach venue, he got the sport out of enclosed arenas and into a more accessible open air environment. The presentation has been compared to the X Games . In 2000, McLane ventured back to his passion of women's wrestling and created the WOW!-W omen O f W restling television series. Shot at the Great Western Forum , WOW! was syndicated in 100 markets, becoming the number one rated syndicated wrestling program in

522-520: The flagship program of the WWF's syndicated programming. In January 2019, select episodes of WWF Superstars starting from April 1992 became available for streaming on the WWE Network . As of September 25, 2023, there are 339 episodes of Superstars available for streaming on WWE Network, dating from April 18, 1992 to February 16, 1997 (omitting the September 14, 1996 "Best of Superstars" episode which

551-485: The markets of New York City and Los Angeles. McLane and his business partner, Jeanie Buss re-packaged WOW! in 2011 and aired its programs in select cities. Live events were staged in 2012 and 2013 in Las Vegas at the Eastside Cannery Casino and Hotel . In December 2014, WOW! announced their launch into digital media with a 2015 marketed platform as "WOW Superheroes" . New content was produced in 2016 from

580-511: The network cancelled. Although for a brief period the show continued in its same format, as time went on more and more recaps of the WWF's other programming began to fill the hour. By March 1997, Superstars was solely a summary program and continued in that manner until its eventual ending. In 1997, the format of Superstars as aired in the United Kingdom also changed and began to only feature weekly summaries of Monday Night Raw . Following

609-620: The phrase "Superstars of Wrestling". Since then, archival footage of the program has usually been shown with the words "of Wrestling" blurred out where applicable. When the WWF introduced Monday Night Raw on USA in January 1993, the live program usurped the show's once preeminent position in the company as the primary source of storyline development and pay-per-view buildup, and Superstars became secondary in importance. In September 1996, Superstars left syndication and moved to pay TV channel USA Network in place of WWF Action Zone , which

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638-696: The premiere of SmackDown! , Superstars served as a summary show for SmackDown! as well. When the WWF moved its cable TV contract to TNN (later known as Spike, now known as the Paramount Network ) on October 1, 2000, Superstars moved with it. The show was then discontinued in August 19, 2001. The show continued until December 2002 in the UK, until it was replaced by Heat in January 2003. Many of these title changes were not aired for up to several weeks after they took place. As these shows were aired in an era before

667-448: The resort staged the events from their MGM Studios grounds. McLane merged the WRHL with another roller hockey start-up, Roller Hockey International and introduced Pepsi and Taco Bell to this niche sports marketplace through a league sponsorship. In 1997, McLane again partnered with ESPN to create Pro Beach Hockey (PBH), with over 156 hours of original programming for ESPN. By holding

696-565: The show was to promote house shows and TV tapings in each market. During its syndication run, the program was re-branded and aired in some parts of Canada as Maple Leaf Wrestling (essentially replacing a program of the same name filmed in southern Ontario ), despite having almost no Canadian content other than interviews promoting matches that were to be held in Canada, along with occasional program-exclusive matches taped at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto, Ontario. However, this repackaging was, at

725-459: The show's name to WWF Superstars in the early 1990s. Albert Patterson, a Wisconsin independent wrestling promoter, successfully trademarked the phrase in 1993. Although there has been litigation between the WWE and Patterson, WWE has not been able to settle with Patterson for the usage of " Superstars of Wrestling ". Due to this issue, WWE blurs the Superstars of Wrestling banners when archival content

754-435: The speed of the game. WRHL was one of the first events to give public exposure to the new development in an organized form. Former NHLers such as Ron Duguay and Pierre Larouche played in the league. The season lasted slightly less than two months in the early summer of 1993 as a made for television event. Games were taped during the short season and aired on ESPN . They were later aired in Canada on TSN . The intent

783-407: The time, sufficient to allow the program to count towards Canadian content requirements for local television stations. Some Canadian viewers were able to watch American feeds of the show and/or "WWF Challenge." The show also began airing in 1986 in the United Kingdom on Saturday nights on Sky Channel . For a short time, it was shown on Tuesdays on Eurosport . Early in the 1990s, it was featured in

812-460: Was the last in syndication before the program was moved to the USA Network). In September 1986, Superstars replaced WWF Championship Wrestling . Before that, WWF Superstars of Wrestling was the name of a weekly recap show hosted by Vince McMahon (or Gene Okerlund ) and Lord Alfred Hayes that lasted from 1984 through August 1986. The new version of Superstars was the program on which all

841-509: Was to capture the viewers enthusiasm for the sport of roller hockey, which at the time had 10 million participants and 28,000 amateur leagues. The games were faster because, as Jerry Greene the Orlando Sentinel observed "These guys can't stop." Former NHL All Star Robert Picard , who played for the Titans observed "It really is a good game. It's a little slower than ice hockey, but the flow

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