WWE Saturday Night's Main Event returns to prime time television. The professional wrestling series, which has aired intermittently since 1985, will return to the air on December 14 at 8 p.m. ET for the first time since 2008.
WWE announced the resumption of Saturday Night's Main Event on Tuesday. It is the first quarterly primetime special on NBC and Peacock. The pro wrestling promotion will air four primetime specials annually as part of WWE's new five-year domestic media rights partnership with NBCUniversal, which began last Friday when SmackDown aired on USA Network.
The December 14th card will take place at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Long Island, New York, site of the first Saturday Night's Main Event.
Saturday Night's Main Event first aired on NBC between 1985 and 1991 before moving to Fox in 1992. It was revived on NBC between 2006 and 2008 and was most recently used for non-televised house shows on Saturdays.
The March 14, 1987 episode of NBC's “Saturday Night's Main Event” remains the highest ratings ever for any program during that time period. A battle royal featuring Hulk Hogan and Andre the Giant before their legendary clash at WrestleMania III received a rating of 11.6. The premiere of the main event on Saturday night in 1985 featured the fight for the WWF World Heavyweight Championship: Hogan vs. “Cowboy” Bob Orton – Randy Orton’s father. Hogan headlined the first 10 Saturday Night's Main Events cards.
The run from 2006 to 2008 had its ups and downs. The first two cards of the first revival featured Shane McMahon vs. Shawn Michaels in a street fight and Edge vs. John Cena for the WWE Title, respectively. Curiously, the 2007 cards featured Doink the Clown in a six-man tag team match and a 44-second boxing match between Evander Holyfield and Matt Hardy.