WWE Superstars

WWE Superstars, or simply Superstars, is a 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 TV 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.

WWE Superstars
Genre	Sports entertainment Professional wrestling
Created by	Vince McMahon
Starring	Raw roster
Opening theme	"New Day Coming" by CFO$ feat. Pilot Speed[1]
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	7
No. of episodes	398[2]
Production
Camera setup	Multicamera setup
Running time	60 minutes (inc. commercials)
Release
Original network	WGN America (2009–2011) WWE.com (2011–2012) Hulu Plus (2012–2016) WWE Network (2014–2016)
Picture format	480i 1080i (HDTV)
Original release	April 16, 2009 – November 25, 2016
External links
Website

On December 19, 2008, WWE and WGN America announced an agreement to create a new weekly, one-hour prime time series entitled WWE Superstars that was to debut in April 2009. Sunday on WGN America. Until early 2010, the replay also aired on WGN-TV. However, it was removed, hence eliminating distribution of the show from the Canadian fanbase.[3] Superstars had its debut show on April 16, 2009.[4]

On March 17, 2011, 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 from April 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.

On 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

WWE Superstars' version of the universal WWE HD set used from April 16, 2009 – July 19, 2012

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.[5] 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

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 – May 26, 2011 June 9, 2011 – November 3, 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 – June 26, 2014 January 16, 2015 – January 23, 2015 May 6, 2016 – June 10, 2016
Tom Phillips and Renee Young	July 3, 2014 – January 9, 2015
Tom Phillips	January 30, 2015
Rich Brennan and Byron Saxton	February 6, 2015 – March 27, 2015 April 24, 2015 – May 29, 2015 October 23, 2015 – April 29, 2016
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

Ring announcers	Dates
Raw brand
Lilian Garcia	April 16, 2009 – September 24, 2009
Justin Roberts	October 1, 2009 – May 5, 2011 July 14, 2011 – July 21, 2011 November 10, 2011 December 29, 2011 – October 25, 2012
JoJo	July 29, 2016 – November 25, 2016
SmackDown brand
Justin Roberts	April 16, 2009 – September 24, 2009
Tony Chimel	October 1, 2009 – May 5, 2011 July 21, 2011 December 29, 2011 – October 25, 2012
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 – December 22, 2011 January 9, 2015 April 17, 2015 – May 29, 2015 October 16, 2015 November 6, 2015
Tony Chimel	November 2, 2012 – 2014 January 1, 2016
Lilian Garcia	October 23, 2014 – February 26, 2016
Greg Hamilton	March 4, 2016 – July 22, 2016

International broadcasters

In addition to being broadcast in the United States on WWE Network, WWE Superstars was also broadcast internationally.

Country	Network	Ref
Arab World	AD Sport 6 HD, MBC Action and OSN	[6]
Australia	WWE Network
Bulgaria	bTV Sports	[7][8]
Canada	WWE Network
Dominican Republic	Antena Latina
France	RTL9	[9][10]
India	TEN Sports TEN HD	[11][12]
Italy	Sky Sport 2	[13][14]
Japan	J SPORTS	[15]
Malaysia	Astro Super Sport TV9	[16]
Mexico	MVS (52MX y MC)	[17]
Pakistan	TEN Sports	[18]
Panama	RPC Canal 4	[19]
Philippines	Fox Sports Asia	[20]
Puerto Rico	Telemundo	[21]
Peru	Frecuencia Latina	[22]
Romania	Sport.ro	[23]
Singapore	SuperSports Arena	[24][25]
United Kingdom	WWE Network

See also

• List of former WWE television programming

References

1. "WWE: New Day Coming (WWE Superstars Official Theme Song) [feat. Todd Clark] - Single". iTunes. May 17, 2013. Retrieved May 17, 2013.
2. Johnson, Mike (November 28, 2016). "WWE Superstars is no more". Pro Wrestling Insider. Retrieved November 28, 2016.
3. "WGN America enters WWE ring with "WWE Superstars"". WWE. January 5, 2009. Retrieved April 14, 2009.
4. Mackinder, Matt. "WWE Superstars: Debut show a dud". SLAM! Sports - Wrestling. Canadian Online Explorer. Retrieved April 18, 2009.
5. Caldwell, James (April 16, 2009). "Caldwell's WWE Superstars Report 4/16: Ongoing "virtual time" coverage of debut edition on WGN". PW Torch. Retrieved June 26, 2009.
6. "The Official Site of the WWE Universe". WWE.com. Archived from the original on 2011-10-06. Retrieved 2012-11-20.
7. "Bulgarian TV Guide" (in Bulgarian). TV Guide. Retrieved 2009-10-09.
8. "WWE's Bulgaria Schedule". WWE. Retrieved 2009-10-09.
9. "WWE's France Schedule". WWE. Archived from the original on 2009-06-09. Retrieved 2009-10-07.
10. "WWE Superstars on the RTL9 Website". RTL9. Archived from the original on 2009-10-16. Retrieved 2009-10-09.
11. "WWE's India Schedule". WWE. Archived from the original on 2009-06-17. Retrieved 2009-10-07.
12. "Ten Sports India Schedule". Ten Sports. Retrieved 2009-10-09.
13. "WWE's Italy Schedule". WWE. Archived from the original on 2010-03-03. Retrieved 2009-10-07.
14. "WWE Superstars SKY Italia schedule" (in Italian). Retrieved 2009-10-09.
15. "WWE Corporate - WWE and J Sports Sign Five Year Renewal". Corporate.wwe.com. 2011-02-02. Archived from the original on 2012-09-04. Retrieved 2012-11-20.
16. "WWE's Malaysia Schedule". WWE. Archived from the original on 2010-02-28. Retrieved 2009-10-07.
17. "WWE Superstars en Mexico". Superluchas. Retrieved 2010-10-07.
18. "WWE Pakistan". Retrieved 2013-03-16.
19. "Canal 4 - Rpctv.com - Panamá". Rpctv.com. 2012-11-15. Retrieved 2012-11-20.
20. "Studio 23 Ibakabarkada!". Studio23.tv. Retrieved 2012-11-20.
21. "Telemundo de Puerto Rico canal líder en telenovelas, noticias y entretenimiento". Telemundopr.com. 2012-11-16. Retrieved 2012-11-20.
22. "WWE's Poland Schedule". WWE. Retrieved 2009-10-07.
23. "WWE's Romania Schedule". WWE. Retrieved 2009-10-07.
24. "WWE's South Africa Schedule". WWE. Archived from the original on 2010-03-17. Retrieved 2009-10-07.
25. "WWE Superstars on e.tv". e.tv. Archived from the original on 2009-10-19. Retrieved 2009-10-09.

External links

• Official website
• WWE Superstars on Facebook
• WWE Superstars show on YouTube
• WWE Superstars at IMDb
• WWE Superstars at TV.com