A staple of professional wrestling will be making a comeback at the end of the year. Earlier today, World Wrestling Entertainment announced that “Saturday Night’s Main Event” will be returning to NBC on December 14th, live from the Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, Long Island, New York. It will be at 8:00pm ET on NBC. There will be a pre-sale on Thursday, then tickets will go on sale to the public on Friday.
Starting on May 11, 1985, “Saturday Night’s Main Event” aired on NBC, occasionally replacing an episode of “Saturday Night Live”. This was WWE’s way of having their talent compete on nationally televised supercards. On most episodes, the show would either begin, continue, or conclude storylines that were going on in the company. Originally hosted by (former WWE Owner) Vince McMahon & Jesse “The Body” Ventura, “Saturday Night’s Main Event” quickly became a ratings success.
When Ventura left in summer of 1990, he was replaced by “Rowdy” Roddy Piper. “Saturday Night’s Main Event” would leave NBC after the April 27, 1991 episode. Fox would air 2 episodes in 1992, with Bobby “The Brain” Heenan joining McMahon for hosting duties. After the November 14, 1992 episode, the show would be off of the air, until March 18, 2006, when NBC brought it back. it would air 5 times, with the final episode being on August 2, 2008.
Some of wrestling’ biggest events usually happened on “Saturday’s Night Main Event”. On the October 3, 1987 episode, (WWE Champion) Hulk Hogan & “Macho Man” Randy Savage formed the Mega Powers. On the Oct. 29, 1988 episode, Andre the Giant interfered in a match between Jake “the Snake” Roberts & “Ravishing” Rick Rude, only for Roberts to use his python, Damian, to scare Andre into unconsciousness. On the July 29,1989, the Brain Busters (Tully Blanchard & Arn Anderson) caused the first title change in series history, by ending the 489-day WWE Tag Team Championship reign of Demolition (Ax & Smash).
On the January 27, 1990 episode, (WWE Champion) Hulk Hogan teamed with (WWE Intercontinental Champion) The Ultimate Warrior for the first time. On the Aug. 18, 2007 episode, Evander “Real Deal” Holyfield knocked out (WWE U.S. Champion) “MVP” Montel Vontavious Porter, after MVP berated him for refusing to box against Matt Hardy.