WWE Inadvertently Helped Launch Iconic Sitcom

WWE inadvertently gave a huge boost to Seinfeld.

Seinfeld premiered back in July 1989 and went on to become one of the most famous, and most successful comedy series of all time. However, in the show’s early days, NBC was unsure of the concept and needed some serious convincing that it would be a success.

During an interview on The Rich Eisen Show, Jerry Seinfeld reflected on the show’s rocky start and revealed it was given a boost with money allocated to Saturday Night Wrestling. That “Saturday Night Wrestling” was WWE’s Saturday Night’s Main Event.

“They gave us a pilot, they didn’t like the pilot. Then, Rick Ludwin said, ‘You know what, I think this show isn’t that bad.’ Everyone disliked it, and Rick Ludwin said, ‘I’m going to take some money from Saturday Night Wrestling.’ In those days, professional wrestling replaced Saturday Night Live once a month. He took the money from one of those and it was enough money to make four episodes. We made four episodes, they still didn’t like it. FOX said, ‘We want the show,’ then NBC said, ‘We’ll make a few more.’ They still wouldn’t order it. They just didn’t like it,”

Saturday Night’s Main Event was a series of specials that ran between 1985 and 1992 regularly hosted by Vince McMahon and Jesse Ventura. It was recently revealed that Jesse Ventura is back in talks with WWE following the departure of McMahon.

WWE Tried To Revive Saturday Night’s Main Event

Well over a decade after the last special, WWE tried to resurrect Saturday Night’s Main Event with a series of shows between 2006 and 2008. However, after a successful initial return, TV ratings quickly fell and the experiment was dropped.

H/t to Fightful