Wrestling Returns to The CW With Major New Deal

Professional wrestling is making its way back to The CW. According to Haus of Wrestling, NWA will be seen on the network in the foreseeable future. An official announcement should be coming “relatively soon” as some logistics are being worked out. NWA president Billy Corgan appeared on Busted Open Radio last week and teased details about the promotion potentially joining a top network. 

“I can now say for the first time, and I have to be a bit vague because there’s some other political aspects to this,” he said. “I can now say that we finally have signed not just one, but two television deals. And that announcement as far as where and who will be coming soon, but we finally now will be able to move off YouTube, not exclusively, because we want to still do stuff on YouTube. But we now will be moving with a network partner.”  

Corgan continued: “I can’t say who, but I can say it’s a top 20 network, and I’m very excited. I’ve been working on this for over a year, and like I said, not just one but two television deals are involved. Two totally different wrestling-related products that we’ll be offering. So 2024 is looking very, very bright.”

Haus of Wrestling, says the two TV deals Corgan mentioned are for two different shows, that will air on The CW — NWA Powerrr and a reality show about the day-to-day, behind-the-scenes business of NWA. NWA Powerrr will likely air before the reality show and will be one or two hours long. It’s likely the show will not be live and NWA will pre-tape episodes in blocks. 

Corgan purchased NWA in 2017. NWA Powerrr is the flagship show of NWA and airs on its YouTube channel. Former WWE star EC3 is the reigning NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship. He joined the company last year after spending time in Ring of Honor. 

The CW is no stranger to pro wrestling as it aired WWE SmackDown from its launch in 1999 to 2008 (originally on UPN from 1999 to 2006 before merging with The WB). The CW declined to renew SmackDown, which led to it bouncing around different networks over the years. Women of Wrestling (WOW) airs on many affiliates of The CW and draws between 250,000 and 450,000 per episode.