Posted in: A&E, Sports, TV, WWE | Tagged: a&e, A&E Biography, bret hart, Mick Foley, stone cold steve austin, the ultimate warrior, wrestling, wwe, WWE on A&E, WWE Rivals, WWE's Most Wanted Treasures

WWE, A&E New Multi-Year Deal Includes 130+ Hours New Programming

It's being reported this afternoon that WWE and cable network A&E have agreed to a new, multi-year deal that will create hours and hours of new wrestling-themed programming to air of the A&E network.  Overall, the network will work with the wrestling company to create over 130 hours of brand new WWE-themed programming to air exclusively on A&E, which will include new episodes of previously existing shows for the network that originated in 2021, along with brand new series that will debut in the near future.

The Hollywood Reporter broke the news this afternoon about WWE and A&E's new multi-year partnership and provided the following details on what fans can expect to see in the not-too-distant future:

"Among the programming is 35 new episodes of A&E's Biography series, focused on WWE legends. The company says that the WWE episodes of the long-running doc series helped it to become A&E's most popular series in 2021. In addition, A&E has ordered 40 hours of a new doc series, WWE Rivals (working title), which according to the logline "will chronicle the little-known stories behind the biggest clashes in WWE history." A&E has also ordered 24 more episodes of the unscripted series WWE's Most Wanted Treasures, which debuted last year, and is in development on other programming."

So what are we to make of what's coming?  The Biography episodes from last year ranged the spectrum in quality and authenticity, with some being truly excellent (the ones about "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, Bret Hart, and Mick Foley), while others were almost laughable in their slanted narratives and revisionist history (The Ultimate Warrior).  With 35 new episodes coming, I am sure we'll see some more splattering across the quality chart, as some of these are bound to not be the most honest depictions of certain wrestling personalities, especially in the age of Dark Side of the Ring.

WWE's Most Wanted Treasures returning is curious, as the show's host, AJ Francis was released by the company months ago, while the other heavily featured character on the show, Triple H, is currently on the outs with company management.  WWE Rivals appears from the outset to be a retooling of the short-lived WWE Network series about the same topic and the same name.

It doesn't say when we can expect to see the new programs on A&E, but WWE has just tweeted a short teaser advertising the upcoming shows.

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