10 Things You Didn't Know About WWE Saturday Night's Main Event
8. Setting The Standard For WWF Television
Perhaps one of the WWE’s biggest strengths has been its high production values. Even when Raw and SmackDown were in the toilet throughout the years, you could always rely on them to still produce a visually appealing program (Kevin Dunn’s insane camera cuts notwithstanding).
But fans who have only known WWE programming during the past 30 years would be shocked to watch pre-1985 WWF shows and view the difference in how their favorite sports entertainment was filmed and presented. Even the first WrestleMania looks stylistically and visually different from all future WrestleManias.
The reason: Saturday Night’s Main Event.
Up until that point, WWF was still a regional wrestling company trying to grow and expand into a national empire. But their appearance on television still resembled a local cable access show, compared to what it would become.
The partnership between NBC and WWF opened the wrestling company up to the world of professional television production: better lighting of the ring and crowd, improved camerawork and other increased production values. If NBC was going to put wrestling on network television, they were going to make the product shine for a national audience.
The presentation overhaul became the standard for WWF television going forward and soon became a major strength for the company, which carries on to this day.