12 Times American Football Crossed Over Into Wrestling
10. The Action Zone
In the autumn of 1994, the WWF revamped its old “All-American Wrestling” show, rebranding it “The Action Zone” and marketing it as an alternative to the boring NFL pre-game shows also airing on early Sunday afternoons. Skits aired featuring parodies of sportscasters like “Mike Zitka” and “Greg Gumball”, who interviewed “Zeion Sanders” about inane topics like his favorite breakfast cereal.
The Federation figured that, with so many wrestling fans (and would-be wrestling fans) already tuned in to watch football, it could lure them away with actual action while the NFL commentators prattled on about the most minor details to kill time. In its first weeks, shows were front-loaded with important title matches like Bret Hart vs. Owen Hart and Shawn Michaels & Diesel vs. Razor Ramon & the 1-2-3 Kid. These main events actually opened the programs so that football fans could catch the entire match before kickoff.
As is always the case with new wrestling shows, the match quality tapered off soon after its premiere, and the following year, the program devolved into the very sort of all-talk, no-action recap show it had criticized.