50 Fascinating Facts About WWE in The 1980s
34. The True Importance Of Saturday Night’s Main Event
Retro flair has cannoned back into view thanks to WWE making Saturday Night's Main Event part of the modern product. That will introduce the show to a brand new generation, which should be enough to bring a tear to even the frostiest old fan's eyes. After all, this isn't the first time SNME has been hugely important to the promotion. It was a shot in the arm for the biz when the WWF debuted it back in May 1985.
That NBC special marked the first time pro wrestling had been seen on network television since the 1950s. It was a massive success for the WWF; Saturday Night's Main Event popped a monster 8.8 rating and replaced weekend staple Saturday Night Live sporadically due to that number. Casual interest from regular TV viewers made a mockery of anyone claiming that McMahon's outfit did nothing for wrestling as a whole.
That argument looked foolish by mid-1985.
WWE has had a love/hate relationship with SNME ever since, but they've recently brought it back around as a nostalgic blast from the past. It's also the ideal way to bridge gaps between major PLE events, and an excuse to promote killer matches like Cody Rhodes vs. Kevin Owens. It's win-win for the audience.
The TV industry has changed tenfold since the 80s, obviously, but nobody should downplay just how important Saturday Night's Main Event was to wrestling's never-ending fight for acceptance in the mainstream media fold. Numbers don't lie. People were into everything the WWF was selling around that time.