The WWE has always done a great job at incorporating its wrestlers into other projects to elevate their star status outside of the wrestling ring. Obviously, WWE's crowning alumnus achievement is Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson becoming one of Hollywood's highest-paid actors, but the wrestling organization has also found success in developing its own films and TV shows ,like E! network's Total Divas and Total Bellas. The WWE is going to further capitalize on its small screen successes by expanding its television and digital brand, which means we're going to see and hear a lot more WWE wrestlers on TV soon
The announcement details that the WWE is expanding its focus to cover just about every facet of television programming, so the world will likely soon see scripted shows, unscripted shows, animated shows, and even specifically family-focused shows all driven by WWE Studios. As mentioned, these new efforts will also look to incorporate WWE talent in a way that is "new and exciting," as stated by WWE Studios head Michael Luisi, according to Deadline.
For those thinking the WWE is going to just throw a bunch of wrestling-themed shows on each and every network that will tolerate them, that's probably not going to happen. While WWE Studios does dabble in quite a few wrestling-based films -- such as Scooby-Doo!: WrestleMania Mystery -- the company also does a fair amount of action and horror films. Not all of them are notable, but The Marine franchise seems to have found a sizable-enough audience to continue forward, and the Karen Gillan-led Oculus received a decent amount of critical response. Those projects and more show the studio is capable of telling stories that don't involve wrestling. But let's just avoid talking about Jingle All the Way 2, shall we?
As far as who the WWE could bring to some of its future programming, current WWE part-timer John Cena seems to be a reasonable guess, considering he tried reality television in the past, and everyone loves him. There's also WWE legend Adam "Edge" Copeland, who has a sizable acting pedigree, and with his inability to perform in the ring anymore, he's also a guy with a lot of non-wrestling time on his hands. Speaking of WWE legends, Bill Goldberg is confirmed to be appearing on The Flash soon, so add him to the list. As far as other current WWE talent is concerned, guys like Mike "The Miz" Miznan and Randy Orton have recent television appearances, and there's plenty of other entertaining stars (The New Day) that wrestling fans would fall over themselves to watch in another capacity.
So now that the news is out there, the world just has to wait and see what WWE Studios has planned for its expanded reach into the world of television and digital content. Those waiting can visit our fall premiere guide and find some new shows as 2017 winds down. For a look ahead at 2018, be sure to visit our midseason premiere guide. For a look at some shows that weren't so lucky this year and got the ax, visit our cancellation guide.
