Major WWE TV Taping Changes Planned

PWinsider.com
by Mike Johnson

World Wrestling Entertainment will pull the plug on WWE.com's Heat series and bring ECW on Sci Fi tapings to the Raw brand tapings this June, following a company tour of Australia, according to multiple sources.

The plan is to have the ECW brand performers on the Raw tapings as a way to increase interest and ratings in the Tuesday night Sci Fi series, which would now be taped prior to the live Raw broadcast under the plan.

One would assume ECW talents would also join Raw house shows as well, but that has not confirmed.

The Smackdown tours would become stand-alone tapings and house shows for that brand alone.

Heat, which originally ran on the USA Network, then MTV, has been in production since the late 1990s. It was moved to an Internet platform when WWE returned to the USA Network. Internationally, WWE has already informed TV affiliates that a WWE Classics series utiilizing old footage would be replacing Heat shortly.