We posted this late Friday afternoon in case you missed it.
This coming Monday, USA is leaning on WWE to give them an extra hour of ratings in prime time as Raw will be three hours and the company will present the Slammy Awards. USA is not stopping there however as on the following week WWE programming will be featured in prime time three consecutive evenings on the network.
The buzz at WWE's home offices in Stamford, CT today was that the company's programming will dominate the USA prime time schedule in the week leading up to the Christmas holiday.
In its usual spot, Raw will anchor the evening on 12/20. No big deal there. However, the Christmas Eve edition of Smackdown is going to air live on USA on Tuesday 12/21 from 9 to 11 p.m. This is a brilliant move and will benefit both parties. USA will get an original show that will probably do a better rating in the key demos than their regular programming while WWE will get more eyeballs watching their show. Obviously, a lot fewer people will be watching Smackdown in its normal Friday slot since that is Christmas Eve.
On Wednesday 12/22, a two hour version of the NBC Tribute To The Troops show is slated to air from 8 to 10 p.m.
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