WWE Wrestlers in New Reality Series
You may have already heard that Ric Flair will be salsa dancing in the new CBS show Secret Talents of the Stars, but there are plans now for WWE to work heavily with NBC Universal to place wrestlers and divas in this summer’s reality TV shows. The reason being is that WWE will have a post-Wrestlemania marketing campaign that will underscore the fact that they were the original “reality” programming and will lead up to casting a new $1,000,000 Tough Enough series to air before Summer Slam. Here are some of the rumored shows and castings:
- America’s Got Talent will feature an appearance by Jillian Hall. It’s unknown as of now whether she will sing in her gimmick.
- Perrenial heavyweights Big Daddy V and Mark Henry will appear on another pairs/couples version of The Biggest Loser this summer.
- Ring announcer Lilian Garcia will appear on Telemundo’s Tierra de Pasiones. She will also be promoting her new Spanish-language album heavily on their network. I know that’s not a “reality” show, but it’s nice to see WWE reaching out to the Hispanic community, many of which watch Smackdown.
- I really like this idea: Vince and Shane McMahon will face the challenge of Dusty and Dustin Rhodes, and Ted Dibiase and Dibiase Jr. on My Dad Is Better Than Your Dad. That show is slated to air some time in May, while wrestlers with younger children (appropriate to the tone of the show) will be taped in June or July.
- Last Comic Standing will hold court to reality show veteran Chris Jericho, who last appeared on Fox’s Celebrity Duets with Lee Ann Womack and Peter Frampton.
- For those of you who like Bravo’s Project Runway, Stephanie McMahon will be a celebrity judge on that show. I wonder if she will get into any catfights with the other judges.
- Of course, you can’t forget USA Network’s (flagship of the Raw brand) and their show Nashville Star. Jesse will appear on the show to sing with his tag team partner Festus (who fortunately will not sing). Not sure if they will utilize the ringing bell gimmick they’re using on Smackdown or not…
- Office fans (I know this isn’t reality, but it’s mockumentary, so I guess it’s close enough for them) will see John Cena guest-star on that popular show. I wonder if he’s going to dress up.
- Last, but not least, there will be another WWE-themed edition of Deal or No Deal similar to previous ones that featured ECW’s Nunzio and other WWE wrestlers.
Should be an interesting summer of WWE/NBC co-branded programming.
