WWE Speed | |
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Created by | Paul "Triple H" Levesque |
Starring | |
Opening theme | Unknown song performed by def rebel (from WWE Music Group) |
Country of origin | United States |
Original language | English |
No. of seasons | 1 |
No. of episodes | 7 |
Production | |
Executive producer | Paul "Triple H" Levesque |
Producer | Pete Dunne[1] |
Camera setup | Multi-camera setup |
Running time | 3–5 minutes |
Original release | |
Network | X |
Release | April 3, 2024 present | –
Related | |
WWE Speed is an American professional wrestling streaming television program produced by WWE. It airs on the social media platform X and premiered with two episodes on April 3, 2024. Speed features wrestlers from WWE's Raw, SmackDown, and NXT brands. Regular episodes have one match each with a time limit of three minutes, while special episodes for the WWE Speed Championship have a longer duration of five minutes. Matches for Speed are taped on the weekdays prior to WWE's main weekly television programs, Monday Night Raw and Friday Night SmackDown.
On February 7, 2024, the American professional wrestling promotion WWE filed to trademark the name "WWE Speed" for an in-ring program in which the concept would be that the professional wrestling matches would have a five-minute time limit. The concept was first tested as dark matches before the December 15, 2023, taping of SmackDown.[2] On February 8 during the WrestleMania XL Kickoff press conference, WWE announced a partnership with X to introduce WWE Speed, which would stream weekly on the social media platform.[3] The deal between WWE and X was confirmed for two years. It was also revealed that the matches for each episode would be exclusive to the platform and would not be repurposed from WWE's other programs, and it would feature wrestlers from all three of WWE's brands: Raw, SmackDown, and NXT.[4]
On March 27, WWE commentator Corey Graves announced that Speed would premiere on Wednesday, April 3, but matches would instead be three minutes in length. Also announced was a tournament to crown the inaugural WWE Speed Champion for men.[5] The debut episode, which was uploaded at 12 p.m. Eastern Time (ET), saw Ricochet defeat Dragon Lee. Roughly 30 minutes later, WWE uploaded a second episode in which Bronson Reed defeated Cedric Alexander. Graves served as the sole commentator for the episodes.[6] While the first few episodes only featured matches with male wrestlers, during a conversation on X Spaces on May 1, 2024, WWE Chief Content Officer Paul "Triple H" Levesque confirmed that the program would also feature women's matches.[7]
While the program typically airs on Wednesdays, a special Friday airing occurred on May 3, 2024. This episode, which was the seventh episode overall, saw the crowning of the inaugural Speed Champion. This episode also confirmed that championship matches would have a five-minute time limit instead of the regular three. During the special airing, Ricochet defeated Johnny Gargano to become the show's inaugural champion.[8][9]
Commentators | Tenure |
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Corey Graves | April 3, 2024 | – present
Ring announcers | Date started |
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Mike Rome and Samantha Irvin | April 3, 2024 | – present